The Canadian Returns to Canada

On Saturday the 29th of July I took my last ride to London and boarded a bus to Heathrow airport to fly back home. As the bus went through London, I saw most of the notable landmarks one last time (London Eye, The New Globe, Parliament with Big Ben, Westminster Abby, etc.) and all of the tourists jockeying for position to get their picture taken with these landmarks in the background. I used to be one of them, I thought. Now I've been to London over a dozen times, and I have simply become comfortable with the landmarks around. I am no longer a tourist whilst in London.
The flights back to Winnipeg were OK, but I lost my wallet on the way to the airport so I was feeling uneasy without cash and my credit cards. I spent my two hours in Heathrow trying to get a hold of the end destination where my coach was going to. Despite calling over 30 times, I was unable to talk to anyone on that end. I was able to cancel my cards and order replacements, but I would feel much better that I had everything on me.
Now that I'm back, I'm trying to settle in again. You know, I didn't think I was going to go through counter culture shock because I had a tough year in the UK. But there are a few things that I do miss. The T.V. and radio presenters in the UK are generally come across more professional and are more verbose. I'm actually listening to the BBC2 radio morning program on-line as I am typing this up. I actually dislike hearing North American accents (unless if I am speaking to the person directly). While in Colchester, I could go on weeks without hearing a North American accent. It was when I would go to London or other tourist attraction that I would hear Canadian and/or American tourists, and some of them would say some really uneducated things about the area or just showed some general ignorance. Not all tourists are like this, but it took only one out of ten that would make me annoyed of the accent. I'm getting better now though.
I drove for the first time since my return, and I did have to catch myself to drive on the right side of the road a couple of times. I am also having a little difficulty typing with the Canadian keyboard, which has some minor differences such as the @ and “ symbols switched. Otherwise, I think I'm re-acclimatised. (I guess not totally, because I spelled “acclimatised” with an “s” rather than a “z”!)
Things I will miss from the UK: English Cheddar Cheese, Cornish Pasties, chips (as in “fish and chips”), Galaxy chocolate bars, prices in shops with all the taxes included, “Can I help?” from sales personnel, Jelly Babies, Yorkies chocolate, weekly markets on Fridays and Saturdays, train rides, football and cricket matches, national pride over football, acting as tour guide to visiting friends, general traveling, tea and biscuits available at nearly every staff meeting, history of the UK, Educational programs on BBC, Comedy/quiz shows such as QI and 8 out of 10 cats, Comedies in syndication such as Fawlty Towers and Open all Hours, my red bike, text messaging teacher friends from Australia in the evenings, badminton matches with fellow teachers, SMART board in my classroom, living close to the sea, and generally being “the teacher with the accent”.
Things that I am not looking forward to on my return to Canada: calculating taxes to prices, mosquitoes, stupid television programming (e.g. “Medical Mysteries”, “Extreme Makeover”), flat blandness of the prairies, big box stores, spread out cities, and friends disappointed that I still can't do a British accent. (I can do a better Aussie accent than an Essex accent!)
Things I won’t miss from the UK: queuing for 15 minutes to buy a postage stamp despite no queues at the customer service desk (I was told by one employee she could not sell me a stamp because “I’m not trained”!), yobs (teenage and young adult hooligans) at the park, everything so expensive!, being caught on CCTV 300+ a day , students who pretend not to understand me because of my accent, students who say they don’t have to listen to me because I am a foreigner, being woken up early by military drills being performed 100 yards from my flat, being kept up late by the noise of new recruits being hazed in the neighboring barracks, and people who will say “Bless her” as permission to gossip about someone.
Things that I am looking forwards to back in Canada: Microwave ovens, clothes dryer (though they are common in the UK, I didn’t have either in my flat), root beer, Cheese Whiz, Coffee Crisp bars, Mennonite food, Pizza Pops, my new car, visiting friends and family, singing (the Quaker meetings did not really meet my musical needs), and fresh tomatoes.
Overall my year has been an interesting experience. I found the teaching, or more specifically the classroom management, to be really tough, but I generally enjoyed living in the UK. I am grateful for all the traveling I could do within the year, but I wish I could have kept more money in my bank account. I know I have grown a lot over the year and I hope that employers will look favorably on my experience when reading my CV. I will keep this blog up for a while, but I don't think I will be updating it very often since I am now back. I will update my photo album over the next months, so you can use the blog to link to see my pictures. I thank you for your interest visiting my blog whilst I was in England as well as your comments, including birthday wishes.
Shalom
Kevin