10 things that I am used to: one year anniversary special

Do you recall this little post of mine? I was lamenting the strange things about living in the US that I just wasn't getting used to.


Well today, I've been here a year!


A whole year that I've lived here. (year,here, year, here- say it fast)

I have such mixed feeling about this fact. I think it's not the being here that's hard on me today, but rather that I haven't giggled with my sister in person, had cheap sushi with Belinda, shopped at Woolworths, frantically checked my surroundings as I was entering our property late at night, in a year. So there's that.


Hold on. I feel this post turning it self heavy, and really, I'm here to celebrate the things that I have gotten used to so far...

So make some joyful noise as I present to you these minor victories.


1) Ordering breakfast.

Weird one right. I'm from a world where the options were choosing white or brown toast.  Ordering breakfast for the first time was more intense than passing airport security.
 If you're not used to making choices fast then

"how would like your eggs? Cheese on your hash-browns? Rye, wheat, sourdough, English muffin, English man making your muffin?  More coffee? Cream and sugar with that? Extra bacon with that?"

might be as overwhelming for you as it was for me. Not anymore though, I have mastered the fine art of ordering my eggs finally.

2) Spelling color without the 'u'.

But let's be honest, things are just more colourful  with 'u'.

3) Stopping for pedestrians.

LOL no, I keep forgetting to do so and that's really frowned upon around here.  Let's all hope I get used to this one faster.

4) The responses to "I'm from South Africa"

Some of the responses I've had after answering where I was from have included:

"Oh cool, I've always wanted to go to the Giraffe museum in Nairobi."
"Our uncle lived in Madagascar 4 years ago."
"My sister once went to Africa to build houses for them."
"My son just moved to Australia."

I know I sound like a bit of jerk here, because really, I love that people ask me where I'm from and then try to find a way for us to connect. You, America, would however be perplexed too if you told someone "I'm from the US" (Although, I've noticed most Americans, even while traveling abroad, will answer with their State when asked where they're from) and their response to you is "Oh wow, my cousin once worked in a tourist cocktail bar in Peru".

As I said, I'm used to this and kind of love the strange responses I've had over the last year.

5) Drive Thru's.


Fast food is one thing, but...

Banks, dry cleaning, charitable donations stores, pharmacies.

Amazing.

6) Expensive stuff,

I've gotten better at not working everything back to South African Rand. I still do it sometimes, "did I really just spend R45 on a coffee, I wonder how many tubes of toothpast I could buy for R37 and so on.

Stuff here is more expensive, I'm used it now. In fact I really look forward to my next South African visit, BUY ALL THE THINGS! Drink all the wine! Eat all the Sushi.. ALL OF IT.


7) Driving on the "right" side of the road.

Thankfully.

8) Fast and unlimited internet.

How oh how did I live without you. While we're here celebrating internet things: Netflix, I'm very much used to watching my TV and movies on demand by now. I remember in the good ol days when 2 Gigs was all our family had for a whole month.

Disclaimer: It's not like South Africa doesn't have unlimited internet, it's just that it was too expensive while I was still living there, and now I have it, so this is more a 'me' thing than a SA thing. 

9) Converting C to F temperatures.

From all the conversions I've had to learn this one has been the easiest. Probably because I talk about weather so much. People ask me a lot about weather in South Africa and I also give a daily report on the weather to my family in SA. So that has helped.

Although, 1 Degree in Celsius still seems much colder to me than 34 degrees in Fahrenheit.


10) I got used to those long days of summer way to fast, now I'm screwed with these dark at 4:30pm days. dammit.



I wonder if I'll be used to everything by the time I write the 'Two years and loving it' post. Probably not.


Hey, here's a fun idea, how about we follow each other on Twitter and you'll get see what else I'm getting used to in this fabulous country. Follow here.  

Also! This is my 200th post, yay for me.

Things I've always wanted to do in America #29

Speaking of things I've always wanted to do in the USA... here with a quick look at our day at the county fair.

Filled with goats and ponies, kids being violently thrown from sheep, tiny pig races, a ferris wheel, something deep-fried, blue ribbon pumpkins and oh so much more.

When Ben was at the County Fair last year, he kept sending me pictures of goats and over-sized egg plants... all I could think was: Next year I'll be at the county fair, I'll be a wife and a permanent citizen and probably eating something horribly unhealthy. Man, I couldn't wait for that day. Now I'm already looking forward to the next one... might even enter the pie contest next year.

RepreSENT !

9 things I'm still not completely used to

I should note that half of these still-strange-to-me things have to do with driving, and I've only been driving here for a few weeks.

Other than that I've lived here coming on 9 months.

(Doesn't anything that lasts 9 months make you think of having a baby?)

Well I'm not having a baby, but I am surprised at what still surprises me here in good ol US of A:

1) Turning right at red robots.

I often forget that this is allowed when safe to do so. Thankfully Spokane drivers don't honk, they are the politest drivers I've ever driven amongst. So sorry about that guys, I'm working on it.

2) Still not calling robots "traffic lights" like the rest of the normal English speaking world.

3) When people say 'rufff' instead of 'roof'

It makes me giggle every single time, it honestly sounds like a cute puppy barking. In my defense my accent is the odd one out around here, so I get to laugh in your face on the inside.

4) How blue-sky, short-shorts, forever-days, melt-my-ice-cream, sexy-yummy-hot the Spokane summer has been.

I think about this everyday. I love it, can you tell?

5) Putting our automatic car in 'park'.  I forget.

At least I'm walking to the right side of the car 8/9 times as opposed to the 3/9 times of earlier months.

6) Just how much I miss my friends and family still.

It's a crazy amount of a lot.

...sniff, sulk, throws self on floor like a Disney princess and sobs for 3 minutes.

I'm okay, moving on.

7) That leaving my handbag or cell on the passenger seat (for everybody to see), isn't the dumbest thing I've ever done.

I've not heard of one smash-and-grab incident here.

8) Speaking of that... The fact that walls (never mind electrical fencing and spikes) are not a thing here.

I still can't help looking into people's yard and front windows to see what they have, just because I can! So again, Spokane guys, sorry, that creeper is me. (but seriously, hang a curtain, that Mac computer on display is making me nervous)

9) How expensive it is to get to South Africa.

It's literally on the other side of the planet. Why! 

I'll check in with you guys again in a few months, see how my progress is going. Talk about rufffs and traffic lights and such, okay?