After six weeks of being an American tourist in England, it is fun to listen to this podcast again. If you are only in England for a few weeks, you will likely try to see too much, too fast. At a slower pace, you can start with the people and not with the sights. For example, a train-platform conversation led to an invitation to a ladies night out at a pub, where I met a woman who cooked Sunday roasts at a different pub. I went to the Sunday roast because I wanted to show respect for her work. I had to make a reservation and learned subsequently that Sunday roast dinners in Bristol were hugely popular (and I thought this was just a country pub thing). I backed into the culture by accident.
Also asking people how they met has been useful for me to figure out how to meet people in England. Two of the ladies from the roast dinner met through royalty. They both were involved in a program that checked out library books and did reading to the elderly homebound. The organization gave a thank-you tea for the volunteers that was attended by Camilla. Camilla came around to each table, asked their names, and chatted with them. And thus began the friendship between the two women.
PODCAST: American Tourists in Europe Become American (Part 1)
After six weeks of being an American tourist in England, it is fun to listen to this podcast again. If you are only in England for a few weeks, you will likely try to see too much, too fast. At a slower pace, you can start with the people and not with the sights. For example, a train-platform conversation led to an invitation to a ladies night out at a pub, where I met a woman who cooked Sunday roasts at a different pub. I went to the Sunday roast because I wanted to show respect for her work. I had to make a reservation and learned subsequently that Sunday roast dinners in Bristol were hugely popular (and I thought this was just a country pub thing). I backed into the culture by accident.
Also asking people how they met has been useful for me to figure out how to meet people in England. Two of the ladies from the roast dinner met through royalty. They both were involved in a program that checked out library books and did reading to the elderly homebound. The organization gave a thank-you tea for the volunteers that was attended by Camilla. Camilla came around to each table, asked their names, and chatted with them. And thus began the friendship between the two women.
Love Annette Aloud! Pip, Pip, where’s my tea!