A couple of my friends (and my grandpa) are having a hard time dealing with just how much I loved my US visit. It's like everyone just assumed I would be missing home something terrible! Well to be completely fair, while I didn't miss home that much I did actually miss a couple of things from home:
Jackie the dachshund. She's 12 years old, dumb as a box of hammers and loves barking at all hours during the night and jumping into my bed with muddy paws. I missed her so much! Wouldn't you? I mean just look at her, she's adorable!
Afrikaans. I never expected that I would miss my mother tongue so much. I missed speaking it, hearing it and reading it. You'd think that would be obvious but I speak a lot of English and even when speaking Afrikaans people tend to mix languages so I never thought it would matter much to me. It did though. Not hearing the language you think in spoken outside your head is a strangely lonely feeling.
Chips of many flavours. This one surprised me since in the US there seemed to be so much variety and flavour in just about everything. Yet, when I walked down the chip isle at Wallmart I was shocked by the lack of selection. Lays had a couple of nice flavours but for the most part the selection was pretty monotone. Here on the other had I can expect to find flavours like: Tomato sauce, Salt & Vinegar, Mexican Chili, Smoked Beef, Cheese & Onion, Fruity Chutney, Creamy Cheddar, Spare Rib, Snoek & Atchar, Masala Steak Gatsby, Peri-Peri Chicken, Lightly salted - and these are just some of the potato chip flavours, I'm not even counting the corn chips, puffs etc.
VAT. Normally I wouldn't list our local tax system as a good thing but it did have one feature I really missed when shopping in America - getting to pay the price you see on the pricetag. Maybe I'm just being silly but I hated seeing something advertised for let's say $9.99 only to have to pay over $10 when I get to the cash register. It felt like I was tricked somehow.
User friendly money. As much as I loved walking around with dollars in my wallet, using it was a little awkward at times. Do all the bills really have to be the same size and colour? Is there any good reason why they can't just stamp an actual number on the coins? When you have to hunt around for the value of the money you're holding then something is wrong!
Gingerbeer. Not Ginger Ale, Ginger beer, the stuff that tickles your throat when you swallow. If I was staying any longer I would have brewed it for myself!
Biltong. I had heard that jerky was pretty much the same thing as biltong. It's not by a long shot. Jerky was a deep disappointment, it doesn't even kind of compare!
And yeah, that was about it...
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6 comments:
hey, have you been to this site. realtruthonline.blogspot.com
In ons moedertaal voel ek tog jy moet weet dat dit verseker 'n ander prentjie is om in die USA te kuier as om daar te leef. As jy by mense kuier, word jy soos 'n koning behandel en jy sien net die mooi en ervaar die lekker. Ek was al op baie plekke, love baie plekke maar nothing beats being home. Miskien is dit tyd om mens se eie lewe onder 'n vergrootglas te sit en te kyk wat kort en wat kan jy daaran doen as jy so verlang na "a fleeting" oomblik in vegelyking met die res van jou lewe. EN ons het baie TV kanale, jy kan kies om te betaal vir dit.
So moet ek tog saamstem met N ook in moedertaal). Wat vir my sad is dat van al die dinge wat "misbaar" is, is jou jarelange vriende nie die lys haal nie. Ongelukkig skep dit die indruk dat mense wat 'n all-expenses paid trip na US gee die mense by die huis laat vervaag tot nie eers 'n mention in 'n blog oor missing home nie. Miskien is ek sensitief, maar ek dink darem mense troef biltong en ginger beer... En aangesien 'n blog plek is vir eerlikheid moet dit beteken dat ons klompie hier werklik glad nie gemis was nie. That stings!
Tania – Wel daar was vir seker tye wat ek rondgeloop het in die winkels en gedink het hoe lekker dit sou gewees het om van my maatjies (wat hou van shop) saam te hê, maar oor die algemeen het ek nie regtig na my vriende verlang nie. Hoekom sou ek? Ek was nie eens vir ‘n maand en ‘n half lank weg nie! In my hele vriendekring is daar nie een persoon wat ek so gereeld sien nie. My kontak met my vriende is nou al vir baie lank hoofsaaklik elektronies dus het dit nie eens gevoel of iets verander het nie aangesien ek nog steeds smse en chats en emails uitgeruil het soos altyd. Eerlikwaar dink ek nie ek sou regtig meer van my vriende gehoor of gesien het as ek by die huis gebly het nie. As ek ooit van my jarelange vriende moes verloor sou dit my hart breek, dis nie asof julle nie vir my belangrik is nie. Maar ek moes lankal leer om vrede te maak met die feit dat ek vir maande kan gaan sonder om saam met iemand te kan kuier so ‘n maand en ‘n bietjie in die vreemde was wat dit betref business as usual. My vriende is vir my geweldig waardevol en ek is regtig jammer dat my blog jou geminag laat voel het, dis beslis nie hoe ek dit bedoel het nie. Onthou ek praat nou net hier van ‘n kort vakansie. As ek permanent in ‘n ander land gebly het sou my vriende en familie die enigste dinge wees wat ek sou mis.
Natasja – Moet my nie verkeerd verstaan nie. Ek bedoel geensins dat SA ‘n kak plek is en dat Amerika die beloofde land is nie. Ek is baie lief vir SA en ek gaan nerens heen nie, maar ek het baie lekker gekuier en Amerika is regtig ‘n baie nice plek (al is dit nie perfek nie). As ek die geleentheid gehad het sou ek dit sterk oorweeg het om daar te bly – hoekom nie, ek het bitter min wat my hier hou. Maar die hoof rede hoekom hierdie trip so spesiaal was was nie oor die lekker kos of die nice winkels of die cool speelgoed nie. Vir meer as ‘n dekade lank het ek net een droom vakansie bestemming gehad – om huis toe te kan gaan. Daar in Reno het ek vir die eerste keer in baie baie jare weer tuis gevoel iewers. Vir ‘n klein rukkie was ek weer deel van ‘n gesin, kon ek elke aand gaan slaap in ‘n huis vol mense wat vir my lief was. Ek besef maar al te goed dit was net tydelik en dat dit nie kon aanhou nie. Maar moet my asb nie kwalik neem omdat dit vir my een van die mees waardevolle tye in my kort lewe was nie. So ek stem heeltemal saam met jou, “nothing beats being home”, maar “home” is iets wat ek in ‘n baie lang tyd nie hier ervaar het nie. Glo my ek sou dit graag wou verander maar tot dusver bly dit ontwykend.
O ja, DSTV suck! Ek het al baie ure DSTV gekyk, dit vergelyk hoegenaamd nie!
I don't trust South Africans. It's like they have a different word for everything.
:)
Hmmm... now that I've run all this through Google Translate, I think you two are being quite unfair to Eugene. I'll just leave it at that.
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