What I am (still) grateful for after 2 years in the US
After moving from Southeast Asia's perpetual haze to California's blue skies, I've explored 12 national parks and discovered what truly makes life here extraordinary.
It has been two years since our family moved from Singapore to the San Francisco Bay Area. Time flies. Living in the US has been wonderful and hard in equal measure — and I think that tension is what makes the experience so rich.
The first six months were genuinely tough. I wrote about this in other posts, but I want to be upfront here: gratitude does not mean everything is easy. Some weeks I miss Singapore so much it catches me off guard — the efficiency, the food, the familiarity. Other weeks I cannot believe how lucky we are to be here. Both things are true at the same time.
Here is what I am still grateful for, and what still challenges us.
Not everything is rosy (but I would do it again)
I want to start with the hard stuff, because glossing over it would be dishonest. One of the reasons I have written more than 90 articles about expats in the US is because we had to learn so many new things from scratch:
- Finding a suitable place to rent — we toured more than 10 apartments in our first week, jet-lagged and overwhelmed. I remember sitting in a parking lot after the seventh viewing, looking at Sophie asleep in the back seat, and thinking, "What have I done?"
- Building our credit scores from zero — try getting approved for anything when you have no credit history in the US. In Singapore, my credit was fine. Here, I was a ghost.
- Getting our driver licenses — the written test was fine, the behind-the-wheel test was nerve-wracking
- Buying our first car — without credit, the financing options were limited
- Navigating the US healthcare system — in Singapore, you can walk into a neighbourhood clinic and see a GP for common symptoms. Here, it does not work that way, and the insurance premiums are at least double or triple what we paid in Singapore.
The cost of living in the San Francisco Bay Area is prohibitively high. Between housing costs and California's state income tax, the disposable income left for everything else is limited. This is something I did not fully appreciate before moving.
As for the people — we have met many kind, generous people who helped us settle in, and also encountered some aggressive individuals along the way. It is a big country with more than 330 million people, after all.
So why am I still grateful? Because the good parts are really good.
The blue sky that never gets old
One of the things I enjoy doing here is jogging along the coast in the morning — the air is crisp, the sky is blue, and it still feels a bit surreal sometimes. Coming from Southeast Asia where the sky is often hazy and the humidity is relentless, I genuinely do not take this for granted.
The temperate climate in the Bay Area makes daily life so much easier. No more stepping outside and being drenched in sweat within minutes. The air quality index is often below 40 — "Good" quality — almost every day. Even in a clean country like Singapore, the annual haze from forest burning in Indonesia would blanket the city for weeks. Here, I can take a deep breath and actually enjoy it.
If we want snow, Lake Tahoe is a few hours' drive away. If we want heat, Los Angeles delivers. The range within one state is remarkable for someone who spent 15 years in a country the size of a small city.
Running by the sea
https://youtube.com/shorts/g6re6edBO50?si=XkI-sQaJcb4wskx0
I picked up a running habit after moving here, partly because jogging in a temperate climate is infinitely more enjoyable than in Singapore's heat. My regular route takes me along the coast near Foster City — the trail is flat, the views are open, and on good mornings the fog is just lifting off the water. It became my daily reset, the thing that keeps me grounded when work or life gets overwhelming.
Nature is 20 minutes away
This still amazes me. Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve is less than 20 minutes from our place. You drive through suburban streets, and suddenly you are on a hilltop trail surrounded by wildflowers and open grassland. In Singapore, nature exists but it is curated — park connectors, manicured gardens. Here, it is wild and vast and free.
12 national parks and counting
The US has more than 60 national parks, and in two years we have been to 12: Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Pinnacles, Redwood, Crater Lake, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Lassen Volcanic, and Grand Canyon.
Each one has been a family adventure. Sophie's favourite was Yellowstone — the geysers blew her mind (literally, the steam got us once). Mine was probably Zion for the sheer drama of the landscape. These trips have been some of the best memories of our time here so far.
You can read more about our adventures and tips for different national parks:
- Yellowstone National Park
- Pacific NorthWest National Parks: Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Crater Lake and Lassen
- Joshua Tree National Park
- Yosemite National Park
- Pinnacles National Park
- Zion National Park
Road trips that actually work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItrukdRXwI4
In Singapore, the longest drive you can do is about 45 minutes before you hit Malaysia. Here, we have done multi-day road trips through mountains, deserts, and coastline — all within California or neighbouring states. The infrastructure just works: gas stations every few miles, rest stops, well-maintained highways. Touch wood, we have not had any breakdowns or major issues.
California flowers in spring
This might sound silly, but the flowers here genuinely make me smile. Coming from a tropical country where greenery is lush but flowers are less prominent in everyday life, the California wildflowers and garden roses caught me off guard. Every spring, the hillsides turn into these ridiculous carpets of colour — purples and oranges and yellows stretching as far as you can see. The first time we drove through the super bloom near Edgewood, Sophie literally yelled from the back seat, "Papa, stop the car!" She spent the next 20 minutes just running through the field. I stood there watching her and thought: this alone was worth the move.
Sophie's education: different, in a good way
K-12 education in the US is very different from Asia. At least in California, the emphasis is on critical thinking, reasoning, and the joy of learning. Equal weight is given to social studies and art alongside STEM subjects. In Singapore, the system leans heavily toward maths and science — which has its strengths, but the balance here feels healthier for some kids.
Sophie seems to enjoy social studies and English/Language Arts a lot more than STEM :| Not sure how I feel about that yet, but seeing her genuinely excited about school projects is worth a lot.
You can read more about the differences: "We bake and join clay club" — one of the main differences between elementary schools in the US and Singapore.
No place is perfect. The US has its own set of challenges, and some days I miss the efficiency and familiarity of Singapore. But overall, I think our family made the right decision — and two years in, I am still grateful for that.
If you are an expat in the US, what are you most grateful for? Or what surprised you the most? I would love to hear your perspective :)
Cheers,
Chandler
