Buhay sa Shire

This day marks my ninth year in Britain, almost a quarter of my adult life. It has been a good life for me but not without problems; I got married here, have 2 gorgeous kids, been there, done that, got the t-shirt...and the journey goes on.

Looking back, I can still remember that first autumn feeling, so drab and gray and cold. It looks lovely on a sunny day though, like this picture I've taken from Burnham Beeches, 10 miles from where we live. And winter was the worst. Alas tres pa lang nang hapon e madilim na. It took me quite a while to adjust to this kind of weather. In fact, I still suffer from an occasional sad (seasonal affective disorder), and its not a nice feeling. Thank God for spring and the phenomenal summer.

Thing about me is I am passionate about food, but British food is nothing to get excited about really, it's an acquired taste. And would you believe it, the nations favourite food is curry. Ever heard of marmite, jellied eel, brussel sprouts, black pudding and haggis? Try it then tell me; you'll either love it or hate it. No wonder there's a lot of speciality restaurant mushrooming about. But they make lovely puddings though, sticky toffee pudding is to die for!

The hardest thing I have to go through is the way of life. Until I found myself a job, aside from my family, friends were hard to find. The accent was a problem too, there must be hundreds of accents around. And sometimes a word would mean another thing ; say like pants is not a trouser, it's an underwear. And nowadays, Pinoys are'nt very hard to find; just go to the local hospital, supermarket, hundredth house in the street..., WE'RE EVERYWHERE. And its a good thing. The Philippine community holds a Filipino Barrio Fiesta in the middle of July in London, and it's a fabulous occasion, we have to be there.

So there. I can go on and on but I won't.

And one last thing ; who's your favourite Brit?