Reenen Biddulph

Out and About is the column in which we talk to people who nowadays live abroad, or who had been living and working abroad. This week we talk to Reenen Biddulph,  living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the USA, for the past 12 years. He mostly speaks for himself as his life is an open paperback while his wife is more private.

1. From where in South Africa are you and why did you decide to live abroad?

I have lived and worked in the Pretoria/Johannesburg area for most of my life. My dream job (Senior Agent Manager in the National Investigation Agency (NIA)) was quickly turning into a nightmare, and we were already looking around for other possibilities when the possibility to move (temporarily) to the USA surfaced. The common reasons, such as crime and corruption in South Africa, made the decision easier.

2. Was the culture shock and adaptation difficult?

Especially at the beginning, it always felt as if I was playing in a movie (just as an extra, mind you, not as a big star like fellow South African American friend Neil Sandilands). The police cars, taxis, dinners, pubs, sports, nature, and culture were all so well-known because we had seen those things in Hollywood movies all our lives. These days, it’s a great pleasure to watch movies and know exactly where it was filmed, because in many cases you’ve been there before, or you know the bourbon because you drink it yourself regularly, or you understand the “in” jokes because you live it yourself.

Also, I now understand why so many movies play out at a lake somewhere. Michigan, for example, is known as The Land of 10 000 Lakes because they indeed have 11 842 lakes; according to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Wisconsin has 15 074. By the way, Michigan has always been sour because we here in Wisconsin have more lakes than they did and insisted years ago on a recount – according to their rules, of course – but we still have won.

I adapted very quickly, especially because the people of the Midwest are so amiable and hospitable. A friend from South Africa once described them as “aggressively friendly”. I also almost immediately became a big supporter of the Green Bay Packers (a team competing in the National Football League (NFL)), and in 2010 I experienced almost the same joy when the Packers won the Super Bowl as when we won the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

It did, however, take a while to get used to the dozens of questions that shop assistants and waiters constantly and quickly fire at you while you hum and ha.

3. What interesting facts about the US would you like to share with us?

The first thing people need to realise is that the US actually consists of 50 different “countries” that differ dramatically from each other. Little things like whether you call your cooldrink “soda”, “pop” or “coke”, for example, depends on the state where you live. One also finds different accents in the different states. I had to ask four times, “Excuse me?” before I understood that in Georgia, “Doohoo whasam lah wee da hah knee?” simply means, “Do you want lime with that honey?”

Then there are the big differences, such as legislation regarding firearm possession, speed limits on the roads, and the use of marijuana. Ironically, it is only in California legal to drive a motorcycle between cars, while virtually everything else under the sun is either illegal or leads to cancer.

In Wisconsin, bartering is incredibly large. Our local pub’s car park sometimes looks like a flea market as items change hands. Food, drinks, bicycles, tools, snow blowers – you name it. We ourselves have a standing agreement with a friend to exchange a bottle of whiskey and a pack of beer for a three-course meal at his restaurant; the meal includes the most delicious ribeye steak I have ever tasted. I also exchanged two silver bracelets I made myself for three visits to the hairdresser for my wife. How do you like that!

4. What do you do for relaxation?

At the top of my list are road trips. Making road trips in “America the Beautiful” is basically the only desire and ambition I still have (besides, maybe, living at the sea one day). Whether it’s in my Miata with the roof down or on my motorcycle between the cornfields, up and down Lake Michigan or the Mississippi River (our western border), through the Mojave Desert in a Camaro V8 Convertible, right around Key West on a Yamaha Zuma scooter or a jet ski, or thousands of miles with the Subie all the way to Yellowstone National Park and back, it makes me incredibly happy.

Surely the most impressive and astonishing about the USA is its 427 national parks, covering 84 million acres. We were lucky enough to visit quite a few of them, and, just like the incredible Yellowstone, Yosemite, Dry Tortugas, Badlands and the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore are breath-taking.

5. You still have your South African citizenship. Is it important for you to keep up to date with news events in South Africa?

I avoid the news in both South Africa and the US as far as possible; it just makes me unhappy. Of course, one stays quite up to date with things because it is inevitable that you will notice the most important developments and events on Facebook.

6. Do you have time to travel?

Yes, we are fortunate in that regard. Over the years, we have visited much of the USA, partly to attend conferences and courses, but also for things like the Sevens Rugby in Las Vegas. We were also in places like Jamaica and Puerto Rico. I try to get to South Africa about every two years, but my focus is still on the big parts of the USA that I still want to visit.

We once booked into a motel along Lake Michigan and were stunned when the receptionist gave us the motel’s keys and said we should enjoy ourselves; we were the only guests; she was leaving and would see us the next day. We also checked into a hotel on the way to the Mississippi and the same thing happened again, except this time it was a bit haunting because the place was called Silent Woman and had a decapitated woman as logo …

7. A last word

Some of my friends think I’m more American than any of them, and that’s quite possibly true. Yes, politics is a mess, and health care is expensive, but all the other things make it worth the while. I now consider myself a South African-born American. My great hero Teddy Roosevelt (I wonder how many people know that the teddy bear is named after him) was, along with John Muir, largely responsible for creating the national parks. Roosevelt said, “Any man who says he’s an American, but something else also is not an American at all. But if he’s heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as anyone else.”

(By the way, Roosevelt was shot in the chest during a speech here in Milwaukee, but he still finished his speech!)

“That’s all, folks!”

I love taking photos of dilapidated places, like these in Wisconsin:

Photos: Reenen Biddulph