That sounds weird. But now that I'm out and about more because of work, Saturday park runs, and Monday night group runs, I'm interacting with more people who are intrigued by my desire to live in England.
And they tend to ask me the most ridiculous questions. But these ridiculous questions are pretty consistent across the board. These are questions I get asked about once a day at least. Which makes me wonder where these people's priorities are!
I don't know if any other expats get asked these ridiculous questions as well, so I thought I'd share both the questions (and answers, in case anyone was too shy to ask!)
Why are earth did you move here from Florida?!
And yes that mixture of question mark and exclamation point is completely necessary. I probably get asked this the most. It's a fair enough question. It's the passion that they put into it that is the most hilarious. It's like they're instead asking "are you out of your mind?"
And I really don't think I need to go into detail here on why I moved. It's pretty obvious now, isn't it?
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| It wasn't the weather. |
So you went to a real American high school? / Is high school just like the movies/TV shows?
Yes I went to high school... In America... And it was in fact real...
I always say high school is definitely not like movies/TV shows. Maybe for some people 90210 and The OC portrayed their lives perfectly. However, I was in marching band and AP classes. So no, high school is not all about standing around at your locker for 7 hours of the day and wearing pink on Wednesdays. At least not for me anyway!
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| This is me in high school senior year. We wore marching band polo shirts on Friday. And no, don't quote American Pie at me please. |
What do you think of our food portions compared to America's?
I never know how to seriously respond to this. I mean, I don't really notice a massive difference except when it comes to like specified or set sizes. (So like, a large drink at McDonald's in England is an American medium, a medium drink is an American small, etc.) But it's not like I'm walking around going "OMG I'm so hungry! If only British portions were bigger!!" Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but I don't eat Cheesecake Factory sized food all day everyday. The only thing I miss about the food industry in general is FREE REFILLS. It's an epic concept.
I've also been asked.......
Do Americans understand sarcasm? (No..... Not one bit.)
Have you met the Kardashians? (Oh gawd no.)
Does it snow in America? (Yes.)
Do you love Wal-mart? (Absolutely not.)
My shining moment in question asking was when a 9 year old asked if I was Hannah Montana because she never met anyone with an American accent before. No, I'm not Hannah Montana. But I was willing to sing Best of Both Worlds to her if she desired. (She didn't.)
Anyone else get asked funny/random questions??
haha I get the Florida question... WHY YOULD YOU MOVE FROM THAT WEATHER TO THIS WEATHER? hehe :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in London and would go visit Northern England, I would get "you're American? But you're so niiice!" or even better "but you don't sound that American." I also got the same reaction from the English as I did from American people in Ohio about living in New York...I live in Western New York and people are always, "oh I LOVE New York (city)! You must love it there." Ummm...no. There's a whole state attached to that city...people just don't know.(Though DC ppl knew better than to say stuff like that.)
ReplyDeleteWe moved here from Hawaii and so I always get the 'why???' reply. I went to English school and military schools in Europe and so I always wondered about real American has like on tv and shopping malls when we moved to the US at 17.
ReplyDeleteQuestions I get asked? I get asked a lot about my accent because I'm a dual citizen with an American accent. I get asked if all Americans are really overweight. I also get asked a lot of questions about US politics from the older generations here.
Bonnie Rose | A Compass Rose
That's funny. Although I have to say, of all the foreign teachers here in Japan, the only person who came not understanding sarcasm is Canadian (not that all Canadians don't get sarcasm...) It is funny how it's the same questions that get repeated. "Can you eat raw fish?" (which sounds different from and far more gross than 'sashimi'). Also, "can you use chopsticks?" (three years after moving here, mind you.)
ReplyDeleteI'm a Brit living in Vancouver right now. I got asked the other day if English people all get together in the evenings after work and go to 'bars' that are just for drinking tea! I said no...they go to bars and just drink beer, like everywhere else in the world I guess! I get lots of questions about tea actually! and not really a silly question but people always want to ask me about what other countries I've been too with amazement! I don't know what the opposite of an anglophile is...but I'm a Brit who loves all things American and wants to move there one day! I've heard yankophile before? but I don't know how I feel about that word! Glad to have found your blog!
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