 I'm back! I'm back in New Zealand. I arrived a couple days ago. I'm still getting over my jet lag. If you don't know, I was in the States for five weeks visiting friends and family and was very exhausting. But I have such good content to share with you. Great videos that I'm working on. But as I'm just trying to get settled in today, I just thought I'd do a quick video for you on five things that I noticed going back to the U.S. after being gone for three years. And these are just not, this is an exhaustive, but these are just some of my top five things that I could just rattle off the top of my head. That was like, oh, that's interesting. Just some reflections about what I've noticed going back to the U.S. Here we go. Number one, number one most thing that kind of stuck out going back to the U.S. is that there's literally job postings everywhere. So let's talk about that for a minute. What I mean is every gas station, every fast food, sometimes they weren't even able to open because they didn't have anybody to work, anything but the drive through and I mean just offering like bonuses and money way above minimum wage, which minimum wage isn't great. So that's that's fine. But like, so I mean everywhere, like if you just want, if you can get into the U.S. and work, there's a job for you. They are looking to hire everywhere and that's just like regular industry. Then I talk to friends that are like in the healthcare industry like nurses and they're just they're losing staff like crazy because they're getting signing bonus bonuses over here and things are just kind of a bit of an uproar. Like it's really sad. I mean COVID has really hit a lot of retail, like a lot of stores, whole malls shutting down a lot of shutdowns, which is, you know, of course sad to see. But it's just a little bit of everything's just kind of up in a new way of doing things. And so yeah. And so when you talk to people, I would love to know your thoughts. If you're an American living in the States, your thoughts on, you know, the great resignation, is that what's happening? A lot of people are saying, you know, all of the free money from the government, they don't need to work or they're, you know, not going back to do those type of jobs. I don't know if that's all it like to be honest, I think that people have options. I think that COVID has changed our perspectives in terms of like, you know, when you, when you, you know, you're in COVID and you're like stopping what you're doing and then all of a sudden you have new options and you're like, I'm not going back to that and I'm going to do this and that and we're living in the digital world. You know, people that are in college that are in high school that would normally do these jobs, they have all their options in terms of jobs and they could do it. I think that's actually what we are seeing happening and they're not going to be, you know, working fast food or, you know, at, you know, at the gas station. I think that it's, it's not a matter of them not working. I think that they're probably just doing something else, but we'd love to know your perspective. I have to think about this more, but this was definitely something that I noticed jobs just, they're just begging for people to hire people at all of these places. So very interesting. Number two, prices are high. Prices are really high. I thought, you know, they're gas, everybody's of course talking about gas, petrol, whatever, you know, they're paying, you know, $4 or so a gallon, but they don't know that we pay by the leader and that's still in comparison would be $8. You know, in parts of the U.S., they are paying, you know, close to that. So gas prices are high. I really thought food prices were high when I went to the grocery store that everything was expensive. Of course, we did a lot of out to eat and I thought that was not cheap either where it used to be quite cheap. I don't know if it's just that I have teenagers that they eat more, but like, I don't think so. And then like the tipping, I think like what I was spending plus the tip on top of it is not any different than I'm spending in New Zealand. So I thought that the prices were quite high, even retail, like everything's just kind of gone up, you know, and it's so interesting because when you're in the states or like, whether they're blaming the government or the economy and they're like, I'm like, but you guys don't realize that the recession is everywhere, right? It isn't just here. And then we're all experiencing this, you know, this type of economy right now. It's not just you guys and your government. So just say, you know, but like even traveling was expensive, like car rentals were very expensive, so many things. And so yeah, prices were really high. So it wasn't, it was a little bit, it was really hard when you're coming with the New Zealand dollar and they, you know, a lot more money for me to be paying these kind of prices. But yeah, so prices are high in America as well, just so you guys know. Number three, number three, I'm just going to say this. After not being in the US for three years, it was weird to go back to rules and really weird for my kids that have mainly grown up in New Zealand. So for example, there's just like when we went to Cedar Point, which is like a amusement park, like roller coasters. And so like all the rules, you can't bring this, you can't bring that, you can't do this, you know, this is like, oh my gosh, you know, New Zealand isn't the world of rules. And then also, you know, New Zealand isn't a suing culture or liability issues. And so it changes everything. And so when you walk back into that, it's really noticeable. Like one day we went to the pool and there's all these rules about where you could go and then you had to like pass a swim test. And my 10 year old was like, what a swim test. Like I don't know how to swim. Like I'm jumping off cliffs and things here. And like I can't even go off the diving board. Anyway, he wasn't having it. He wasn't having it. He was like, I don't know how to swim. He's not taking a swim test. So, you know, and they just don't understand that or like, he was so cute. Some of my kids were like, why do we have to pay to go on the road, you know, with paying the tolls? Because we did a lot of traveling between Wisconsin and Michigan. So there's lots of tolls in Illinois and Ohio. And yeah, well, you know what I'm trying to explain to them that you have to pay for the roads to be maintained. And you know, they're like, what? Like you have to pay for the, you know, so it's just different. It was really interesting to see my kids' perspectives that aren't used to certain things in the US. Number four, I have to do a shout out. I have to do a shout out to Midwesterners are so nice. Like there's one thing that we, my whole family commented on is that everywhere we went, we just thought everybody was really, really nice. You know, and sometimes it takes a while of stepping out of the culture and coming back in and just thought, wow, everybody is just so friendly. You know, just every kind of everywhere we went. And also the talk of politics wasn't too bad. Like I was like, okay, here we go. I mean, it's definitely there. But I thought that people were a little bit more levelheaded than they have been in the past. This has just been my experience. Sorry if that isn't your experience, but talking to people like, you know, some things they just say and they, you know, like, and you just kind of write it off. But a lot of people were really, I think, reasonable and able to talk about things. And they're just, the divide is so great between the politics that the two parties that they're just, I think everybody just kind of had enough of it and are open to like, let's figure this out and let's stop being ridiculous. So a little bit of that. Some people were like, you know, but like, I just saw overall, it wasn't, it's in a controlled discussions. People weren't like getting passionate about something. I don't know, maybe everybody was just on their best behavior. I was there, not sure. And number five, I'm just going to say that everybody was quite hopeful. I think that people can travel again and do things and get back to normal life. I think COVID really took a toll. I felt that like there is was a little bit of an underlying unsettlingness, like a little discontentment and happiness. I don't know. And maybe that I'm reading it wrong or maybe that was just some of the people that I was around. But, you know, like they're excited for life. But yet, you know, I just think, I think that that was happening with, you know, people not taking certain jobs. I think people are just like, we're not just going to go back to the way things were for all of the things that they didn't like. But then, you know, they also don't know how to not do that. And, you know, so there was a little bit of discontentment that I noticed kind of underlying, like not overt. But also it's summer. So everybody's happy and everybody's traveling and doing things. So that's interesting. But if you've ever thought that or experienced that kind of below, I'd be like curious to know if other people have thought that because I don't see that in New Zealand. I don't see like this underlying kind of discontentment too much at all. I think that there's a little bit with everybody now after COVID and after all that we've kind of been through. We're just kind of coming out of it and mental health and kind of dealing with, you know, who am I? What do I really want to do? Is this where I want to be? You know, it just, it forces you to question things, which I think is really good. And it just kind of, it forces you to just kind of, okay, things are going to be a little bit different now. And I've talked to a lot of my clients and people that I've met with, you know, who are moving here. So I help people move here if you don't know. And they're all like feeling the same way. Like they've just made the decision and now we're going to come here. Now we're going to visit and, you know, help me out. And it's just like, it's cool. And you're seeing the excitement, enthusiasm for, and hope for something new and something better and something that, you know, maybe fits their life a little bit more. So that was cool to see that. So that's the video for today. Comment below with your experience on what you think is changing and different about the U.S. I would love to hear it. And also if you are thinking about moving to New Zealand, reach out to me. I do consulting services. I also have an amazing new training hub that you're not going to want to miss out on, which kind of gets you all trained up for having to get settled here, cultural training, just learning everything, the ins and outs about New Zealand that you're really not going to learn anywhere else. But so reach out below if you're interested in that. And I will see you guys next week.