A little list of things that remind me that...Yes, I am no longer in Cape Town:
- It gets dark at 4:30pm
- I am back driving an automatic car on the right side of the road (happy to say I have only driven on the wrong side once and thankfully was in the car with my sister who quickly reminded me what I was doing!)
- I have only one house key on my keychain and no remotes
- No alarms, walls or electric gates
- My coffee intake has doubled and sometimes tripled per day!
- I can watch anything online without controlled bandwidth and uploads are fast
- I look out my window to two snow covered mountain ranges (& if I had the money I could drive an hour away to go skiing)
- I wake up to the daily joy of seeing parents and sitting with them besides the fire in their cabin, then we walk 3.5miles around the neighboring golf course which looks out over the water and mountains. Bliss!
- Everywhere I go I hear Christmas music! In the Los Angles airport they played only Christmas music but not one song was 'religious'...ahhh how many times can you hear White Christmas and Oh Christmas Tree?! There are also many radio stations here that only play 24hour Christmas music.
- All my extended family, sisters and grandparents are all 5-15min away by car
- There is frequently sports on TV and talk about games...guess I'm back living with my Dad!
- Upon going to the petrol station, I have to pump my own gas, but can pay outside by the swipe of a card.
- All plastic grocery carrier bags are free...although I'm going to start using my reusable bags!
- Good wine is more expensive!
- No nic naks or ginger beer
- Drive thru everything...coffee, pharmacy, banks, dry cleaning, fast food
- Christmas lights on houses, big plush Christmas trees...and a life size nativity set that I grew up with as a child now outside my parents home (its been in storage the last 15 years).
- One pays for every phone call or text received on a mobile phone!
- My choices of breakfast cereals has quadrupled!
- I can leave items on the seats in my car
- I don't have to hide my handbag under my legs while I drive
- DVD can be rented from a vending machine for only $1 a day
- I can wash my clothes in 20min and then put EVERYTHING in the dryer for another 25...to have clean & dry clothes in 45min...in the winter...seems ridiculous (but nice)!
- One of my greatest 'culture shock' moments was when I was on a walk...I saw a lady pushing a small stroller (or push chair) and thought does she have a baby in that? But as I got closer I realized it was her little dog...its a doggie stroller! They range from $60-100. The amount of money that people here spend on their pets is sickening (I dont mean to offend anyone as I am not a pet owner...but a dog stroller...come on!?)
I will have to add to the list as the weeks and months go by....
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