Your personal experiences moving to another country

[Wuozopo 4,285]

1 hour ago, GeorgiaRoseyRose said:

The finance issue is mostly on my part, I don't like to depend on someone else and that's mostly because it's alien to me.

I totally understand that and felt similar, but got over it into the “ours” mode and became comfortable with all of it. And I did a lot around the house to “contribute” as the handyman and IT person until I was allowed a work permit. 

[TBoneTX 43,283]

Heed Wuozopo.  He has put forth some great wisdom in this thread, including a couple of contributions that should be enshrined in the pantheon of All-Time Greatest VJ Posts.

 

To acclimate yourself to the Colonies, it will help to become familiar with some laws, etc.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqMjMPlXzdA

 

http://www.aclu.org/files/kyr/kyr_english.pdf

There are many other enlightening sites to look through.

[GeorgiaRoseyRose 13]

If you were all given a second chance to redo the immigration process, would there be anything you'd do differently? I know for certain that I would've revised everything needed for my interview, but hey, I was approved a lot faster than some people have been... so that I'm grateful for!

[millefleur 5,038]

13 hours ago, GeorgiaRoseyRose said:

If you were all given a second chance to redo the immigration process, would there be anything you'd do differently?

I would've planned our first trip the US Embassy better. First time we went there (we had to go twice because DCF), I just assumed we could travel + go to the embassy for the interview all in the same day. Huge mistake. While we managed to get everything done, it was really stressful. Better to travel, stay overnight and then go to your appointment the next day if it's something big like an interview where your behavior/the impression you make is important and could be affected by stress.

Edited November 29, 2021 by millefleur

[Englishsammy 17]

I just stumbled across this thread and I’ve really enjoyed reading it!

 

I came to California as an exchange student in 2005, met my now husband and got engaged. Returned to England to finish uni and applied for K1 and then came back and we got married. Fast forward to May 2007 and our first son came along and we decided to move to England to be closer to my family (he’s not close to his) and to get ourselves more established and supported.  We always planned to move back to Cali. We bought a house in England, had another baby and decided to move back in 2016 before our oldest left primary school (now it’s so weird that English kids go to high school at 11!). My husband got his uk citizenship too.

 

We moved back in November 2016 and just hit the ground running. I was pregnant when we moved (a ‘surprise’) so that was a bit stressful but we’ve settled now, bought a fixer upper and we love our life here! I personally feel my children have so many opportunities here - my oldest is 14 and an athlete, he’s been accepted at a great school (both academically and one of the best in the nation for football) and I just feel like he’s not had to grow up as quickly as they do in England. His friends from there seem to have such a different life than he does and I’m just grateful for the opportunities he has here to stay busy and focused. 
 

I missed certain things at first like walking to town to do some shopping, cheese, crisps, a good chippy but I barely think of it now, I’d for sure miss more US stuff if we went back! I dislike the amount of grape flavored things, blackcurrent is just better!
 

The health care was stressful but we opted to go with Kaiser which is a HMO and that’s helped me figure everything out and I think we get great care which is much more thorough and way faster than in England. We are healthy though so I can’t speak on it from any other angle - I just appreciate that I can go to urgent care, get treatment, X-rays, prescriptions etc and be home in an hour! 
 

American drivers are just terrible but I appreciate the big roads and ease of getting around. LA is a different story but at least you can get to it from two major freeways. I mean they just won’t let you switch lanes even when indicating in advance and they’ll just block the exit rather than let you out - what’s with that? Lol

 

I think living in both countries has been amazing and my husband knows the English culture and so do my older kids. My parents are moving out to live with us (MIL suite) within the next month so then there’s not much else to miss. In the future I’d like to buy a small flat there so we can go back more often but that’s a dream right now, maybe when the kids are out the house! 
 

Oh and everyone thinks I’m Australian because I’m Northern!

[millefleur 5,038]

46 minutes ago, Englishsammy said:

blackcurrent is just better!

Black currants are actually banned here in the US, that's why you never or rarely see it here. Currants of all colors are extremely popular in Russia and it's one of those flavors that seems very "old world" since you just can't get it here. The only place you might be able to find anything with black currants would be imported from Europe, such as at an Eastern Euro or other "world foods" store. It's a shame!

https://foodtolive.com/healthy-blog/black-currants-banned-usa/

 

[GeorgiaRoseyRose 13]

On 12/9/2021 at 5:21 PM, Englishsammy said:

I just stumbled across this thread and I’ve really enjoyed reading it!

 

I came to California as an exchange student in 2005, met my now husband and got engaged. Returned to England to finish uni and applied for K1 and then came back and we got married. Fast forward to May 2007 and our first son came along and we decided to move to England to be closer to my family (he’s not close to his) and to get ourselves more established and supported.  We always planned to move back to Cali. We bought a house in England, had another baby and decided to move back in 2016 before our oldest left primary school (now it’s so weird that English kids go to high school at 11!). My husband got his uk citizenship too.

 

We moved back in November 2016 and just hit the ground running. I was pregnant when we moved (a ‘surprise’) so that was a bit stressful but we’ve settled now, bought a fixer upper and we love our life here! I personally feel my children have so many opportunities here - my oldest is 14 and an athlete, he’s been accepted at a great school (both academically and one of the best in the nation for football) and I just feel like he’s not had to grow up as quickly as they do in England. His friends from there seem to have such a different life than he does and I’m just grateful for the opportunities he has here to stay busy and focused. 
 

I missed certain things at first like walking to town to do some shopping, cheese, crisps, a good chippy but I barely think of it now, I’d for sure miss more US stuff if we went back! I dislike the amount of grape flavored things, blackcurrent is just better!
 

The health care was stressful but we opted to go with Kaiser which is a HMO and that’s helped me figure everything out and I think we get great care which is much more thorough and way faster than in England. We are healthy though so I can’t speak on it from any other angle - I just appreciate that I can go to urgent care, get treatment, X-rays, prescriptions etc and be home in an hour! 
 

American drivers are just terrible but I appreciate the big roads and ease of getting around. LA is a different story but at least you can get to it from two major freeways. I mean they just won’t let you switch lanes even when indicating in advance and they’ll just block the exit rather than let you out - what’s with that? Lol

 

I think living in both countries has been amazing and my husband knows the English culture and so do my older kids. My parents are moving out to live with us (MIL suite) within the next month so then there’s not much else to miss. In the future I’d like to buy a small flat there so we can go back more often but that’s a dream right now, maybe when the kids are out the house! 
 

Oh and everyone thinks I’m Australian because I’m Northern!

Well I never. You really do take the little things for granted. 
 

And how lovely to have your parents move over. I’d love that, then it would be complete. 
 

Talking of poor geography, do you find some people will say things like “I have a friend from [random town]” as if you know them? Or still assume that everyone is from London?

[TBoneTX 43,283]

2 hours ago, GeorgiaRoseyRose said:

assume that everyone is from London

We rustic Colonists always assume that all you Lobsterbacks are Londonpudlians or whatever you call yourselves.

[Englishsammy 17]

6 hours ago, GeorgiaRoseyRose said:

Well I never. You really do take the little things for granted. 
 

And how lovely to have your parents move over. I’d love that, then it would be complete. 
 

Talking of poor geography, do you find some people will say things like “I have a friend from [random town]” as if you know them? Or still assume that everyone is from London?

Yesss - I know Dan from London… it makes me laugh as though there’s only 5 dan’s in England.

[Redro 4,601]

10 hours ago, GeorgiaRoseyRose said:

Well I never. You really do take the little things for granted. 
 

And how lovely to have your parents move over. I’d love that, then it would be complete. 
 

Talking of poor geography, do you find some people will say things like “I have a friend from [random town]” as if you know them? Or still assume that everyone is from London?

I got "Oh, my doctor is from South Africa... do you know him?" 

[TBoneTX 43,283]

The above posts confirm that "it's a small world."  

[Redro 4,601]

4 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

The above posts confirm that "it's a small world."  

I will admit. Once or twice someone asked me if I know Johan, or Sarah, or Thembi from South Africa... AND I DID! 🙈

The doctor question was an outlier... 

[mam521 1,742]

I've also enjoyed reading this tread!

 

I'm Canuck, hubs is a naturalized British American (yep... @TBoneTX top of the list complainers! 😁) and here we are.  Hubs moved across from Italy nearly 20 years ago.  I initially came about 8.5 years ago on a L1 for work.  He began the naturalization process in 2017, hoping it wouldn't take forever.  We got married in 2018.  We initially filed for my GC under a FP category because his naturalization took forever. Because we were FP, we couldn't adjust status from the US, so I had to pack up the kids (they're Canadian from a previous relationship) and move back to Canada because my L1 expired.  His naturalization finally came through in early 2019, at which point we "upgraded" the petitions to CR's.  We hoped the stay in Canada would be 9-12 months.  18 months and a 2nd wedding anniversary later, we finally moved "home" when the border was technically closed because of covid.  

 

Texas is an interesting place to live.  I have to give Texans credit - they LOVE Texas.  They have no idea why they love Texas but fly that Lonestar flag mightily, belting out "DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!", knowing that they will live and die for Texas.  They will defend their Whataburger until the end of time and tell you it's the only fast food burger there is.  Don't mess with authentic Texas BBQ - that's fight worthy.  And legitimate Tex-Mex - not able to be replicated elsewhere, according to Texans.  Buc-ee's is kinda like a religion. The roads are ridiculous - I10 is a special skillset all in itself to learn to drive on.  The bluebonnets are quite pretty and you can get a vanity license plate with them on there if you like.   

 

I did (and sometimes still do) struggle with being in the South and the religious undertones.  People are typically quite sweet, but can be SUPER judgmental, which can make it a bit more challenging to find your place.  SE Texas has AWFUL humidity.  The result is even though SE Texans don't handle the cold well (think +2°C and they're bundled up in winter jackets, even though the humidity won't be up), they air condition everything FAR beyond what it needs to be.  Myself and my Russian office neighbour were often wrapped in blankets in our seats and the locals were like "why are you in blankets?!"  Hmm...because it's -5°C in here, damn it!  

 

I had a hard time initially with restaurant servers walking off with my credit card.  Tableside terminals aren't a thing here.  Chip n Pin are relatively new (back home we had it a decade ago) and listening to the people complain in the grocery store when trying to use their debit card and having to insert it to read the chip...and then enter their pin...the horrors!  Tap only became a "thing" more recently, too. 

 

Fireworks.  Good lord...I live in a county where they are allowed.  In June and December, the fireworks sales containers pop up on street corners like Tim Hortons restaurants in Canada!  They pop off fireworks for days and you see on the neighbourhood social media pages "was that a gun shot or fireworks?".  NYE and 4th of July are ridiculous.  I'm lucky my pets aren't too phased, but I have friends with pets that are and you'll see tons of neighbourhood posts about lost animas as a result.  I can't imagine being a war veteran and what PTSD must ensue.  

 

Guns are another one that I just don't understand.  I come from a family who hunts but I don't get the need to carry.  All. The. Time.  It's easier not to mention it or you'll face scrutiny.  

 

Food...I despise all of the preservatives and food dyes in the foods here.  Bread is not supposed to be full of sugar.  Blue cereal is not natural!  Fluorescent, processed foods are not edible!  And Americans have no concept of good peanut butter! Oh...and "Canadian bacon" is just back bacon.  Let's not be silly now!  

 

Canadians and Brits have many similar, if not the same things when it comes to food.  There are a couple of British stores around to get things locally, like edible chocolate, sausage rolls and savory pies.  Canada has tons of European immigrant influence, I I tend to miss things that other Europeans do.  I was delighted to find a local vendor at a market who makes proper perogies.  Yum!  I have yet to find good sausage though.  Hubs cooks a proper British roast dinner with roasted potatoes and Yorkshire puddings.  I've got some local friends who salivate over Nanaimo squares so I make those.  If family or friends visit, we put in our "order" for Shreddies cereal, All Dressed chips (the American version isn't as good), Kraft Peanut Butter and chocolate bars.  It's not so easy to bring Timbits unless it's the day of or a good poutine!  

 

Having established a life here for over 5 years and then heading back to Canada for a year and a half just highlighted something I already knew from moving cities.  You'll always have nostalgic feelings for familiar places.  But when you go back, it's not the same as it was when you left.  You're also not the same person you were before you left in the first place.  Sometimes, when you go back, the things you fondly reminisce about aren't as you remember.  You'll also rarely be as satisfied as you were the first time because you have lived on.  There will be things you didn't realize you miss, too.  So, I miss certain things from Canada when I'm in Texas, and when I was in Canada, I missed certain things about Texas.  It ultimately comes down to your attitude.  You can decide to embrace and love where you're at, or you can decide to hate it.  The later is going to make your life very miserable and challenging!  

[TBoneTX 43,283]

28 minutes ago, mam521 said:

Texas is an interesting place to live.

You live in Spring, the proper Texas pronunciation of which is "Sprang."

[TBoneTX 43,283]

29 minutes ago, mam521 said:

I don't get the need to carry.  All. The. Time.

It's the need to shoot varmints, sidewinders, and owlhoots.