Laina Hall shares about the differences between living in the Bay Area and Australia.
Cybertrucks and hummingbirds were two differences I immediately noticed when I moved to Palo Alto from Australia. There are these giant robot-like vehicles, cruising the streets, and then their antithesis, tiny, delicate birds, hovering in a quiet but active way.
Before arriving, I prepared myself for big differences; not working, different schools for my children, potential isolation or dealing with accents and bureaucracy. Yet, small differences also make impressions; the way strangers are more willing to strike up conversations, being able to turn right at red lights, and the wonderful availability of cinnamon scrolls, or as you might say, rolls.
People in Australia keep asking, ‘what is like to be living in America?’ I realize this depends on where you are and how your life intersects with certain policies but in general, my everyday conversations and activities don’t track broader politics, they track the lie of land, the local. The reality of living in Silicon Valley is present; many people I speak with are embedded in the work of rapidly changing technology. However, the broader conversations about what that might mean for society and the future are the same ones I was having in Australia.
Similar conversations also take place on the sideline of children’s sport, shared hopes for our children to find joy, satisfaction and build strong and meaningful friendships. Sometimes there is shared frustration about refereeing or kids not resting at track meets.