Franconia Beer Message Board

Moving to US, Friends, Boston (was Life Updates (was Annafest))
Posted by Nick B. (formerly in Erlangen) on 2019-08-21 01:20:06
Is Juergen no longer around? Anyway, Becki quit adidas in Nov 2017, whilst I was visiting you in Wales.

Yeah, things have changed. We're splitting (slowly, it's years in the making) and our life here was a life for the two of us. We would never have ended up here if we hadn't been together. And so the idea was to return to the US. It was returning from my road trip through your funny little isles that really precipitated our decision to split, so it wasn't something we would have talked about when last we met.

That's why I stayed in LV a while -- it seemed a great place to return to, at first. I was really going to start up a business, and B was seriously thinking about moving there herself. Then things went unexpectedly wrong. Ah well, expensive life lessons and all that.

I've got an issue with my unlimited residency permit that may be cleared up next week, but worst case is I'll need to leave the EU for 3 months. In that case, I doubt I'll return. I'm not going to spend 3 months in Switzerland! (Those who don't like me can go ahead and gloat...just do like Fred says and be nice to each other!)

If Brexit happened now, maybe I could spend the three months in Thanet. Yes, that's still a dream of mine, though the way things are heading in your culture...more American as time goes on, I dunno. At least you're not armed to the teeth!

I miss lots of things about Erlangen (sorry for mentioning its unholy name again), in comparison to living in Aachen. I miss lots of other things. Mostly, that I didn't cherish my old life as much as I should have. That I didn't WORK more (not just teaching English, but housework, and work at our relationship) and drink less. That I wasn't LESS self-centered. That I didn't go ahead and get German citizenship. Without B's job (she's been non-employed since leaving adidas) and income, they won't go for it. Though I could get unemployment benefits...Germany's weird.

And that's another thing. We are still foreigners here. It is not our culture, and this does make a difference, as I first learnt from an ex-homebrewing-friend (lectures PolySci at Plymouth, David Brockington, PhD) when he moved from Seattle to Amsterdam, and who was my original inspiration in suggesting that B&I move to Europe from Orygun. As my German teacher said, who's my age, making real friends gets harder with age.

We moved here at 42 & 39. We have loads of acquaintences, but real *friends*? Are your pub mates real friends? Germans have a slightly different idea about friendship vs. acquaintenceship than Yanks do. A "friend" would let you move in with them in hardship. My old Mpls friends of my youth would likely have done that, in fact I did live with a couple for a while when things were slow-going.

So on that note...hey Mark, can I move in with you for  a bit this fall to get my Sequoia registered? :) I can pay rent. I can get along with M@ssholes. New Yorkers, meh.

Barring that, how about a road trip south with Uncle Jimbo, me, and my dog, if I land at Boston? I'll be the driver, as I've gone sober again. 
 
Followups:
               Moving to US, Friends, Boston (was Life Updates (was Annafest)) by Jason  on  2019-08-21 02:21:18
                 Moving to US, Friends, Boston (was Life Updates (was Annafest)) by Nick B. (formerly in Erlangen) on  2019-08-21 05:19:43
                   Moving to US, Friends, Boston (was Life Updates (was Annafest)) by Jason on  2019-08-21 05:55:44
                 British Faults by AndyH on  2019-08-21 08:36:59
                   British Faults by Barry Taylor on  2019-08-22 04:24:09
                     British Faults by Jason  on  2019-08-22 05:29:40
                       British Faults by Carl on  2019-08-22 07:22:34
                       Living there vs Visiting ( was British Faults) by Uncle Jimbo on  2019-08-23 12:52:28
                         Living there vs Visiting ( was British Faults) by Jason on  2019-08-23 16:55:10
                         Touring Britain on the Cheap (was: British Faults) by Nick B. (formerly in Erlangen) on  2019-08-28 07:12:11
                           Touring Britain on the Cheap (was: British Faults) by Barm on  2019-08-29 03:06:07
                             Touring Britain on the Cheap (was: British Faults) by Nick B. (formerly in Erlangen) on  2019-08-30 01:02:29
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