I am fairly certain that I am a somewhat smart person. I have a college degree. I have a career that takes some level of skill and intelligence. I have managed to get through my 37 years of life without too many issues....until now. I walk around in an almost constant state of confusion. I can't figure out the simplest of things...how to run my appliances, read road signs, open locked doors in my house, figure out which products I need at the grocery store, how to open these containers once they get to my kitchen. Even understanding people here has been hard for me --I have never been good with accents. Throw in words I have never heard, expressions that leave me staring in confusion and I am left feeling like one of the most clueless people in the world --or at least in England. Yes, yes, I know this is a foreign country and that they sound different and do things differently and that there is a learning curve--I just did not realize it would take me weeks to adjust. For example, take today. Bean and I walked across the street to an express grocery store. We just needed a few things like milk, cheese and bread. No need to have to drive anywhere. (fyi - constantly thinking "stay left, stay left, stay left" while driving does not make you feel like an intelligent person.) In any case, we walk to the store and try to grab a trolley (shopping cart) to make our little purchases. I see the trolley, I can touch the trolley, yet I can't figure out how to get the trolley out of the trolley rack and into my willing hands. I look, and look, and I am stumped. I finally see what looks like a little lock. I can't figure out how to get the lock undone. No signs, nobody around to ask. In complete frustration and not wanting to look like a "dumb American" for the millionth time since I moved here, I just tell Bean --well, we don't need much, let's just carry it. Of course, we ended up getting more that I thought we would get and ended up juggling all of our items and looking in envy at all the other trolley pushing customers. When we got home, I told hubby the story and he kind of laughed and said - honey, over here, you probably needed to insert a pound into the cart somewhere to unlock it. Sigh...clueless yet again. Seriously, you need to PAY to use a trolley here? Apparently you get it back when you return the trolley. So is trolley theft a big problem in England? You also have to pay in most places to use a bathroom, or excuse me, I mean "the toilets", so I should have figured it out. Maybe someday I will fit in here...or else these next two years are going to be really long.
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