Living in America 2015

[rootypig]

New thread. In honour of:

1. allegedly Irish bangers discovered I saw in Trader Joe's today, which made me think of you lot and especially you Want2b, you pork fanatic - I will report back; and

2. taxes bloody argh! do I have to do this? NOW??? My green card was granted in August last year and I didn't earn a bloody penny. What am I supposed to put on a tax return

How else is everyone's American odyssey going?

yours chaotically, as ever,

rooty

Ha no you don't. Partly because I have no idea what 4000sq ft means and partly because where I live is very nice really. I have nothing to complain about (though I'll give it a good go). I just miss weather, and home.

I would love to visit Austin! always hear such rave reviews.

If it makes you feel any better, most of LA is in bed by 10pm too.

imagining ex-pat running through dark streets of Austin in nightgown!

We went around Houston once on way to coast...never ventured in though. Fort Worth is a great place to live; lots of parks and friendly neighbourhoods, beautiful botanical gardens, lively downtown, loads of shopping, great schools and brilliant museums, plus the rodeo at the Stockyards which is fun. We like it here, though will be moving back to UK in summer.

Yesterday it snowed. Today is shorts and t-shirt weather. Probably had the full range of English temperatures in 24 hours.

I live near Ann Arbor. Everything is open late as there's a huge student population. We have been known to stay out until midnight. There's even midnight movie showings.

Two random questions for you lot!

1. do cheerleaders REALLY walk around in those dresses like everywhere
2. How do you fare in the USA as a non church goer? Americans are super religious, right? how do you cope making mates if they see you as the anti christ?

Americans are super religious, right? Not all Americans, in fact, not even a majority of Americans (various studies show this). Of the people I know, about half are church goers and about half are not. And I live in the Bible Belt.

Yes! religious cheerleaders are everywhere. There's no escaping them.

Same as SenecaFalls. We do go to church but we know plenty of people who don't and it's no big deal, despite being in the Bible Belt.

Never seen a cheerleader in full garb....

i had asked a colleague who lived i California and she said, yes she did end up going to church in the end, to make connections and friends.

I have always found Americans very churchy tbh

That surprises me... I would have thought California was one of the least "churchy" states!

We've only met a few friends through church. Mostly of our favorite people here we met through work, the DCs (school at randomly at the park) or living on the same street or in the same apartment building.

California is too big to talk about as a homogenous mass. The south of the state is culturally very conservative, from San Diego to Santa Barbara and beyond. LA can be quite cultish, and has all the Mormons and Scientologists, plus plenty of regular old Catholics, Episcopalians and Methodists. I find LA pretty religious, to be honest. It helps to understand that LA is more a series of suburbs, than a city, but also home to many migrants, including many white Americans, who do find community through their church. Central state gets bit more woo and San Francisco is the only truly urban centre, ergo, Jewish slash godless. North of Marin, everyone's stoned .

California actually has quite a lot of megachurches, which tend to be on the conservative end of the Christian spectrum.

Look at the electoral breakdown for California - the state is basically half conservative, half, er, slightly less conservative?

Mostly synagogues around here

Hi all, may I join you? Just moved to Oakland County, MI.

My friends could not give a Rat's arse if I go to church/synagogue or not. That said, DH and I increasingly think we're missing out on something by not going.

Of course TakesTwo! welcome. What size of cheerleading uniform do you take?

Actually, going back to the original question...in some High Schools, cheerleaders are expected to wear their uniform on game day, not every day. We are very non church goers and nobody gives a shit. I would be interested if that would be different in Texas though.

When I told a friend here I didn't believe in God, I may as well have said I didn't believe in gravity, or pigs are purple. She was absolutely, genuinely astonished.

Thanks roughtyping. Erm... Larger than I'd like and getting larger by the day

Welcome to America!

Did anyone not put on weight when they first got here (apart from the LA crowd)?

Hi Two. There are a few of us here from MI. I'm near Ann Arbor.

Tomorrow we have a friend from Blighty coming to have dinner with us. Since we moved here he moved to Sydney. He posted on FB about heading to Ann Arbor for a conference, and another mutual friend asked if we were meeting up. He's the epitome of academic professor vagueness and had completely forgotten that we live here! Anyway, as unexpected and last minute as it is, it will be lovely to see someone from home again.

I gained 20lbs in my first six months here and had an epiphany. I still refuse to eat more than half a bagel after someone told me its the equivalent to six slices of bread!

It's not very Christian here in north jersey. The Jewish tend to be more into their synagogues than Christians are into their churches. I've found you as likely to hear Hebrew in the playground as Spanish. In our circle of friends only one couple go to church every Sunday. The closest everyone else gets to church on Sunday is taking their kids to church square park (local kids playground in my town)!

Er. Fatty in the LA crowd here. Have definitely put on weight. Proximity to Trader Joe's: 1 block. Being bored and unemployed a SAHP doesn't help.