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

[redflipflops]

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

introductions:

redflipflops - California (central Coast)

phew - been 95F here all weekend..... too hot for English gal like me! Been fan shopping at Costco!

Yes gotmunchies - think perhaps no returned expats looking at Living Overseas thread...

I heard about the tornadoes on the radio

HI CarmenSanDiego

Change of plans for Wednesday I'm afraid. Just picked up DS from summer camp, realise it's rubbish camp and he hated it, none of his friends there. Instead, we are going to drive tomorrow to join DH in Palm Springs where he's at a meeting all week, so I'm REALLY SORRY to cancel our meet on wednesday but will check back in and rearrange asap. No camps organised for next 2 week so will try and fix date when DS is back in camp. Please accept heartfelt apologies (face for feeling guilty about blowing you off but excited about getting away)

PS
hope everyone is safe with those tornadoes creating havoc ...hard to imagine that kind of weather when it's so glorious here in San Diego. We don't know how lucky we are...that said, we get the wild fires here.

I remember crouching in the hallway with my newborn DS during a tornado that blew a tree down through the 3rd floor window. Was very scary.Hope you are all ok.

Last day of school today. It is pouring with rain, very damp and English. Lovely. I think I am a temperate creature at heart. The tornadoes are scary aren't they - the weather here is so dramatic.

Hi Munchies! Just saw this. No worries at all. Let me know when another time is good for you!

(Also if you want to add me on Facebook if you use it or otherwise get in touch... look at my profile here and there's a link to my website. From there, you can click on 'Ask Shinemama A Question' and there should be a link to email me.)

Hope you have a wonderful time in Palm Springs - I bet it'll be gorgeous! I'm sorry your son had a bad camp. What kind of camp was it?

walk away for a few days to unpack some boxes and WHOOSH

re: dramatic weather - I used to giggle under my breath some days at the hullabaloo over particularly heavy storm that blew over a few chimney pots while my parents were getting weekly microbursts and had resorted to routinely tying their trees to each other to keep them from falling on the house. US weather doesn't mess around.

Monkeytoo, we actually just moved to Woodinville and got the sea shipment of our things from the UK on Monday. It's been pretty full-on this week. Unpacking the tescos/sainsbos kitchen bits with all this rain is making me feel like I never left

Hi all, we moved to CT in April and just getting used to everything here.
Can anyone recommend somewhere inexpensive for a holiday? We were thinking of heading up the coast, but vacation rentals in August look to be $$$. We'd be happy to stay in a static or equivalent if such a thing exists.
Thanks in advance

I lived in CT for a while. I miss New Haven style pizza. From CT, we'd go to Cape Cod but was pre DC and we stayed in B&Bs in Provincetown. Is lovely round there.

Hello rubyx3 hope things going well. I must admit I found the first few months a bit of a roller-coaster. Been here 6 months now and feeling so much happier but still have some unpacked boxes!

Can anyone advise me how much to tip at the Hairdressers? This is usual in US I think? Do you give it to stylist?

Also any Brits found a dishwasher detergent that gets rid of tea stains?

School finished here now. Am looking forward to summer and exploring more of California

Hello RedFlipFlops - I am glad to hear that you are feeling a little more settled. It really does take time and it will be a roller coaster of feeling fine one day and being desperately homesick the next.
For the hairdresser I normally give the person who shampooed my hair a few dollars directly into their hands. The stylist I give anywhere between 15% and 20% but I have given as low as 10%. This may be overly generous but I have asked people here and that seems to be the going rate but it may be different for your area.
Rubyx3 I cannot help that is the one part of America that I have never visited though I hear it is gorgeous. Try the KOA website - although it is mainly campgrounds they do have little cottages on sites too.
Anyone watch the soccer!?

Hello, can I join you? We've been in NYC for a few months. Looking forward to school finishing on Friday.

I was amazed to see an England fan draped in a flag on my corner yesterday after the footie (but we are close to an "English" pub). Visitors who were here last week could not believe how little World Cup stuff was around compared to the UK.

Welcome midtowner - NYC must be pretty dynamic place to live for a while. How have your kids adjusted to life at new American School?

Thanks for the tipping advise SatinandTat always unsure on tipping situations.... like packing shopping guy and then helping out to car - should I tip? Makes me feel like an awkward Brit (not used to people being so helpful!)

Doesn't seem to be too many locals watching the soccer around here (except DH .... but at least he gets up at 6am to watch with the kiddies!).

green card application went in today!! should only take 3-4 months before we know. the bliss if it gets sorted - the pain if it doesn't.

Wow, that's good news kickassangel! Only 3-4 months sounds really quick to me as ours has been ongoing for months already, though we're still at the job application bit. It's all very complicated and doesn't help that the company's lawyer doesn't seem to be all that on the ball. I hope it goes really well for you!

we don't have to do the job app. bit - it's a 'special' type for management people! loads of paperwork needed to prove that dh is genuinely in management (ie knowing ALL the qualifications of ALL the employees he had working for him in UK & US, even onces that left years ago - we're bound to have missed off someone's GNVQ or something)
AND we've filed both parts at the same time, which is risking some of the company's money.
AND Detroit has almost no other immigrants, so paperwork flying through atm.

Other kinds, iwth the job application, we were quoted 2 - 3 years.

it's all such a pita, but i really want a job! day 2 of school hols & i am stir crazy already

I was able to get a work permit through Al's company but he's on a L1 visa and there are so many permutations, aren't there? Our visa will actually run out before the green card (if we get it) arrives, though I believe we can update the status in country. We wouldn't be allowed back in if we left the States unless we go via the US Embassy and get a new stamp. Not sure what to do about that! I imagine it would be quite cheap to buy a house in parts of Detroit?

Sorry, by Al I meant dh - whoops!

we're not in detroit, but yes, house prices here have dropped massively. we're in v nice 'small town' the other side of Ann Arbor - a university city, the closest thing to Oxbridge you'll find in the US. all v middle class, well educated, liberal & left wing (and white) where we are. so a bit dull & homogeneous but great for raising a kid & education standards are high, but house prices low. plus, direct flights to london from detroit, which is only 40 mins away.

i undersatnd why dh never wants to go back to the uk after this.

on the h1b visa dh has, if it lapses before a green card is issued, we are still allowed to remain in the US, if we've applied. however, i am allowed to do 4 things on my 'wifey' version (h4), one of which is breathing, so i'd love to get a work permit & start doing a bit more than weeding the garden in spring & painting the bedrooms in winter.

It's weird how I am allowed to have a work permit on an L2 visa, but you are not on an h4. I don't see what the difference is personally as I am sure you have plenty of skills to offer America. Ann Arbor sounds lovely - I just like the name! It's very white in Bend with a growing hispanic population but unfortunately with only a Community College. I would have loved to have done the PhD I intended to, if we'd stayed in England, but never mind!

'A2' is lovely, and we're only about 5 miles out, so easy to get in for restaurants & theatre etc. the University is one of the best state ones in the country - so v expensive, unfortunately. there's also several other colleges around. it really is just one of those great places to live/raise a family, and chicago is only 4 hours away, which compares well with new york/london for museums, shopping, theatre etc (it's where oprah is based!)

if it was a bit cheaper to get home, i would want to stay here forever. unfortunately, flights keep going up in price, so if i want to go home once a year, i need to get a job.

how good is the comm. college -some do post grad stuff. i'd have to pay full fees so decided that it would be too much of a luxury & self indulgent to do anything, unless i need to do extra training to become a teacher again.

MarenMJ - welcome to Woodinville, we live just down the road in Redmond. Thenos is a great icecream store and Purple cafe is fab for date nights (or even to take kids), both in Woodinville. Hope the unpacking went well!

Oh yeah, and Pomegranate in Redmond is really great with kids or without, sort of reminds me of places in England. Sorry if you already know all this, just thought I'd share

The Community College is good but they generally just do the first 2 years then you have to transfer, mostly to OSU or UofO. Both of them are good and UofO has a great German department where I could feasibly have done a PhD but it's a good 2-3 hours drive over the mountains and that's not feasible in winter! I'm hoping to teach German through the community learning programme in the fall but I didn't get enough students last time to run the course.

I looked into getting a license to teach in Oregon but it is one of the hardest states apparently, and the cuts in budget mean that German programmes don't exist anymore.

I know what you mean about flights. There are no direct flights from Oregon but I managed to get tickets for $750 each for me and the children to fly back in February. The weather was atrocious though! I didn't hate it as much as you did as we live in the Midlands and go up North so it's just not as crowded. I can't stand all the negativity about the country going to the dogs though. It's beautiful with so much going for it! Rant over!

Ooh, feasible and feasibly in the same sentence! Baby brain already, sorry!