國外生活20年, 如何看待英國（文化衝擊）

國外生活20年, 如何看待英國（文化衝擊）

How I See The UK After 20 Years Abroad (CULTURE SHOCK)
Chinese Is Easy 2024年11月6日
I've been living abroad for 20 years. Here's how I now see the UK....
2024年11月6日 我在國外生活了20 年。以下是我現在對英國的看法....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv-rhfzIkME

觀眾評論
@teflerchina.2987 3 天前

我來自英國，自 2004 年以來一直在中國當老師，現在退休了。自從來中國後，除了在菲律賓度過兩周假期外，我一次也沒有出過國。我不想再回去了，因為我在這裏很開心，而且經濟狀況比我還在英國時要好。我自 2007 年結婚以來，花了相當於 4 萬英鎊的價格買了一套屬於自己的公寓。我當時有兩份工作，永遠也買不起房子。我的家鄉哈德斯菲爾德已經衰落了，商店空蕩蕩的，街道肮髒不堪，坑坑窪窪，犯罪率居高不下。

 

@LubaWang 3天前

我過去兩年在英國，我的孩子們在那裏參加壁球比賽，現在這個國家和我25年前第一次來的時候完全不一樣了。很多英國人都在挨餓，需要食物銀行，晚上感覺不安全，我們在那裏的時候幾乎沒有英國本地人為我們服務，我有時覺得自己可能在中東或東南亞的某個地方。

@colombard140 10小時前
作為一個鐵杆的親英派，看到那些無能的政客們連填補坑窪和幫助可憐的無家可歸者的能力都沒有，卻有數十億美元把軍艦和航空母艦派往南海，我真的感到惡心。

 

@franzMong 3天前

明白你的意思了！鮑裏斯·約翰遜和他之後的其他首相，甚至工黨的斯塔默都繼續向烏克蘭提供資金，用於打這場荒謬的戰爭。英國脫歐後，英國經濟正在迅速下滑。英國應該先照顧好自己的人民。

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主題

我於2004年離開英國，隨後的20年裏，我周遊世界，在中國生活，在日本生活，還去過 25 多個不同的國家，所以今年是我離開英國的 20 周年，在這段視頻中，我想與大家分享我在國外生活 20 年後對英國的看法，無論是好的、壞的還是醜陋的，但如果你剛來這裏，我的名字是 Fred Barton，我曾經是英國駐北京大使館的外交政策分析師和翻譯，現在我製作有關中國、英國和學習中文的視頻，我最近在英國待了 6 個月，看望我的家人，我剛從印度回來一個月，到達英國後，讓我印象深刻的第一件事就是道路狀況，坑坑窪窪，足以壓塌你的輪胎和輪輞你的車輪，卻沒有人對它們進行任何處理，我在這些道路上開車，甚至來自印度，我在英國地區的一些道路與我在印度部分地區看到的一樣，它們的維修狀態非常糟糕，沒有人對它們進行任何處理，在我在那裏的 6 個月裏，我看到某些路段的進展非常緩慢，但基本上道路和其他基礎設施領域都被遺棄了，任其腐爛和衰敗，我被告知這是因為政府沒有花錢翻新它們，而是投資於維修，這是一個非常非常明顯的影響，當我回到英國進行這次訪問時，這是讓我真正震驚的第一件事，即道路和許多一般基礎設施的維修狀態多麽糟糕，看起來被忽視了，非常破舊，這是我注意到的關於英國的第二件事，也是我之前注意到的我回國時遇到的問題是，英國的服務通常非常糟糕，沒有很強的服務文化。我在一家餐廳點了餐，一個年輕人接了我的訂單，他是一個不錯的人，但他衣冠不整，看起來不幹淨，臉上到處都是穿孔。我不是保守派，但他看起來很邋遢，手臂上有很多隨機的紋身，都是髒兮兮的劣質紋身，當我們接訂單時，他靠在桌子上，就像正對著我女朋友的臉，所以這很不專業。他看起來不幹淨，不適合在餐廳工作，這不是英國許多餐廳和其他地方的孤立案例，我知道英國的服務文化並不強，我知道這些人的 PID 可能不是特別好，但與其他國家相比，商店和餐館裏的人通常都很好非常警覺和細心，而且在英國，你得到的印象是，這些人剛起床，另一家店裏有一個人為我服務，看上去好像好幾個星期沒洗澡了，他並不想和我互動，因為我認為，英國的這些低薪工作讓人們覺得，這有失身份，他們不想做，所以很明顯，這會傳達給客戶，所以你的體驗通常很差，沒有強大的服務文化，我我明白這是由於經濟狀況造成的，我並不是想指責那些從事低薪工作的人，但作為客戶或消費者，你隻知道他們沒有給予客戶太多的關注或照顧，但一般來說，在我去過的英國以外的國家，客戶服務要好得多，對客戶的關注也更多，客戶體驗要好得多。我注意到的第三件事是，英國商業街的心髒被撕毀了，從我居住的市中心到我去看望父母的地方，那裏的許多商店和餐館現在都關門了，我知道這與新冠病毒和對經濟的影響有關，但在城裏走一走，它看起來就像一座鬼城，非常令人沮喪，那裏沒有了以前的活力，當你來自其他更繁榮的國家時，這給人一種非常沮喪的印象。活力 英國許多城鎮的市中心和商業街看起來荒涼、破舊、空蕩蕩的 我對英國的第四個看法是，外出就餐通常價格過高，浪費金錢，而且服務也不好，但食物通常做得不是特別好，食材似乎也不是特別好吃，價格昂貴，最近我回英國旅行時，我出去吃飯的時候，對同行的人說，我們可以自己在家做一頓更好的飯，這樣就不必忍受糟糕的服務、漫長的等待和糟糕的食物。有一次，我和家人出去慶祝周年紀念日，我媽媽開始抱怨等待，因為食物沒有煮熟，這太麻煩了，在家做飯會容易得多，所以我認為英國的待客文化不是很好，食物做得不是很好，然後你就要花一大筆錢因此，在我居住和旅行過的英國以外的所有國家，外出就餐通常相對便宜，而且很美味，比在家做飯更好，外出是一種樂趣，而在英國，這有點像拔牙，事後你真的會感覺到錢包鼓了。第五件讓我印象深刻的事情當然是英國的生活成本已經非常昂貴，我認為價格過高，而且與你在英國得到的東西相比性價比很低，但隨著生活成本的上升，它已經變得完全無法控製，我可以選擇長期居住，但我不可能留在英國，那次旅行後我直接去了台灣，回去探望我的家人，那裏的性價比太低了，現在隨著生活成本危機，情況更加糟糕，你可以在超市看到這種現象，FL 一個以前 60 美元的西蘭花現在這麽大，現在隻有 13 美元了它隻有網球那麽大，所以在一個在很多方麵已經非常昂貴的國家，東西變得更加昂貴，而你花的錢得到的卻更少，所以基本上僅憑這一點，我永遠不會選擇住在英國。我從國外回到英國後真正注意到的 SI 事情是，東西通常維護得不好，而且很髒。英國人不好好照顧東西，我說的是，在我住的市中心，保齡球館、電影院、麥當勞、星巴克這些地方都很髒，地毯真的很髒，玻璃上有油汙，所有東西看起來都很髒。這不僅僅是與日本這樣的地方相比，那裏的東西維護得一塵不染，甚至與菲律賓和東南亞其他我住過的地方相比，那裏的東西維護得要好得多，那裏對衛生的關注度更高清潔度和建築物、商店和餐館通常似乎維護得更好，保持了更高的衛生標準，你可以看到，即使在體育中心，廁所裏也充滿尿液，人們在廁所裏留下陰毛，諸如此類的事情，英國很多這樣的場所的衛生或清潔水平都不是很好，這就引出了我在英國注意到的第七點，我以前從未考慮過，嗯，回到英國後，我發現英國的一般衛生標準實際上並不那麽好，我從未認為自己是一個肮髒或不衛生的人，但在與來自不同國家的女性交往後，她們很驚訝我睡覺前不洗澡，或者我有其他她們認為非常不衛生的習慣，我想說，尤其是在東南亞，個人衛生水平極高，這顯然與個人收入無關，人們經常洗澡我知道，這並不完全正確，我所在的越南有很多人現在，在其他地方，我看到人們的口腔衛生狀況很差，但一般來說，尤其是女性，她們會更多地洗澡，東西也保持得更幹淨，而且，在亞洲生活了這麽久之後，有一種習慣對我來說真的非常奇怪，那就是在家裏穿著你在外麵穿過的鞋子，你在肮髒的人行道上走來走去，人們會吐口水，狗會在上麵撒尿，那裏可能還有狗糞，你的腳底有很多細菌，然後你就穿著這些戶外鞋走進你的家，把這些細菌蹭到地毯上，這看起來非常奇怪，韓國、日本、中國幾乎東南亞國家幾乎任何地方的人都認為這種做法非常奇怪，你為什麽要用從外麵帶進來的所有這些細菌來玷汙你自己的家，這對我來說完全合理，所以我總是把鞋子放在門外，穿著室內拖鞋，我知道人們會說你有在英國，人們不需要脫鞋，但我發現這是一種更普遍的做法，人們會說，哦，不，你不需要脫鞋，人們會穿著鞋在家裏走來走去，而這在我去過的大多數國家都是不會發生的。在國外呆了這麽久，我注意到的關於英國的第八件事是，牙科和醫療保健係統看起來基本上是壞的。我知道你仍然可以預約全科醫生，你可以進入候補名單。如果需要，你可以等一年或兩年才能做手術，但我不想這樣做。我寧願去東南亞或其他國家，在那裏我可以快速輕鬆地支付優質標準的牙科和醫療保健費用。前幾天，我在越南做了核磁共振檢查，我現在在那裏，我立即得到了預約，這個過程花費了大約 120 英鎊。我和醫生做了分析，一切都在幾個小時內完成了，我不需要坐在等待名單
18 個月牙科也一樣，我可以打電話預約，差不多當天就可以得到一流的治療，大約 40 英鎊就可以得到牙科治療，而在英國，這大約是這個費用的 10 倍，所以我寧願在國外這些國家私下支付費用，在那裏我可以得到快速、高質量的服務，隻需進出和護理，而且服務質量非常好，我注意到的第九件事是，英國人普遍情緒低落，生活質量很低，我以前也見過這種情況，這對我來說並不是什麽新鮮事，但自從離開這麽久之後，這種情緒就更加明顯了，而在西班牙、葡萄牙、意大利、南歐等國家，人們會一起吃飯，一起在外麵喝酒，我知道這當然與氣候有關，英格蘭的很多問題都與氣候有關，你不能出去，你不能身體放鬆，因為天氣很冷，但英國看起來很沉悶、灰暗和沮喪，現在很多地方的酒吧都關門了，這似乎是人們唯一的選擇實際上，享受生活的方式就是在家看電視、喝酒、吃超市或外賣店的食物，這似乎是一種非常糟糕的生活享受方式，即使在我居住過的貧窮國家，也有娛樂的方式，即使在日本這樣的地方，你隻要花幾英鎊就可以去澡堂，人們可以一起做一些有益健康的公共活動，而不必像在英國那樣隻圍繞著喝酒或看足球，對於很多外國人來說，有很多可以負擔得起的小東西，比如外出就餐、和朋友一起吃飯、出去按摩、去澡堂，這些小事都能給你帶來一點生活的樂趣，而在英國，我們似乎並沒有這樣的樂趣，這是一個非常分散的社會，人們放鬆的主要方式似乎是在電視機前吃垃圾食品、看足球或喝酒，好吧，這些都是負麵方麵自從在國外呆了這麽久，我注意到了英國，但我也看到了英國的積極一麵，我非常喜歡英國的第一件事是，我所在城鎮的健身房和休閑中心的會員資格價格實惠，每月約 30 美元，我可以使用一個非常好的健身房，它有一個 25 米長的遊泳池，它有一個桑拿浴室和一個蒸汽浴室，它真的很棒，即使在像越南這樣非常便宜的國家，我現在居住的健身房會員費仍然很高，我和一位最近從巴利來訪的朋友談過，他說那裏的健身房會員費高得驚人，高達 300 美元是相當正常的事情，所以我真的很喜歡英國便宜實惠的休閑中心，我認為它們很棒，對我來說，我喜歡運動，我喜歡鍛煉，這是我自我護理所需的日常練習，所以這對我來說有很大的不同，與此相關的是食物和飲食我已經想好了要吃好吃的
而且我一直都很喜歡英國的超市，我經常注意到，在國外生活多年後，我會回來參觀，英國的食品購物總是最好的，雖然它受到了生活成本的嚴重影響，很多東西甚至都沒有上架，當我最近去肥皂超市時，雞蛋是定量供應的，其他東西實際上沒有庫存，但總的來說，這仍然可能是我在我居住或旅行過的任何國家遇到的最好的食品購物，除了越南，那裏有令人驚歎的農產品，如果你想要健康食品，你可以買到羽衣甘藍甜菜，它很便宜，我真的很喜歡這裏的食品購物，但與台灣和日本等食物極其昂貴的地方相比，這裏的選擇有限，我真的很感激能夠在超市買到優質產品和種類繁多的東西，還有健康食品，而且通常沒有添加很多糖英國
在國外待了這麽久之後，我欣賞的第三件事是英國的整體文化，就平麵媒體電視廣播喜劇而言，我在國外時真的很想念喜劇，我認為英國的喜劇是無與倫比的，呃，去過
很棒的脫口秀節目，無論你想去劇院聽 Radio 4 上的節目，我確實認為英國在這些方麵是無與倫比的，因為喜劇深深植根於我們的語言中，所以你真的很想念這一點
在國外，英國的幽默感非常獨特，隻有當你回到英國時，你才能真正滿足這種渴望，我想說的第三件事是，自從離開以來，我欣賞英國的工匠的素質，例如，現在是越南的雨季，晚上下了大雨，窗戶漏水，我叫來了一個工匠，他用布擦了擦窗戶，因為雨已經停了，他說沒有問題，現在沒事了，我解釋說，如果今天下午和晚上又開始下雨，窗戶會漏水，但他不想做任何事情，他基本上說風已經修好了，基本上就是用幹抹布擦拭窗戶，等著它稍後再次被水淹沒，但英國工匠的素質非常好，我住過很多不同的公寓，住過世界各地和許多不同國家的公寓，如果出了問題，如果你的公寓天花板漏水，或者你住在國外時，你的房子有其他問題，你經常會讓一個人進來，他隻是沒有技能，他不知道他得到的報酬非常非常少，他會抽著煙進來，看著這個東西幾個小時，然後說，是的，我認為沒關係，我在它上麵貼了一些膠帶你知道，英國的房屋維修和保養工作做得並不好，所以我很欣賞英國的工匠們。第四件我非常欣賞英國的地方是鄉村，我從小在鄉村長大，所以我認為鄉村是理所當然的。但是，我在北京、德裏、東京等人口密集的地區待過很長時間，然後回到英國，在鄉村度過一段時間。特別是如果天氣好轉，英國有一些獨特之處。這是一種無與倫比的自然美景。我真的很欣賞英國的很多自然美景，無論是康沃爾的海岸線，還是蘇格蘭的高地，這些都是我小時候無法真正看到的東西，因為我已經習慣了。但去年我又回來了，短暫地參觀了這些地方，看到這些地方，你確實會驚訝於英國很多地方的自然美景。最後一件事在國外生活了這麽久之後，我學會了真正欣賞英國，因為英國人在國外生活了這麽多年，我回國時所擁有的那種調侃水平是我懷念的，顯然是因為你們有共同的語言和文化，所以你們可以以一種比與其他人更友好、更親密的方式互動，盡管我在國外能說得很好，很多國外的人也非常友好，你可以和他們開玩笑，英國人有一些獨特之處，我過去認為他們非常冷漠，但隨著年齡的增長，我意識到那是一種自我防禦機製，英國人看起來很內向，很冷漠，但如果你在郵局或超市排隊時和某人聊天，他們會露出微笑，你知道防禦性嚴肅的麵具通常會摘下來，他們會開始和你聊天，他們很健談，很友好，除了美國人極其親社會，我認為英國他們是我知道的最健談的人，我真的很喜歡那種玩笑，這也是我有時在國外生活時會想念的事情之一，所以，這就是我在英國生活的優點和缺點，總的來說，我無意搬回那裏，對我來說，缺點多於優點，但如果你想了解更多關於我在中國和國外生活的經曆，以及我對這些國家的看法，那麽請在這裏查看我的視頻

How I See The UK After 20 Years Abroad (CULTURE SHOCK)

Chinese Is Easy 2024年11月6日
I've been living abroad for 20 years. Here's how I now see the UK....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv-rhfzIkME

Viewers Commnets
@teflerchina.2987 3天前
I am from England and have been in China since 2004 as a teacher and now as a retiree. Not been out of the country once since arriving apart from a two week vacation in the Philippines. Not interested in returning as I am happy here and financially well off compared to what I would be if I was still in England. I have been married since 2007 and bought our own apartment for the equivalent of 40 thousand quid. I would never have been able to buy a home with the two jobs I had. My home town of Huddersfield has gone downhill with empty shops, dirty streets, potholes and a high crime rate.

@LubaWang 3天前
I have been in UK last 2 years as my children playing squash tournaments there, it's a completely different country from when I first visit 25 years ago. So many English are starving, needing food bank, felt unsafe at night, hardly any local English people were service us while we were there, I felt sometimes I might be in middle east or somewhere in SE Asia.

@colombard140 10小時前
As an iverterate diehard anglophile, it really makes me sick to see how the incompetent politicians are not capable of filling up the potholes and helping the poor miserable homeless and yet have billions of dollars to send warships and aircraft carriers to the South China Sea.

@franzMong 3天前
Understand what you said! Still Boris Johnson and other prime ministers after him, even the Labor party's Starmer continued sending money to Ukraine for fighting the ridiculous war. After Brexit, UK's economy is declining fast. UK should take care her own people first.
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Main Topic

I left the UK in 2004 and spent the next
20 years traveling the world living in
China living in Japan and over 25
different countries so this year marks
the 20th anniversary of me leaving the
UK and in this video I want to share
with you The Good the Bad and the Ugly
of how I now see the UK after these 20
years abroad but if you're new here my
name is Fred Barton and I used to be a
foreign policy analyst and interpreter
at the British Embassy in Beijing and I
now make videos about China the UK and
learning Chinese I recently spent 6
months back in the UK on a visit there
to see my family and I was coming from a
month in India and the first thing that
struck me when arriving in the UK was
the state of the roads the potholes were
insane they were enough to cave in your
tires and cave in the rims of your
wheels and nothing was being done about
them I was driving around on these roads
and this was even coming from India and
some of the roads in my area in the UK
were equivalent to the roads I was
seeing in part of India they were in a
terrible state of repair and nobody was
doing anything about them in the 6
months that I was there I saw some very
slow progress on certain stretches of
road but basically the roads and other
areas of infrastructure were being left
to rot and Decay and I was told that it
was because there wasn't government
spending to refurbish them to invest in
repairs and it was a very very
noticeable impact when I moved back to
the UK for this visit it was one of the
first things that really really struck
me of just what a bad state of repair
the roads and lots of the general
infrastructure was in things looked
neglected and very rundown the second
thing I noticed about the UK and which
i' noticed before on other trips back
home is that the service is generally
very bad in the UK there isn't a strong
service culture I ordered a meal in a
restaurant the young guy taking my order
he was a nice enough guy but he was
unkempt he didn't look clean he had
piercings all over his face I'm not some
old fart conserv ative but he just
looked messy for the job he had a lot of
random tattoos just dirty poor quality
tattoos all over his arms and he was
leaning on the table like right into my
girlfriend's face when we were taking
the order so it was just unprofessional
he didn't look clean to be working in a
restaurant and this is not an isolated
case across many restaurants and other
places in the UK I know that there is
not a strong service culture and I know
these guys are probably not PID
particularly well but in comparison to
other countries people in shops and
restaurants they're generally well
presented they are usually pretty alert
and attentive and often times in the UK
the impression that you get is that
these people have just rolled out of bed
there was one guy in another shop who
was serving me looked like he hadn't
washed for weeks didn't really want to
interact with me because I think these
low paid jobs in the UK people feel that
it's beneath them they don't want to do
them so obviously that then comes across
to the customer so your experience
generally is very poor there is not a
strong service culture I understand it's
due to to economic conditions and I'm
not trying to slam the people in these
poorly paid jobs but as a customer or
consumer you just know that there isn't
a lot of attention or care given to the
customer but just generally in the
countries that I've been in outside of
England customer service is much better
and there's just more attention to the
customer and the customer experience is
much better the third thing that I
noticed about the UK is that the heart
has been ripped out of the British High
Street out of the Town Center where I
lived where I went to visit my parents
so many of the shops that were and
restaurants that were there had now been
boarded up and I know this is to do with
covid and the impact on the economy but
just walking around town it looked like
a ghost town it's very depressing the
none of the vibrancy was there that
there was before and it just gives a
very depressing impression when you've
come from other countries where there is
more prosperity and vibrancy the town
center and the High Street in a lot of
UK towns looks deserted and rundown and
empty my fourth view on the UK is that
eating out is generally overpriced and a
waste of money this is also combined
with a lack of good service but the food
is normally not cooked particularly well
the ingredients don't seem to be
particularly amazing it costs a fortune
and the times that I went out to eat on
my recent trip back to England I said to
the people that I was with that we could
have just cooked a better meal ourselves
at home and we wouldn't have had to go
through the poor service the long wait
the poor food there was one occasion
when I went out with my family it was an
anniversary and then my mom kicked off
at the waiting stuff because the food
was uncooked and it just created too
much hassle it would have just been much
easier to cook at home so I don't think
England does the hospitality culture
very well it doesn't do food very well
and then you're charged a fortune for it
so in all the countries basically
outside of the UK that I've lived in and
traveled to eating out is usually
relatively cheap it's delicious it's
better than you could cook at home it's
a joy to go out whereas in England it's
kind of like pulling teeth and you
really feel it in your wallet afterwards
the fifth thing that struck me of course
was the cost of living England was
already very expensive and I think
overpriced and poor value for money for
what you got in England but with the
cost of living it had become completely
unmanageable I had the option of staying
long but there was no way I would have
stayed in England I moved on to Taiwan
directly after that trip back to visit
my family and it's just such poor value
for money and now with the cost of
living crisis it's even worse and you
see this in the supermarkets the shrink
FL a head of broccoli that was 60 before
would be this big and now it's like13
and it's barely the size of a tennis
ball so in a country that was already
prohibitively expensive in a lot of ways
things have got even more expensive and
you get even less for your money so
basically based on that alone I would
never really choose to live in England
the SI thing I really noticed coming
back to the UK from abroad is that
things are generally not wellmaintained
and they are dirty British people do not
look after stuff very well and I'm
talking about in the Town Center where I
live the bowling alley the cinema the
McDonald's the Starbucks these places
were all Filthy the carpets were really
dirty there were greasy smears on the
glass everything just seemed very dirty
and this is not just in comparison to
places like Japan where things are
immaculately maintained even compared to
places like the Philippines and other
places in Southeast Asia where I've
lived things are maintained much better
there's there's a much greater focus on
hygiene and cleanliness and buildings
and shops and restaurants generally seem
to be maintained much better and kept to
a higher hygienic standard you see it
even in sports centers where the toilets
wreak of urine and they leave pubic
hairs in the toilets and this kind of
thing there just isn't a very good level
of hygiene or cleanliness in a lot of
these establishments in the UK and this
leads on to the seventh point which I
noticed in the UK which I never
considered before um after coming back
to the UK I see that the the general
standard of hygiene is not actually that
good in the UK I never considered myself
a dirty or unhygienic person but having
been in relationships with women from
various different countries they were
surprised that I didn't shower before
going to bed or that I had other
practices that they thought were quite
unhygienic I would say especially in
Southeast Asia the level of personal
hygiene is extremely high and this is
obviously not related to personal income
people do often shower a lot more and I
know this is not true across the board a
lot of people in Vietnam where I am now
and in other places I've seen have poor
oral hygiene but generally the women
especially they will shower a lot more
things are just kept a lot cleaner and
one habit that really seemed completely
alien and strange to me after living in
Asia for so long is the practice of
wearing shoes inside the house that
you've worn outside you've been walking
around dirty Pavements which people have
spat on there's chewing gum on there
dogs have peed on there potentially
there's dog mess there lots of germs on
the sole of your feet and then you just
walk into your house with these outdoor
shoes on and rub those germs into the
carpet seemed extremely strange and
people in Korea Japan China almost
Southeast Asian countries almost
anywhere see this practice as completely
bizarre of why would you desecrate your
own home with all these germs that
you're dragging in from the outside and
it's made complete sense to me so I've
always left my shoes outside the door
and had inside slippers and I know
people would say you have slippers in
the UK but I've seen it as a much more
common practice where people are like oh
no you don't need to take your shoes off
and people do walk around in their shoes
in the house which would never happen in
most countries that I've been in abroad
the eigh thing that I've noticed about
the UK since being abroad for so long is
that the dentistry and the Health Care
system looks basically broken I know
that you can still get an appointment
with a GP you can get on a waiting list
you can wait a year or two years for an
operation if you need to but I don't
want to do that I'd much rather be in
Southeast Asia or other countries where
I can just pay quickly and easily for
excellent standard dentistry and healthc
care I went for an MRI the other day in
in Vietnam where I am now I got an
appointment immediately the process cost
me about £120 I had an analysis with the doctor
everything was done within a few hours I
wasn't made to sit on a waiting list for
18 months same with Dentistry I can call
up get an appointment more or less on
the same day get first class treatment
and for about £40 I got dental treatment
that would cost about 10 times that in
the UK so I would far rather pay
privately in these countries abroad
where I can get rapid very high quality
service just be in and out and the care
and the quality of the service is
excellent the ninth thing that I noticed
about the UK is that people are
generally depressed there's very little
quality of life and I've seen this
before this is nothing new to me but
it's really emphasized since being away
for so long whereas in countries like
Spain Portugal Italy southern Europe
they eat together they will drink
outside together and I know this is
related to the climate of course a lot
of the problems in England are related
to The Climate you can't go out you
can't physically relax cuz it's cold but
the UK just looks very dull and gray and
depressed and now that the pubs have
been closed in many places it looks like
the only option for people to actually
enjoy themselves is to watch TV and
drink at home and eat food from the
supermarket or takeaways and that just
seems like a very poor way to enjoy your
life even in poorer countries where I've
lived abroad there are ways of having
fun and even in places like Japan you
can go to a bath house for just a few
pounds and there's like wholesome
communal activities that people can do
together it doesn't just have to revolve
around drinking or watching football
like it does in the UK there are little
things little treats that are affordable
for a lot of people abroad whether it is
eating out going for a meal with friends
out going for a massage going to as I
say the bath house these small things
just give you that bit of joy of Life
which in the UK we don't really seem to
have it's a very atomized Society the
main way people seem to relax is by
eating crap in front of the TV or
watching foot or drinking alcohol okay
so those are the negative aspects that
I've noticed about the UK since being
abroad for so long but there are
positive things that I've seen about the
UK as well and the first thing which I
absolutely love about the UK is
Affordable memberships to gyms and
Leisure centers in my local town for
about 30 a month I get access to a very
good gym it has a 25 meter swimming pool
it has a sauna a steam room and it
really is excellent even in countries
which are very cheap like Vietnam where
I'm living right now now gym memberships
are still high I spoke to a friend who
recently visited from barley he said gym
memberships are astronomical over there
up to like $300 as a fairly normal thing
so I do really love the cheap affordable
Leisure centers in the UK I think
they're excellent and for me I love
sports I love working out it's a daily
practice that I need for my self-care so
that makes a massive difference to me
related to this is food and diet once
I've worked out I want to get good food
and I've always loved the super markets
in the UK what I always noticed after
years abroad I would come back for a
visit and the shopping the food shopping
in UK was always the best and although
it has been impacted massively by the
cost of living and a lot of things were
not even available on the shelves when I
went to my soap supermarkets recently
there were a ration on eggs and other
things were actually not in stock I
would say overall it is still probably
the best food shopping that I've
encountered anywhere in any of the
countries that I've lived in or traveled
to apart from possibly Vietnam which has
amazing produce if you want healthy food
you can get kale beetro it's affordable
I really love the food shopping here but
in comparison to places like Taiwan and
Japan where the the food is extremely
expensive there's limited range I really
appreciate it being able to get good
quality produce and a massive range of
stuff and also healthy stuff and often
stuff that didn't have a lot of added
sugar in the supermarkets in the UK
after so long abroad the third thing
that I appreciate about the UK is its
overall culture and in terms of print
media television radio comedy I really
miss the comedy when I'm abroad I think
the UK comedy is unparalleled uh been to
Great standup shows whether you want to
go to theater listening to programs on
Radio 4 I do think the UK is
unparalleled in those areas and because
comedy is so deeply ingrained in our
language and so on you really miss that
being abroad the UK sense of humor is
very unique and you can only really
scratch that itch when you come back to
the UK and the third thing I would say
about the UK that I appreciate since
being away is the quality of Trades
people so for example it's the rainy
season here in Vietnam there was Heavy
downpours in the night the windows were
leaking water I called in a Tradesman
and he basically rubbed the windows down
with a cloth to dry them and because the
rain had stopped he then said there's no
problem now it's okay and I explained
that if the rain starts to pour again
which is going to do this afternoon and
evening there is going to be more
leakage from the windows but he didn't
want to do anything about it he
basically said the wind it's fixed for
now which basically involved him rubbing
a dry rag over the windows and waiting
for it to flood again later but the
quality of Tradesmen in the UK is very
good and having lived in a lot of
different condos a lot of different
apartments throughout the world and
through many different countries is a
consistent thing if anything goes wrong
if you've got a leak in the ceiling in
your apartment or another problem with
your house when you're living abroad
often you will get some guy to come in
and he just isn't skilled he doesn't
have a clue he's getting paid very very
little money and he'll come in smoking a
cigarette look at the thing for a few
hours and be like yeah I think it's okay
I put some gaffa tape over the hole you
know it's so things don't get done well
in terms of repair and maintenance on
your houses so I do appreciate the
trades people in the UK the fourth thing
that I really appreciate about the UK is
the countryside and having grown up in
the countryside I took it for granted
but having spent a lot of time in very
builtup areas like Beijing in Delhi
Tokyo then coming back to the UK and
spending time in the countryside
especially if the weather is good for a
change there is something unique about
that it has it is kind of a type of
unparalleled natural beauty and I do
actually really appreciate a lot of the
natural beauty there is in the UK
whether it's the coastline in Cornwall
the highlands in Scotland this is
something that I couldn't really see
because I was so used to it growing up
as a child but moving been back for a
quick visit last year and seeing these
places it does strike you how naturally
beautiful a lot of the UK is and the
final thing that I've learned to really
appreciate about the UK after so much
time abroad is the British people having
lived abroad for so many years the level
of banter that I have when I come back
home is something that I miss and
obviously because you have a shared
language and a culture you can interact
in a much friendly more intimate way
than you can with other people even
though I speak some languages quite well
abroad and a lot of people abroad are
also very friendly and you can have
banter with them there is something
unique about the British people and I
used to think that they were very
standoffish and cold but as I've got
older I've realized that that's kind of
a self-defense mechanism British people
appear very reserved and quite cold but
if you open them in conversation when
you chat to someone in the line at the
post office or the supermarket they
crack that smile you know the defensive
serious mask comes off usually and they
start chatting to you they're very
chatty very friendly and apart from
Americans who are are extremely
pro-social I think the English are some
of the chattiest people that I know and
I just really enjoy that banter and that
is one of the things that I do miss
sometimes when I am living abroad so
there you go those are my good and bad
points about living in the UK overall I
have no intention to move back there the
negatives outweigh the positives for me
but if you want to know more about my
experiences living in China and living
abroad and my views on those countries
then check out my videos here