Why I Hated Living In England [7cb-fE7yChU]

Good old Twinings. Earl Grey of London.

Brew for 1 minute. Anyway, today we're

going to be talking about reasons why I

didn't like living in England. So there

must be a few reasons why I didn't like

living in England, otherwise, otherwise I

wouldn't have been so desperate to leave

the country in the first place so I could

come and live in Japan. So we're going to

be talking about the reasons why I didn't

like living in England. I think I already

said that. Okay, number 1,

um, the women too tall. Yeah, the women

Very tall. Me as a 5 foot 7,

5 foot 8 tall guy,

it's, um, it's kind of difficult to find a

suitable mate or a girlfriend, as people

like to call them, when, when most of the

girls, or a lot of the girls, are taller

than I am or are the same height as me. I

just think it's kind of strange when the

guy is shorter than the girl. So I don't

have any problems with the girl being

fatter than the guy, but I draw the line

at the guy being shorter than the girl.

That's just kind of weird. I don't know

what it is about English girls, but for

some reason they're so tall. Maybe it's

because they drink so much milk and they,

they eat lots of butter, but it's, it's

very difficult for someone who's only 5'8

like I am to find a girl who's actually

shorter than he is. And the second reason

would be I don't really remember feeling

attracted to girls back home in England.

I've never felt really excited, I've never

felt my heart skip a beat because I saw a

really cute English girl and I really

wanted to bamboozle her. That never

happened. Even when I was working in a

petrol station and I was seeing customers,

female customers, every single day— young

women, middle-aged women, normal women— I

just didn't feel attracted to them in the

same way that I feel attracted to Japanese

women. It's just very difficult to find a

suitable girlfriend when you live in a

country where you don't really feel

attracted to the women of the country and

you're shorter than most of them. And

sometimes people say, why didn't you just

go to Chinatown in London where there's

Asian women if you really wanted an Asian

girlfriend? And yeah, that's a valid

point, but you know where there's more,

even more Asian women? In Asia.

So I decided to come to Asia to find

myself an Asian woman, and I figured that

in Asia there would be a higher chance of

finding a suitable Asian woman because,

you know, there's more Asian women in

Asia. I don't think we need to beat that

point to death anymore. Let's move on to

the next point. The next point would be

shaking hands. I don't like shaking hands

with men. I don't like touching other

men's hands because I think it's gross.

And I know this isn't something that only

happens in England. It's a Western

European thing and American thing, I

guess. I just really dislike shaking

hands. I think it's gross having to touch

another guy's filthy disgusting hands.

You don't know what he's been touching.

Actually, I do because I'm a guy and I

know what I touch, and I'm pretty sure

that other guys touch the same things.

You know what I'm talking about. What I'm

saying is I don't want to touch a guy's

hands because, because he's probably

touched his dick and he's probably wiped

his ass and he's probably picked his nose

and done all kinds of gross things. I

don't want to touch his hand. I don't like

shaking hands. I don't want some guy

gripping my, my delicate fingers and,

and crushing them. The great

thing about living in Japan is there's no

handshaking culture. When you meet someone

for the first time, you don't have to

shake their hand, and I love it. I hate it

when someone gives you a really firm,

hard, strong handshake. It's like they're

trying to assert their dominance over you

by saying, hey look, my grip is stronger

than yours. I can crush your hand if I

wanted to, you, you pathetic little boy.

Every time someone holds out their hand to

me because they want to shake, shake my

hand, I'm thinking to myself, do I have to

touch your hand? Do I really have to?

Can't I just say, sorry, I don't want to

shake your hand? You can't. You can't even

refuse someone's handshake, otherwise it

makes you seem rude, and you just have to

suck it up and shake his hand so you

appear to be normal. Another thing I hated

about living in England is, is the

drinking culture, and I'm not talking

about alcohol. I'm talking about tea and

coffee. So this usually happens in the

workplace where you have a coffee machine

or You know, a little kitchen in the

office where people can make their teas

and drinks. And in British culture,

it's considered to be polite and friendly

and well-mannered to ask everyone in the

office or in the work area if

they want to have a drink if you're gonna

make a drink for yourself. So let's

pretend you're working in an office and

it's half past 11, nearly lunchtime.

You've been working very hard. You just

want to have a 5-minute break, you know,

just to make yourself a cup of tea or a

cup of coffee, and you want to go make

yourself a cup of tea. Well, you can't,

because if you want to have a little tea

break, you have to ask everyone else in

the office if they also want to have a

drink. I'm going to make myself a tea.

Would anyone else like to have a tea or

coffee? And then before you know it, you

have a whole office room full of people

going, oh yes please, I'd like to have a

coffee. Yes please, I'd like to have a tea

actually. And then you have to ask them

how they like the— how they like to have

the tea or coffee made. Some of them don't

like milk, some of them only want a little

bit of milk. Some people don't want sugar,

some people want 1 teaspoon of sugar,

some people want 2 teaspoons of sugar.

Sugar. And then you have to end up

remembering how everyone likes to have the

tea or coffee made. I used to work in the

same company as my dad did, in, in an

office. I was an office junior, office

assistant, and they used to make me make

the tea for everyone. This stupid guy

called Gordon used to say to me, Daniel,

I want you to go around the office and ask

everyone if they want to have a drink at 9

AM in the morning and 3 PM in the

afternoon. And I just said no, and then

I got into trouble. And short— long story

short, I got fired. Well, I kind of quit

because I refused to make the tea. He

wanted me to go around the entire office

asking every single person if they wanted

a drink, and he told me to Get a piece of

paper and write down how everyone likes

their tea or coffee to be made so I don't

forget. I got into trouble for refusing to

make the tea, and then my boss gave me a

lecture on how important it is— how

important making tea is for everyone else.

It was just a load of rubbish, and I said,

sorry, I don't— this— I don't agree with

this, and I don't want to work here

anymore, and he terminated my contract.

He terminated my contract because I didn't

want to make tea for other people. Not

because I was a bad employee, not because

I didn't do my job properly. I didn't do

it properly anyway. Most of the time I

didn't have any work to do, so I was just

sitting there studying Japanese secretly.

Anyway, that's not the point. The point is

he, he didn't let me work, continue

working there because I refused to make

the tea. How stupid is that? If other

people want to have a tea or a drink or

coffee, Why don't they stop being so lazy

and get off their asses and make it

themselves? Why do I have to make drinks

for everyone just because I want to have a

drink? I ran into a similar problem when I

started working at the petrol station a

few years later, and my coworkers, every

single day, they kept asking me if I

wanted to have a drink when they went to

make themselves a drink, and they kept

asking me, Daniel, would you like to have

a drink? And I'd always say, no, thank

you. And then 8 months later, they were

still asking me every single bloody day,

would you like to have a drink, Daniel?

And I was still saying, no, thanks. I

never once said yes, please, and they

never gave up trying to ask me if I wanted

a drink or not. I can't say yes. I can't

say yes, please, because if I get them to

make me a drink, then I'm in debt—

indebted to them. I owe them a drink, and

I don't want to make them a drink. I just

want to make myself my own drink. I don't

want to make anyone else's drinks, teas,

or coffees. And then one time my boss,

the manager at the petrol station, was

there, and I made myself— I made myself a

drink. And then she told me off because I

didn't ask anyone else if they wanted a

drink. She said, Daniel, did you ask

everyone else if they wanted to have a

drink or not? And I said no, and she said,

why? And I just, I just said, I don't

know, because I didn't want to be rude. I

didn't want to say, because I can't be

asked to make all of your bloody drinks.

If you want a drink, then go and make it

yourself. That's what I really wanted to

say, but I couldn't say that to my boss.

And then she also started giving me a

lecture on how important it is to ask

people if they would also like to have a

drink when I go and make myself a drink.

It's just so annoying. The next thing I

don't like about England is everywhere

just looks really old. All the towns and

villages, they look really old. It feels

like you're in the 1800s because all of

the buildings are made out of brick. They

don't knock down buildings and update

buildings or make them look modern. And

the, um, the train service in England

isn't very good. In my village, the train

only comes once an hour, and you might be

thinking, oh, that's because you live in

the countryside. Obviously the train's

only going to come once an hour. But even

in the nearby town, which is one of the

biggest towns in my county, Maidstone,

the trains only come once an hour. So if

you get to the train station and the train

has just left, well, you're gonna have to

wait an entire hour until the next train

comes. There were so many times when I had

to go to the job center and I finished my

appointment, my meeting, and I got back to

the train station and the train had just

left, and then I had to sit there for,

for a whole hour. There was a few times

when I got my bicycle and I just decided

to cycle all the way back home. 8 miles.

That was— that wasn't fun. And another

irritating thing about the trains in

England is in some— at some train

stations, small train stations in

villages, they don't have ticket machines,

so you can't buy a ticket. And then you

get onto the train, and what happens is

usually the guy working on the train, he

comes down and checks for tickets, and you

can buy a ticket off him. But sometimes

that guy doesn't walk down the train, and

he just sits in his little cabin wherever

he sits, and he doesn't sell you a ticket.

So that sounds great. Great, I don't have

to buy a ticket sometimes, and I save so

much money from not buying tickets on

trains. But the problem is sometimes you

get caught because they have railway

security guards that just randomly appear

at certain stations. It's not every time

they're there, but sometimes they are

there and they look like policemen.

There's like 3 or 4 of them guarding the

exit to the train station. And if you

haven't bought a ticket on the train,

then they fine you about £20. And then if

you say, um, I don't have a ticket because

the ticket man wasn't there, he didn't

sell me a ticket. And then the security

guards, they get angry and they say,

well, it's your responsibility to go and

find him on the train and buy a ticket

from him. Which is a load of rubbish. Why

is it my responsibility to go and hunt him

down and buy a ticket? It should be his

responsibility to do his job and to check

people's tickets and to sell them tickets

if they don't have tickets. Maybe if they

put proper ticket machines at all of the

train stations, there wouldn't be this

problem. Sometimes there's a man at the

train station in the ticket office selling

tickets, but he's only there in the

morning from 9 AM until 11 AM or

something, and then after that he goes

home and the whole ticket office closes

down for the rest of the day. I've

actually been fined about 2 times, and you

can, you can get away with not paying the

fine if you tell them a fake address,

because they have a little form and

they'll make you fill out all your

details, your name and your address. And

if you just put a fake address or just

change a little detail on the postcode,

for example, you could just change the,

the number 6 to a number 4, and then the

letter with your fine won't reach your

house, and then you don't have to pay your

fine. Don't tell anyone I told you that.

It's a secret. And the last thing

that I didn't like about England— I think

this is probably the biggest thing— I just

didn't feel safe in England. I felt like I

wasn't an English person because I look

Asian. I don't look white. I had a lot of

racial abuse thrown at me when I was a

kid. Other kids would tell me to go back

to China or go back to Asia all the time.

I just didn't feel welcomed. In my own

country. I know this sounds silly, but I

feel like I fit in more in Japan than I do

in my own country, which is kind of sad

now that I think about it. Even as an

adult, when I was walking around outside

in towns in England, I would have groups

of kids just come up to me and say ni hao

in like a condescending way. English

people would ask me where I'm from all the

time, and it'd be kind of awkward because

I say that I'm, I'm from Maidstone, just

like you are. And then they'd go, no,

where are you from? And then I'd say,

okay, my dad's English, my mum's from

Malaysia. Is that what you wanted to know?

And I'd feel kind of annoyed because it

felt like I was being treated like a

foreigner when I'm not a foreigner. So in

conclusion, the main reasons why I didn't

like living in England were because—

mainly because I didn't really feel

attracted to the women there. I didn't

feel like I belonged there. I don't really

feel like I belong anywhere, to be honest,

but At least I feel like I fit in more

here in Japan than I did in Japan. I mean,

than I did in England. And I don't have

Japanese kids walking up to me and going,

hello, in a condescending way like British

kids do.