Why The Bubble?

I've been in Los Angeles for nearly a year, and when talking to people back home, I'm frequently asked, how does it feel to be living in LA?  I have got into the habit of replying "It's a bit like living in a bubble." It is exciting - but not all of the time; it is in adventure, but not seven days of the week; it can feel surreal but at other times mundane.  It's a bit like living on the outside and looking in.  We're part of American life, but perhaps not quite in tune with everything as much as we should be.  Sometimes I take refuge in my bubble; sometimes I feel trapped in my bubble, and sometimes I just think, what the heck, I'm in a bubble - enjoy it!

The move to LA seemed such a good idea at the time.  Neil had been offered a two to three year work assignment in California.  We saw it as a wonderful opportunity to experience a totally different lifestyle. We could rub shoulders with celebrities, socialise with the stars, and failing that, whilst hubby was at work all day I could sit by the pool, top up my tan, read every book I'd ever wanted to read, listen to as much music as I could fit on my Ipod, and just chill out....Doesn't it all sound wonderful?

Realistically we knew it wouldn't be that easy.  But we were ready for a change and new challenge.  We threw a huge going away party, kissed eldest daughter No 1 goodbye and set off, with daughter No 2, to the bright lights of LA.  Goodbye reality and hello......

Even though this was only going to be a short term assignment, we did plan on integrating as much as possible.  We looked forward to embracing US society, exploring our new homeland and making new friends.  It was only as I was setting the home page on my new computer nearly a year on, that I realised by opting for a UK website, mentally, I'm still in England.  Physically I'm 5,000 miles away living the American Dream.  Psychologically I'm in denial.  I'm still in my bubble.  So much for integration.

I keep a hoard of Sainsbury's Red Label tea bags in the back of my cupboard; there are jealously guarded bars of Cadbury's dairy milk chocolate stored in the refrigerator, along with very expensive jars of Branstons Pickle, HP sauce and Coleman's mustard.  We drive an hour and a half to stock up on orange squash.  I hide British magazines in a footstool and ration them out at regular intervals, lovingly reading them from cover to cover.  Every evening we tune into BBC America or we watch DVD's of old British sitcoms and detective series.  A year on I am still comparing our life here, to our life back in England. "It's not bad, it's just different" has become the family mantra.

So how do we break out of the bubble of Britishness; this sanctuary we have created in the madness of living in America?  And it is mad.  I miss the "normalness" of my life in England.  Obviously I miss my family and my old friends, but it isn't just the social aspect - we have made friends here.  In England I always knew what I was doing.  I had a routine.  I knew where to go when I needed something - I knew how to find a plumber, or an electrician, I knew what bus to catch where, what shops to go in.  Here you turn up and you start with nothing.  You have no history and nothing in common.  You think you speak the same language - you don't. You think you have been raised in a similar society with similar values - you haven't.

Sometimes I really feel I'm missing the point.  I'm constantly asking myself "why do they do that?" or more often, "why don't they do that?"

So how long will it take before we fully embrace our new American lifestyle? When will I ever find Two and a Half Men funny?

When will our bubble burst?