time off?

[Tyeger87 10]

hello everyone,

as my fiance's interview gets closer and he is closer to coming to america i wanted to know how people dealt with the arrival of their SO with a full time job. i just got hired this week (i am still in grad school) and i start my new job on sunday and I am worried about him getting here and me having to leave him everyday. how much time if any did you all take off and how did it work out?

[New Beginnings 32]

I only took a couple of days off completely and then I worked half days in the office and half days at home. It gave him time to explore on his own but then I would be home by noon which was nice.

[Casprd 167]

Yeah this has been a concern for me also. Fortunately I am in a bit of a unique position in that I only live a few miles from my office so I plan to come home for lunch every day or to have her meet me here so she can get out of the house often. For the time off, I'm planning on meeting her at the POE in probably San Diego and we will spend a couple of weeks visiting my family and friends there. After that I may work half days in the office and half at home so she doesn't feel too lonely. I also have a couple of friends who's wives don't work so I'm hoping they can come by and check on her occassionally also.

[Stardust72 0]

My husband took one week off after I arrived on the US. I used that time to get adjusted a little, but also to do things like buy a car so that I would be able to get around after he went back to work. I thought a week was fine. It also forced me not to depend on him too much, which I'm happy about because I'm an independent person.

[Mononoke28 135]

I only took a week off but in all honesty it takes most people longer than that to get adjusted. My husband didn't feel quite at home until about three months after he arrived.

Diana

[TBoneTX 45,537]

Take care not to endanger your new job by taking too much time off too soon. Your SO should understand that. When you have to be away, try to leave him with things that will keep his brain and body occupied. Do you have a cat or dog? If not, an idea to consider is adopting a cat: your SO will see another living thing adjusting to new surroundings, and he won't be able to feel so bad himself.

[Ribs & Beans 19]

To be honest, I had a day off after my husband got here, but I didn't take any additional time off. I had just taken a week off on short notice to attend the interview with him (a necessity for interviews in the DR), and I've taken so much time off to visit him in the last year that I was starting to annoy my superiors at my job. I showed him places that he could walk to very easily (we're in walking distance to a nice park, a grocery store, a mall, and a bus stop), and then I was back to work the next day! He has a friend who lives nearby too, so they would come and take him out about once a week while I was at work. He was probably bored, but he never complained, and he enjoyed the chance to rest, as in the DR he worked long hours at a very labor-intensive job. He had about a month of hanging out at home, and then he started working.

[TBoneTX 45,537]

Here's another idea. If he already drives, he should renew his driver's license just before he leaves his country, and get an International Driving Permit. If he does not drive, he should do everything in his power to earn a driver's license before he comes here. The freedom to come and go during the "limbo" period after a K-1 arrival is priceless, si man, and Mrs. T-B. would have gone completely nuts had she not gotten her license before she came.

[Zee Bee 61]

I took 10 days off in addition to the 2 weeks I spent in Ghana. He has family here so most of the time was taken so that we could go and visit his family together.

Everyone is in a different situation when it comes to spending those first few days with their SO. Manage what you can and make the most of it.