Thursday 3 January 2013

1 Month in and the Festive Season rolls on...

By Andre Smith


Since my last blog, I have made the long haul trip to my new home in Delray Beach, Florida at Addison Reserve.

The day came to finally depart for the US. I couldn’t contain the excitement at the new beginning of my life in the US. The flight is a killer. This is the ninth time I have flown to the US and I dread the flight from OR Tambo to JFK… 17 hours long. Thank goodness I was able to get a comfy exit row seat with the extra legroom. This allowed me to sprawl out and get many hours of sleep.
 
 
I eventually arrived the next afternoon in sunny, warm and humid Florida. This weather takes a long time to adjust to. I’m finally starting to feel comfortable, but mostly thanks to air-conditioning.
 
 
It was great to get back to work and see familiar faces. Took a few days to settle back in, but now we’re well into the season and the Christmas holidays are upon us. Work has been very busy in general with thanksgiving the opening season party, all the golf events, bat mitzvahs and now the Christmas holidays.

Some other good news is that I bought my own car and now I have wheels to get around. It makes life a lot easier in Florida as everything is spread out.  I haven’t had a chance yet to get down to South Beach, but that will definitely happen in January once we’ve got through the craziness of the holidays.
 

Next step will be apartment hunting as I start to build a life here in the US. Details to follow…

I also got to experience a great American Tradition, Sunday Football. I chaperoned a group of members to my first football game at the Miami Dolphins Stadium. I was a good experience, but the game is difficult to follow, but I’m getting the hang of it. It definitely does not compare to Rugby, which I much prefer.
 
 

Our Xmas tree is up in our apartment and is starting to fill up with pressies. It’s tough to be away from home for the holidays, but when you’re with a group of people who are in the same boat, we all come together to celebrate. I’m looking forward to spending time with my adopted American Family and Xmas day with my housemates and the rest of the South Africans.
 
 
Back to work now… busy, busy, busy. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!