Surreality

Most of the time, my life in New Zealand is as ordinary as it would be nearly anywhere else. Sometimes, though, life here collides with life in America and the result is a kind of disconnect that can sometimes be surreal.

A perfect example is having a Fourth of July BBQ in the middle of winter, as my partner and I have done. Okay, so we don’t have frost or snow in this part of New Zealand, and our daytime winter temperatures would make for a nice autumn or spring day in Chicago, but when you consider that it really is winter, and that Kiwis don’t have the same foods at their BBQs as Americans do, it starts to drift into “surreality”.

American elections are another thing like that. US elections are, in general, a mere curiosity to New Zealanders. That shouldn’t be a surprise to Americans; how many of them watch British or French election results or even Canadian results (Shame on you, by the way—you should know what America’s northern neighbour is up to).

So, it’s weird sitting watching US election results all day on CNN International, while New Zealand’s day goes on outside. I’m used to it now, having gone through five US elections before this last one. The next day it was back to ordinary life for me, too.

And that means it’s time to move on to other subjects—until the politicians misbehave, as someone, somewhere inevitably will. It’s what they’re good at.