Meeting the Neighbours

Hello everyone! I am trying to do a better job at staying in touch with my friends, so I thought I’d write a little note every few weeks to let you know how we’re doing. If you don’t want to receive this email, just let me know. Otherwise, I hope you will indulge me because I’ve decided to write about how it feels to be an alien here in St. Louis.

By alien, I don’t mean the kind that arrives by UFO. I mean alien the way the Oxford English Dictionary defines it: “foreign, foreign-born resident who is not naturalized, a being from another world”. Don’t get me wrong; I love moving. I love being “alien” somewhere because I have always enjoyed discovering new things. So, when I talk about feeling “alien”, I say it affectionately and with pleasure! I state it as a fact, like Sting when he sings “I’m an alien. I’m a legal alien. I’m an Englishman in New York.”

When we moved to Belgium a few years ago, we also were aliens! In that case, there were added complications of speaking French and Dutch, as well as the adherence to Napoleonic laws to help us feel completely upended! We rented a home across from the international school so that we could walk to school. It turned out to be a wonderful neighbourhood for shops, restaurants and the proximity to a lovely forest with walking and biking trails. However, it was not such a good place for neighbours.
As we were right in the city of Brussels, the houses were very close together – joined, in fact, in a long row – with small yards backing onto more humanity in the form of tall, close brick homes (and a small stable...!). Yet, we did not get to know any locals. Our neighbours would nod politely and offer a mumbled greeting before looking away quickly so as to avoid any prolonged contact or – heaven forbid – a real conversation! As a result, we turned to school and work, making deep and wonderful friendships among the international community, where being expatriated from our own countries seemed like an easy starting point for a relationship.

It is different here in St. Louis. It is instantly warm and friendly. At first, I didn’t know people were speaking to me and would frequently check behind to see where the “Y’all okay?” had been directed! We moved into the home we bought in a beautiful subdivision just west of the downtown core, where we’re technically in the city but feel like we’re out in the ‘burbs. On the very first day in the house, my doorbell rang and a friendly neighbour offered cookies and a list of the rest of the residents. This was the start of a beautiful thing.

For the rest of the week, every time the doorbell rang, my tummy would rumble in Pavlovian anticipation of yet another treat! I had to start freezing the gifts, as we couldn’t possibly get through all of the loaves, banana breads, cookies and care packets that were left on our doorsteps or offered by confident little darlings on the behalf of their parents! My favourite part is the line of boys who keep coming by to ask Andrew to join in pick-up tag and football games; I thought he’d cry with joy the first time they came by!

So, after a couple of crazy weeks unpacking and fun weekends hosting some friends and family from Canada, I finally got around to popping a thank you card into the mailboxes of everyone who’d dropped off welcome gifts and notes. I included the following article in the card and thanked everyone for following instructions! A bit risky, but it paid off; it got some laughs and broke the ice at last Saturday’s neighbourhood picnic!
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UFO Sighting in Ladue
St. Louis Post Dispatch, Special Report
Typically, the residents of Ladue, a well-established, small community just west of downtown St. Louis, are more likely to be bird-watching than UFO spotting. For this reason, on a long and hot summer night in July, few people saw a small, well-lit, disc drop unobtrusively into a local neighbourhood. However, officials at Missouri’s Green Eggs and Ham Institute were scanning the night skies, as they do every night, protecting citizens from rats, bats, Canadians and other potential problems. Residents of Willow Hill Road are warned that, in fact, a UFO landing was confirmed on that street and that the craft was occupied. Officials are unsure of the present whereabouts of the aliens, but anecdotal reports in the area of human-like beings who say “sorry” a lot and finish sentences with “eh” would seem to indicate that the aliens are indeed Canadians. If you are in contact with these strange beings, be sure to smile and offer baked goods. They are not considered dangerous.
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