Just thought I’d bump this... Been here 3 months now. Living in Chevy Chase, Maryland - takes about 25 mins to drive to work. All the warnings of DC life being expensive were spot on! Made more difficult by ladyromford lacking authorisation to work, so we’ve been living on one wage so far. Fortunately, her papers and Social Security card have come through now, so she can start earning soon!
Lots of culture shocks, even coming from a weird place like Dubai, but the biggest one is the crazy levels of red tape involved in everything from tax to Social Security to buying a car to getting a credit card to getting a drivers licence. (Maryland Vehicle Authority is possibly the most obstructive and least efficient organisation I’ve ever come across. I think their procedure for issuing licenses and registrations would be simpler, safer, more appropriate and more convenient if they dropped a bunch of them in a bear pit and made people fight for them.) We miss the silly things - Dairy Milk, proper back bacon, decent cheddar cheese, HP Sauce, English Mustard, all that kind of stuff. (They do have lots of decent little breweries here though, so beer isn’t bad!) You can get all this stuff, but you pay through the nose for it.
Having said all this, we’re actually really enjoying life here. Culturally, life here is different in so many surprising ways, but we appreciate and enjoy that! We like the people, the City, the sights, the surrounding areas. Haven’t travelled too far afield yet, but we’ve had a look around parts of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. Off to Pennsylvania tomorrow. Until you come here, the size of the country doesn’t really register. It’s just so vast, it’ll take forever to explore everything! We’re off to the Blue Ridge mountains for thanksgiving and going to New York after Christmas and planning Canada and the lakes for next summer. Maybe the west coast next year! Looking forward to it all! We’re loving having four distinct seasons again - now enjoying the start of our first proper winter for 4 years!
Thanks to all my fellow expats and American Addicks for thoughts and advice. Suffice to say we’re glad we made the move, and if you’re passing by, give me a shout and we’ll have a beer!
Completely missed this, but welcome!!!
I actually nearly got forced to go to DC next week, and just barely got out of it. But I'm sure I'll be there at some point in the not too distant future and I'll drop you a line.
Oh, and you've probably already discovered this, but don't buy the Dairy Milk you get in the groceries stores, it's made in Pennsylvania and it's bullshit. You *can* get Coleman's in a fair few grocery stores though, but it tends to be hit and miss.
Yeah, USA Dairy milk just ain’t the same because it’s produced by Hershey’s. I was reading an article recently about how Hershey’s put a chemical in their chocolate to make it last longer - but it’s the same chemical that gives vomit that nasty sharp taste. Hence the awful aftertaste (that most Americans don’t seem to notice for some reason!) Found s lot of the English stuff, but for a price! (This week I paid $60 for a 5lb haggis for Burns night because it’s pretty much impossible to find out here.) Spending money in the US is like breathing. Far too easy to do!
Have any of you been to the small town of Addicks......it’s a a few miles west of Houston I believe?
I actually have. Made a pilgrimage out there once from Houston. Nothing there apart from a reservoir. It’s quite picturesque.
A good mate of mine just moved to Austin (Callum country if I recall). She's sent me loads of picture of Texas (her boyfriend is from Odessa) and I'm surprised at how beautiful it is.
I'll look for a better thread but thought I'd start here. What are our streaming options outside of the occassional ESPN+ match?
iFollow is generally what I use. I think about half the clubs in the Championship use it. Much safer than using one of the streams that always float around
I'll look for a better thread but thought I'd start here. What are our streaming options outside of the occassional ESPN+ match?
For a lot of the Champo clubs you can just go to their website and click on "ifollow" and it should lead you to a live stream. The stream isn't great, but it's better than nothing and there was a serious improvement from two years ago to last year, and hoping for more of the same.
Also, I'm almost certain ESPN+ has more matches than just the Sky ones, so I'm hoping we'll get a fair few on there, which is the best option. I have serious usability issues with ESPN's suite of apps and functionality...nobody cares. Yeah, hopefully we'll get a fair few on there. Unfortunately, it can be hard to determine what they're showing in advance due to aforementioned usability issues. But I'll try and keep an eye on it and I'll probably end up starting an ESPN+ thread.
I didn't get an email about this but was poking around the official site, Valley Pass for a season is £110 and will stream "all league games the club is allowed to stream in your respective region" which seems like a big asterisk. Is there any reliable info about which games might be off limits for them in our "region"? Found this list via ifollow: https://www.efl.com/clubs-and-competitions/tv-games/international-games/
I didn't get an email about this but was poking around the official site, Valley Pass for a season is £110 and will stream "all league games the club is allowed to stream in your respective region" which seems like a big asterisk. Is there any reliable info about which games might be off limits for them in our "region"? Found this list via ifollow: https://www.efl.com/clubs-and-competitions/tv-games/international-games/
Yes, sorry, this has come to fruition in the time since I posted mine.
From memory, matches on ESPN+ were not blocked out on the iFollow platform in the US. I wouldn't worry too much about it. But I can't be certain and it might be worth emailing the club.
I didn't get an email about this but was poking around the official site, Valley Pass for a season is £110 and will stream "all league games the club is allowed to stream in your respective region" which seems like a big asterisk. Is there any reliable info about which games might be off limits for them in our "region"? Found this list via ifollow: https://www.efl.com/clubs-and-competitions/tv-games/international-games/
I believe that it means every game that isn’t being shown live on Sky Sports but agree, some clarity before signing up would be helpful.
Just thought I’d bump this...
Been here 3 months now. Living in Chevy Chase, Maryland - takes about 25 mins to drive to work. All the warnings of DC life being expensive were spot on! Made more difficult by ladyromford lacking authorisation to work, so we’ve been living on one wage so far.
Fortunately, her papers and Social Security card have come through now, so she can start earning soon!
Lots of culture shocks, even coming from a weird place like Dubai, but the biggest one is the crazy levels of red tape involved in everything from tax to Social Security to buying a car to getting a credit card to getting a drivers licence.
(Maryland Vehicle Authority is possibly the most obstructive and least efficient organisation I’ve ever come across. I think their procedure for issuing licenses and registrations would be simpler, safer, more appropriate and more convenient if they dropped a bunch of them in a bear pit and made people fight for them.)
We miss the silly things - Dairy Milk, proper back bacon, decent cheddar cheese, HP Sauce, English Mustard, all that kind of stuff. (They do have lots of decent little breweries here though, so beer isn’t bad!) You can get all this stuff, but you pay through the nose for it.
Having said all this, we’re actually really enjoying life here. Culturally, life here is different in so many surprising ways, but we appreciate and enjoy that! We like the people, the City, the sights, the surrounding areas. Haven’t travelled too far afield yet, but we’ve had a look around parts of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. Off to Pennsylvania tomorrow. Until you come here, the size of the country doesn’t really register. It’s just so vast, it’ll take forever to explore everything!
We’re off to the Blue Ridge mountains for thanksgiving and going to New York after Christmas and planning Canada and the lakes for next summer. Maybe the west coast next year! Looking forward to it all!
We’re loving having four distinct seasons again - now enjoying the start of our first proper winter for 4 years!
Thanks to all my fellow expats and American Addicks for thoughts and advice. Suffice to say we’re glad we made the move, and if you’re passing by, give me a shout and we’ll have a beer!
With apologies for the very late acknowledgement, welcome to Maryland. If you have any interest in checking out the local professional team, please let me know. We've been DC United season ticket holders for quite some time now but currently struggle to make games. Separately, the college season starts soon, with the University of Maryland opening up at home for their first match on August 30th. Ryan Blumberg enrolled this spring at the University and is supposed to be playing for the school but is not yet listed on the roster (https://umterps.com/news/2019/3/27/mens-soccer-announces-additions-for-2019.aspx).
American Addicks, how is everybody doing in the midst of this pandemic? Everybody healthy? Still working?
Yeah, fine. We’re generally staying in, but go for a walk every so often. We’re teachers, so we’re online teaching which isn’t so bad. Life’s ok, if a bit restrictive.
However, bizarrely I have to fly to Mexico tomorrow because of issues with my wife’s work permit. Basically, on my visa type, I have to leave and reenter the country within 2 years of arriving, otherwise my wife won’t be able to work here. I’ve been here 2 years this summer. You'd think they’d look at the current situation and think maybe this isn’t the highest priority right now, but no. So tomorrow I go Washington DC, Charlotte, Cancun, Dallas. Then overnight in Dallas, then back home to DC Tuesday.
Doing okay. We've been under a Stay-at-Home order since mid-March. Both my wife and I are "essential workers" which means that we've been going to work since the COVID-19 outbreak. Looking forward to the day when I can enjoy my footie once more.
Doing okay. We've been under a Stay-at-Hone order since med-March. Both my wife and I are "essential workers" which means that we've been going to work since the COVID-19 outbreak. Looking forward to the day when I can enjoy my footie once more.
You support Charlton. Enjoyment and Charlton very really mix
American Addicks, how is everybody doing in the midst of this pandemic? Everybody healthy? Still working?
Yeah, fine. We’re generally staying in, but go for a walk every so often. We’re teachers, so we’re online teaching which isn’t so bad. Life’s ok, if a bit restrictive.
However, bizarrely I have to fly to Mexico tomorrow because of issues with my wife’s work permit. Basically, on my visa type, I have to leave and reenter the country within 2 years of arriving, otherwise my wife won’t be able to work here. I’ve been here 2 years this summer. You'd think they’d look at the current situation and think maybe this isn’t the highest priority right now, but no. So tomorrow I go Washington DC, Charlotte, Cancun, Dallas. Then overnight in Dallas, then back home to DC Tuesday.
🙄
What a great idea in the midst of a pandemic!
That's so dumb, I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you could at least enjoy Cancun. Hope it's safe travels.
Oh, I was due to be in DC this week for a conference but it's been cancelled. Next time I'm there (possibly late October, but I think more likely not for a while) I'll give you a shout, maybe we could get a drink.
Yeah doing alright. Think I've talked about it elsewhere but Oregon is starting to reopen. We're seeing little pockets of recklessness, but largely I think we've handled it well as a state.
My mum was out walking the dogs in LA yesterday and said there were loads of people at the small park by her house not observing social distancing and generally. A lot of people seem to think that gradual reopening means the virus is gone. Which was always the problem with reopening. My worry is we won't start to see the effects of this for another 2-3 weeks at a minimum because of incubation time, time it takes to get tested once you've contracted the disease, etc.
So I'm still just observing social distancing, playing RDR2 through again to try and do as many side quests and whatnot as I can, and working. Not much different to normal life, really.
I am in Connecticut although spent 2 months on Cape Cod at our house there. We are back in CT as it reopened and my wife has to go to work. She was earning more on unemployment as she was furloughed but she carries our health insurance and was 'asked' to come back. I am an IT consultant and have been working remotely. Biggest thing I miss is going for a beer with my footie mates and of course watching Charlton games on Valley Pass. The weather has picked up here after a cold spring so will probably be allowed to sit outside a bar. Looking forward to it and hopefully CAFC pulls thru these ownership issues and start playing again.
I'm in Kansas and we have been doing well for the most part, apart from meatpacking/prisons/congregate living sites. Our governor closed schools before any other state and our state schools were on spring break in early March so we were more or less shut down early on. Hopefully there won't be a price to pay two or three weeks from now for people getting together this weekend to your point @SDAddick but I'm concerned there will be too. Kansas social distance as a way of life but we are also about at the bottom.of the list on testing so we can use all the time and space we can get. We are the Josh Cullen of American states.
American Addicks, how is everybody doing in the midst of this pandemic? Everybody healthy? Still working?
Yeah, fine. We’re generally staying in, but go for a walk every so often. We’re teachers, so we’re online teaching which isn’t so bad. Life’s ok, if a bit restrictive.
However, bizarrely I have to fly to Mexico tomorrow because of issues with my wife’s work permit. Basically, on my visa type, I have to leave and reenter the country within 2 years of arriving, otherwise my wife won’t be able to work here. I’ve been here 2 years this summer. You'd think they’d look at the current situation and think maybe this isn’t the highest priority right now, but no. So tomorrow I go Washington DC, Charlotte, Cancun, Dallas. Then overnight in Dallas, then back home to DC Tuesday.
🙄
What a great idea in the midst of a pandemic!
That's so dumb, I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you could at least enjoy Cancun. Hope it's safe travels.
Oh, I was due to be in DC this week for a conference but it's been cancelled. Next time I'm there (possibly late October, but I think more likely not for a while) I'll give you a shout, maybe we could get a drink.
I’m absolutely up for that. Be nice to put a face to the name!
Comments
.. I’ll get me coat
Answers on a postcard, please.
Found s lot of the English stuff, but for a price!
(This week I paid $60 for a 5lb haggis for Burns night because it’s pretty much impossible to find out here.)
Spending money in the US is like breathing. Far too easy to do!
Also, I'm almost certain ESPN+ has more matches than just the Sky ones, so I'm hoping we'll get a fair few on there, which is the best option. I have serious usability issues with ESPN's suite of apps and functionality...nobody cares. Yeah, hopefully we'll get a fair few on there. Unfortunately, it can be hard to determine what they're showing in advance due to aforementioned usability issues. But I'll try and keep an eye on it and I'll probably end up starting an ESPN+ thread.
From memory, matches on ESPN+ were not blocked out on the iFollow platform in the US. I wouldn't worry too much about it. But I can't be certain and it might be worth emailing the club.
We now have a new much better website if anyone’s interested. Most welcome.
www.addicksdownunder.com
However, bizarrely I have to fly to Mexico tomorrow because of issues with my wife’s work permit. Basically, on my visa type, I have to leave and reenter the country within 2 years of arriving, otherwise my wife won’t be able to work here. I’ve been here 2 years this summer.
You'd think they’d look at the current situation and think maybe this isn’t the highest priority right now, but no.
So tomorrow I go Washington DC, Charlotte, Cancun, Dallas. Then overnight in Dallas, then back home to DC Tuesday.
That's so dumb, I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you could at least enjoy Cancun. Hope it's safe travels.
Oh, I was due to be in DC this week for a conference but it's been cancelled. Next time I'm there (possibly late October, but I think more likely not for a while) I'll give you a shout, maybe we could get a drink.
My mum was out walking the dogs in LA yesterday and said there were loads of people at the small park by her house not observing social distancing and generally. A lot of people seem to think that gradual reopening means the virus is gone. Which was always the problem with reopening. My worry is we won't start to see the effects of this for another 2-3 weeks at a minimum because of incubation time, time it takes to get tested once you've contracted the disease, etc.
So I'm still just observing social distancing, playing RDR2 through again to try and do as many side quests and whatnot as I can, and working. Not much different to normal life, really.