OKinUK Blog

When I arrived in the United Kingdom nearly 10 years ago, the first thing that immediately struck me before anything, was the different cultures gathered in London.  To be very honest with you I was expecting this city to be populated mainly by white and blond people. However, little I knew that actually my stereotype was far from reality.  London is such a magnet for people from all over the world -as it was for me, that here you can find them from all corners of Earth.

When I was younger, I always wanted to meet people from different nationalities.  While living in London, my wish has been granted beyond my expectations:  I have friends from the most exotic and far away places and I have learnt from their cultures in a way I only could have dreamt of at school.   London is exactly that:  An open book showing you the whole world because this city is actually that...a mini world.

So, here I am having drinks with people from Malaysia, New Zealand, Venezuela, Japan and Hong Kong to mention a few.  Gatherings and parties are always full of different nationalities that there is always something interesting and new to learn while chatting.  My colleagues are from France, Australia, Sri Lanka, Poland, Pakistan, Romania, Bulgaria.  It is such a contrast with my last job in Mexico, where the Spanish girl was the only foreign addition to a team of 100.

You never know which culture you will experience around the corner.  I still remember the Tibetan monk next to me, checking his e-mail at an internet cafe in Victoria station.  Or I can tell you as well about the Muslim newspaper agent stopping his work to preach to Ala and doing his reverences very discreetly in one corner, all in the middle of the rush hour next to a busy tube station.   In London, you can see the Polish girls shopping in Hammersmith, the Jamaican guys ex changing cigarettes in Brixton, Indian women looking for colorful fabrics for her dresses in the East, Turkish men smoking their pipes in Edgware Road and Chinese boys offering you the latest dinner deals in Soho.

Yes, here we are all living, working and meeting each other while our backgrounds and cultures cross paths around the streets of London.   And when I walk down myself and see so many different faces, I always think that Mexico and I may seem an exotic and far, far away place for other people as well...