http://youtu.be/rNu8XDBSn10
Everything I ever wanted to know about my country.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Meet the Prime Minister
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| Remember how yesterday I didn't even know the Prime Minister? This is David Cameron. No, I don't know about his politics. No I don't know about his voting record. No I don't know whether he's English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish. However, I do know his name. |
Citizenship
cit-i-zen-ship [sit-uh-zuhn-ship]
noun
1. the state of being vested with the rights, privileges and duties of a citizen.
2. the character of an individual viewed as a member of society; behavior in terms of the duties, obligations and functions of a citizen
Did you catch that? "Vested with the rights, privileges and duties of a citizen. What does that even mean??
Did you catch that? "Vested with the rights, privileges and duties of a citizen. What does that even mean??
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
IdEnTItY cRiSIs!!
Just the other day I was writing a paper for my Anthropology class, in which I had to personally define my culture. I decided on the wording "I'm an American citizen who is insanely proud of her British heritage." I decided on that definition because it was the perfect wording for me.
It held for about 5 days.
I've been bugging my Mum for months to call the British consulate to figure out what I needed to do to get my dual citizenship. I was thinking along the lines of take some tests, maybe submit a paper on why I felt I would make a good citizen, possibly identify a legit Cadbury's chocolate bar among some impostor bars...you know, typical citizenship stuff. I was more than happy to do whatever was necessary for me to get that passport! So, you can imagine my surprise when my Mum texted me in class informing me that I had in fact been a citizen of the UK since the day that I was born. I was super stoked! I even told my friend sitting next to me about it because it was so cool! I told my friends who I was texting at the time, and I figured that was that.
Ha. Yeah right.
Here's the deal, I have taken my citizenship here in the US pretty seriously for a 22 year old blond girl. I pride myself on the fact that I could pass the citizenship test with flying colors if I needed to, I vote (and not just that, I vote responsibly ever since that one time that I based my vote on who had the coolest name and I seriously stress about it even now. Lesson learned.), I try and stay informed about the issues facing the country and I'm making choices now so that I can stay informed and be a contributing member of society later in life. So when I started thinking about the fact that I was essentially handed citizenship to a country that I love and hold very dear to my heart, I started thinking about my responsibility to England, and in turn the United Kingdom.
Honestly, I couldn't even tell you who the current PM is over there. I have missed out on 22 years of events, government and cultural experiences! My mind began racing as I started realizing all of the things that I was going to have to learn to even begin to feel right about claiming my citizenship! I immediately went home and found a sample Living in the UK test and took a quick pre-test if you will. 38%. There was no way that was going to cut it, so I printed the questions and answers and set out to study. Step one, check!
What is step two you're asking? Honestly, I'm not totally sure. My OCD has kicked itself into overdrive on this one, and I haven't stopped thinking about step two since about noon today. (Ask my co-workers, it was a confusing day at best in Jamieville.) Here's the thing, I truly believe that every person in a society should be an informed, contributing member. I don't believe in following blindly because everyone else is doing something one way, and I also don't believe that freedom and rights are something that should be taken for granted. Neither is the opportunity to be a true member of any society. Especially where it's almost a gift in my eyes right now. I've always been so so proud of my being English by blood, it's something that I've allowed to define me in many ways, and the thought of being able to maybe one day work to become a legal part of that was something that I've thought about for years. Now that I've found that all of that has technically been a part of my life since the day that I was born, I feel like it's not something I should just be throwing around, and it's made me stop and think about how I'm going to redefine MY culture.
I love America AND I love England.
And I love you guys.
Aroha :)
It held for about 5 days.
I've been bugging my Mum for months to call the British consulate to figure out what I needed to do to get my dual citizenship. I was thinking along the lines of take some tests, maybe submit a paper on why I felt I would make a good citizen, possibly identify a legit Cadbury's chocolate bar among some impostor bars...you know, typical citizenship stuff. I was more than happy to do whatever was necessary for me to get that passport! So, you can imagine my surprise when my Mum texted me in class informing me that I had in fact been a citizen of the UK since the day that I was born. I was super stoked! I even told my friend sitting next to me about it because it was so cool! I told my friends who I was texting at the time, and I figured that was that.
Ha. Yeah right.
Here's the deal, I have taken my citizenship here in the US pretty seriously for a 22 year old blond girl. I pride myself on the fact that I could pass the citizenship test with flying colors if I needed to, I vote (and not just that, I vote responsibly ever since that one time that I based my vote on who had the coolest name and I seriously stress about it even now. Lesson learned.), I try and stay informed about the issues facing the country and I'm making choices now so that I can stay informed and be a contributing member of society later in life. So when I started thinking about the fact that I was essentially handed citizenship to a country that I love and hold very dear to my heart, I started thinking about my responsibility to England, and in turn the United Kingdom.
Honestly, I couldn't even tell you who the current PM is over there. I have missed out on 22 years of events, government and cultural experiences! My mind began racing as I started realizing all of the things that I was going to have to learn to even begin to feel right about claiming my citizenship! I immediately went home and found a sample Living in the UK test and took a quick pre-test if you will. 38%. There was no way that was going to cut it, so I printed the questions and answers and set out to study. Step one, check!
What is step two you're asking? Honestly, I'm not totally sure. My OCD has kicked itself into overdrive on this one, and I haven't stopped thinking about step two since about noon today. (Ask my co-workers, it was a confusing day at best in Jamieville.) Here's the thing, I truly believe that every person in a society should be an informed, contributing member. I don't believe in following blindly because everyone else is doing something one way, and I also don't believe that freedom and rights are something that should be taken for granted. Neither is the opportunity to be a true member of any society. Especially where it's almost a gift in my eyes right now. I've always been so so proud of my being English by blood, it's something that I've allowed to define me in many ways, and the thought of being able to maybe one day work to become a legal part of that was something that I've thought about for years. Now that I've found that all of that has technically been a part of my life since the day that I was born, I feel like it's not something I should just be throwing around, and it's made me stop and think about how I'm going to redefine MY culture.
At what point will I feel comfortable completely embracing being a citizen of the UK? What steps do I have to take to get to that point? Is just studying and memorizing facts and figures enough? Or is this something that's going to take some real world application? Should you be required to live in a country in order to be able to claim your citizenship? What even defines citizenship? Is it a purely technical term that simply refers to the country that you were born in/live in/came from? Probably most importantly, why on EARTH is this causing me so much confusion?
All I truly know for sure is that I am ecstatic about the fact that a piece of me (who knows what piece at the moment) truly belongs to England now and forever officially. How I am going to let this define my life now, remains to be seen. But I've always said that I don't dig the mundane so much, this may just be another way of the universe kicking my butt into gear and making me think outside of the box; and honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.
All I truly know for sure is that I am ecstatic about the fact that a piece of me (who knows what piece at the moment) truly belongs to England now and forever officially. How I am going to let this define my life now, remains to be seen. But I've always said that I don't dig the mundane so much, this may just be another way of the universe kicking my butt into gear and making me think outside of the box; and honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.
And I love you guys.
Aroha :)
Sunday, October 2, 2011
My ADD in Action...
So, that whole "30 Day Challenge" was super fun, for about five minutes. I still love the idea of it, but I feel like 15 (or whatever number I actually got to) is probably as good as it's going to get. You know what? I'm ok with that!
Update on what's going on in my world:
*School is great. Ha, seriously though, I don't mind it all that much. My classes require a massive amount of reading and papers, lucky for me though, I can handle myself in those areas pretty gracefully, so I'm not getting too overwhelmed.
*Work is great too. I'm pulling in close to full time hours, which is great for my bank account, not so great for my sanity sometimes on top of school, but I figure, if I weren't running around between the two, I'd probably just be sitting around surfing the web and bumming around my house, so it's probably not such a bad thing that I'm busy....probably...
*The gym is a work in progress anymore. I ended up winning the competition that we had at my work which means that I (theoretically) won a free year at Skills. Too bad for me while we were in the middle of the competition a Disney villain took over the place and is kind of a meanie and may not make good on the deal. (Disclaimer: I love Skills as a gym and most of the people there, it's just the one rotten apple that ruins the whole bunch!) I did go twice this week. Go me!
*I have been trying to be more creative in my life, I love creating things, the hard part is finding time to fit it in! So it's become a weekend activity. Sometimes I just dont' feel like doing anything by the time the weekend hits though...
*Which leads me to my social life. I'm super lame anymore and I go to bed early and I don't go out. I have narrowed my friend circle down to only the most important ones getting to hang out with me (you're welcome if you've been selected). On the plus side, my good friend Sara got home from her mission this week!!! Yay! It was so great seeing her again!!
That pretty much is an update on the last month in my life. I bet you didn't see all of that excitement coming, did you?
AROHA
Update on what's going on in my world:
*School is great. Ha, seriously though, I don't mind it all that much. My classes require a massive amount of reading and papers, lucky for me though, I can handle myself in those areas pretty gracefully, so I'm not getting too overwhelmed.
*Work is great too. I'm pulling in close to full time hours, which is great for my bank account, not so great for my sanity sometimes on top of school, but I figure, if I weren't running around between the two, I'd probably just be sitting around surfing the web and bumming around my house, so it's probably not such a bad thing that I'm busy....probably...
*I have been trying to be more creative in my life, I love creating things, the hard part is finding time to fit it in! So it's become a weekend activity. Sometimes I just dont' feel like doing anything by the time the weekend hits though...
*Which leads me to my social life. I'm super lame anymore and I go to bed early and I don't go out. I have narrowed my friend circle down to only the most important ones getting to hang out with me (you're welcome if you've been selected). On the plus side, my good friend Sara got home from her mission this week!!! Yay! It was so great seeing her again!!
That pretty much is an update on the last month in my life. I bet you didn't see all of that excitement coming, did you?
AROHA
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