Life in the Left Lane
I once read that, in order for things to be come habitual (pardon my french), all you needed to do was complete the task or action for 21 consecutive days. At this point, it becomes routine, becomes habit, becomes a part of day to day life that no longer becomes a conscious decision.
7 months and 10 days (give or take) abroad, and habits are adjusted in more minute ways than I ever could have guessed.
Something cute and tourist-attracting like, say, driving on the left side of the road, is commonplace. My brain doesn't recognize it. I could care less. Granted, two month long breaks in the EU has a strange re-entry effect on right/left side driving consciousness, but in walking across the city of London or traversing Dublin, I rarely raised my eyes to the left. LOOK RIGHT signs say- trying to save as many foreigners as possible.
I'm sure there are others- the accent, i suppose, has become commonplace and less ear catching. Again, some allowances should be given for hilarious words or usage, but otherwise, it's just another day in England.
I tried to explain my trepidation in 'doing a British accent' to Nick while visiting London, and maybe it stems from a complete immersion. It's difficult, once you have a full understanding or full spectrum of dialects to imitate, to pick one and stick with it. Even in trying to mimic the Nottingham accent, one could run into strands of Manchester, Liverpool, London, and if you're really terrible, some Yorkshire or even Scottish.... maybe it comes from thinking I was always really really sweet at accents, but having a new found respect for the difficulty in complete accuracy, it seems like a lost cause.
With 2 months until re-entry, i can't imagine how it will go down. Anna's already assured me that getting her to step on to the plane will be the hardest part- kicking, screaming, sobbing- the whole bit. I'm not entirely inclined to disagree.
When past Notters told us how tough it was to come back, we could never have grasped what they meant- especially in our first few months here, when acclimation seemed impossible. Now, it's coming all too soon.
Nantes on Thursday.
Dijon this time next week.
Rome after Easter.
In the meantime, i have plenty of planning, writing, lecturing, and reading to do/attend.
posted by Kevin @ 2:14 PM
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