Franconian Beer Message Board
British Faults |
| Posted by Barry Taylor on 2019-08-22 04:24:09 |
| Here, here! But not sure about the rest of it. Of course, wherever you live that's not where you were born/brought up, you're always an incomer. I've lived in a lot of different places in Britain (Manchester,of course, London, Leeds, Bath, Bristol and now Wales, which, believe me, is a 'foreign country', although 50% of the local population are from England!) and Ireland for 15 years. And, believe me, Ireland is really a foreign country. But, I don't try to be a local but to fit in with local customs and engage. We sometimes get seduced into believing that. because there is a 'lingua franca' that links countries, that, culturally and socially, they are the same or similar. But it's not true. We wnt on holiday to the U.S.A. and, then, later, I took Jacqueline with me on one of my work trips to Romania. Afterwards, I asked her about her opinions of the latter visit and she said that she liked it more than the U.S.A. because she felt more at home there, even though she had no idea of the language! We had a long discussion in the pub the other night - I maintained that there is a congruity of European culture that transcends language and links European countries and which is quite different to that of the U.S.A. To be fair, there was no great agreement on the matter. I've got a lot of friends from the U.S.A., whose company I greatly value, but would I like to live in their country, I don't think so. would I like to live in Germany, yes, I couldmanage that ok. Or Prague! Moving to another country is what you make it: I met people who had moved from the UK to Ireland and couldn't settle, whereas I didn't find it difficult at all. But, then, I'd had a lot of preparation in 25 years of visits and being deeply involved in Irish culture. I don't find any problems when I'm in Germany: people are generally hopsitable and friendly, if not gushing. I can't begin to remember the number of times that people have offered help in all sorts of situation and also have talked to me in pubs - my only regret is that I've never been able to master enough German to fully engage. I think that it depends on your attitude to other people; I try not to pre-judge people on appearances and I'm always happy to chat (too happy according to some of my friends). Anyway, be back in both Germany and Czechia in less than 3 weeks and happy to be there again! |
| Followups: |
 British Faults by Jason on 2019-08-22 05:29:40 |
| British Faults by Carl on 2019-08-22 07:22:34 |
| Living there vs Visiting ( was British Faults) by Uncle Jimbo on 2019-08-23 12:52:28 |
| Living there vs Visiting ( was British Faults) by Jason on 2019-08-23 16:55:10 |
| Touring Britain on the Cheap (was: British Faults) by Nick B. (formerly in Erlangen) on 2019-08-28 07:12:11 |
| Touring Britain on the Cheap (was: British Faults) by Barm on 2019-08-29 03:06:07 |
| Touring Britain on the Cheap (was: British Faults) by Nick B. (formerly in Erlangen) on 2019-08-30 01:02:29 |