One of my favorite blogs, I Dream of Haggis had this article from the Globe and Mail posted on it, and I liked it so much I decided to stick it on my blog too. It is a woman describing her experience of moving to England from Canada and having to deal with the things you really wouldn't think you'd have to deal with. My favorite part (the woman dealing with the job centre plus person...ugh):
“No, it's just that we don't get many people coming here from Canada, so that tells me it must be a pretty nice place. Why would you move here?”
As if “here” was hell on Earth, and not my fairy-tale land of rolling green patchwork fields dotted with sheep and sleepy Cotswold villages. I don't recall my reply on that occasion. It might have been any number of the stock responses I developed over the course of my four years living there. It was a complicated question, and a complicated answer was not always appropriate.
Seriously, the amount of times I've gotten, 'Why did you move here??' over the past two weeks and I've no idea what to respond with at all. I don't even think I have a stock answer. I would venture to guess I've probably made a few people uncomfortable with an inappropriate complicated answer that couldn't be summed up with 'I had a job offer' or 'My friend lives here and I came for a visit, never to go back'. Ohhhh that last was a good one.
I can't really explain it without going into detail that makes me sound like some sort of new-age-hippy-weirdo or a flighty idiot. "Oh, I just felt like it was the right thing to do. I just needed a change. I needed to find meaning in my life. I needed to shake things up. I had a mid-life (ish) crisis and packed all my shit into two suitcases dropping in on my incredibly generous best friend and gave up what might have been a great career for no job, and no prospects, no friends and no home. Just a dream. Oops."
Why did I move here? I honestly don't know. Just that I had to.
A wee update
3 years ago
And because I told you to! Just blame it on me. It may help when you get frustrated and all....try throwing darts at a picture of me or writing me hate mail....whatever works!
ReplyDeleteMiss you muchly my dear!
Diana
I read those articles too after seeing them on "I Dream of Haggis" blog. I have been here in Scotland since May and I am still getting that question, "Why did you come here?" I keep trying to sum up the reasons why in a less complicated way, but I find the best way for me to sum it up is "I love Scotland!". But even that answer isn't always enough for some people.
ReplyDeleteBut I have been "adopted" by my classmates, and they say I am Scottish with a Canadian accent, eh? :-)
Anyways, I have enjoyed reading your blog so far and welcome to the Canadians in Scotland blog club!
Cheers!
Thanks! I really appreciate your welcome--and love the blog! Have added it to my list. It's also good to know there is another prairie girl out there in Scotland :)
ReplyDeleteI love that you moved to Scotland. I wish I was brave enough to do something like that :)
ReplyDeleteAh, shucks. Thanks for the shout out and that you dig my blog! x
ReplyDeleteP.s. you'll notice that Scottish people are really big on adding "x"'s at the end of emails and texts.
bah! So funny! A friend and I were just talking about that exact thing yesterday. Sometimes I forget to add the 'x' and have this sudden fear that the person I am texting now thinks I hate them. What happens if I forget the x? Also, sometimes it takes me longer to type the x than it does to type the whole message. Why?!? If I am texting you, you should already know I don't hate you without me having to put kisses after it.
ReplyDeleteAlso Jennifer, you have no idea how much it thrills me that you commented on my blog....