What did you do while waiting for work permit arrival?

[heo luoi 206]

Thats terrific congrats.

Thats awesome so many local avenues for engagement. I looked all over and no local church offerings. Local Library only has one night / wk and its higher level speakers.

I found a similar program but they are filled the gills and theres lots of churn in students so I think that can be disruptive. Its kind of a drive and in a rough neighborhood. I end up staying 3 hrs every night...only 2 nights a wk so theres a big lag until the next week.

Seems like you guys have a pretty well thought out routine!

My husband has been taking English classes at a church's community center 3 mornings per week (a really surprisingly robust program-- 9 levels and 10 or so students per level), and volunteers at our local animal shelter the other two days per week. He joined a free poker league (play for chips and points in the standings-- prizes for the winner of the night, at for the top few at end of the season, no real gambling) and plays there 2 evenings per week (and maybe on the weekend if I'm off at my second job but not usually). His English has improved by leaps and bounds, he's made a lot of friends/acquaintances of his own through all of these activities (and learned a LOT about other countries through English class, it's a Model UN there, and they all bring food in to share!) , has learned his way around faster than he would have otherwise (bike/metro/bus/walking). It's been great.

And that's why we weren't in a huge hurry for EAD-- I knew I'd want him to finish out the English class semester either way. Now, we took TOO long of a lag time and the semester is finished this week and EAD won't come till the end of June but... ah well.

Those 2 evenings per week for poker are perfect, too. One is on my trivia night so I can go play with my team and not feel bad (language barrier plus American-centric trivia), and on the other night I have the house to myself and that's when I cook up a storm, uninterrupted (I'm a "get out of my kitchen", wooden spoon weilder, always have been lol-- I really like a good kitchen project) and catch up on my shows like Downtown Abbey and Call the Midwife and other things I couldn't force him to watch if I tried

[Almaviva 1]

This might be a little long term but when my Fiance came to Chile (we've lived together down here for a few years) it took 6-8 months for her to get a working visa. So in order for her to have something to do, we got a dog haha. It worked though. As you can imagine, puppies give you a lot of work and they sure know how to keep you busy.

If you're an animal person, you can never go wrong with a dog.

[IcezMan_IcezLady 582]

I was never in this situation but I would like to suggest trying out some online classes on Coursera. Most are free if no certificate is needed by the student.