So been back 5 days or so, still getting used to things around here. It’s exciting and different, Will take quite a while for it to all soak in, I think. Not really sure what to think, still processing it all…
But one thing is certain – It’s one thing going to a new country to live for the first time, quite another coming back to your home country after a period away.
I have begun to realise just how developed things are in the UK and also how comfortable people live their lives. It is very affluent here, people are less concerned with the harsh realities of life, things like TV and popular culture seem more important. I think It is very insular here. I believe there are many problems here caused by people generally having too much money.
I’m still not used to seeing green grass, breathing clean air, not used to walking down the road and not seeing any other people, not used to seeing so many vehicles on the road, not used to seeing everything in English – what no characters!
There are no real poor people here (In comparision to Changchun), signs are everywhere telling me what I can’t do, even though It’s plainly obvious… A total dependence on cars, pre-prepared meals, instant gratification, buy now pay later attitude – Certainly different from what I’m used to!
Other striking thing is, of course, language. Interesting use of words , interesting pronunciation, lots of dialect and slang – indeed I would say that even the best students that I had taught would find it very difficult to understand most people here.
I feel as if things have changed since I’ve been away, but It could just be me! I’m not sure.
Things are clean, ordered, regimented, and I think after a while this will be a little boring from my perspective!
Life may be better in many respects here, but it is I think it is duller because it is so much more predictable – which is probably a good thing in many ways.
I guess If you never leave here for a while, you’ll never have the chance to even see things from another perspective and that surely is a bad thing, just takes a while to get used to things again.