Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

Perhaps you need a lot more help than a message board could offer. I'd suggest you contact your doctor and tell him/her how you're feeling. If you're truly feeling that depressed and suicidal then you really need help. I wish you the best. Take care.

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

AmerLisa is totally right. If you are feeling suicidal, consult your doctor. Nothing is worth killing yourself over, especially a lack in the friends department & with a new husband, you have a lot to be enjoying! I wish I didn't have as many friends sometimes, I'd have more time to myself, it's no fun spreading yourself thin, so just enjoy yourself at some museums etc!!!

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

Shame your not closer ..I need someone to come in and make lunch for me..

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

Wife won't let you near the microwave again?

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

Very sorry to hear I upset you - that was not my intention. There was nothing in your post to suggest that you are either depressed or suicidal. If you are, you need medical help.

I remember very well, at the age of 20, starting university in a country that was not my own, having to cope with foreign customs and a language that I was not yet fluent in. And no husband coming home to me at night - I was all alone. After a month, I was ready to give up and go home. But I stuck it out. In due course I made friends, and the place did not seem so alien anymore.

The suggestions I made were, I feel, practical and useful. You are a young women in one of the greatest cities of the world: try to find the strength that is somewhere inside you to make the most of it.

BTW, We used to spend a lot of time in Virginia, living in the sort of apartment blocks you describe - full of military folk etc. Yes, some of them can be stand-offish, but we always found helpful and friendly people amongst them. Yes, their mindset and 'ways' may seem at times a little strange to us Brits, but hey, their human, and interaction with people we find strange is a good way of seeing life from a different angle.

Also, this is a good place if you just want to moan or need a virtual cup of tea: www.fool.co.uk. Go to Discussion Boards, then Fringe, then Comfort Cafe. There you'll find lots of people willing to listen and provide some moral support. Look out for Mrs Bug who was stranded in Switzerland for quite a while and felt very isolated and depressed.

Finally, I could have taken offence at your implied suggestion that people over 40 aren't worth talking to - but I didn't ;) So I hope you will come back here - we're a friendly bunch, really! (Even Ray doesn't bite...)

Good luck! :)

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

The whole bloody stainless steel kitchen is an exclusion zone
for me ..Bleedin Nasa rockets have less buttons than this one we have now ..
whatever happened to start/stop buttons...

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

Was it necessary to tell her my teeth are kept in a jar ...
Seriously kiddo ..come back.. we will make you laugh if nothing else...

see the pic of me swimming to get you smiling

http://britishexpats.com/photopost/s...o=3877&cat=523

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

Worked for me, I can tell you.

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

Though I better show that one..the real me in the pool naked is too
much for most people ..

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

No need to worry. I'm sure you look great on a lilo.

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

and this would be?

http://www.das-gremium.de/Schwachsinn/whale.jpg

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

Come, now -- it's not all that bad. These folks are sincerely offering you suggestions, but sometimes online writing comes off as sounding unfeeling and condescending. I can tell from reading their responses that they honestly should not be considered condescending or unsupportive. These people have all been in your shoes -- a foreigner in a new land -- and they all have a lot to provide in terms of guidance in how to become more acclimated to your new surroundings and circumstances.

That said, nothing they say makes any difference unless you take their suggestions and act on them. You asked for suggestions on how to make new friends, and that's exactly what you got!

I grew up in NoVA -- not Alexandria, but I'm pretty familiar with the entire area. It is NOT an area conducive to meeting people. We lived in a house in Annandale for 8 years and in all that time knew MAYBE three of our neighbors. I can only remember one time in 8 years where there was a get-together with any of them, a BBQ at our next-door neighbor's house. That was it.

I experienced the same thing years later, when I moved back to the area as an adult. I lived in two apartment complexes and a townhouse, all in very "surburban" areas of Fairfax County, and I didn't now ANY of my neighbors. And it's still the same now here in Richmond: I've lived in my apartment now for almost five years, and Mark's lived here with me for over two. To date we know NONE of our neighbors.

In all of these cases, it wasn't that we weren't nice people, or that our neighbors weren't nice people; it just wasn't the "culture" to hang out with your neighbors, and it's still not. Couple that with the fact that you can't drive, I'm not surprised in the least that you're having difficulty meeting people and making friends.

The others' suggestion that you learn to drive is a good one, albeit intimidating, especially if you have never driven at all. (I learned to drive at 16 in the DC area; my second time driving ever was on the Beltway in rush hour traffic! I was scared to death but survived.) Alternatively you should see about taking the Metro, utilizing the Metro bus system, etc. You might also look for volunteer organizations which offer transportation. It might sound strange, but perhaps an organization that works with the disabled might do that, since they may have volunteers who also can't drive (but for different reasons).

I hope you don't give up on this site. It's a wonderful resource and filled with caring people, even though they like to use a lot of sarcasm now and again. :)

~ Jenney

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

We're British!!!!!!!

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

I see you're in Glendale, AZ.

I bet that took a fair bit of adjusting! :D ;)

Re: Help! I don't know anyone!!!
 

Has this place got a reputation that I'm unaware of?!?!?