Why the US?

[zips 0]

Now as I am a couple of months away from making the move I am beginning to think about the finer details like healthcare, housing, shopping, vacation time etc but I guess I will get used to it - it is not going to change my relationship with my husband and therefore whatever it brings we will deal with. I just want to live a normal live with him again whereever that may be in the world!

A normal life . . . I think that is what we are all striving for. I've spent the several 6 month at a time trips in England, but we decided the we would have a better chance of a normal life here rather than England.

[Y&E 12]

To be honest i can't really see myself ever settling in the US. The reason that I came here was because my husband views his job prospects as better over here than in the UK, which is true. However I believe that we'd have a much better life in NZ where I am originally from. Some things are good where we live, houses are cheap. Ok, one thing is good. However, I hate that there's no public transport to speak of, I have to drive to about 3 or 4 different places to do any decent shopping, the downtown as a shopping and entertainment district is virtually non-existent and taxi's are so expensive most people drive drunk after a night out. I have no idea why anybody would voluntarily move to or live in the Mid-West, especially with our recent weather!

I don't really have any decent job prospects over here, in spite of having 2 undergrad degrees, because it's too expensive to do post-grad and while I work in a job that I enjoy it is very few hours and isn't well paid. I have met some nice people working there though. I also don't trust the US education system and I've had to seriously rethink having children due to the high costs of medical care (my husband works in a high paid job but we can't really afford a medication that I have to take daily). Mainly for me the lack of work - life balance is what makes living in the US intolerable. I'm used to having 4 or 5 weeks paid holiday per year, hubby currently gets 10 days, #######?

Personally, all said and done if I had to do this over then I'd insist on moving back to NZ or nothing at all. My life has been at a standstill for the past 6 months and as the USCIS can't get my name right on any important documents (only on postal addresses) it's still at a standstill.