People feel sometimes in their home lands like their don’t match to the standards of their town. They don’t feel accepted – the way they think, the way they look, they way they want to live their life. Tiia from Finland, 9 years in London says:

“There was no room to be different and if you were, you were just plain weird. In London, people are different and weird, and it’s wonderful!”

A home town may have its own life and young people may not feel like being a part of it. Or may not want to become like everyone else around. They may want to be individual, see the world, do things in a different way. They don’t want to be part of all the same routine they see in their family and friends’ life.

Then, there is growing frustration with people, neighbours and colleagues. They get tired of them being nosy, conservative, afraid of new ideas. There is no other option but to leave.

Aska from Poland, 6 years in London says:

“What I didn’t like most about my home town (small town south of Poland) was the narrow-mindedness of the people. They always wanted to know your business and always wanted to judge you. If you were not willing to follow the only ‘right’ path (finish school, get a job, get married and have kids before you are 27) you would become an object of constant head-shaking and pity. Londoners are much less bothered about how you chose to live your life and no-one brands you a lost cause if you’re still single in your 30s!”

Despite the cultural differences and totally different upbringing, the same topics were brought up when I asked some other expats from different countries around the world about what they didn’t like about their home towns and why they left them. All of them have met with and couldn’t accept – racism, homophobia, church dominance in public life, unfairness, prejudice, bigotry.

Mike from New Zealand, 4 years in London says:

“The place in some ways seems years behind the modern world and there is this feeling of isolation if you don’t follow the crowd, for example if you’re not a fan of rugby.”

In London they feel like people living here are more open for being original, they feel more freedom. Their creativity in how they look, how they behave, music they listen to is more valued and appreciated. No one cares about what religion they follow, if they are straight or not, if their partner has a different colour of skin, or if they choose career over family life.

Photo from Flickr by DrPleishner

“Every month I’d like to give you an update on what’s happening at Success Abroad behind the scenes.  So many expats in London, so many points of view.  That’s why we’re introducing new writers to share their experience and knowledge with you.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Can one person really make a difference?”

“If in some parts of Tower Hamlets borough there aren’t recycling bins, how a resident from Hackney with three different bins may not become sceptical about his recycling?”

“We’re told to go shopping with our own bags but then this bag is full of food wrapped in plastic packaging. Moreover, one big and low-priced superstore chain in London has loose fruits and vegetables more expensive than the ones in packaging. I can’t afford to be environmental friendly.”

These are the doubts I can hear all over London. Despite so much information in the media, adverts on the buses and phone boxes, there are still people who hesitate to believe that humans cause real damage to the environment. The fact is that humans have been changing climate through their emission of CO2 gases radicaly in recent years. Being environmentaly friendly is really easy and doesn’t have to affect highly your daily routine or your habits.

Simple examples:

• turn off running water when you brush your teeth;
• reduce heating and put on extra clothing instead;
• boil as little water as you need for your cup of tea;
• turn off the TV and computer overnight, don’t leave it on standby;
• unplug your mobile charger;
• eat more ‘greens’, less meat;
• buy recycled products;
• use energy efficient light bulbs;

These are just the basics, yet these all add up to make a big positive impact on the environment. Follow these links to find out more about how you can do your bit.

How to reduce your CO2 emissions:  www.realclimate.org

Climate change – the facts: actonco2.direct.gov.uk/actonco2

Easy ways for you to stop wasting energy: www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

Guide to recycling: www.recycling-guide.org.uk

Join the biggest UK’s climate change demonstration, The Wave: London, 5th December.
www.the-wave.org.uk

Photo from Flickr by CarbonNYC

The longest day and the shortest night have been celebrated down the ages among Celts, Slavs and Germans with dance, music and singing. It was a celebration of fire and water, the Sun and the Moon, fertility and love.

You can still celebrate in old style or choose something modern. Here are some of the various events happening in London:

www.english-heritage.org.uk

www.meetup.com

www.stroke.org.uk/

www.circlesanctuary.org

https://www.thenvfa.org/content/event/chanting-summer-solstice-gavin-frank-totnes-devon

How are You celebrating this day?

But… Elections are coming so the topic is getting hotter. A few days ago I was walking across London and saw some big posters from Independent Party saying ‘No to European Union, no to uncontrolled immigration from Eastern European countries’. I suppose that after statements like that some expats may feel unwelcome.

Below you can read a letter sent to a leader of UKIP from Jamie McConkey who, like many other British,  has a different point of view in this matter.

Dear Mr. Farage,

I’m writing to you as the leader of the UK Independence Party to express my disgust and frustration with the ongoing campaign of ignorance, deception and misplaced victimisation propagated by your party. You hide behind a veneer of reason and common sense and fail to appreciate the many, many benefits – both material and existential – which the European Union brings to the United Kingdom. As someone who is proud to be both British and European, I want to tell you that I consider your party to be nothing less than a national disgrace.

Nigel Farage

Walking through central London yesterday, I was appalled to see that your party had placed a large campaign poster in Covent Garden, a place which arguably welcomes more visitors from continental Europe than from the UK. I’m no expert on marketing strategy or cost-benefit analysis, but this struck me as odd given that you had brought a premium advertising slot in a place where it would have a minimal impact. My only guess is that you wanted our fellow Europeans to see it in order to mark this country out as different. You define yourselves as against something rather than for something else, fabricating an atmosphere of division and otherness. I suggest that you either re-evaluate your public relations assets, or admit yourselves to be the poisonous xenophobes which you so apparently are.

Whilst we’re on the subject of your campaign strategy for next month’s European Parliament elections, I want to highlight to you some of the deceptive techniques and false claims which you spread. A quick browse of your website reveals that it is littered with hypocrisy and half-truths. Firstly, your welcome video features Winston Churchill, a British patriot. But you forget that in 1940 Mr. Churchill himself recommended a Franco-British Union – a federal structure with prerogatives in the foreign, defence, financial and economic spheres which would have gone far beyond anything to which the EU can lay claim.

Winston

You claim in a letter on your website that “Gordon Brown has ratified the Lisbon Treaty” – this is an outright lie. The prime minister has absolutely no authority to ratify international treaties. That privilege falls to Parliament, elected by the British people in the 2005 general election in which your party stood and failed to gain a single seat. Parliament ratified Lisbon by a clear majority. You ignore the economic benefits that European migration brings to this country, instead choosing to bang your drum to the rhythm of counter-productive protectionist policies and populist rhetoric. You make wild and unsubstantiated claims that the EU costs Britain £40m a day. You seem to be completely oblivious to the need for EU cooperation on police and judicial matters in a post-9/11 world, complaining about perceived infringements on British sovereignty and ignoring the many successes of legal and law enforcement cooperation.

There is nothing wrong with a healthy dose of constructive Euroscepticism, and the EU is far from perfect as a set of institutions and practices. But your continued campaign of attrition, characterised by your desire for the nuclear option of withdrawal and based on sheer ignorance, is not the answer. The lies you spread are harmful and disruptive, and do not accurately represent what the EU is to a European public struggling to understand and define this new form of political system and its numerous advantages. This country already has an unfortunate reputation in Europe as an ‘awkward partner’, reluctant to get involved, and disassociated from a continent with which we share a rich history. Stop lying and embarrassing the British people.

With regards to the UK’s place in the world, you operate in a philosophical vacuum, where Britain is still an imperial power, projecting its wealth and influence across the globe. You believe that Britain would be stronger out of Europe than in, and that we would somehow regain our position as an economic powerhouse in a world where China and India are steaming ahead. You believe that we should not cooperate with our European partners in the military sphere, making false claims about a fictitious EU Army, despite the record of past success in national cooperation in African and European humanitarian operations. The United Kingdom is not the power it once was, and we will not enjoy a global leadership role unless we are part of a Europe which speaks unanimously on economic and foreign affairs.

The EU is a trade giant, and you don’t want us to be a part of it. As Europeans we are leading the world on climate change, economic aid, the promotion of democracy and the rule of law, free trade, human rights and international law. Our torrid history inspires multilateralism and cooperation, and reminds us that we are safer, wealthier and more powerful when we work together. Europe provides us with a common identity whilst you still cling to the Commonwealth as a sphere of paternalistic influence, and its associations with dominion and empire.

Worst of all, you tell the British public that Brussels is out of control, and spread conspiracy theories about some kind of Orwellian revolution in which power is wielded for its own sake rather than to improve the lives of Europeans and people in the developing world. You claim that you want to put Britain first, but lie to the British people and take us for fools. For this reason, I consider your party to be a national embarrassment and something with which we’d all be better without.

Yours ever-so-sincerely,

Jamie McConkey, Cafe Babel London.