The yellow school bus. 🚌 Do you recognise these from the movies?
You grow up seeing them on TV, probably still do — part of every American childhood storyline — and then suddenly, it’s parked outside your house, and your kids are climbing aboard like it’s the most normal thing in the world. But for me? It still feels surreal. This big, bright, unapologetically yellow bus rolling […]
All the Firsts 🇺🇸✨….. they the things that stick with you
The firsts of any adventure become the stories you tell and the memories that stitch themselves into the fabric of your new life. They’re the building blocks, small moments that somehow hold up the whole house. The first time you experience something, taste something new, cheer with strangers, or feel, even for a moment, like […]
Finding My Tribe, Thousand of Kilometres from Home 🇿🇦 👭 🇺🇸
When we moved to the U.S., I thought: Well, at least we won’t have a language barrier. Turns out, I was wrong. Yes, we all technically speak English — but between the accents, the slang, and the “Sorry, are you British?” moments… it sometimes feels like we’re translating in real time. One of the greatest […]
We Were Nobodies
Or at least… that’s what it felt like when we arrived in the U.S. Despite our ages, having bought and sold property, built careers, paid off cars, managed businesses, and raised a family — when we landed here, we started at zero. – No credit score.– No local history.– No proof that we were anything […]
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Emigrating from SA to USA 🇿🇦➡️🇺🇸
The Good: Amazon You cannot really compare Amazon and Takealot. Need a garlic press by tomorrow morning? Done. A weird charger for a toy dinosaur? Already en route. A dog Halloween costume at 9 p.m.? Of course. Same-day or next-day delivery is now a lifestyle. Sadly, it makes for a culture of consumerism and instant […]
The Time Zone Tug
I felt very disconnected… by the “time-zone tug” 🇿🇦 🕒 🇺🇸 🕘 From my people. From my rhythm. From the time on the clock. One of the most unexpected challenges of emigrating to the U.S. wasn’t the paperwork or packing or even missing my family— it was the quiet, constant disconnection caused by time itself. […]
When Family Visits, its one of the emigration milestones… 🇿🇦 🧳 🇺🇸
When you emigrate, you don’t just pack up your belongings and say goodbye, you leave behind the people who’ve always been your constants. Parents, siblings, nephews, lifelong friends. And no matter how excited you are for the new adventure, the ache of that distance never quite disappears- for you or for them. Last summer, we […]
We decided to change our lives… with a score out of 10
Four years ago, we sat around a sushi table and made the biggest decision our family would ever face. 2020 had done something to us. It shifted the way we saw everything. Time felt different. Opportunities felt more urgent. There was this quiet sense that if we didn’t explore what was out there, we might […]