Where are the Minnesotan's?!!!

[Sunshine]

I'm really excited about this regional forum but no one from Minnesota has posted yet and so I thought I'd better start it out. I'm from Minneapolis but I live in England. I've been here now for 15 years but I still get very homesick.

I would love to read posts here and get views about news from Minnesota. I still have family there and obviously I'm in touch with them but I'm still eager to hear from others.

So where are you guys? Come on, let's get this forum going!!!

Maureen

[64squares]

Well, Maureen--I am not a true Minnesotan, but I will at least give you your first reply! :p

I grew up in upstate NY, but my husband and I moved to MN for a year and a half back in July of 97. We moved for my husband to go to Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Owatonna, MN in the southern part of the state.

Compared to upstate NY, MN was quite flat, but pretty in a different way. The winters in NY are cold, but MN was definitely COLDER and had more snow! Even though the 2 winters we were there were supposed to be 2 of the mildes on record in a number of years!

We enjoyed our time out in MN, but have since moved back to upstate NY to be closer to both of our families. It is nice to be back "home" since we have 3 little ones for grandparents to keep in touch with. Thomas will be 4 yr. next month, Cassandra is 2 1/2, and Candida is 6 1/2 mos.!

Well, I hope you get some TRUE BLUE Minnesotans to reply here! I will probably be checking back in!

[Sunshine]

Hello,

Thanks for your kind reply. I appreciate it.

I'm glad you liked your time in Minnesota. It's a very beautiful state and a good place to live although, I will admit the winters are tough. I'm so used to the temperate climate in England now, that I can barely tolerate the cold when we visit Mn. at Christmas. My husband always teases me if I shiver and complain because he thinks I should be used to it as a native Minnesotan!

I can understand that you prefer being back in upstate NY since your families are back there. My oh my, you must have your hands full with three children so young. You sound like you have a lovely family.

My husband is British and we live in a small town in southeastern England. We have two wonderful sons. Stuart, age 13 and Gavin, age 10. I'm happy here but still get homesick, so thanks for writing.

Please do "check in" again.

Maureen

[64squares]

Maureen--Just curious--did you and your husband meet in the States or in England?

--Rebecca

[Sunshine]

Hi Rebecca,

We met in Mpls. (I would tell more but my youngest son is about to come in the door from school right now--you can read about how we met in my postings in the International, misc. forum if you are interested)

bye for now
Maureen

[64squares]

OK--I'll check it out!

[debfranson]

Hi Sunshine,
I live in the Minneapolis area, in fact, my husband and 2 children live in the home I grew up in. I have never made it very far from home, except for the 16 month the family lived in Wolkingham, Berk. My husband was on an installation team for National grid back in '92. His company shipped us all over for the time he was there. He worked hard, and I had a ball! We became curry converts(what else do you replace tex-mex with) and really enjoyed our time and all the sites we had a chance to see. Our son attended british school, through primary 2, and my daughter who has Down's syndrome went to the local play group and through the Addington school. We can home when she was just 5 yrs old, basically so she could be in school here. I would love to trade MN for Brit stories...

Deb in MN

[Sunshine]

Hi Deb,

Welcome to this forum! Thank you for replying to this post. How wonderful that you and your family had that experience of living in England for a while. Did you get time to explore the country much? You sound as if you adjusted well to British life, even down to developing a taste for curry meals!!That made me smile. They are very tasty aren't they? Did your husband's company send other Americans to England with you guys or were you the only Americans sent here with the installation team? What did you think of British schools? You must have met a lot of British mums and hopefully they were friendly and helpful to you. That's how I made a lot of friends here.

I see you are from Minnetonka. Small world! My oldest brother lives in Minnetonka and my mother moved to Minnetonka last year. My sister lives in Eden Prairie and my other brother lives in Monticello.

I will gladly share stories about living here in England with your stories about MN. I'm so happy to "meet" you!!

I look forward to your next letter. Take care.

Bye for now,
Maureen

[debfranson]

Hi Sunshine!
My husband was the Installation lead. We were the only Americans to go over, but there was a group of Brits who had been in Minnetonka for 2-3 years who went back to England when we did. We had a ready made social club there. The British mums were quite nice. There were some cultural differences to figure out. Lots of checking calenders on the playground to schedule playdates, instead of the midwest "come on over", spur of the moment. My son did very well in Primary school. I think we would have stayed on, or gone back, had it not been for my daughter. The special education system I found very 1970's. It was segregated in our area down to physical and mental handicaps. Not what we are used to in MN. We did quite alot of sightseeing. And I did get the hang of the roundabouts

We also did some European traveling. We took a 3 week driving tour of Germany. Loved that too! I am excited to continue corresponding w/you!

[Sunshine]

Hi Deb,

It sounds like you had an ideal situation for your experience living in another country. I should think the group of Brits travelling back here with you must have made things a lot easier for you. I'm sorry to hear that the special education system wasn't very good. I can understand that you would want better opportunities for your daughter.

Have you been watching the tennis at Wimbledon? I love to watch it. It's such a shame and a surprise that both Sampras and Agassi are out. Of course now I'm free to cheer for Tim Henman. I always feel torn between cheering for the Americans or the Brits. LOL. Everyone here is hoping that this will be the year that Tim Henman will win at Wimbledon. It would sure help the Brits feel better after losing in the World Cup.

Did you find it difficult to adjust back to your life in Mn. after living in England? Are there some things that you still miss? It would be interesting to get your views about the pros/cons of both countries.

When I visit my "home" in Mn., I find that I feel a bit like a fish out of water. I suppose that's because I've been living here for so long now.

Talk to you again, soon!