Hilary - "As you can tell from our accents, we are English, but we have lived in DC for 17 years. We still feel a connection to England, mostly through reading the British news and drinking tea for breakfast. Those are probably the most obvious British things we do. Now, we feel very at home in DC. We really love it here. It is an easy city to fit into and feel comfortable. It also has a very different feel than London. I suppose if you come here for work, the life is similar. You get up and go to work, come home and then repeat. There are the same routines and chores wherever you are living, but life is easier here and the city is much more congenial. I used to regard it as something of a privilege to be driving to work across the Mall, looking at all of the monuments as I did my commute. And here I was in the capital of the world’s greatest nation. I felt a certain amount of privilege in being able to do that."
David - "We made a choice to live in the District and not to be suburbanites. When we moved to the U.S., we wanted to be in the capital city. Now, we live just beyond Georgetown and spend a lot of time walking in that area. Today, we wanted to explore other areas and ended up in Meridian Hill Park. We keep finding these wonderful hidden treasures in the city. We really feel close to this city."
Hilary - "You know, after all of this time in DC, we don’t believe we have an American accent. We have developed vocabulary and certain intonations which are more common to America. Also, we probably have a slightly different pace in the way that we speak so that people understand our British accents. Still, we don’t think our accents have changed, but our friends say that we do sound like Americans. The funniest story I remember was going back to the UK and telling my girlfriend, 'Let’s go shopping. I need some new pants.' She looked at me and said, "We, British, call them trousers.' I was so embarrassed!”
David - "At least you didn't confuse your knickers with underpants!"
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