UK Cultural Differences: Part 2

Hi Everyone!

I feel like I haven't blogged in ages but my week was super crazy!  I will try to have a post about my first week up sometime this weekend to keep you all updated.  For now, here are a few more little differences that I have noticed since moving here.  There are a few glimpses into my teaching life in this list as well...

Enjoy!

1. Traffic lights turn from red to yellow to green (instead of straight from red to green) as well as turning yellow before they turn red.

2. Most cars are just little (because fuel is so expensive - £ 1.40 or $2.30 per litre in my area).  I have not seen any SUVs and have had hardly a glimpse of the typical North American family mini-van.  Loretta (my little Toyota Echo) would fit right in here!  Except for the steering wheel being on the wrong side… 

3. Cars have pretty much all standard manual-shift transmissions.   I told some friends that many people in Canada marvel my ability to drive a standard car and they thought it was pretty funny. 

4. There are no STOP signs.  In Southampton they are mostly substituted with traffic lights, but elsewhere in the UK they would have roundabouts instead.

5. ‘Come Dine with Me’ is on TV every day.  I watch it while I am making dinner and I am kind of getting addicted.

6. TV shows start at any random time, not just on the hour or half hour. 

7. Instead of frozen concentrated juice there are big bottles of “fruit squash” which is just liquid fruit juice concentrate that you then add to as much water as you want. 

8. Milk mostly comes in plastic jugs (like convenience stores in Canada sometimes have) instead of cartons of 4L bags.

9. Apples are insanely expensive.  The cheapest I have bought them for is £1.50 for four, which works out to about $0.63 each!!  Needless to say, I hardly ever buy them. :(

10. Most British students just call female teachers “miss” in the classroom.  When a teacher refers to another teacher in front of the students it’s the same.  During the school day I don’t have an actual name!

11. Schools actually have houses like in Harry Potter and the students wear ties according to the colour of their house!  In my school we have house assemblies every week and will have house events and competitions throughout the year (no Quidditch or magical duels though, unfortunately).  I am in charge of a group of students in house Brunel and the other two houses are Newton and Darwin.

12. Pretty much every school has uniforms and they are fairly strictly inspected.  I am supposed to phone home if any of the students in my house group is missing part of their uniform.

13. British people will say “you alright?” in the same way that we would ask someone “how are you?” as a greeting.  Don’t feel self-conscious – it’s not because you look like you’re not alright! 

You shall hear more about my first week of teaching soon!

-Heather <3