Tuesday 26 November 2013

Project of the year: moving to Florida

When I first told people that I am moving to Miami, Florida, I got two mostly two reactions: Oh-my-god-I-envy-you kind of attitude and Oh-my-God-are-you-insane kind of attitude.
We moved anyway - and after moving for a couple of times, we really don't care what people think anyway actually.
Miami is not a safe neighbourhood, I have to admit. Dodgy area and rich neighbourhood are side by side to each other and 2 months I am here I have seen at least one occasion where police closed the street because of a possible shoot out. Do I feel safe, not as safe as in Germany nor Singapore. But do I feel happy happier, yes.
First, it was the language. I turned on the TV and could understand every single thing it said. I felt like having an Oprah AHA moment.
Second, the food. Eating out is cheap and I could fine ANY kind of restaurants in here.
Third, the SUN. This is my main reason to be happy. It's not cold, it's not dark. Yes, it rains a lot, but I can leave my sweater and jacket and hop out with my shorts and a nice pair of sunglasses. And the umbrella of course.
Now... since Miami is not that safe, we decided to find place in Broward county, even if it means 45 minutes commute for my husband everyday. In case you don't know, Miami refers to Miade-Dade county and Broward is a different county and it is a county where for example, Fort Lauderdale is located. We find a place in a small city ( or perhaps, village?) in Weston, one of the safest and with the best schools in all of Florida and in case of high school, one of the best in USA.
Rania had been showing a lot of change since the move. She was happy with the language and the food though she missed her friends and keep complaining of the "gecko infestation" in our homes. Yes, that one of the drawbacks of Sunny weather, gecko!
She enjoys having friends from the neighbourhood coming over, even on weekends and taking the school bus altogether with them. She would wake up EVERYDAY at 6AM and demanded me to take her to school even on weekends... I was like... WHATTTTTT.
Now, that's the short story of the move and most likely tonight I will update more stories on this blog. For now, I need to get my beauty sunbath.




Leaving Germany... yay!

I cant believe that I haven't been posting for like 6 months now... Not good at all. But, better late than never.

As I mentioned in my blog earlier, that I was busy 'researching' well, here is the reason. We moved, again!
This time we crossed the Atlantic ocean, to Florida, USA.

We heard the news since late last year and the plan was only materialized by end of May. By August, we had full confirmation to apply for visa and after our annual trip from Indonesia, we applied for visa and prepared for the move.

It was not easy, but the chills that I got from moving out of here (Germany) was different than when I moving in. I hate to say this, but there were a lot of things in Germany that I could not fit in and perhaps would never fit in. I don't care what other think of this humble opinion of mine, but seriously, when we finally had the confirmation that we were moving, it was like a two blocks of bricks had been lifted from my shoulders.

Don't get me wrong though. It doesn't mean that I did not enjoy Germany. I did enjoy living here, but I don't think I could live here for good. I still cant get the fact that stores are closed on Sunday, nor did people can be racist according to me (for example, I have seen people handed racist flyer) but considered as a free speech. Or that winter is 6 months long, super cold and that people would be frowning everywhere.

However, still, when I moved, the day I moved and the day before, I cried many times. I cried because people have been so nice to me. I had friends who cooked for me, who brought me snack for the long flight, or people who took time to take me to the station. My friends who took time to clean my apartment, even when I never asked. So on the D day at the station while waiting for the train that took us to Düsseldorf, I cried, I even cried harder than when I left Singapore.

I am not a big fan of the German lifestyle. But I missed the people from Bonn who have filled my live with love and laughter while living there.

PS: I do miss the weinachmarkt, gluhwein and reibekucken. Enjoy it while you can.