Klarinet Archive - Posting 000347.txt from 2004/04

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] (OT) Best places for Limeys in the US
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 18:27:34 -0400

Tony Wakefield wrote,
> which State would you recommend as being the most
> accommodating and comfortable, (the most English?) for a
> Limey to start living in, always assuming a Limey be
> allowed in, in the first place.

A high percentage of Americans (including non-Caucasian Americans) have
family roots in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. You'd probably feel
welcome anywhere in the USA. There's no such thing as a typical American,
btw, and there's no such thing as a typical American town, let alone a
typical American food. The name of a restaurant near me, Abdullah's
Chinese Pizza, says it all. A genetic map of most of us would look like
doggie dinner: a little bit of this, a little bit of that. The few who are
purebloods probably came here from somewhere else. Ask two people the same
question about sex, politics or religion and you'll get five answers. At
least.

Gary Van Cott wrote,
>>What kind of setting do you prefer, urban,
>>suburban, or rural?

Good questions -- and think about climate, too, because we've got extremes.
The climate closest to London is probably San Francisco. Hawaii is
tropical. Alaska is Nordic. We've got salt flats (Utah) and cranberry bogs
(New England). Like alligator swamps? Try Florida. I've known some
English people (particularly asthmatics) who loved the low humidity of the
southwest deserts and thought the fossils and the Gila monsters and the
rattlesnakes and whatnot a great adventure, but I've met others who tried
to settle there and cleared out pronto, thinking they might turn into
crispy pork rinds (yes, American; no, not good food) if they fried one more
day in that climate. Generally the quality of light is brighter and more
glaring all over the USA than in England. Some travellers and immigrants
like the large scale and strong colors of the scenery here and some don't.

If you're seriously thinking about moving to the USA, if possible, you
might want to see if you can get some temporary work here first, without
burning bridges back home, in case you don't like it here, or don't like
the first place you try. I remember a Norwegian kid named Bengt who lived
next door to me during part of the one year my family lived in Camas,
Washington. Bengt's parents hated it here, they confided. I think they
thought Camas (a paper mill town) was Yahooville. They couldn't wait to go
home to Norway. Well, six months after they escaped, back they came, and
started the process to apply for citizenship. Happens all the time.

Lelia Loban
E-mail: lelialoban@-----.net
Web site (original music scores as audio or print-out):
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/LeliaLoban

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