Just before Frances (interview #4) left Houston, she introduced me to a few of her friends from her husband Ben’s company. Mimi was one of them, I’ve only met her twice so far, but I have a good feeling about her!Where were you born? A small town in the centre of France (St Yrieix la Perche, Limousin).
Where are you now? Houston, Texas, USA
How long have you been there? Since September 2012, so about 7 months as I write
How long do you expect to be there? We came here with the understanding that it would be for a couple of years, but my husband is already saying his project might go until June 2015 which will be almost 3 years, so we’ll see!
Where else have you lived? I spent 4 months in Finland while I was finishing my studies. Then I moved to the UK where I stayed for 12 years (and met my husband there, even though he’s also French). While I was living in the UK, I was also detached 3 months to Budapest (Hungary) by my company. And now, Texas … which is the first time that I’m moving somewhere for my husband’s job, and not because I decided to!
What you love about where you are living? The best thing about Houston is … the people. It’s surprisingly easy to meet new people (although mainly expats), and everybody you meet in the stores or where we live, etc … is very friendly. It’s also amazing how kind people are to babies and tolerant they are of children in general. Everywhere is baby friendly, with baby changing facilities (usually very clean), high chairs in most restaurants. I have a 17 months old son, and it makes a big difference to know I can bring him with me if I want and facilities will be here.
The other great thing (so far at least) is the weather ….. Now, we arrived in September, and it’s only April, so we haven’t lived through a summer here (which I’ve been told is hell, too hot, too humid, etc..), but I’ve got to say after 12 years in the UK, it was quite amazing to be able to still go in our outdoor swimming pool on the 1st December!!!
And finally, living in an apartment complex is really nice … you feel like in a holiday village all year round, with swimming pool, gym (including free fitness classes), resident events, but most of all, you get to know other people living here, always meeting the same mums at the playground, and it’s like living in a small village even though we’re in a really big city.
What is the worst thing about where you live? I don’t like the fact that Houston is so spread out that everything is far away ….. we are lucky enough to have a supermarket and a park within 15 minutes walk (which I understand is not common), but if you want to do something different, or go and see friends, you’re easily looking at 30 minutes to an hour drive. I also miss the feel of a proper town centre where everything is in one place, you can walk from one place to the other in a lovely environment. Mall shopping doesn’t replace it adequately for me!
The amount of paperwork was also surprising (social security, driving license, etc …). I thought the French were bad, but I think Americans are worse!!!
The hardest part of living where you live?
There are 2 things I find quite hard living in Houston …
One is the fact that we’re 10 hours plane away from family and friends. Of course, we’ve been meeting new people and making some friends, but I miss the ones I’ve left at home. I also don’t think it’s as good for our parents as they will only see their grandson once a year or so. While we were in the UK, we could go and stay with them just for a week end if we wanted to … now anytime less than 2 weeks is not really an option, especially with a baby (baby and jet lag don’t mix well together). We’ve also had to miss 3 weddings since we’re here that I would really have liked to go to.
The other thing that I find hard is the uncertainty of my work situation. When we arrived I was finishing my maternity leave, and since the company I was working for in the UK has a Houston office, I thought that I would be able to transfer there and start working in January. But so far, this hasn’t proved as easy as I thought … while they agree in principle to my transfer, there has been no role that I could do or that they would accept me for. So I don’t know if I will be able to work, if I will at some point have to resign from my company (I’m on unpaid leave at the moment, but I don’t know if they would renew it if I don’t find a role here). And of course, I worry this might impact my prospects once we go back to Europe.
Of course, it’s not always all that bad as I can take advantage of the pool, our fitness classes, visit a bit of Houston and maybe even finish a cross stitch I started more than 10 years ago ! I have also started to look at a few volunteering options, so we’ll see.
What has surprised you most about where you live?
The green spaces … I always thought Houston was all about big buildings, freeways and concrete, but actually there are quite a few parks, some small community parks, others bigger ones with walking/hiking trails.
Your biggest lesson learned? It’s far easier to do paperwork and organise moves and settling in when baby is at daycare. I got quite stressed out while organising our move in the UK as I was juggling entertaining baby with having the house visited by estate agents or trying to have a conversation with our removal company !
One reason you wouldn’t have missed living there for the world?
Hum ….. I guess seeing my husband finally happy at work is worth something! Other than that, I still wish we had stayed in the UK 🙂 But we’re still new here … maybe in a year or 2, I won’t want to go away !!
The best food?
Oh, that’s a difficult one …. there are so many restaurants or every cuisine that it’s difficult to pick the best one. But I think I’ll go with the ‘Melting Pot’, which does all kind of fondues …. and is the only place I’ve ever seen a fondue with beer instead of wine, or with jalapeno peppers!
On the other hand, what I miss most is good bread. Being French, I love my bread, and in the UK, Waitrose does a really nice stone-baked baguette but here …. we find OK bread but not great bread (and I try not to look too much at the labels because they put all kinds of stuff in their bread that I don’t think should be there, such as sugar, oil, etc …)
The best sight?
We haven’t seen that much, but I like Brazos Bend Park. Great scenery, lots of walking/biking trails, picnic tables, playgrounds for the kids, lots of amazing birds and alligators in the wild. There’s even a nature centre where you can touch snakes and babies alligators.
Your biggest fear for the future?
That we go from one place to the next and don’t manage to settle anywhere. Expat can be fun, but I would really like to have somewhere I can really call home one day.
Funniest incident?
It was not funny at the time it happened, but in retrospect I laugh about it. I was going to a story time at our local library, and my little boy had a cold. He was nicely playing with other babies when another mum (American) noticed his nose was dribbling …. she quickly snatched away her daughter who had been playing with my son, went to sanitize her hands like she might catch the plague instead of a common cold, and made sure she didn’t come anywhere near my son again.
At the end, she waited for me to tell me I shouldn’t bring a baby with a cold to some place with lots of babies …. They obviously have a very different view of illness, because in the UK, unless your baby has diarrhea or a truly contagious disease, you’re still welcome to all playgrounds … I mean they all catch colds eventually.
What NOT to do in your location?
If the police stops you, we’ve been told NOT to reach for the glove compartment. They would assume you’re getting your gun and that could end badly. Just put your hands on the steering wheel, wait for the policeman to come and speak to you and if he asks to see your papers, explain they are in the glove compartment before moving.
The person who has inspired you most where you live and why?
I found Corinne (interview #3) a great inspiration. She’s been expat in several countries now, and has 4 kids (amazingly had one in each country they went to !), and yet she still manages to find time to do some work as a teacher in the local French school in various subjects. And this is despite the fact that she didn’t train initially as a teacher but as an engineer so she had to learn the ropes of the job all by herself ! I hope I can make my stay as fruitful as yours.
Best piece of advice you could give to newbie expats?
Try whatever you can to meet new people. If you’ve got babies or young children, investigate library story times, mums groups, etc …. otherwise, pick up a hobby, do anything but do not stay at home on your own ! It’s easier for husbands to meet people as they go to work, we have to work at it.
Read previous interviews here:
Interesting to read expat views of Houston. 🙂
I bet it is! One of my friends have moved to Dubai, would you mind if I put her in touch with you? She’s having a tough time and she’s not even been there 2 weeks!