Living in America....... summer 2010!

[redflipflops]

So.... new thread.... please join me

introductions:

redflipflops - California (central Coast)

6.45 am? Who plays soccer at that time - it's crazy!!!

He had one game a few weeks ago at 6 am. That's what happens when you have one indoor soccer center for the entire east side of Portland and surrounding suburbs. DH wanted to play on an adult team, but decided against it when he found out that games for the adults could be as late as 1 AM.

bloody hell. I guess if weeds out the people who really want to do it

Wow, I'm sure the soccer centre here would love to be that busy!

Actually, we didn't find out the game times until after we signed up. I'd heard horror stories, but DS played last year and never had such bad game times. I really only let him play because the team is made up of all but one of his best friends. Our team has been really good about showing up. When we played at 6, we had a 6:45 game afterward. The team we played at 6 ended up staying and playing at 6:45 because the ones that were supposed to play only had 3 players show up, and their coach didn't even show up.

And I complain about swimming lessons at 8 on a saturday morning. I could not manage 6 am football!

blimey, i can barely drag dd to her 9.50 swim class on a saturday - NONE of us are morning people, never have been.

for NY we went to friends, put dd in a sleeping bag, then sat around playing games & drinking (but not excessively) until about 4 am.

It is YEARS since i stayed up that late, and I still feel tired now!

I've got to say I am a bit of a grumpy cow in the morning and hate chivvying the dcs along. I couldn't manage it. I have a friend who goes to the gym every morning at 5. Respect to anyone who can function at that time of the morning!

I look at exercise classes that run before work, but DH politely reminds me that there is no way I'd get up for them :)

unfortunately DD and DH are morning people, so we're bit like passing ships at times

Does anyone know if muslin squares are available in the US, or will I have to ask parents to send them over? I haven't seen any in any of the shops I've been to. What do American Moms use to mop up posset?

Hi, can I join in? I was the one pestering about driver's licenses! Arrived in New Orleans on new year's day. So far so good. Kids started elementary and preschool respectively and have been absolute troopers

Haven't managed to read back a lot so apologies if I lose track of who's who for a bit. I'm Irish, dh is American and we've lived in scotland for the past ten years.

Will be good to have a band of like minded "brothers" at the end of the puter while in try and get the hang of living here

i used to use this thread to find out all the basic things that i was too embarrassed to ask when we first arrived, so don't worry about 'pestering'.

btw - i only found out the other day that only the USPS can deliver to a PO Box address. I have no idea if that's a widely known fact or not. I also have no idea if that's the same in the UK.

oh, and riddle me this - why is the UK system called the Royal Mail but we post things, whereas the US system is the US Postal Service, but everyone mails things?

I'm guessing just one of those bizarre quirks of language.

Lol kickass - I still do and I've been here more than 2 years! New Orleans sounds really interesting WhamBam - have you changed your name? Welcome to the thread - and if anyone has an answer about muslin cloths, that would be much appreciated!

I still call the mailman the postman and use the word send instead of post or mail. Seems to work so far.

tad I've not seen muslim squares but have seen things called burp cloths, which I guess do the same.

Will look out for them, just wanted to avoid the whole hooter hider monstrosity with a little muslin cloth!

Or look for a decent quality brand of cloth diaper. I think I found mine at Fred Meyer, and they made it through both kids and I still have them as they make wonderful cleaning rags.

I typed muslin squares into google and some came up on amazon

Thanks, just ordered some!

What an awful story about that massacre in Arizona. Had me in tears, especially over that little girl.

Hi all sorry to gatecrash but just wanted to know if anybody got into the US on an H1B visa.

Dp is in IT and his skills seem to be in demand just about everywhere (other than our neck of the woods and dp is bored of his present job).He fancies a change before the dc are too old and prefers the idea of a stint in the US rather than the London thing.

So how does one go about finding H1B visa jobs? We're aware the job market in the US is shite at the moment(although there does seem to be a big demand in dp's skills particularly in NY),we're presuming that would effect H1B job applications????

Does anybody know the best time of year to apply for an H1B visa job?

Are there H1B visa job agencies?

Has anybody used H1Base.com?

We're not particularly interested in the money,climate or a permanent position.

Many thanks if you can answer any of these questions,much appreciated.

Sorry MilaMae, don't know anything about the above. If you've no joy here, the 'british expat forum'(google those words) was really useful when i was applying for my green card. HTH.

tad, glad you're sorted, had a look in pottery barn kids yesterday but didn't see any. God, their stuff is gorgeous. I didn't even look at the prices as i was searching for 'inspiration' rather than actual buying!

I had loads of questions for you guys yesterday, and now i can't think of them!

Very cold here on northshore new orleans today.

Sorry, mila, we came on an L1B visa so don't know much about others.

WhamBam - you have a pottery barn? I'm envious!

Hello, mila. I'd love to be able to help, but I'm American, so I haven't had to deal with any of that.

We're finally back to 'normal' here. After being in school for 2 whole days after the break, we took the kids out and headed up to Seattle and a a really fun waterpark. I felt guilty taking them out, but it was such a lovely trip, we all had a lot of fun, and it was nice to be somewhere that even if it was below freezing outside, it was really warm indoors.

Sounds nice MmeB, what age are kids? DH keen to do have a holiday in the US with the kids this summer, they'll be 6 and 4 by then. Has anyone been anywhere they'd recommend?

Yes Tad and a Restoration Hardware directly opposite drool

They are 7 and 5 Whambam.

If you're looking for a holiday with fun stuff for the kids, I can tell you that my kids' absolute favorite place to go is San Diego. We went when they were 5 and 3, and we went back this April, because it was such a great trip for everyone. We went to the San Diego Zoo, the wild animal park, Sea World and Legoland. The kids had so much fun, they wanted to go back, and it was a great trip for us, too.

I think Legoland is a bit easier at this age than Disney, because it is geared more toward this age and height than Disney is. I think DD could go on most rides when we went the first time, (she's always been short for her age) and she could go on every ride this time. It also isn't as overwhelmingly big as Disneyland/California Adventure. You can jam a lot of the park into 1 day if you have to, and have a leisurely 2 days if you want. They also opened up a water park there after we went, so that would be another fun thing to do.