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DV 2015 Oceania winners

Lol, I'm so glad in NC they don't ask you to parallel park! That would be a step too far for me. I can parallel park like a DEMON in Australia. Here.... not so much.
 
I have to admit, it was harder that i though, everything was opposite. I ended up being so far away from the curb but as long as I didn't hit anything I didn't care. I lost marks on my parallel park, but who cares I got my Texas drivers license.

My Wife who is from Germany just handed in her German License and they gave her a Texas one. No questions asked. EASY!!
 
Hershal said:
I have to admit, it was harder that i though, everything was opposite. I ended up being so far away from the curb but as long as I didn't hit anything I didn't care. I lost marks on my parallel park, but who cares I got my Texas drivers license.

My Wife who is from Germany just handed in her German License and they gave her a Texas one. No questions asked. EASY!!
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How does that work?!

How is your little one doing?
 
EmilyW said:
How does that work?!

How is your little one doing?
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Apparently Germany and Texas have an agreement. So because they drive on the right hand side of the road over there and everything its just a matter of transferring the license. The good thing is. She had an old German License with her maiden name on in. So she could hand that one in. She then got to keep her German License with her married name. So really she didn't lose anything. Still has a German license and now has a Texas License.

I did find it strange though that there was no manual / automatic license differences. I just drove an Auto car and I have an open license. Very simple.

Little one is doing good, almost 9 months now. Still having issues though trying to get his green card. He got admitted into the country fine with an I-1551 stamp in his passport. I can't seem to get an answer from anyone here on how to get his physical Green Card though. We want to go on a holiday but really need that card. I have posted another thread on here to see if anyone knows anything. Besides that we have an appointment with USCIS in two weeks. Hopefully they can answer it and help out.

Hows been the whole move with yourself? We found a house and car pretty easy. We decided against a new flashy car due to the AUS dollar at the moment and the interest rate of a loan here with no credit. And wow I don't know what its like in Charlotte, but here in Houston Car Insurance is insanely Expensive! Has a lot to do with the poor roads here and the fact people can't drive I would assume.
 
Hershal said:
Apparently Germany and Texas have an agreement. So because they drive on the right hand side of the road over there and everything its just a matter of transferring the license. The good thing is. She had an old German License with her maiden name on in. So she could hand that one in. She then got to keep her German License with her married name. So really she didn't lose anything. Still has a German license and now has a Texas License.

I did find it strange though that there was no manual / automatic license differences. I just drove an Auto car and I have an open license. Very simple.

Little one is doing good, almost 9 months now. Still having issues though trying to get his green card. He got admitted into the country fine with an I-1551 stamp in his passport. I can't seem to get an answer from anyone here on how to get his physical Green Card though. We want to go on a holiday but really need that card. I have posted another thread on here to see if anyone knows anything. Besides that we have an appointment with USCIS in two weeks. Hopefully they can answer it and help out.

Hows been the whole move with yourself? We found a house and car pretty easy. We decided against a new flashy car due to the AUS dollar at the moment and the interest rate of a loan here with no credit. And wow I don't know what its like in Charlotte, but here in Houston Car Insurance is insanely Expensive! Has a lot to do with the poor roads here and the fact people can't drive I would assume.
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Did you go to Gessner or Richmond Hershal ?? Anywhere in Houston the wait times are long . I drove all the way to Columbus to get an earlier date .

Agree with you on the way people drive in Houston. Indicating when changing lanes and following speed limits is not part of daily driving
 
We bought one used and one very cheap new car. Insurance is crazy. I think we're paying $2000 per car for the year. It should come down after the first year, they tell me.
 
EmilyW said:
We bought one used and one very cheap new car. Insurance is crazy. I think we're paying $2000 per car for the year. It should come down after the first year, they tell me.
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Mine was at $240 a month when we first got here, by getting our driving records from Australia and Germany we got it down to $180 a month. Crazy still. Thats for one car 2008 Dodge Charger
 
Aucklander said:
Did you go to Gessner or Richmond Hershal ?? Anywhere in Houston the wait times are long . I drove all the way to Columbus to get an earlier date .

Agree with you on the way people drive in Houston. Indicating when changing lanes and following speed limits is not part of daily driving
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I only had to wait one week to be booked in. I went to the Spring Mega Centre in North Houston. So I was pretty luck there.

The drivers here are crazy. Every one seems in a rush or then there are the people that do like 40mph on the Interstate. Lack of indicating, or my pet hate is people leaving their indicators on. So many times have i been courteous and tried to let someone in to my lane to find out its some idiot that hasn't turned his indicator off.

Oh and people deiced last minute what lane they need to be in to either exit or enter the interstate or at the traffic lights.

anyways enough of the venting!
 
Damn, in NC, there is no getting around the driving history thing. I had 4-5 different agents try to get me cheaper insurance on the basis of our history. Nope. Not happening.
 
Georgia12 said:
Hi there, I couldn't help myself but ask how you liked Denver Colorado? Houses prices,schools jobs n weather wise?
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Denver is a paradise on Earth.

Houses: Cheap and big
Schools: Excellent (make sure you buy a house in the right school district)
Jobs: Lots of jobs there at the moment
Weather: Well, it can get cold and snowy in winter
 
EmilyW said:
Damn, in NC, there is no getting around the driving history thing. I had 4-5 different agents try to get me cheaper insurance on the basis of our history. Nope. Not happening.
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Oh thats a shame. I ended up having to get my traffic convictions for the the WA Police in Australia to prove I had no bad driving history for the last 5 years. Even after that they said it wouldnt be enough. So I just replied in an email that if it wasnt going to help I was changing insurance companies and thanks for their time.

Within an hour, I had a reply telling me that the spoke to the underwriter supervisor and they could credit my driving history and reduce me premium. Goes without saying, you need to be persistent and dont give up.
 
Unfortunately, in NC, it's a legislative thing. There's no getting around it unless the insurance company is prepared to break the law.
 
Hershal said:
Oh thats a shame. I ended up having to get my traffic convictions for the the WA Police in Australia to prove I had no bad driving history for the last 5 years. Even after that they said it wouldnt be enough. So I just replied in an email that if it wasnt going to help I was changing insurance companies and thanks for their time.

Within an hour, I had a reply telling me that the spoke to the underwriter supervisor and they could credit my driving history and reduce me premium. Goes without saying, you need to be persistent and dont give up.
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Well thats a bit hard then. Hopefully it will come down in a year or so. I just hope I can get my Health Insurance down next too. Seems like all my money goes towards Insurances at the moment
 
Health insurance is crazy. Thankfully, I start work next week and my monthly premium will be $400 which is what I was paying in Australia anyway for private health insurance. I'll be glad when that kicks in.
 
Yeah its mental. But you take the good with the bad. My premium is $700 a month for Mylsef the Wife and the young fella. It is a lot more than Australia but then again other things here are alot cheaper to offset that cost. Like Fuel (or should I say Gas!). It costs me pennies to get around, I love it
 
That's exactly it. Everything is a trade off. It costs me $20 for a full tank of fuel here and that lasts me close to three weeks. My grocery bill was $350 in Australia per week. Here, it's $120. My husband's car, which cost $40k new in Australia, we paid just under $20k for it.

I miss meat pies, BBQ shapes and bread though. American bread is so sweet, I've gone off carbs.
 
EmilyW said:
That's exactly it. Everything is a trade off. It costs me $20 for a full tank of fuel here and that lasts me close to three weeks. My grocery bill was $350 in Australia per week. Here, it's $120. My husband's car, which cost $40k new in Australia, we paid just under $20k for it.

I miss meat pies, BBQ shapes and bread though. American bread is so sweet, I've gone off carbs.
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Definitely miss Shapes too. Also the bread. The wife being German also misses the bread. So we are starting to make our own at home now. Which is fun I guess :)
 
I was thinking of doing the same thing. I found a bread I like at the local supermarket, but it's $5 a loaf and the family demolish it in a day, so it's not sustainable.

We like sourdough so I'm making a 'starter' this week so that, from next week onwards, we have sourdough on tap.
 
Bread has a sweet taste to it which has put Me off bread aswell. i end up buying a new brand of bread each time hoping the taste would be similar to something back home ,but haven't had any joy with it .
i had the mother in law send us a parcel of Meal mates , shapes &pineapple lumps which was very much a treat .
 
Aucklander said:
Bread has a sweet taste to it which has put Me off bread aswell. i end up buying a new brand of bread each time hoping the taste would be similar to something back home ,but haven't had any joy with it .
i had the mother in law send us a parcel of Meal mates , shapes &pineapple lumps which was very much a treat .
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Most bread in the USA has high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in it. It makes the bread taste sweet and the bread doesn't go bad. Bread should go bad and shouldn't be so sweet. So - if you want decent bread here, avoid the bread with HFCS. In fact, try to limit or avoid HFCS at all, as it is horrible unhealthy crap. But that takes diligence, because it is in so many products.
 
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