“but what’s he liiiiiiiike?”, he keeps telling me over and over in this strange high-pitched accent. i laugh and laugh and laugh, one of those “i’m laughing cuz it’s funny but i don’t know for sure why it’s funny but i’m sure there’s some cultural reference that i’m missing funny”. it’s then i realize that i’ve gone 720-degrees full circle.
growing up in indiana, my initial exposure to the british culture was one that seemed a million miles away — incredibly foreign, everything so drastically and sterotypically different. beatles, double-decker busses, tea and funny hats.
after my first few european adventures, i shifted, 180-degrees, to the other viewpoint. looking at american from afar, i had my initial glimpses of how the world fits together. i began to understand cultural differences, adapt, and predict where new ones might arise. i learned to learn. accents, street signs, tube maps and interesting food.
then, moving back to the states, i completed my first loop… 360-degrees, or, back to where i started from. i started to share with my american friends … share my observations, discoveries, and eye-opening revelations. while still being culturally aware, i started sinking back into the american xenophobic mindset again, adding more barbs, racial jokes and cheap gags into my stories each time i told them. funny teeth, silly accents, driving on the wrong side of the street and spelling words wrong.
moving to london in 1998, completed the next half — bringing me up to 540-degrees. this flip-flop back allowed me to thrive in the foreign but not-so-foreign life again. i now embraced the british culture, and shifted into a “britain is better than america” mode of thinking. almost a reflex, i think. this time around it was bragging to my friends, becoming a music snob, and doing my damnedest to not just fit in, but fully assimilate.
moving back to the states, shifted me into the next stage — coming full-circle twice, a whopping 720-degree journey. this part i definitely remember — feeling confused, dazed, and disloyal to both halves. not feeling allegiance to any country or people or life. but, at the same time, feeling culturally, politically indifferent. understanding and respecting the world’s cultures as a whole. now i was sharing, highlighting but not name/place/experience-dropping. i was incorporating my experiences into my life in a normal, subtle way.
and, here i am again. living in london — somewhere up around 900-degrees now. knowing the assumptions the british coworker is going to make. knowing the advice the american expatriate is going to give me. knowing how well i’ll blend in… and knowing how much (and how little) of a novelty my american accent is. enjoying feeling at home. enjoying spending time with friends from a multitude of cultures, and not having dumb youth-hostel-ish conversations.
except for that cute british lad who keeps cracking me up. that’s the one thing i’ll allow myself to always fall prey to — a little bit of british humor, delivered with a cute british accent, from a new british friend.
