Today we celebrate our 12th year in the US and next month will be our 10th year in Texas!

At 3.35 p.m. today, at the moment when my oldest son comes out of school, it will be exactly 12 years since that KLM flight touched down on the runway of San Francisco international airport!

As usual, these things let you reflect on the past 12 years and all that has happened in that time. I also reflect on the fact that we left our homeland and family ten thousand miles behind for a new life in a different part of the world.

I have bitter-sweet feelings about it all. The “bitter” is that we are far away from our family and we miss them. Luckily we do get to see them from time to time, and going by some of our American friends, we see our family in South Africa quite often.

The “sweet” is obviously the lives we have here in the US. We can always make improvements, but generally, life is good. Our kids are doing well and they are able to pursue great opportunities in a world where performance is the only measure.

Over the past 12 years we have also become very aware of how lucky we were to win our green cards in the lottery. Ours was a trouble-free entry that led to US citizenship six years later. Some of our friends are still struggling to get their green cards after more than ten years and thousands of dollars.

We are lucky indeed!

We’ve been living in the US for 10 years today!

After a long flight from Amsterdam, we touched down at San Francisco International Airport at 1.30 p.m. PST on September 5, 1996. I can hardly believe that 10 years have gone by. On the one hand it seems so long, but on the other hand it seems so short!

It was an emotional moment when we landed. This was the beginning of a new life with many uncertainties. There weren’t any excited family members or even close friends to pick us up at the airport. I didn’t have a job. All we had was the name and phone number of the hotel where we planned to stay. That hotel was to be the base from which we planned our new lives.

A lot has happened since that day. Here is an account of our our first 7 days. After 3 weeks we managed to find an apartment and I found a job. Things started to settle down.

We made American friends, connected with other South Africans in the area, and fell in love with the beautiful SF Bay Area. However, life was expensive and rushed in San Francisco and after 2 years we moved to Texas.

We have now been living in Texas for 8 years. Our kids go to local schools and play in local sports teams. I have held a variety of jobs, including my most recent at a local university. My wife is involved in the local school. Together, we also run a website for South Africans in the Austin area.

We have been back to South Africa 3 times to visit our relatives, who all still live there. These visits have mostly been wonderful. We find it interesting to see how South Africa has changed each time we visit.

A question that sometimes arises is, “will we ever go back to live in South Africa?” It’s a tough question. It’s always very nice to see our family. We miss them, and we know they miss us. However, it took a lot to get settled here, and although the US has its problems, there’s a lot about life here that we like and will certainly miss if we leave. If we go back, the first several months will be wonderful because we’ll see the family often. But the honeymoon will end, and then we’ll face the realities of life in South Africa. Those realities may very well cause us to regret leaving the US, and if that happens, it will be very difficult to return. So the answer is a solid “maybe”.

In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy life in the US, have fun with our American and South African friends, and visit our family in South Africa as often as we can!

We became US citizens a few days ago. Here’s the story of our naturalization process…

We Waited 6 Years

The waiting period for Green Card holders to become US citizens is 5 years. Our 5 years were up on September 5, 2001. We could now start the naturalization process that usually takes about 9 months to complete.

Dual Citizenship

When we started talking about naturalization, one of the issues that came up was, “what about our South African citizenship?” The natural answer to that one is, “give it up… you’re becoming Americans now!” But in my mind it wasn’t that simple. For reasons that made sense to us, we decided that dual citizenship was the way to go.

The South African government changed the law in 1995 to where a South African that takes on the nationality of another country would automatically lose their South African citizenship, unless they applied for permission to retain their South African citizenship. So we applied. That delayed the start of our naturalization process by about 3 months.

Applying For Naturalization

The application forms weren’t a big deal to fill out. We sent the completed forms in and paid the application fee.

Two months later, we received a notice to go for fingerprints in San Antonio. We couldn’t go at that time. Heavy rains in the area caused a lot of flooding in San Antonio. So we requested a postponement. Two months later, we were finally able to go. The fingerprints are for a background check conducted by the FBI.

The Interview

The prospect of doing the interview with the INS was by far the most nerve-wracking part in this household… Not because we had anything to hide, but because we had to pass a test on US history and government structure. We went all-out studying for this test, and we learned a lot.

In the end, the interview was nowhere near as intimidating as we expected. The INS officer was very friendly and immediately put us at ease. The test was a breeze. And the interview we expected to be 2 hours long took only 45 minutes. We were thrilled! All that was left was the Oath Ceremony.

The Oath Ceremony

Our Oath Ceremony took place in Austin at UT (University of Texas) on January 17, 2003. There were 432 people from 73 countries taking the oath.

The ceremony is basically a court session, run by a judge. In our case, it was US District Judge Sam Sparks.

Texas Supreme Court Justice Wallace Jefferson, a very impressive man, delivered the main address. He’s the first African-American to become a Texas Supreme Court Justice, and also one of the youngest ever. He spoke about what it meant to be a US citizen. Given that his great-grandfather was a slave, he has a special appreciation for what it means to be a US citizen with all the rights that the Constitution guarantees. In closing, he said that even if his ancestors had never been brought to the US, he thinks he would’ve done all he could to come here.

Judge Sam Sparks read The Oath of Citizenship and swore us in as US citizens at exactly 2:40 p.m. We then received our Certificates of Naturalization and a letter from President George W. Bush.

Special Mention

I also have to mention Carey Dietert, an executive at Dell Computers and a member of a local opera group. He sang “God Bless America“, “The Star Spangled Banner” (the national anthem), and “God Bless the USA” in a way that brought tears to our eyes. Unbelievably good!

After The Ceremony

After the ceremony, we met up with another couple we knew. The husband also became a US citizen. Congratulations Yaquie! A representative from our local newspaper was also there. We spoke with him for a while, and also took some photos. Afterward, we met with them at a local restaurant for a few drinks.

This was a very special day in our lives, and we can truly say, “We are proud to be Americans!“

Keep in mind that these answers are only my opinion. They are based on our experiences as a family who immigrated from South Africa to the USA. Get a second opinion if you’re using this information for your immigration decision.

• Should we take our furniture with us?
• I used to have a domestic worker in SA. Will I have to take care of my house work now?
• What about transportation when we arrive?
• Do you pay a lot of taxes in the US?
• Are goods cheaper in the US?
• Why/how do I establish credit in the US?

Should we take our furniture with us?

This depends on your situation. If a company is paying for your relocation, and your furniture is still in good condition, I’d say yes, take it with you. If you’re paying for the relocation and most of your furniture needs replacement, it may not be worth the cost of shipping it.

One advantage that taking your furniture might offer, is that you’ll feel you’re on “familiar turf” once your furniture arrives and you unpack your stuff into your new home.

We didn’t take our furniture along.

I used to have a domestic worker in SA. Will I have to take care of my housework now?

Unless you will be making lots of money in your new country, YES you will be doing your own house work. Fortunately, Americans aren’t big on ironing clothes (they take it out of the tumble-dryer while still warm), and most apartments/houses have automatic dishwashers.

They’re still working on automatic vacuum cleaners and dusters!

[Update 2019: Somebody built the automatic vacuum cleaners!]

What about transportation when we arrive?

If you’re going to stay in a hotel for the first few days, you can arrange for the hotel courtesy van to pick you up at the airport (call them from the airport after arrival).

Thereafter, rent a car as soon as possible. In many cases car rental companies require a credit card number, but we were able to rent a car without one. If you are able to keep your credit card when you leave South Africa, it’ll make life easier for you.

Don’t worry too much about learning to drive on the other side of the road – it’s easier than you think. Remember: the divider line on a two-way road remains on the driver’s side of the road since the driver also sits on the other side of the car.

Do you pay a lot of taxes in the US?

It is my opinion that you pay less taxes in the US than in South Africa. The US tax system also works on a sliding scale, i.e. the more money you make, the higher the tax percentage.

In 2000 I earned way more than the US national average and only 18% of my money went to income tax. In most cases you pay Federal tax (to the central government) and State tax. State taxes are insignificant compared to Federal taxes.

Texas doesn’t have State taxes, but the property taxes are higher here.

Are goods cheaper in the US?

If you compare apples to apples, yes, in most cases goods are cheaper.

In 1996 our Panasonic TV and VCR cost $400 each, and I believe equivalent sets in SA would have set you back at least R2,000 each at that time. I bet you’re now thinking “…but wait a minute. $400 x 6 = R2,400 and that’s R400 more than R2,000…” Yes, it is, but you can’t calculate it this way. Based on what salaries were like in 1996, let’s say you earn R5,000 per month. A similar job in the US paid around $3,500 per month. Paying R2,000 for the TV would take 40% of your monthly SA pay, but paying $400 for it would take only 12% of your US pay – quite a difference.

[Update 2019: These numbers are from 1997. The Rand has slipped considerably since then. SA salaries are much higher now. But you get the idea.]

Our new mini-van cost $25 000, which amounted to less than 50% of my annual salary. An equivalent van in SA cost around R250 000 at that time (I checked), which amounts to more than 4 times the annual salary I made in SA. You can buy a cart/trolley full of groceries for about $250 (in California it’s $400).

Exceptions

One exception has to be housing. It is more expensive, but still affordable in most of the US. Cost of living is something that can vary sharply throughout the US. The San Francisco Bay Area is very expensive. In fact, a small 3-bedroom house on the SF Peninsula can easily cost $500,000. In Austin it would be more like $120,000. This is one of the reasons why we left San Francisco.

Another exception is medical care. It is very expensive in the US.

So, yes, things are generally cheaper, but watch out where you go live, and watch out for medical costs.

[ Update 2019: The housing numbers used above are from around 2000. Today’s prices are higher, but the ratios are similar.]

Why/how do I establish credit in the US?

In South Africa you probably had a home loan, and at least one credit card from your bank. You also had a history of payments that you made over the years.

Well, that slate has now been wiped clean, and you need to start over building a “credit history”. This is basically a history of making consistent monthly payments towards something or another. It is very important, because without it, nobody will lend you any money, or give you a credit card.

You’ll find that if you walk up to your new bank here in the US and ask them for a credit card, they’ll probably say no. “You have no credit history, so how can we assess the risk we’ll be taking”, they’ll say. And you’ll wonder, “Well, if you won’t give me a credit card, how can I establish a credit history?”

Don’t despair, there are ways to do this.

Firstly, your bank will probably be willing to give you a “secured credit card”. You deposit a certain amount of money into an account with them, and they then give you a credit card with a credit limit equal to the amount you deposited. This eliminates their risk. Use this card regularly, and make sure you make your monthly card payments on time, and voila, you have a credit history!

Department stores, like Sears or Target, also have “in-store” cards that you can use to buy stuff in their stores. Get one, use it, and make sure you never miss a monthly payment.

Before you know it, you’ll be receiving so many credit card offers from other companies that you’ll get sick of it!

If you have questions not answered above, contact us.

There are social clubs for South African immigrants in many cities in the world. In some cases they are called “The Springbok Club of …(and whatever the name of the city or region is you will be living in)”. In California there was the Springbok Club of Northern California, and the Springbok Club of Southern California. In Austin it is South Africans in Austin.

These clubs often have many enjoyable social activities throughout the year. When we arrived in the US, we joined the Springbok Club of Northern California, and socializing with other South African immigrants made it easier for us.

Activities

Some of the things we did with the Northern California club are:

• Barbeque on Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay on Memorial Day
• White Water Rafting on the American river close to Sacramento
• Canoeing on the Russian river near Sebastopol
• Halloween Party
• Christmas Party
• Tennis days
• Pub nights
• Other camping trips

Here in Austin we’ve held many braais (barbeques) over the years. For the past five years, we have also attended the annual Texas Potjie Festival. They are all a lot of fun and we have made many good friends at these events.

Update – 2019

I first wrote the piece above before Facebook existed. Since then, people have started many Facebook Groups for South Africans in many cities, states, or countries around the world. As a result, I think few social clubs have websites these days, relying instead on Facebook groups. Most of these groups’ names also start with “South Africans in…“

A Word of Caution

One always wants to think the best of other South Africans one comes into contact with in one’s new country. As we’ve discovered, that is not always the case. Like at home, the South African expat community has its share of unpleasant people. Keep your eyes open for such characters.

I recommend that you at least make contact with the social club or group in your area. The emotional support you can get from this can be very valuable, especially in the beginning.

Anyway, here they are…

Thursday, September 5, 1996

Finally, after months of preparations, we fly out of Amsterdam for San Francisco. We flew over Iceland and Greenland, which looked like a desert of snow. Met Jerry & Molly on the plane. They gave lots of hints on what to do, and what not.

We touched down at SFO (San Francisco International Airport) at exactly 13:30.

Passed through Immigration and Passport Control without any hassles. Called our hotel and waited outside the airport building for the hotel shuttle bus.

Our first sight of beautiful, big-engined American cars! Saw two long white Limosines. All very impressive!

Arrived at the hotel, to walk straight into an end-of-summer American BBQ. It helped to make us feel more at home.

The hotel room is very comfortable and spacious. We settled ourselves in, watched a bit of TV (12 channels – we were impressed by 12 channels back then), and went to bed early, hoping to get rid of the effects of jet-lag.

Friday, September 6, 1996

We had two objectives for today, (1) to collect the luggage from the airport that we sent by freight ahead of us, and (2) to apply for our social security numbers. We decided to go for our luggage first. What a battle it was to find it.

First, the cargo division was not at the main passenger terminals as we expected, and since we didn’t have any transport of our own, we had to beg a ride on an airport employee bus which happened to go past the cargo division. Then, neither KLM nor NorthWest Airlines (KLM’s domestic partner) had our cargo (we thought KLM would have it since we flew KLM to the US). Our “waybill” number also didn’t appear on their computer systems. It seemed our luggage was gone and we were ready to give up and go back to South Africa.

Luckily we met a very helpful NorthWest employee (who was very interested in South Africa) and he tracked our luggage down to American Airlines. At American Airlines we met a very friendly Samoan, Warren, who located our luggage. Warren also drove us to US Customs, and finally our luggage was released.

By this time it was too late to go to the social security offices, and we returned to our hotel. While waiting at American Airlines to be picked up by the hotel shuttle, we had our first taste of American hamburgers (from a food truck).

Saturday, September 7, 1996

We rented a car today because we couldn’t keep on depending on the hotel’s courtesy van for transport. It is a red Chrysler Neon. This also meant my first experience driving a left-hand-drive vehicle on the right-hand side of the road. It felt very weird, but it all went OK.

We got quite lost on our way back to our hotel and had to stop at a gas station to look at a map to find our way back. To avoid getting lost again, we’ll go out and buy a decent street map of San Mateo / Santa Clara counties tomorrow.

Sunday, September 8, 1996

We set off for the Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo, took the wrong exit off Hwy 92, and ended up at a K-Mart. We decided to go in and have a look anyway. What a surprise it was to see how cheap household goods are in the US.

We set off for Hillsdale Mall again and found it. Macy’s was quite something – a lot like Edgars (in SA), but bigger, with fantastic goods, and a lot cheaper. We explored the rest of the mall, and the Disney store and the toy store were incredible.

We went to lunch at McDonald’s. Johnny took to McDonald’s burgers like a fish to water. There we met Jeff, who is also into computers and who is very keen to help us. He offered us the use of his computer and internet connection, and invited us to come to their place for a swim and a visit.

I called Gabe for the first time, and we agreed to meet later in the week. (Gabe lives in the SF Bay Area, and I got a lot of info from him while we were still in SA.)

Monday, September 9, 1996

First up today was our applications for Social Security numbers. We found the office easily, and the application went quickly. We were told our Social Security cards would take 10 days to arrive by mail.

Apartment hunting was next. We decided to travel down El Camino Real all the way to San José to get a better idea of all our options. It was a very long way, and the further we went, the hotter it became.

Finally, as we left San José, we found a McDonald’s and stopped for a meal. For kiddies’ entertainment, they have a huge plastic tunnel maze. We hadn’t seen anything like this in South Africa before. Johnny had great fun. We headed back to San Mateo on US 101, which was much faster than El Camino Real.

We met with Gabe & family in the evening – very nice people. He brought me a bottle of wine and two Visual Basic magazines. The kids had a swim in the hotel pool. I think everyone enjoyed the evening. It was certainly very nice to finally meet the guy who helped me so much with our preparations for moving to the US.

Tuesday, September 10, 1996

Our apartment hunting is going very slow. I called many real estate management companies, but had no luck. No vacancies. Esmé then went to Cort furniture rentals and found an advertisement for two apartments. We liked the one very much, and were able to pay the rent, but they wouldn’t give it to us because I have no job. Outrageous! Back to square one!

This is very discouraging and demoralizing.

On the upside, Gabe called and spoke about some possible part-time work at BayNet (his company). This is great – even if it doesn’t pay a lot of money, it is a foot in the door!

Wednesday, September 11, 1996

The apartment hunting continued. I called a lot of apartment buildings – again, no luck. So we decided to take an apartment we didn’t like, and which was very expensive. We applied for the apartment, but because we were unhappy with it, we carried on looking.

With some luck, we spotted a “apartment for rent” sign on El Camino Real. They had one place available. We went to have a look immediately and liked the place a lot. The apartment manager was sympathetic to our situation and convinced the owner to let us have it. At last!! The only problem is that we can only get it at the end of September / beginning of October.

We’ll have to go into a cheaper motel until we can move into our apartment.

Thursday, September 12, 1996

We’ve been here for one week now, and things have gone well for us. We spent this morning looking for a cheaper motel to stay at. Our current hotel is very nice, but it is very expensive (more than $100/day). We found another place for half the price. We’ll stay there for the next 10 days, or until we can move into our apartment.

Gabe called again, this time offering me a part-time HTML programming job paying $12 an hour, ±15 hours per week. I’m going to take it because it gives me some experience to put on my résumé. It may just open up doors to bigger and better things.

… and here I stopped recording our days…

I didn’t take Gabe’s job because Jeff, the guy we met at McDonald’s, helped me get a PC Support job at the company he worked for. This got me into the computer industry, and I worked for them for 7 months.

Then I got my big break into programming – the Systems manager at a company in San Mateo liked the work I was doing in PC Support, and was willing to give me a job as an MS Access programmer even though I didn’t have any professional programming experience. I stayed with the company until we relocated to Texas.

In February 1997, we put Johnny into a preschool. He learned English very quickly. Soon, he had an American accent.

In January 1998, Esmé started working for an airline. In May 1998, we decided that the San Francisco Bay Area was too expensive to live in, and in June, we flew to Austin, Texas, to see if we’d like to live there. We liked it, and in October 1998, we relocated to Austin. Also, in June 1998, I started a part-time programming business, which has flourished.

The beginning was rough, but now we’re living happily in the US. It all worked out well for us…

• The Green Card Lottery
• Our entry
• Did we really win?
• The endless documents
• Waiting…
• The Interview
• Preparing to leave
• Goodbye
• England
• San Francisco
• Luck!

The Green Card Lottery

Every year the United States government has a Green Card lottery in which 55,000 Green Cards can be won. Only people from countries with low immigration rates to the US can enter. A maximum of 3,850 Green cards can be awarded to one country. Anybody who has the equivalent of a US 12th grade education, or who does a job requiring 2 years training, may enter.

The entry is very simple. When we did it, it consisted of placing some information on a sheet of paper, and mailing it in. Nowadays it’s an electronic entry on their website.

After the closing date, 100,000 names are drawn randomly. These “first round” winners receive notice by mail. Then you have to fill out a bunch of forms and submit supporting documentation to the NVC. Once this is received, and 3,850 Green cards have not yet been issued to your country, you get an interview date and location. The interview is at the closest US embassy or consulate.

The Interview

If you’ve reached this point, you’ve basically got it. The interview is really just to check that you aren’t “undesirable.” They want people who can support themselves. At the interview, you also pay an administrative fee ($200 per visa in 1996).

After the interview you receive a US immigration visa. It is valid for 4 months. (So you have 4 months to pack your stuff and get your butt over there). Upon entry into the US you receive a temporary Green card. A few weeks later you receive the real thing by mail.

Our Entry

You have to realize this whole thing really works on luck. It’s like entering any other competition. You’re one among a whole lot of other people who entered. As such, your chances of not winning are far greater than your chances of winning it.

The irony of our initial entry is that we didn’t even do it ourselves. I had to leave town for three weeks and didn’t have time to prepare our entries. So I asked a friend who was also entering, to submit entries for us too. This was around February 1995.

Unfortunately for him, he did a better job with our entries than with his own. (Don’t worry, he’s living quite happily in England now.)

Did We Really Win?

I forgot completely that we had entered the Green card lottery.

One fine day in August 1995, we received a large envelope with an Amsterdam postal marking. I don’t know what I was thinking when I opened the envelope and read the letter. I do know I didn’t believe right then that we had won. So there was no joyous jumping up and down! (Esmé says you’ll never see me do that anyway!)

Knowing that a lot of my friends at work also entered, I tried to solve the mystery the next day. None of them had received anything. That’s when I realized we had won!

I don’t recall us ever discussing whether we should go to the US or not. It was just, “Yes, we’re going. This kind of opportunity comes only once, and we should take it now, or lose it forever!”

Little did we know how much it would change our lives, and which challenges we would face. Maybe it was good we didn’t know…

The Endless Documents

If you’re scared of filling out forms and running from one agency to the next to obtain documentation, then you’re in for a tough time. OK, it’s not really that bad. I survived it. It is a lot of work though. And you want to get it done before everybody else because there are only a limited amount of Green Cards available.

I was able to get all the required forms and documentation off to the NVC by October ’95. It was about 6 weeks after hearing we had won. That in itself was a miracle. I got to understand very well why some government departments are not famous for their efficiency!

Waiting…

“Waiting” is something that most people don’t do very well… especially if your whole life is placed on hold by it. We were reluctant to make any changes to our lives. It could all be in vain if we had to pack up and leave for the US.

After 3 months I couldn’t stand it anymore and tried to find out from the NVC what was going on. They couldn’t tell me anything other than “your documentation has been received and you will receive further instructions later”.

Then, after another 3 months, we received notice that our interview was set for May 1996. Once we got the interview, I knew that we would get the Green cards. So I started planning the entire relocation operation step by step.

The Interview

In May 1996, we flew to Johannesburg for our interview.

The first consulate person we dealt with was a very rude, impatient South African! I have later discovered on SA expat billboards that this Indian gentleman is quite notorious for his obnoxious behavior. Anyway, this idiot’s job was to collect the remainder of our documentation and to collect our first money ever paid to Uncle Sam.

A very kind, pleasant American conducted the interview! It lasted about one hour. Two hours later, we walked out of there with three immigration visas that were valid until September 15, 1996.

Preparing To Leave

On our return to Port Elizabeth, I pulled out the relocation plans I had prepared before and got the ball rolling. We had a lot to do – sell our house, cars, and furniture. It wasn’t worth shipping furniture and appliances to the US.

We also tried to keep the essentials right to the end. For 2 months, we lived in a practically empty house. Everything went very well, though, and we were done with most of it ahead of time.

So we decided to take a final holiday with some good friends. In July ’96, we flew off to Mauritius (an island in the Indian Ocean) for a week. It was during this time that crime-ridden South Africa gave us our farewell. After 2 days in Mauritius, we found out that our house had been burgled. The place was a mess, but luckily, the burglars didn’t find our immigration visas hidden in the house.

Goodbye

We decided to spend a week with each of our families before we left. So we spent a week with my parents on their farm. Then we flew to Johannesburg to spend a week with Esmé’s parents.

The goodbyes at the airports were the worst! Saying goodbye to family, knowing that it’ll be a while before you see them again, is not easy. It is only now that our kids are grown that I realize how difficult this must’ve been for our parents.

We flew from Johannesburg to Amsterdam and London on September 2, 1996.

England

This is where my friend who entered us in the Green Card lottery comes into the picture again.

He had left South Africa about a year earlier and was now living outside London. We decided it would be great to see him again. It would also be good to split our trip into two to make it easier on Johnny, who was only a toddler at the time. It also gave us time, in the “safe” company of a friend, to come to grips with what we were doing.

So we spent two great days in the beautiful English countryside before flying off to San Francisco via Amsterdam.

San Francisco

September 5, 1996, was our first day in the US.

We arrived at San Francisco International airport at 1:35 PM. After going through immigration, we received our temporary Green cards (stamped into our passports). Then we called up a nearby hotel and their courtesy van picked us up.

We didn’t know the San Francisco Bay area at all. We didn’t know anybody either. And to top it all, none of us had work. But we knew we’d have to put up with uncertainty and take it one step at a time. And so we did.

Two weeks later, I found a job as a PC support engineer at a company in San Francisco. A week after that, we moved into the apartment that we lived in until we relocated to Texas in late 1998.

I have since become the programmer that I set out to become. Esmé worked as an airport sales agent for an airline.

Luck!

There is always a certain amount of luck that accompanies you on big ventures like these. We had lots of it.

Initially, we struggled to find an apartment. We had no credit history and no jobs. In the already tight Bay Area housing market, no apartment manager would rent an apartment to us… until we met the Goodfellows. They were the managers of an apartment building in San Mateo.

By sheer coincidence, their son-in-law was a South African. They planned to move to South Africa two months later. So the Goodfellows had a lot of sympathy for our situation. Despite having no job or credit history, they convinced the apartment owner to let us have an apartment anyway. We lived there for two years, and were great friends with the Goodfellows.

And that’s the long story of our immigration to the USA.

South Africa

Until August 1996, we lived in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. This is definitely one of the best places to live in the country. It is a medium sized city with great beaches, great weather, and the occasional breeze (for some reason some people insist on calling it the “windy” city). 

Cape Town used to be my favorite city in South Africa, but crime and property prices have escalated so much that it’s now probably only a good place to go for a vacation.

Green Card Lottery

Then came the opportunity of a lifetime… I happened to be one of the lucky winners in the 1996 Green card lottery.

This is a long story, but for now, suffice it to say that after a rough time of preparations and sad goodbyes, we set off for the United States.

United States of America

So, on September 5, 1996, we arrived at San Francisco International Airport.

I spent my first seven months in the US working on a PC support contract in San Francisco.

After that, I started my programming career at a company in San Mateo. After living in San Mateo (about 20 miles south of San Francisco) for two years, we decided it was far too expensive to live in the Bay Area.

I started looking around and discovered Austin, Texas. In October 1998, we relocated to Austin, where we lived for many years.

Other South Africans in the US

We discovered that there are many South Africans living in the San Francisco Bay Area – we were told about 230 families in 1996. No doubt, it’s a lot more now. We joined a South African social club with several great events each year.

After arriving in Austin, we didn’t have much contact with other South Africans for the first year. We couldn’t locate the local Springbok Club and became convinced there weren’t many South Africans living in Austin. Luckily, we discovered otherwise – there are a lot of South Africans in Austin; they simply weren’t publicized very well.

We then started a local South African social group and have organized several great group braais over the following years. We also sometimes collaborated with other South African organizations in Texas to support events for South Africans.

Cool Things in the Bay Area

It didn’t take us very long to discover Marine World Africa USA and Paramount’s Great America – two great places to have lots of fun.

We’ve also been to Lake Tahoe for some fun in the snow, and to Hawaii for some fun in the sun! (OK, OK, I know Hawaii isn’t in the Bay Area, but this was the best place to mention it.) Napa Valley, northeast of the Bay Area, is California’s wine region and is another great place that we visited.

Cool Things in the Austin Area

Zilker Park is a cool place close to downtown Austin to take the kids to. It has a very nice park for kids to play, a miniature train to ride, and the cool waters of Barton Springs is great on a hot summer’s day. 

Oasis restaurant has a magnificent view over Lake Travis, and if you’re into stunning sunsets, this is the place to go.

If you’re willing to drive a little further, there’s Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, which has a lot of fun water rides and a variety of pools for young and not-so-young.

About an hour’s drive southwest of Austin is San Antonio, which has Splash Town, Sea World, and Fiesta Six Flags. Cancun, Mexico is also only a two-hour flight away.