(quote from Bear Bryant)
30th of April in 2018:
Until now in my work experience, I collected many things, which I notice that they are different from Germany. Let me show you some examples:
1. school uniforms
Every time I went to work or walk around in the city during the week, I saw a lot of students, who are wearing school uniforms. They have a long history back to the 16th century. Today almost every school (from primary school to high school) are letting students wear school uniforms.
I couldn’t take pictures because it’s bad manners. But I am envious of them, cause they look adorable. I wish, we would have them in Germany as well.
2. similar houses
The houses in an alley look alike. Sometimes it is creepy because you can’t find your home like me. Nearly every time, I lose my way ^^‘.
3.banknotes and coins (£)
In the United Kingdom Bank of England is the central bank of the UK but retail banks have the right to print their banknotes.
In Northern Ireland they have the following retail banks:
– Bank of Ireland
– First Trust Bank
– Danske Bank
– Ulster Bank
In this picture, you can see a bank note of Bank of England. I put them into for comparison. In the beginning, I was confused to get different banknotes for the same value.
The back side of the coins made armorial bearings.
4.tea
People in the United Kingdom are enjoying a lot of tea. According wikipedia.org *x.x shame on me for using this site* they consume 1.9 kg of tea annual.
They often have them with milk. It sounds weird, but at least try it. It doesn’t taste bad. As a passionate tea drinker, I enjoy the tea culture much.
At work, we also have the tea break. ‚British workers by law, have the right to a minimum of a twenty-minute break in a shift of six hours; government guidelines describe this as „a tea or lunch break“.‘ according to wikipedia.org. It sounds quite delightful to me.
5. waste separation:
I don’t like the way the people handle their trash. Everything is putting into one trash. It’s a shame because it’s not good for the environment.
6. dissipation of plastic
The seller uses a lot of plastic: E.g.
-The crisps bags (Each portion is in a separate plastic bag. Sometimes you buy one big one, and it contains twenty other small ones.)
-The packaging of milk is plastic bottles, which is handy sometimes because you can reuse the container. Unfortunately, we can’t recycle them because there isn’t any recycling system as in Germany.
6.R-, N-, L-sign at a car
They only have these sign in Ireland. They need them to identify ’special‘ drivers here.
L = Learners
N = Novice, which you can’t find in Belfast
R = Restricted, you are just allowed to speed up your car to 45 mph (72 km/h) within your first year after passing your driving license
You can find an excellent article here: Learner, Novice, and Restricted Drivers in Ireland
7.language
Of course, the language is different. English is one of the world languages next to Chinese(Mandarin), French, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic.
8. non-alcoholic zone
The United Kingdom has alcohol-free zones, where you have to pay when you are caught by drinking alcohol. But it’s bad manners if you consume your drink the public. I’ve never seen a person with a bottle of wine, beer or whatever, in their hand.
In Germany, it would be inconceivable to have a non-alcoholic area.
In conclusion, I have to say I love Northern Ireland and its culture, its nature and its city.
-Huong Giang-
PS: By the way, a short update about my accommodation:
Due to a lot of complications, which made me worried, in our house, Son and I put a request to move to Jenny’s, Dome’s and Phi’s accommodation. Fortune was with us, and we are allowed to move from our place to their house. It made me very happy when I received the message. Thank you guys for your support by making a statement as well. I hope, the time from now on will be more pleasant than before. I am looking forward.