st326

Well, it is all happening.

I signed my contract and sent it back yesterday, so as of roughly 1st June I am going to be starting work at NASA Ames. And, amazingly, they are intending to pay me about 40% more than I was expecting. My H1-B documentation is all complete and the application itself is being processed -- I'm told it should be through fine (the research institute I'm working through has some kind of special status for visa applications apparently).

About the only thing I need to do now is organise three quotes from removals companies. I have one already -- can anyone recommend good companies? I'd rather that all three quotes came from good places rather than a lowballer who will dump my stuff in the middle of the atlantic or something!

That, and actually finish my PhD, but that's a simple matter of working flat out for the next few months... oh well, can't have everything I suppose.

It seems a little odd in some ways. I spent summer '04 there, so it feels like home. I visited briefly last December, and in some ways it didn't feel like I'd really left. Going back there indefinitely feels a bit like going home in some ways, even though it's really *not*. Sorry, I'm rambling a bit here and probably not making much sense.

On the subject of Indian food, I have tried a couple of places in CA. There is an Indian buffet on Castro St. in Mountain view that (to my overindulged British curry tastes) is really, really awful. I was taken somewhere in Berkeley a couple of years ago, however, which *was* good. I can't remember what the place was called, but it was basically a takeaway with a few places to sit and eat. Not really English restaurant curry, more a Kerala style, but very tasty and pretty cheap as I remember. Very good for veggie stuff (in fact, it may have been 100% veggie, I don't remember). I suppose it's just as well that I like tex/mex, really -- I have found that Britishised tex mex is about as bad as Americanised Indian food.

Mountain View is excellent for Chinese and Japanese, however. There's a superb dim sum place just behind Castro where I managed to eat until pretty much unable to walk once (whoops!). Definitely as good as anything I've had in Chinatown in London (or indeed in Hong Kong). And I remember an excellent sushi place on Shoreline east of the railway line, near the supermarket.

The big down side of all this, of course, is that I'm going on my own. My (same sex, unfortunately) partner is in the middle of a longer term PhD here in the UK, and when that is finished (in 2 or 3 years) will probably want to either stay where she is (basically one of the best places in the world for her subject, kind of the NASA of botany, really) or will end up somewhere random and tropical for a few years. Hello, long distance relationship d00m. Has anyone here gone through that kind of separation? How has it gone? How did you cope? DID you cope???

elfman

unfortunate for whom?

lolly

Good luck - you are in Cambridge lucky you, always loved to go to Aunties Tea shop off Kings Parade.

st326

Unfortunate from the point of view of US immigration law. She'd need to find someone prepared to hire her in order to get an H1-B, because there is no equivalent for us of the getting married and getting her a visa on that basis. In other respects, there's nothing terribly unfortunate about it!

st326

Cambridge is nice. I miss it, actually -- I'm currently writing up at home in London, so I rarely get there these days.

BigDavyG

Make sure to visit the gardenia one last time before you leave
Good luck with the phd and the move

britontour

Can't you get married now or is that not worth the paper its written on here or for a visa?

lolly

Was that in Rose Crescent off the market square ????there was also a restaurant called The Whim - good food

BigDavyG

Not sure the name of the street, but it sounds like you have the right place.
Best kebab I've ever had - fact. The yoghurt and cucumber sauce beats the pants of the usual radioactive molten lava stuff i get.

Philgr

Congratulations on your move. We used Graebels to move from London to Mountain View so you might want to try them (at least they know the way ) I'd guess they are pretty expensive but the company was paying so I don't know for sure.

If you like Mexican food there are loads of places around here but one of the best I've found so far is Maria Elena's at 1450 Gold St in Alviso (a few miles east on 237). It's pretty run down but the food is good.

Hope all goes well.

Bob

Good chunk of us are here through marriage and have gone through it...so wouldn't worry about it.

Bob

USCIS won't recognise it, so doesn't make a difference for immigration.

ladylisa

Congratulations on the move. As for movers we used Sterling International removals and they were brilliant. I have nothing bad to say about them. My OH company paid however I think they were quite expensive. Give them a call.

st326

Gardies is indeed good, as is the (in)famous Van of Death.

For the benefit of any non-Cambridge people here, there are two vans in the market square that sell food each night. The Van of Life (which actually says that on the sign), which sells burgers mostly. Of course, the other van is always called the Van of Death. It sells kebabs that are also very good -- generally a bit cheaper than Gardies, and you tend to get a bit more meat.

st326

Yes, that's the one. I'm not sure about the Whim, though, I don't remember it. Mind you, the shops in that street change hands extremely often due to Trinity's incredibly extortionate rents coupled with the city council also wanting its own pound of flesh. A friend used to own a games and puzzles shop near there that was essentially put out of business due to completely insane rent hikes mandated by the college. Not nice.