Isyraf, Software Engineer at BrioHR
"I lived in the US for 8 years, and recently moved back to Malaysia. Generally, in Columbus, Ohio where I lived, it’ll be Fall around October - December. You’ll get fake Winter in November but not for long, then you’ll start seeing snow for the real Winter late December or in January. Most people only like the snow during its first day. Then there’s a short spring in April and you’ll get to summer in mid-May till August. I would say September is kind of a long transition between summer and fall. Interesting fact: You could find a day or two where you’ll experience all 4 seasons in Ohio, it’s summer in the morning, then it’ll be like fall/spring throughout the night, then next day, it’s snowing.
In terms of nature, I like to spend time in the state park with my family almost everyday. We’ll probably be hiking, jogging, swimming, having a picnic or just taking a walk.
For convenience, there’s a lot to talk about, I don’t even know how to make this short. Cars here don’t cost that much, a lot of used cars here can be bought for less than $3000. Car rental is pretty cheap, every time we’re traveling far, we’ll rent a car with Hertz and we get to enjoy a wide variety of cars from Toyota Camry to Chevrolet Malibu to Dodge Charger etc. Groceries and gas were pretty affordable, you can buy groceries stock for a family of 4 that’ll last 2-3 weeks for less than $150. Home internet fiber plans were at affordable price and most importantly unlimited high speed, so working, streaming, playing games were not a problem. Food wise, we can get halal food sources pretty easily in Ohio and we cook a lot of Malaysian food at home, we even sell some of our cooked food to Malaysian students. In essence, our living cost was low, so we got to enjoy a lot of extra quality of life factors.
Living far away, the people you interact with, especially Malaysians will most probably become your “family” and close friends. We had the opportunity to meet with a lot of great people. There are actually quite a lot of Malaysian diaspora in the US. Some have already lived there for 30+ years.
My lifestyle over here and there are the same, but looking back, I think I have more free time in the US as compared to here in Malaysia. I get to spend these free times either with my family and friends doing a lot of different activities like snow tubing, swimming, playing futsal, traveling, or I get to enjoy my personal time learning new tech, playing games, etc. In terms of my expenditure, it’ll be similar in style.
The US is a huge country. It’ll take 12 hours of road trip by car from Ohio (Middle East) to Boston (East USA) and it’ll be more than 33 hours of road trip by car nonstop (more than 45 hours if you want to stop for meal, fuel & toilet break) from Ohio to California (West USA). I’m grateful to experience a road trip by car from California to Boston with my family! And I wish everyone could experience it too!
It’s pretty expensive if you want to visit the US for a trip. But the US is really big and has a lot to offer. You get to explore many different places and get to experience the wide ranges of different cultures across the US. What I like best about the US is the climate, nature, convenience and people who became my friends, teachers, and co-workers."
Isyraf Zakil is currently working at BrioHR as a Software Engineer and most of his weekends are spent traveling across Malaysia to visit family and friends after being away for such a long time.
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- Skyline Drive – Shenandoah National Park
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- Snow tubing at Mad River Mountain
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- Laguna Beach, California
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- Fall Family Photoshoot at Columbus Park of Roses
“I lived in the US for 8 years, and recently moved back to Malaysia. Generally, in Columbus, Ohio where I lived, it’ll be Fall around October – December. You’ll get fake Winter in November but not for long, then you’ll start seeing snow for the real Winter late December or in January. Most people only like the snow during its first day. Then there’s a short spring in April and you’ll get to summer in mid-May till August. I would say September is kind of a long transition between summer and fall. Interesting fact: You could find a day or two where you’ll experience all 4 seasons in Ohio, it’s summer in the morning, then it’ll be like fall/spring throughout the night, then next day, it’s snowing.
In terms of nature, I like to spend time in the state park with my family almost everyday. We’ll probably be hiking, jogging, swimming, having a picnic or just taking a walk.
For convenience, there’s a lot to talk about, I don’t even know how to make this short. Cars here don’t cost that much, a lot of used cars here can be bought for less than $3000. Car rental is pretty cheap, every time we’re traveling far, we’ll rent a car with Hertz and we get to enjoy a wide variety of cars from Toyota Camry to Chevrolet Malibu to Dodge Charger etc. Groceries and gas were pretty affordable, you can buy groceries stock for a family of 4 that’ll last 2-3 weeks for less than $150. Home internet fiber plans were at affordable price and most importantly unlimited high speed, so working, streaming, playing games were not a problem. Food wise, we can get halal food sources pretty easily in Ohio and we cook a lot of Malaysian food at home, we even sell some of our cooked food to Malaysian students. In essence, our living cost was low, so we got to enjoy a lot of extra quality of life factors.
Living far away, the people you interact with, especially Malaysians will most probably become your “family” and close friends. We had the opportunity to meet with a lot of great people. There are actually quite a lot of Malaysian diaspora in the US. Some have already lived there for 30+ years.
My lifestyle over here and there are the same, but looking back, I think I have more free time in the US as compared to here in Malaysia. I get to spend these free times either with my family and friends doing a lot of different activities like snow tubing, swimming, playing futsal, traveling, or I get to enjoy my personal time learning new tech, playing games, etc. In terms of my expenditure, it’ll be similar in style.
The US is a huge country. It’ll take 12 hours of road trip by car from Ohio (Middle East) to Boston (East USA) and it’ll be more than 33 hours of road trip by car nonstop (more than 45 hours if you want to stop for meal, fuel & toilet break) from Ohio to California (West USA). I’m grateful to experience a road trip by car from California to Boston with my family! And I wish everyone could experience it too!
It’s pretty expensive if you want to visit the US for a trip. But the US is really big and has a lot to offer. You get to explore many different places and get to experience the wide ranges of different cultures across the US. What I like best about the US is the climate, nature, convenience and people who became my friends, teachers, and co-workers.”
Isyraf is currently working at BrioHR as a Software Engineer and most of his weekends are spent traveling across Malaysia to visit family and friends after being away for such a long time.
