OK where to start.....
Jun 6th 2015, 11:15 pm
#197
Forum Regular
Joined: Dec 2014
Location: London, UK
Posts: 159
Re: OK where to start.....
French and Spanish use the same turn of phrase when distinguishing the rest of Europe from one's own country. Unlike you, they are not trying to claim to be something else.
Jun 7th 2015, 1:42 am
#201
Austin. TX.
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 5,930
Re: OK where to start.....
I moved to the US because I was a bit fed-up with France and we were all rather constricted there. Not many opportunities etc. I thought I would wait to move when the kids had all finished school, I didn't want to upset their education again. Then one day, a friend of mine in the UK kissed his wife goodbye in the morning, suggested that she take a pill for her headache and went off to work She was dead by 5 that afternoon. A very rare form of cancer that is only ever diagnosed post-mortem - once you get symptoms you will be dead within hours.
Big wake-up call for me. OH was in HQ in Austin. He came home and I said I want to move and I don't care where. He'd just been asked (again)if he would move to Austin. 8 weeks later we were in Austin. So, I had no better reason to come here than the fact that it wasn't France. Oh and I didn't want to have to learn another language!!
There were reasons that meant it worked for the family and it has worked out for the best. I miss France terribly sometimes. I go to Wholefoods and spend a fortune on their french goodies. I don't really miss the UK anymore apart from my family.
Big wake-up call for me. OH was in HQ in Austin. He came home and I said I want to move and I don't care where. He'd just been asked (again)if he would move to Austin. 8 weeks later we were in Austin. So, I had no better reason to come here than the fact that it wasn't France. Oh and I didn't want to have to learn another language!!
There were reasons that meant it worked for the family and it has worked out for the best. I miss France terribly sometimes. I go to Wholefoods and spend a fortune on their french goodies. I don't really miss the UK anymore apart from my family.
Jun 7th 2015, 4:51 am
#202
.
Joined: Nov 2002
Location: Where bad things rarely happen in movies
Posts: 8,933
Re: OK where to start.....
That is a common theme on here. You will get used to it. You will also notice that most of the people pushing that view are talking from a position of near total ignorance of living in Texas. You have probably already realized that most of the people actually living here do enjoy it.
PFFF!
it's about 90 degrees today, gentle breeze blowing, kids have been hopping in and out of the pool, all playing nicely. We had lunch on the patio under the pergola with the fan blowing. My neighbour has gone away for the weekend and asked if her son can stay with us (of course! He gets on v well with youngest daughter)
We have street parties at least 2x a year and there is a huge range of nationalities in our street (including an Afghani family who were telling me about how their marriage was arranged)
We had a celebration party at home for my graduating high schooler where family friends we have known since she was a baby in Scotland came (Scots who love it here), another Austin family we have known for 15 years, some neighbours (Australian, Puerto Rican, Floridian and Minnesotan) as well as friends from the kung fu club. All out in the garden, BBQ on the go. Kids playing in the pool.
Daughter has done v well in High School, she and her friends are going to the best universities in the country. They've gone to one of the best high schools in the country. Since her college isn't costing us much we're paying for her to have a holiday in India and her 2 best friends are going with her (one is of Indian birth)
This evening we will take the family to a fab burger restaurant as a surprise, a beautiful lakeside setting, boats, paddle boarders, live music and about $10 a head.
Son is going to China for a 3 week immersion in chinese so that he will do well next year in IB chinese - in his class only 3 of the kids are not native chinese speakers and his confidence will improve.
Summer horse-riding camps, canoeing lessons, camping in colorado. Oh yes and we're pretty sure we can manage a cheapish ski holiday in New Mexico.
Our family income is less than Stockhall's.
Rosetinted???? Bring it on!
it's about 90 degrees today, gentle breeze blowing, kids have been hopping in and out of the pool, all playing nicely. We had lunch on the patio under the pergola with the fan blowing. My neighbour has gone away for the weekend and asked if her son can stay with us (of course! He gets on v well with youngest daughter)
We have street parties at least 2x a year and there is a huge range of nationalities in our street (including an Afghani family who were telling me about how their marriage was arranged)
We had a celebration party at home for my graduating high schooler where family friends we have known since she was a baby in Scotland came (Scots who love it here), another Austin family we have known for 15 years, some neighbours (Australian, Puerto Rican, Floridian and Minnesotan) as well as friends from the kung fu club. All out in the garden, BBQ on the go. Kids playing in the pool.
Daughter has done v well in High School, she and her friends are going to the best universities in the country. They've gone to one of the best high schools in the country. Since her college isn't costing us much we're paying for her to have a holiday in India and her 2 best friends are going with her (one is of Indian birth)
This evening we will take the family to a fab burger restaurant as a surprise, a beautiful lakeside setting, boats, paddle boarders, live music and about $10 a head.
Son is going to China for a 3 week immersion in chinese so that he will do well next year in IB chinese - in his class only 3 of the kids are not native chinese speakers and his confidence will improve.
Summer horse-riding camps, canoeing lessons, camping in colorado. Oh yes and we're pretty sure we can manage a cheapish ski holiday in New Mexico.
Our family income is less than Stockhall's.
Rosetinted???? Bring it on!
Actually, (this spring apart), the weather here is very predictable, which is one of the things I like about it. It is very rare for us to have to change plans because of the weather, and contrary to what some would have you believe, the "downright dangerous" bits are few and far between. Yes, we've just entered "hurricane season", but other than hearing ads on the radio warning you to be prepared, and having "whole house generator" salesmen pitching their wares, most years hurricane season will slip by unnoticed and be over again before you realize it. That's not to say it can't happen, but most years it barely impacts on your day to day life.
Jun 7th 2015, 4:55 am
#203
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,448
Re: OK where to start.....
You're a bit late to this party! 
Jun 7th 2015, 5:00 am
#204
.
Joined: Nov 2002
Location: Where bad things rarely happen in movies
Posts: 8,933
Jun 7th 2015, 1:24 pm
#206
.
Joined: Nov 2002
Location: Where bad things rarely happen in movies
Posts: 8,933
Re: OK where to start.....
Actually, we played paintball out at Brookshire yesterday, and the mossies in the woodland "maps" were brutal...I think the worst I've ever seen. The open fields were fine, but the woods were a virtual "no-go" zone. Need a good stiff breeze to blow them all away
Jun 7th 2015, 2:22 pm
#207
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 136
Re: OK where to start.....
I moved to the US because I was a bit fed-up with France and we were all rather constricted there. Not many opportunities etc. I thought I would wait to move when the kids had all finished school, I didn't want to upset their education again. Then one day, a friend of mine in the UK kissed his wife goodbye in the morning, suggested that she take a pill for her headache and went off to work She was dead by 5 that afternoon. A very rare form of cancer that is only ever diagnosed post-mortem - once you get symptoms you will be dead within hours.
Big wake-up call for me. OH was in HQ in Austin. He came home and I said I want to move and I don't care where. He'd just been asked (again)if he would move to Austin. 8 weeks later we were in Austin. So, I had no better reason to come here than the fact that it wasn't France. Oh and I didn't want to have to learn another language!!
There were reasons that meant it worked for the family and it has worked out for the best. I miss France terribly sometimes. I go to Wholefoods and spend a fortune on their french goodies. I don't really miss the UK anymore apart from my family.
Big wake-up call for me. OH was in HQ in Austin. He came home and I said I want to move and I don't care where. He'd just been asked (again)if he would move to Austin. 8 weeks later we were in Austin. So, I had no better reason to come here than the fact that it wasn't France. Oh and I didn't want to have to learn another language!!
There were reasons that meant it worked for the family and it has worked out for the best. I miss France terribly sometimes. I go to Wholefoods and spend a fortune on their french goodies. I don't really miss the UK anymore apart from my family.
I probably will get homesick when I can not get my favourite chocolate bar or watch my favourite tv shows, but in the grand scheme of things not the worst that could happen.
Jun 7th 2015, 2:32 pm
#208
SUPER MODERATOR
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 88,022
Re: OK where to start.....
wow that is so sad, I am trying very hard to get a holiday out of him for us all, so we can at least see the outsides of the houses that I have saved and experience what is for offer.
I probably will get homesick when I can not get my favourite chocolate bar or watch my favourite tv shows, but in the grand scheme of things not the worst that could happen.
I probably will get homesick when I can not get my favourite chocolate bar or watch my favourite tv shows, but in the grand scheme of things not the worst that could happen.
Jun 7th 2015, 2:33 pm
#209
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 136
Re: OK where to start.....
The intensity applied to sports here may be an eye opener. My 3 all swim, and while it is a lot cheaper than other sports, there are still costs involved....coaching (until HS), club fees, travel to meets etc. also, many of the clubs are quite conservative....they normally insist on a swimming costume too....
That is a common theme on here. You will get used to it. You will also notice that most of the people pushing that view are talking from a position of near total ignorance of living in Texas. You have probably already realized that most of the people actually living here do enjoy it.
I think as families grow, the ability to deal with the family size grows too. I only have 3 kids, eldest 14, and I'm sitting here thinking "move with 6 kids....crikey!", but then if someone had told me 15 years ago that one day I'd be swanning all round the world with 3 kids in tow, I'd have thought "crikey" then, too. You do what you have to as your family dynamics change.
Sounds like hell. Why on earth would you move to the godforsaken sh!thole that calls itself Texas....
They're just messing. UK may geographically be part of Europe, but emotionally, many Brits (self included) don't feel or consider themselves European
Actually, (this spring apart), the weather here is very predictable, which is one of the things I like about it. It is very rare for us to have to change plans because of the weather, and contrary to what some would have you believe, the "downright dangerous" bits are few and far between. Yes, we've just entered "hurricane season", but other than hearing ads on the radio warning you to be prepared, and having "whole house generator" salesmen pitching their wares, most years hurricane season will slip by unnoticed and be over again before you realize it. That's not to say it can't happen, but most years it barely impacts on your day to day life.
That is a common theme on here. You will get used to it. You will also notice that most of the people pushing that view are talking from a position of near total ignorance of living in Texas. You have probably already realized that most of the people actually living here do enjoy it.
I think as families grow, the ability to deal with the family size grows too. I only have 3 kids, eldest 14, and I'm sitting here thinking "move with 6 kids....crikey!", but then if someone had told me 15 years ago that one day I'd be swanning all round the world with 3 kids in tow, I'd have thought "crikey" then, too. You do what you have to as your family dynamics change.
Sounds like hell. Why on earth would you move to the godforsaken sh!thole that calls itself Texas....
They're just messing. UK may geographically be part of Europe, but emotionally, many Brits (self included) don't feel or consider themselves European
Actually, (this spring apart), the weather here is very predictable, which is one of the things I like about it. It is very rare for us to have to change plans because of the weather, and contrary to what some would have you believe, the "downright dangerous" bits are few and far between. Yes, we've just entered "hurricane season", but other than hearing ads on the radio warning you to be prepared, and having "whole house generator" salesmen pitching their wares, most years hurricane season will slip by unnoticed and be over again before you realize it. That's not to say it can't happen, but most years it barely impacts on your day to day life.
You are very right, I didn't go into parenthood thinking I would have 6, it happens for a reason and each time one more came along it got easier as they would play and help each other, even the two year old helps with housework like wiping the sofas down not child labour, once a week we all get on with it.
I consider myself both, but British first and European second, lets not forget our ancestors were continental.
cool, that is refreshing to hear, if I could just make my house area 100% bug and snake free the whole time we would be there then it would be paradise
there is certainly interesting weather and animal features there for sure. when it goes wrong it really goes wrong sort of thing.
Last edited by stockhall; Jun 7th 2015 at 2:35 pm.
Jun 7th 2015, 2:39 pm
#210
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 136
Re: OK where to start.....
not that I plan on spending as much time watching it as you seem to have some amazing outdoor space to explore.