the holiday season

halloween

the holiday season is a fun time of year in the UK.  it begins in october with halloween.  there are several good halloween activities in and around the london area to choose from, although many run all year round.  the ghost bus is similar to the london tour buses, except it takes you to some of the “haunted” and spooky sites of london.  also, the ghost bus has a couple of costumed performers to keep you entertained along the way.  personally, i think it’s a fun thing to do as a tourist, but if you’re a london resident, most of the sites will already be familiar to you, so might not be too thrilling.

for halloween, my favorite thing to do is a ghost walk.  there are a number throughout the whole of england.  there are also several jack-the-ripper walks in london.  these walks usually fill up really quickly for halloween, so need to be booked far in advance.  although ghost walks can be cold and cover long distances, for me, it’s better than the bus tour, because you can get right up close to the sites, rather than being enclosed in a bus the entire time.

guy fawkes day and political holidays

“remember, remember, the fifth of november”

the movie v for vendetta seems to have brought this british holiday to the american consciousness.  also known as ‘bonfire night’, guy fawkes day celebrates nov 5^th, 1605, when a plot to blow up parliament was foiled.  every year, the british mark this anniversary by putting on magnificent fireworks displays throughout england, similar to july 4^th (a holiday which is not celebrated in england).

a couple of other political celebrations follow guy fawkes day.  there’s the lord mayor’s show in mid-november, which is a historic procession dating back 800yrs.  each year, according to tradition, the mayor must make a journey to the royal courts of justice and pledge his loyalty.  today, this has resulted in an extensive, 3-mile-long parade with floats and pageantry.  it’s a fantastic chance to see a part of british history, and to witness a tradition that’s been taking place every year for nearly a millennium.

the day after the lord mayor’s show is remembrance sunday.  similar to veterans day in america, this is a time when those in the UK honor their world war veterans.  memorial services are held throughout the UK, such as on whitehall in london, which is attended by the royal family and notable politicians.  the weeks leading up to remembrance sunday are marked by the poppy appeal, a widespread charity event where artificial red poppies are bought and worn on clothing, with proceeds going towards the royal british legion, a charity for british war veterans and their families.

- the lord mayor's show:

thanksgiving

thanksgiving is an american holiday and isn’t celebrated here in the UK, so it’s a bit weird coming over to england and finding this important holiday abruptly missing from the calendar.  most years, you’ll have to work right through thanksgiving with no one else around you acknowledging its existence.  so, if you’re an american ex-pat, be prepared and plan a gathering with other american ex-pats.  also, anticipate getting a lot of questions about what exactly thanksgiving is.  in england, it’s often described as “a second christmas”, since the british usually serve a large turkey roast as a christmas meal.

christmas

this is, without a doubt, the biggest holiday in the UK.  no matter what your religion is (the UK is largely an atheistic country), you will celebrate christmas in a non-religious way.  here in england, they take their christmas decorations very seriously.  so if you’re in london in november and december, you can enjoy giant, spectacular christmas displays everywhere you go.  while i’ve always spent christmas in the states, i’ve heard that being in the UK over the christmas holidays is a bore, since everything’s closed.  so do not come to england on christmas.

- christmas decorations in london and newcastle:

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the london southbank

the london southbank is a great place to have a lazy stroll during the warm summer months.  this little strip of land gets its name from being on the southern bank of the river thames in central london.  along the southbank, you’ll find the shakespeare globe theatre, the royal festival hall, the national theatre, and the london eye.

london is definitely a great place to be if you’re a fan of theatre.  at the shakespeare globe theatre, you can see shakespeare’s plays in an authentic period setting.  the royal festival hall hosts concerts, while the national theatre is home to dramatic, artsy plays.  this past summer, i often went to the southbank, since i live within easy walking distance.  over the summer, the national theatre usually sets up giant green couches outside of its front doors.  these are fun to lounge around on and to take photos of. =)

 

i also had the pleasure of going to the royal festival hall’s weekend food festivals.  the cheese and wine festival, as well as the charcuterie festival, were particularly memorable for me – it’s great to just wander around in the early autumn weather and munch on some free samples. =)  the southbank centre also hosts weekend food markets, every week, behind the royal festival hall.

if you’re still hungry after the food markets, then walk down to the river towards the london eye.  along the way, you’ll pass beneath the hungerford bridge, which is flanked by the beautiful golden jubilee footbridges – the view from the footbridges is spectacular, and it’s a nice place to take photos of the thames and parliament.  but before you start crossing the bridge, why not grab an ice cream?  in the summer and early autumn, london is flooded with classic ice cream trucks; there are usually a couple of them parked along the southbank, between the hungerford bridge and the london eye.  i usually get my ice cream from an old-school cornish ice cream truck, which serves up rich, creamy ice cream made from cornwall’s famous clotted cream.  there are many street performers in this area, so get some ice cream and take some time to soak in the sights and sounds.

 

not far from the ice cream trucks is the london eye, an iconic landmark that offers great night views of parliament.  the best time to take a ride up the london eye is during sunset.  if you have a tripod, then definitely bring it with you, since you can get some magnificent night photos of parliament from atop the london eye. =)

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- golden jubilee footbridge, hungerford bridge:

anti-americanism

i first came over to england in 2005 when bush was still president and the iraq war was very unpopular.  and so, there was a lot of anti-americanism going around.  there were giant signs and graffiti in the metro stations, saying things like, “nothing good comes out of america!” (really? then why’re you all buying it up, then?  coca cola, starbucks, and all those american movies, etc. don’t keep themselves in business, after all.)  as for bush, it’s amazing how readily people indiscriminately associate every citizen with his/her government.  no, like many other americans, i did not support the bush administration and i did not vote for him, contrary to what terrorists seem to think.

like racism and other forms of discrimination, anti-americanism is based on nothing more than crude stereotypes that are only caricatures of reality.  the worst part is that, unlike racism, anti-americanism is considered to be okay and socially acceptable, even though it is based on the same level of ignorance.

at the end of the day, If You Have Not Lived In The States, Then You Do Not Know America.  and no, going there on holiday for a few days does not count.  america is like a worldwide celebrity that everyone hears about, but whom few people actually know in person.  nevertheless, because of all the gossip, everyone thinks they know everything about this celebrity, when really, all they have are bits of distorted truths.  for example, i heard people say things like, “but america’s so racist, they’ll never elect obama!”

surprisingly, living abroad makes you more patriotic.  in the states, you hear about anti-americanism, and for some reason, you become apologetic, probably because you’re at home, surrounded by other americans, and anti-americanism is just something far away, across the seas.  but when you’re living alone in a foreign country, encountering anti-americanism on a regular basis, you become very defensive, and no less because the discriminatory assumptions are so erroneous.

a lot of anti-americanism appears to result from culture clashes and a seeming inability to appreciate american culture.  you’ll hear people say that america has “no history” and “no culture”, which makes no sense whatsoever.  we might not have a long history that spans thousands of years, and we might be an amalgamation of a wide variety of cultures from around the world, but that in itself is american culture and identity.

americans are also seen as brutish and ignorant, but again, this results largely from cultural differences.  european culture values being an “artist” and an “intellectual”, while american culture values the “ordinary man” and being “real” and “down to earth”.  so, people here in england tend to talk themselves up, pretending to know things they don’t and trying to sound smarter than they are.  in the states, however, if you don’t know something, then you just say so, and even if you are ridiculously intelligent and accomplished, you play it down.  so when the two cultures meet, americans come off as “less intelligent”, when it’s mostly just outward posturing than the reality.  besides, how can americans be stupid when many of the world’s best universities are in america?

here in more socialist europe, you’ll also find an idealistic (and perhaps, naïve) contempt of capitalism and the american dream.  yes, we may be a capitalist nation, but we’re not without aid for the homeless, disabled, and unemployed, etc.  moreover, from what i’ve seen, a lack of competition decreases the quality of nearly everything, because, let’s face it, most people are fundamentally self-serving and lazy, disinclined to work harder when an increase in taxes with salary takes away a large chunk of pay and the incentive along with it.

thankfully, anti-americanism has drastically decreased with obama’s election.  hopefully, the future will be brighter – after all, things could only get better from here, i hope…

what do you think about anti-americanism?

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