Defining Diversity
If there's one thing I've learned since being in England, it's that it is deceptively far from home. You get off the plane, the architecture's a bit different, and everyone's talking with cooler accents then you....but hey, you're speaking the same language and they look pretty much the same as back home....so it's not so different, right?
um, WRONG.
Before I came here, I used to think of diversity in terms of practices, beliefs, ways of life that were blantantly different from mine--And don't get me wrong, I've seen a lot of that since being over here. There's such a huge mixture of people from all over the world in the UK, you literally can't avoid running into someone from a different culture--but I've come to realize that sometimes it's more about the *little* things that make a big difference in everyday life. And that's really what 'culture' is all about, right? The details of your environment that make it unique to everywhere else in the world.
So in England, I've found, the key word is subtle. This is both because a lot of the cultural differences are so subtle that they sometimes escape notice, and also because many British mannerisms are so understated. For example, I get teased profusely by my British friends because I talk very animatedly with my hands. I've become so conscious of it that I sometimes sit on them while I'm talking now. The manner is just a lot more reserved here. They tend to be more soft-spoken, particularly in public. While taking the bus to town, my American friends and I tend to be the only ones talking. Their humour is very subtle as well. For anyone who's read any of Oscar Wilde's plays, that kind of wit and word play is huge. Sometimes I do a double-take when I'm talking to my friends here because I can't figure out if they're poking fun or seriously insulting me. I can say, though, my bantering has been much improved. And I've finally gotten used to being asked "Are you alright?" as a greeting synonymous with "hello." For the first few weeks of term, especially, that threw me off quite a bit.
The lessen here is: appearences really are deceiving. Not all English is equal! Supposedly my tongue is becoming more refined now and I'm starting to learn "The Queen's English as it was *meant* to be spoken." That's what my friends say anyway, though I can never quite tell when they're being serious.