As a Phoenix native (living there through high school) who has lived the last 20 years in Oslo, I enjoy hearing your observations and thoughts of the ol’ homeland. Especially as you are now an ExPat. I haven’t been back since my mom passed away in 2017 (when a person working the register at a Walgreens, upon hearing we lived in Norway said: “Isn’t that dangerous because it’s close to Sweden?” Sigh…) so your observations are all the more interesting to me.
The basic ignorance there really blows me away. Before the first reign of the Orange King, a coworker who was very pro-Orange overheard a couple of us talking about South Korea, and she said "is that the good one or the bad one?". I thought she was joking, but she wasn't.
But yeah, we definitely didn't feel any homesickness for Phoenix. We caught up with a friend who asked if we had any regrets, and we couldn't think of any. There are things we miss, but regrets, no. And like you, once my parents have passed, I highly doubt we will ever go back.
And it has gotten so HUGE. I compared a same-scale map of the greater Phoenix area to the greater Barcelona area, and realized that what we considered a normal drive to get from one part of Phoenix to another was the same distance as hopping on a train to another town down the coast here. I was shocked. And yet, Americans find that preferable. Freeeeedom!!!
Thanks, it's good to be back! The new-ish direct flight from Paris-Phoenix on Air France is fantastic: we totally skipped over the bad winter weather on the east coast, and no flight changes on the east coast either.
As a Phoenix native (living there through high school) who has lived the last 20 years in Oslo, I enjoy hearing your observations and thoughts of the ol’ homeland. Especially as you are now an ExPat. I haven’t been back since my mom passed away in 2017 (when a person working the register at a Walgreens, upon hearing we lived in Norway said: “Isn’t that dangerous because it’s close to Sweden?” Sigh…) so your observations are all the more interesting to me.
The basic ignorance there really blows me away. Before the first reign of the Orange King, a coworker who was very pro-Orange overheard a couple of us talking about South Korea, and she said "is that the good one or the bad one?". I thought she was joking, but she wasn't.
But yeah, we definitely didn't feel any homesickness for Phoenix. We caught up with a friend who asked if we had any regrets, and we couldn't think of any. There are things we miss, but regrets, no. And like you, once my parents have passed, I highly doubt we will ever go back.
And it has gotten so HUGE. I compared a same-scale map of the greater Phoenix area to the greater Barcelona area, and realized that what we considered a normal drive to get from one part of Phoenix to another was the same distance as hopping on a train to another town down the coast here. I was shocked. And yet, Americans find that preferable. Freeeeedom!!!
Such a great story! And, yes, anti-pedestrian is a better way to put it.
Welcome back!
Thanks, it's good to be back! The new-ish direct flight from Paris-Phoenix on Air France is fantastic: we totally skipped over the bad winter weather on the east coast, and no flight changes on the east coast either.