board77

Sil, the Guineans we know are wonderfully friendly, kind, giving, light-hearted, playful, hard-working, accepting, dedicated, and just all around awesome.

And they love Mom and I for some reason. Most of the Guineans living in a 5 to 8 state area know Mom and I, even if we haven't met them. Apparently word spreads amazingly well among them.

Mom really wanted to go for the fresh fruit and the beaches I think. That, and some of her closest friends have moved back and she misses them a lot.

I just love to be places I've never been before and explore them.

I have really liked Toronto the few times I've been there. (The last time was in 2006.) It is a very cool city!

So where is the Beaches?

TWT, sorry about the relationship woes.



Lali

Silwen wrote:

Eru wrote:

I've found it overwhelming not knowing how to nagivate, work the buses, and how to do simple things. I expect emigrating to a european country from another one would be simpler as one would already be used to figuring out public transportation.

I know the feeling. Figuring out public transportation is always stressful to me to even just think about, even though I use public transport a lot in Germany. Every country does things differently in this respect, if only slightly. Something that always worries me in Britain is that not all buses have a digital display telling you what the next stop is. What is more, the stops are so hard to see that I don't think I could easily find the right place I want to go unless I have been there before. That is a big worry! Needing to have exact change on buses sometimes doesn't ake things easier either.

Silwen (and Eruname) - on the buses, all you need to do is tell the driver that you're going to x place, but you're new to the area and don't know where to get off and please would he give you a shout when you get to your stop. Easy peasy.

I do hope you enjoy your move. Bath is a gorgeous city. :)


I don't think I'd want to emigrate, unless it it was to go back to Wales. Though I do like France and Italy a lot! But I think I would miss proper beer too much. I couldn't live anywhere that didn't have mediaeval churches and castles everywhere and pretty 16thC market towns; I like being able to take them for granted!

LalaithUrwen wrote:

So where is the Beaches?

I think the town council would prefer you to say "Where are the Beach?"

I'm with TWT, I've always called it The Beaches, and I don't know why they suddenly decided to change it.

It's a neighbourhood in the east part of the city. It's right on the edge of the St. Lawrence River, has lots of parks, a lovely boardwalk that goes along the waterfront, nice shops, and specially designated areas where you can let your dogs run free. It's built for pedestrians, and people actually stop to talk to one another.

If I had to move to Toronto, it would definitely be my first choice to settle in.

What Jude said.

Very friendly neighbourhood. Beautiful parks and the beach is gorgeous! I went and ate fish & chips with my now ex on the rocks that serve as the wave barrier (I know there's a better name for that) a couple weeks ago. It was wonderful, except that we've broken up now and its very painful. lol

I'm goin down on thursday and friday to work on the place. Gotta do some painting etc.

Emigrate? I can't imagine circumstances that would require us to emigrate, so I'd have to say no. I have too many ties to western Pa.

I live in such a provincial town that "emigrating" to most people here means moving across the border into Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia or West Virginia, all of which are fairly close. I know a great many people who've never gone to DC to see the typical tourist sites--it's just too scary for them to go so far! (It's roughly 3 hours.)

Many people DO move south and then move back here after a few years. They can make a lot more money down in DC but come back after they're tired of long, expensive commutes, very high-priced housing, etc. You can buy a house here for about a third of the cost of a house in DC. And the crime rate is very low here. I rarely lock my door, and usually leave our cars unlocked.

Anyhow, I'm staying here! I may consider moving within a few hours drive of where I live now, but that's as far as I'd emigrate. I love having 4 distinct seasons, we love skiing in wintertime and hot summers, so we're happy here.

A question for those who would have liked/would still like to emigrate: What do you think would be the best time, generally, for anyone to do it (regardless of circumstance)? Right after school/college? Or after some work experience? Younger or older? Single, married or with children?

Silwen wrote:

A question for those who would have liked/would still like to emigrate: What do you think would be the best time, generally, for anyone to do it (regardless of circumstance)? Right after school/college? Or after some work experience? Younger or older? Single, married or with children?

Having jumped coast-to-coast intranationally and being familiar with the far-lesser challenges that poses, my instinct is that younger; right after school; and single are probably the easiest options. Here's why I think that:

1. You're likely to have fewer roots and community ties. If you're just coming out of school, then odds are high you've just spent some years living somewhere other than where you grew up/your hometown, anyway. You don't have ten years invested in a post-graduation hometown. It's easier to uproot things then otherwise.

2. If you're single, then you have fewer people's needs to consider. I've encountered many people on the East Coast and in the Midwest who have described moving to San Francisco as a lifelong dream - but one that is not feasible given the needs and desires of their spouse or partner and/or kids. This effect would probably be even clearer with an international move. For instance, my American law degree and bar admission would be much closer to useless in any other country, so if I had a SO who wanted to move internationally, I'd lean strongly towards saying no for that reason - it'd screw up, or at least greatly set back, my career. On the other hand, someone with transferrable work experience might have an easier time getting hired if they have more on their resume to offer a foreign company or institution. I bet this one's industry specific.

I could see how a young couple in agreement re: moving could have as easy a time as a single person...but there's still the possibility that the move could work really well for one person, and less well/not at all for the second person.

3. If you're young, single, and fairly footloose and fancy free, moving to a new place offers the possibility of building a new life, establishing your career, finding that significant other - and all in the place where you actually want to live. There's not the sensation of really having left a well-formed life behind somewhere. I think this is fairly important - at least it was to me. I was going to the place where I wanted to create my life. I think the same would hold true for an int'l move, but I think it'd be a bit more daunting. Fun, though!

I have lived in UK in Singapore, in Africa, both real and RSA and am back in the UK. Would I go away again, absolutely, the UK by and large is vile full of awful people most of whom are competely subservient to the "me culture". This of course is a consequence of Thatcerism and New Labour, the persuit and glorification of wealth.

There are so many better places in the world, with far more decent fairer systems, nicer folk, with healthier more human lifestyles. Unfortunately both Mrs E and I have sick elderly parents and we want to be close to them. If that wasn't the case - I would be off tommow.

Soooo--- updates? How are the moving plans going?

Do you have to do any more thesis stuff in Germany before you leave?

Yes, I have to. There have been delays, unfortunately, because the examination office is understaffed and isn't answering the phone or emails. I had to get in touch with them to get some details and it took them 3 weeks to write back! So it's all been going way too slow and I will therefore miss the July deadline.

I am now doing the final editing and proofreading on my thesis while getting the defence committee together too. Today I finally got the last member to join - it was really hard because the ones I asked before either had no time or weren't eligible as members for whatever reason.

So now I will hurry to get the registration for my defence done so I can focus just on finishing my thesis in time for October or November. Half a year later than I had hoped, but there's nothing I can do. But as soon as the defence is over (hopefully no later than December), I will want to move to England. Mark still has to sort things out with his landlord to find out if I am allowed to share the flat and all that, but I don't see a problem there. At the moment my head is just too full of things to do about my PhD. I'm telling you, getting a PhD and writing the thesis itself is absolutely a breeze compared to trying to register for the defence.

I am still hoping to be ready to go in January, but it all depends on when I finish work. The examination office at uni is a pain in the butt and I can't contact them to ask what's going on and why they never respond to queries. I have no idea at this point, if they even got my documents so I can prepare for my defence soon. I need to do it before I can move. I will probably be able to see them in person early next month - unless there are too many people there in the queue.

In the meantime I am daydreaming of what it will be like when I finally arrive in England! That thought keeps me going. In preparation, I have started dividing all my stuff into thing to take along, things to throw away, and things I might bring to England whenever I visit Germany. That's fun.

That is exciting, Silwen! I really hope it all works out for you.


Lali

To the original question:

1996 UK
1997-1999 Netherlands
2000 Curacao
2001 - 2004 Netherlands
2005-2006 USA
2007 UK
2008 Gibraltar

Probably...yes

Such a restless life!

What is your best piece of advice?

Lots has happened in the meantime and it shouldn't be long till I can book my flight. I wanted to wait till my doctoral defence next week and till Mark's landlord has the reference he asked for. He said it was okay for me to move in with Mark, but I certainly want to wait for his final decision after he has received the reference. Don't want to get there and be told, "Nope, changed my mind."

In the meantime, since my laptop died for good, I have lost the bookmark I had from one of the official German sites that listed all the things you have to do in Germany and the UK when you move. Luckily, there wasn't much on the list from the start and I think I remember the bits that pertained to me anyway. I was about to post the list here for reference, then forgot, and now I wish I'd done it sooner! I'll probably find it again when I have time to search the web.

Time to start finishing up business at home, ending contracts and the like, which I have already begun. I can't wait to be out of here! I am so exhausted.

W00t! Finally you'll be taking a Bath!

Um, I mean... going to Bath.

Almost there! You're almost there! Just keep plugging along and soon it will all be a distant memory!

I'll get all nostalgic about the good old days in Germany, where the air smells of roses and the people are the friendliest with an amazing sense of humour and such. And my German will fade. It's already starting.