Do I Miss America?
This is probably one of the questions I get asked most frequently… “Do you miss America?”
It’s not a question that has a simple ‘yes or no’ answer. I both do and don’t miss America, and I’ll do my best to explain.
Do I? Yes.
Yes, there are things I miss. I miss my family and friends, but thanks to modern technology, we stay in touch fairly frequently. I WhatsApp with those who are close and have my number, chat with others on Facebook and the like, so it’s not as if moving here has completely disconnected us.
I miss some of the foods from the states as well…particularly Mexican food. God, what I’d give for proper tacos and enchiladas and chips and salsa. It’s just not a thing here.
Other things I miss are houses decorated for holidays, especially Christmas, some holidays like Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, and Halloween, Major League Baseball, NFL and College Football, having a billion radio stations to choose from while driving around, central air conditioning and heating, unlimited data for my cell phone, a good thick crust pizza, and, yes, American bacon.
As I look at it, outside of friends and family, most of the things I miss about the US are small, sort of insignificant things, really.
Do I? No.
There’s also a lot of things I don’t miss about the US, too…and these seem to be bigger, more significant things.
You see, the longer I live here and see the US through the eyes of the rest of the world, and through my own in comparison to my new home country, the more the shine comes off the image that the US has.
First, the cost of living here is really inexpensive. In my experience, it’s about 1/3 what it is in the US. Housing is less expensive, health insurance is less expensive, food is less expensive…I don’t feel like I’m always playing catch-up like I did in the US.
Speaking of food, the quality of food here is amazing. Yes, you’ve read about me poking fun at the smaller sizes of everything in the grocery stores, but you really can’t beat how fresh and un-processed the food is here…and the variety when it comes to meats? Yoh!
In the states, the primary meats are beef, chicken, and pork. Here, our freezer is full of chicken, lamb, ostrich, and, when we can find it, venison.
When we go grocery shopping, which is about once a month, Kim and I will hit a grocery store, a butcher, and a farmer’s market like thing for fruits and vegetables. Between the three stops, it’s usually about $100 US and that’s a trunk full and back seat full of groceries.
South Africans are also the nicest people, hands down. There’s just no comparison. Everyone makes me feel welcome and like I’m part of the family.
Also, because of the cost of living, we can enjoy all of what the country has to offer without it being a strain on the budget. We go to wine farms for tastings and pairings, we’ve gone to the Galileo outdoor cinema, we’ve attended concerts in the park, visited the Cheetah Rescue and the Giraffe House (both of which are short drives from the house), and Boulders Beach to see the penguins… all for the average cost of about $3-$10 a person. There’s both hiking in the mountains around Stellenbosch and the beach less than a 30 minute drive.
The country is beautiful, too. There’s one section on the drive from our house to my MIL’s house that always takes our breath away.
It’s also much more relaxed here. We’re not bombarded with the latest political infighting, what the latest celebrity is doing or not doing, and the stream of advertising telling us our life is ‘less than’ because we don’t have the latest and greatest stuff. There’s just not the 24-7 firehose of overstimulation through the media. As an example, when the last election was held, the most political advertising I saw were small signs on the street posts. There weren’t campaign ads blaring 24-7, no pundits spending hours on the political horse race, and no endless political rallies and debates.
It’s so low key that I’ve been told that there have been times where people wondered why they had a day off…only to remember it’s election day.
People here just take life as it comes. South Africans know their country has problems, but most of the time they just laugh it off or create some really hilarious memes about it…and then braai.
Looking from the Outside
Seeing anything from the outside can broaden your perspective…and living outside the US certainly has broadened mine. It also shows you what’s really important in life and how the constant barrage of information and the hectic pace of everyday living can really affect your happiness.
In the almost 8 months I’ve been here, I can honestly say I have never felt more relaxed and less stressed. Even Kim has told me that I’m much more relaxed since I’ve been here.
If there’s one thing I wish everyone would do in life, it’s to go live outside the US for a bit… and I mean outside the US and North America. Take yourself out of that sphere of influence and go see how the rest of the world lives, experience other cultures, and immerse yourself in a place that’s radically different.
I promise you won’t regret it.
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