Last week was my first official working day in the UK, which came after two exhausting months of processing a work permit and VISA. Fortunately, I’m here and lovin it!
The only difficulty I can’t seem to wrap my hands around is driving on the left side of the road. It’s strange that they moved the steering wheel to the right side but didn’t invert the pedals. The accelerator is still on the right and the clutch left, so lets just say it’s my first rodeo. Not only that, I just bought a new car for my assignment over here and during the test drive I really must have been freaking out the seller. He kept saying “Other side of the road!, You can’t turn here!, look to the right!” Well, bring on the challenge!
Another interesting change is the vernacular.. These guys keep asking me if I want a fag? You typically don’t say things like this in the states unless you want trouble, but here it translates to “Do you want a cigarette?” Another friend of mine, Hanna, keeps saying “Go on, get your fancy dress on”. Well, I’m still not completely sure what that means but I assume its costume. I should probably keep a list of all these somewhere and if you know of any others then be sure to comment!
Here is a website that might help you “mijo”. Good luck.
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/