eurotramp

Anybody here from the above area?
Hubby works for Nato and has this idea that he wants to go for a job in Norfolk...big Naval Base.

I'm German, Hubby British we have two girls ..11 and 14 and live in outer London.

He is trying to get me with the big house thing..swimming pool in the garden, house on the beach.
I'm just not sure..I could never stand the whole lets kick arse, god bless America and all the religious stuff, with the military here, but he said that non military Americans are very different, but are they?
.
He says its really nice there, clean and friendly people and a lot of outdoor thinks to do...yes..its probably nice there for a holiday..but permanently living there? If we would take the girls over..that would be it...they would settle there and we would have to stay there. We talked about it before..but now there is actually a job coming free in his field(IT).

I just don't know and would like to hear from other people living in the area what live is like there

bevinva

It's hard to answer not knowing what kind of lifestyle/area you are coming from.

Big House/Pool/Beach
You can get a larger house here in the $500,000 and up range. Even lower price ranges have a pool. Most areas have home owners associations which tell you what type of fence/paint etc you can use. A house on the beach would be in the million plus range.

The church people are here but not as overwhelming as some areas mainly because the military people (active and retired) from other states change the mix. However it is gung ho military because so many businesses rely on the fact that they are here. If you like the thought of living around people from the New York city area then this is the place for you, lots of them have moved here to get away from the criminal element there, many have become the criminal element here.

I don't think of this area as a holiday destination, once you are away from the beach it is just an ordinary town. Lots of locals stay away from the beach in season, they even have a festival (The Neptune Festival) in September which is referred to as the locals taking back the beach. There is an area of less commercial beach in Sandbridge.

Virginia Beach and Chesapeake both have excellent schools. Not sure about Norfolk personally but from what I know I wouldn't send my child to a city school there.

There are a lot of historical areas in the region, revolutionary and civil war era.

There are a few others around here with knowledge of the area, hopefully they will stop by too.

robskatie

Yeh it's just the military members that are like that
Best stay where you are luv, not really the best attitude to have to live over here.

bevinva

I am worried about that given the social expectations of the military spouse, you would have to be around them. That said it is amazing how easy it is to insult people here without them realising. After a while the fun of that wears off too.

eurotramp

Hi Benvinva,

thanks for that.
Were do you live?
I just don't know...its so hard always making new decisions. We have lived in Germany, Holland, Belgium and England and I thought that's it. I'm getting 50 next year and its not getting easier.
We are not religious at all..and Nato would pay for school and Uni..so we could get private.

To buy a house would not be a problem..we were going to buy a house her for almost £400k for just a semi.....that would buy you a lot house over there, would it not?
I'm just not so sure about it all...I don't want to be the alien any more.
We would not live in Norfolk...more like towards the Virginia Beach and Chesapeake area. What are the locals like..are they open do newcomers?
Is the place overrun by tourist in the summer?

So many question....

eurotramp

I don't understand...were have I insulted anybody?

We are not in the army, hubby is civilian IT specialist working for Nato.

eurotramp

I don't really know were your problem is.
I just trying to find some information..

bevinva

The tourists are mostly at the oceanfront, I probably only go there a couple of times a year. They don't really have any impact on your daily life unless you are at the beach.

Because of the military there are lots of foreign spouses in the area. People are open to newcomers but as is the case of all of the US (generalising, there are exceptions) they tend to think that the whole world wants to be American. You do learn how to tell if people are more open minded fairly quickly, there are some here!

You could buy a nice house here but utilities are more here so don't go too big. This area has not had house prices fall as much as most but there are a lot of foreclosures.

Newspaper website, you can see house prices there.
www.pilotonline.com

Local things to do
www.virginiabeach.com

On the plus side you would both be alien here.

Where in Middlesex?

bevinva

Sorry I assumed military, my mistake.

I think the other comment was just saying that if your main problem with moving here was the gung ho military then this might not be the country to be in let alone region. The US treated it's Vietnam era veterans very badly. somehow they have swung the other way and now it's almost social suicide to say anything against the military "fighting for our freedom in Iraq". You do get used to it, I think given the fact that you have moved to a few countries you would be able to deal with it. You can find people who are more liberal in their thinking (US liberal being different from Euro liberal).

robskatie

Americans are very proud to be American, to assume that it is only military members that are like that (and not all of them are) is a little naive. To be able to live happily in America that is something you would need to be more accepting of. IMHO.

bevinva

Agreed, but the patriotic aspect has been magnified in the past decade.

Michael

You haven't asked about the weather. If you can't stand hot humid weather during the summer, it is not the place for you.

http://www.myforecast.com/bin/climat...3&metric=false

bevinva

I didn't mention it because it applies to so much of the US.

robskatie

That is my point, ordinary Americans are now more patriotic than ever, I think it's something you have to respect and not try to fight against, if you want to live over here it's something you find on an every day basis, especially in a highly populated military area.

Michael

Only the east coast, midwest, and south east through Texas. There is a small area about the size of Western Europe on the west coast that isn't.