"I saw some hot dogs in Tesco, but I was afraid! Was this food for me or for dogs?!"
Constantin is 24 years old and from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
I wanted to tell my story because I feel I need to tell English people about my experiences of living in the UK.
Inside Lives has been fantastic!
I am from the Democratic Republic of Congo, but I left there for political reasons. I arrived in Stoke-on-Trent on 27th April this year.
There are so many differences between the Congo and Stoke--the first thing I noticed here was the people. They are so polite! When people bump into you they say 'sorry!' The say sorry all the time here. The other difference is in the bus station. When you are waiting to get on the bus, you have to queue. We have queues in the Congo, of course, but if you want to jump the queue there, it's okay. It's not okay to do that here. I know. I tried. The other big difference between Stoke and the Congo is the food. In the Congo, we eat cassava bread and foufou--a kind of semolina. Here they eat broccoli, salad, potatoes, chips, burgers. I saw some hot dogs in Tesco, but I was afraid! Was this food for me or for dogs?! The biggest difference is the weather. In Congo we have 2 seasons--dry season and rainy season. Here you have the rainy season any time. It rains anytime anytime. I go to school here to learn English and to make friends. This is good because I am alone here--my family are all in the Congo. I want to understand more about England and English people. I want to understand the laws of England so I can respect them. Slowly I am learning more and more.
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