kodokan

Well, it's been an exciting year. Hubby got laid off from his job (note to all L-1ers: get those Green Cards organized because it CAN happen to you regardless of how long you've been with the company and how much they like you/ how many promotions they've given you previously!), I became an overnight expert in home staging and we sold our house quickly and efficiently for more than expected, so we put everything into storage, used the 'spare' house money to buy a 27" travel trailer, and took off on a summer-long road trip around the PNW with our 11 and 15 yr olds for a once-in-lifetime while family bonding trip before they hit that stage described in the Teenagers thread elsewhere in here.

We'd been on the road about 3-4 weeks and got as far as Montana when he was approached about a great role, flown out for an interview, and offered the job.

So with back-to-school looming, we turned east, and drove straight out to our new home town of... Columbus, Ohio!

Anyone else live out here? It seems lovely - the people are so friendly, and I hadn't realized how much I'd missed trees, living in the desert. We're all enormously looking forward to having 4-seasons again too; Columbus apparently has just the right level of enough but not too annoying snow. And it's nice to see the odd building that's more than 30 years old, too.

Steerpike

Congratulations on finding a new job so quickly!

username.exe

Great news! I'm sure that's a huge relief. I liked Columbus on the one occasion I visited. My mate's mum lives there and she makes a terrific peach cobbler.

Michael

From MsElui's posts, she appeared to really like living in Ohio before they were transferred to Dallas. I suspect she will be along shortly to give you her perspective.

kodokan

Thanks, all! It wasn't really that quick a job-find; he finished at his previous company in December last year. He could write many an R-rated post about the process of job hunting in modern corporate America...

We haven't had too much chance to explore our new area - we haven't even yet been into Columbus proper! We're setting up home in one of the outer suburbs, and are currently bucketing around trying to tie up housing and schools before the kids need to start next week.

The school district here is terribly officious - registration must be done through a centralized, multi-layered bureaucratic process online and in a distant office, whereas in AZ we just drifted into what would be our kids' elementary school on spec, and they registered us informally on the spot and gave us a nice tour. Current bunfight is that 'yes, our only address IS a hotel, really - either use that, or treat us as homeless and accord us special treatment under McKinney-Vento'. And then I expect I'll have to tussle with the high school about my son's credits from 9th grade, and his class placements for 10th (he's the typically super-bright forumite's kid , and would've been straight Honors/ accelerated/ AP/ dual enrollment for everything he would've been doing in 10th grade in his old school).

Redwing

We lived in Newark, OH in the 80s for 3 years, and used to go into Columbus quite often. We have a daughter who lives in Canal Winchester, and a granddaughter who lives in Hilliard. We like the area, and there are plenty of nice towns in the area. Good luck in your search for a home.

Bob

When we winged through a couple years ago, the whole place was under construction but we visited the Columbus art gallery which has a fab kids and young person section, but it was in a bit of a ghetto to get too.

It was weird getting there though as it doesn't really have suburbs, it just sprouts up out of nothing when there are fields of corn/soy all over.

Wasn't entirely shit either. Had a nicer vibe than Cleveland. That was a whistle stop run through the state though, so very quick impressions so I'd take it all with a pinch of salt.

Not that far from the nuclear power plant either, if you want to visit something a bit weird.

MsElui

yep - i was in Ohio from 2007 to 2013 and loved it. We were based in Lewis center in the north of the city and were very happy there. i didn't want to move at all (although I am now very happy here in Dallas too lol).

there is a great zoo and waterpark in that northern area, and great museums in the Downtown Area. The local college football team (OSU - Buckeyes) are the current Champions and im really excited to see those games start up again shortly for the coming school year! The Buckeyes are really important to the locals so get used to it being everywhere lol!

One thing you may not be aware of - Clumbus is often a test area for lots of food places - so you often see odd menu items before the rest of the country. The Wendys HQ is even situated in Dublin (i contracted there for a month lol). The 'Dublin festival' just finished a few days ago but is worth a hit - and the Ohio State fair is happening right now and is always a blast (lots of deep fried nasties if your that way inclined).

is there anything specific you wanted to know?

kodokan

Not that I can think of at the moment, but I'll ping you if I think if anything, if that's ok?

Hubby's new job is near the airport, so we're looking for housing in the Gahanna area so he has a short commute, and the kids get the walkable amenities they've asked for. Seems a good area, with solid schools. The school registration process is stressing me out somewhat, as there's a backlog of enrollments to process and it's not clear if they'll be enrolled by the start of the year on 12th August. I wouldn't be too fussed with little kids, and even my middle schooler wouldn't mind the novelty of being the new kid who suddenly turns up, but I don't think my high schooler can just skip the first couple of weeks of classes and still get credit!

Oh well, I expect they'll get something sorted - still a week to go, after all. It's probably like this every new year in US school districts, and I just missed it last time by arriving in November.

MsElui

ping away whenever you need.

and it is busy in the school offices here too- ours just opened up re-registration for all returning kids a few days ago so its all bubbling now. we go back on the 24th so are just a few weeks behind you.

kodokan

Breakthrough - lovely helpful woman from the school district office phoned at 7.30am (big shout out for hard-working public sector staffers at this busy time of year!), and we now have an appointment to complete our registration (ie, produce evidence of all the stuff we claimed online) at 9.30am tomorrow morning. She was also super helpful about our quest for a corporate short term apartment in the school district, and has given me the direct number to the bus depot to double check any addresses we're given by apartment leasing companies, after yesterday's fiasco of almost signing a lease on an apartment where the address on the lease didn't remotely match the address on the website.

Derrygal

Okay - so what's wrong with Cleveland? (apart from the bloody awful winters we have here)!!!

kodokan

Success! Kids all registered in exactly the schools we wanted. It means we can't now move from this extended stay hotel until we have another address in the school district, either a corporate rental or a house purchase contract. Still, it's a nice hotel, and in a month or two this too shall pass and we'll be all sorted in our new life.

kodokan

And wow, car insurance is SO much cheaper here than in AZ. I've just had a quote run for a 2016 Ford Escape, and it's $600 a year, almost two-thirds less than what I was paying in AZ. Different car there - Jeep Wrangler - but approx the same value, so I wouldn't have thought it would differ too greatly. Even adding my teen in some months time will only take it back up to my AZ level - it's like I'll get his insurance for free!

Orangepants

Congrats - all sounds like things are going well for you. When I moved from the Caribbean to Charlotte, I loved the 4 seasons, the trees and all the lush green fields. A refreshing, much needed change.