ladyrant

Added mine

Best advice I can give is to try a new DMV center but get used to the area. The one I went to was the Laguna Hills/Aliso Viejo location. A week leading up to the test, I went every day at different times, driving around, getting used to all the speeds of the area, wandering between major roads and residential roads and what not. If you're comfortable with the area, that's one less thing to stress you out. Good luck!

At my wedding my party wasn't balanced either. I did have friends come from my home country (easy to convince them to come to escape Canadian winter to come to Southern Cali), and for the remainder I asked either relatives or my husband's friends to be bridesmaids. The balanced numbers is for tradition and for photo symmetry. You can always do fun portraits where the symmetry isn't necessary

I've been here about four years. My friends are from my husband's circle of friends, also from work, and a few from meetup.com. I used meetup.com to meet people through my interests and also hosted an event or two (board games, anime, video games, art) or used meetup.com to meet people with the same ethnicity or nationality (ie. Asians or Canadians in Orange County) but that's been a bust since majority of them are of a different generation than me.

But yeah, it's difficult to make friends.

That is so cool! I'm actually hosting a pre-Canada Day party for friends and another canadian who's in the same boat as me. (Day before because people have plans the day of... boo!) But my issue with signing up for that is I don't want my address displayed, y'know? Bummed that there isn't a party closer to Orange County.

But regardless, I'm excited. Hubby's doing a montreal-seasoned tri-tip and I'm ordering squeaky cheese for poutine. XD

At Saddleback college (the school I was looking into) they told me that these same rules apply to all California pubic and private universities and colleges, it is a state law. I realize that you can study as a non-resident but I think that it is either necessary for you to be a US citizen or for you to have the appropriate student visa..

I went through the exact same thing while trying to apply at Saddleback for ongoing art classes. While waiting for the time to pass, I took courses through the city's recreation/class listings, classes at local galleries, studying on my own at the local library, or online classes through other means (ie. lynda.com, teamtreehouse, etc.). The year goes by pretty fast.

I've lost about 15 lbs since moving. I just find myself getting out more and I have a dog that requires a long walk every morning or something gets destroyed. But yeah, the portions here are HUGE! I try to ask for a box at the beginning of the meal and stash half of it away.

i have yet to try the bangs thing. was thinking of doing that, but the though of hair in my eyes would drive me crazy i think.

When I chopped my bangs, they drove me crazy when I'm not wearing glasses, or when I do wear glasses and they get stuck behind them. However, mine are grown out to my mouth now and have been tamed to stay on the sides, or I tuck em behind the ears

i don't know what I want I don't think I want to cut it all off and have it real short, I had it that way before for a lot of years. So anyways I'm just frustrated with myself cause I can't make up my mind. Anyone else get stuck like this?

Yep, I go back and forth through phases, the same way I do with dying my hair or wearing makeup. There's always that adjustment period with a new short cut. Ie. Getting used to the hubby breathing on your neck while you sleep. I just tell myself it'll grow back and do the chop. If I get bored, it comes back and I can play with some med-length hairstyles while it grows back.

We adopted a dog yesterday. Named him Elvis.

That is awesome! Just having a pet around to make noise in the home and to keep company makes such a huge difference in mood & is a great distraction (more distracting if they're not potty trained... )

During my first year in the US, (about 3 years ago) I changed all my ringtones from canadian friends & family to the original hockey night in canada theme.... I kept letting it ring all the way to hear it instead of answering.

Your post brought smiles to my face, I love poutine...I go to a Dairy farm and buy delicious cheese curds, make my own gravy and homemade fries..and voila, I have my favourite comfort food. French fries and vinegar yum yum, the other thing I found is restaurants do not always have relish for burgers..oh well. My husband (US citizen) loves Corner Gas!

I miss cheese curds so much... probably more than my family. Hubby and I once went on a quest to every grocer we could find in a 30 mile radius to see if they had cheese curds or knew of it. People either thought I was crazy, or sympathized with me because they grew up with them too.

Glad to hear there's another US Corner Gas fan. I introduced that to my hubby and the inlaws, and once in awhile they'll quote it.

I have lived in my town for ten years and my new wife has made more friends in her 7 weeks here than I ever have! Then again everyone LOVES the British accent!

And that's very cool, I'm happy for your wife. But Los Angeles is a very different case due to the population size and culture. Ie. My cousin has lived in LA for ten years since she moved with her work, and her only friends are through work, which even then took awhile because depending on coworkers used to everyone moving around a lot so no one wants to really get too close.

To add to what Calibob mentioned about the dog volunteering, to avoid dealing with dogs being put to sleep, you can volunteer with rescue organizations instead to walk dogs, help with community events, even work up to driving a dog to vet or home visits when you've got the driving thing down pat.

I didn't have any experience in the states when I got my first job. My references were all from my home country, many of which from different provinces as a lot of my references was from internships I worked at out of province, or online, or freelance clients out of province. But, the hiring department didn't care so long as my EAD and other docs were in order. The company I worked for was used to handling new immigrant workers, so, they didn't even blink an eye.

Good luck with your job search!

Hi yorkshire,

I moved to Southern Cali almost 3 years ago and to date I have only 1 friend I made on my own (as in not my husband's friends) and that friend is because she was a temp at my job who also took a kickboxing class I was in and she and I got along really well (but she doesn't work there anymore or take kickboxing... so no and I only see that friend maybe 1 a year...) It is a hard process to start over in a new place. I consider myself a social person, and it is still pretty darn hard to befriend someone because of people different comfort bubbles, and also because I have a slightly different accent, I get treated like a dumb foreigner. :S But, things do get better, it's just really slow.

As far as driving goes, the only suggestion I can give to motivate you to drive is to find an amazing place you like and want to go to there a lot (while your partner doesn't ever want to go there. ) For me, that was going to art classes, exercise classes, shopping at malls that he hates. I eventually wanted to go more often than he did, so I forced myself to drive and learn the area. I have a pocketbook full of notes that I carry with me that lists contact numbers of the stores I frequent, just in case I get lost, I can call them and ask how to get there... Yes, that annoys the person on the other end, but they'll still tell me.

But yeah, things will get better, I promise you that.

I am applying still for work unfortunly its just factory work i am hoping to hear something soon, beening as christmas is just round the corner. I never been confident but i never felt so scared to do stuff or even speak to ppl ( scared of getting lost and not understanding ppl )than i do since living here. I do feel my life in england was less complicated but i guess its what i was used too. I sometimes wonder if i have a disorder and should i talk to someone.

I am learning to drive, not driving as much as id like, but i think i am doing ok lol, havent crashed or run anybody over so far lol good sign .

All right, no problem. It would probably be easier if I just restart with this account. Thanks for your reply.

Is there a way to get back an account for which my e-mail account no longer exists?

When I moved to US, my account was under a web service which has since been taken over by another company and so now I can't get the password resent email.