Homesick Dutch looking for alternatives (Houston, Dallas: fit in, renting, houses)

[marlbjm]

Hello forum folks! I have moved to Houston from the Netherlands a few months ago with my family. Move was work motivated and we are not adapting well. My husband cannot leave his job as he is here on a work visa and going back is not an option for us at the moment. My oldest daughter and I, however, cannot handle it here. We are living in an upper middle class suburban community and we do not fit in. We have been maliciously targeted by neighbors and peers at school based on our appearance only. We miss walking about and seeing life outside of the window. Those suburbs can kill your soul, I tell you
Things got to the point where we are looking for alternatives and Austin came as one of the ideas. We are quiet and keep mostly to ourselves, we love to go to the pub and walk back home, we enjoy biking to the store, we are a very rock'n roll family, need a few concerts here and there, politically liberal, atheists, not really bothered by what other people do with their lives, typical northern euros. We will be renting as we do not intend to stay in TX any longer than necessary. Our ultimate goal is to permanently move into Bainbridge Island WA. I have lived for 8+ years in Oregon and liked it, but Seattle is possibly my favorite place in the whole American continent. We are not out looking to make friends, but we want friendly atmosphere and mostly we are sick of being target of witch hunts because of our looks. Let me explain, I have a waist long blue mohawk of dreadlocks, plenty of tattoos and piercings and my young daughter has a Kurt Cobain like mop of bright red hair and worships Jimmy Hendrix. We are constantly ostracized in suburban Houston and that plus the lack of intelligent life is killing our souls. Is Austin a good fit? Am I going to be able to go to the store without having to deal with angry comments? Is my daughter going to be able to be herself without being called names? Are we going to have access to a somewhat rich music/cultural scene? Any opinions are welcome

[JoninATX]

Sounds like Austin would be a good fit for you.

[EzPeterson]

You'll be fine in Austin. There will always be those people everywhere who get a bit judgmental, but they're fewer and further between out here. Housing will be significantly more expensive in the urban core neighborhoods you're looking for, and availability may be an issue. Good luck.

[Komeht]

The suburbs in Austin are every bit as soul killing awful places to live as the suburbs in Houston. The people wouldn't likely be any less judgmental.

The inner cities of either are likely to be somewhat less reactive to your appearance. Houston does have an artistic soul (the kind you would not likely find in Dallas for example) of the sort that values mavericks and of course Houston has tremendously better job opportunities that Austin (I'm guessing he's in energy).

Austin has fewer housing options centrally than any major city in the US due to an incredibly backwards set of policies that make it nearly impossible to develop outside a few small cooridors. it's very expensive to live downtown here, however if you're upper middle class (the lowest tier that can reliably afford to get into Austin inner core) you should be able to afford it.

[ImOnFiya]

If you live in central and/or south Austin, you won't be noticed! You'll blend!

[sxrckr]

I agree with Komeht -- Moving from a Houston suburb to an Austin suburb is not going to be any different for you.

You are better off moving to the Heights, Midtown, or Montrose/Museum District of Houston for now. And then eventually making your way back to Seattle. There is no point in moving from one major TX city to another when you already have more cultural options (outside of live music) and international atmosphere there in the central areas I named as compared to here.

[centralaustinite]

I agree. You would do fine in a central Austin neighborhood (Hyde Park, Rosedale, French Place, Travis Heights, Bouldin, Zilker) but moving from a Houston suburb to a Austin suburb would not help much (might get lucky but it would be a crapshoot). You would do much better to move to central Houston neighborhood like Montrose, Midtown, etc. Moving from one Texas city to another does not make much sense.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by marlbjm

Hello forum folks! I have moved to Houston from the Netherlands a few months ago with my family. Move was work motivated and we are not adapting well. My husband cannot leave his job as he is here on a work visa and going back is not an option for us at the moment. My oldest daughter and I, however, cannot handle it here. We are living in an upper middle class suburban community and we do not fit in. We have been maliciously targeted by neighbors and peers at school based on our appearance only. We miss walking about and seeing life outside of the window. Those suburbs can kill your soul, I tell you
Things got to the point where we are looking for alternatives and Austin came as one of the ideas. We are quiet and keep mostly to ourselves, we love to go to the pub and walk back home, we enjoy biking to the store, we are a very rock'n roll family, need a few concerts here and there, politically liberal, atheists, not really bothered by what other people do with their lives, typical northern euros. We will be renting as we do not intend to stay in TX any longer than necessary. Our ultimate goal is to permanently move into Bainbridge Island WA. I have lived for 8+ years in Oregon and liked it, but Seattle is possibly my favorite place in the whole American continent. We are not out looking to make friends, but we want friendly atmosphere and mostly we are sick of being target of witch hunts because of our looks. Let me explain, I have a waist long blue mohawk of dreadlocks, plenty of tattoos and piercings and my young daughter has a Kurt Cobain like mop of bright red hair and worships Jimmy Hendrix. We are constantly ostracized in suburban Houston and that plus the lack of intelligent life is killing our souls. Is Austin a good fit? Am I going to be able to go to the store without having to deal with angry comments? Is my daughter going to be able to be herself without being called names? Are we going to have access to a somewhat rich music/cultural scene? Any opinions are welcome

How OLD are you? You're a "mother" and you present yourself like that? Is this a "troll post"? I've visited the Netherlands before and I don't recall your look as "typical". You would probably enjoy central Austin. It's been taken over by a bunch of conservative ppl with money, but it's still pretty "live and let live"

[marlbjm]

Haha! Not a troll and I'm 35. And however not typical to look like this (or any other way) in the NL, nobody judges you based on your looks over there. I see that the idea of becoming old is usually associated with becoming boring and I disagree with that. I am the same person, just wiser. And a good mom, my looks don't prevent me from checking homeworks, cooking meals or loving my kids dearly. My house is cleaner than most soccer mom houses out there. This is the type of attitude that makes me want to vomit. I am already unemployable here, despite my qualifications, now apparently I am not qualified to be a mother. Open your mind wehotex, old does not mean boring and judgmental
To all other posters, thanks for your input, I have heard that Austin was a bit more progressive, but I guess I'm trapped if the downtown area is similar to Houston. The input was much appreciated. Tot zo!

[ImOnFiya]

Originally Posted by marlbjm

Haha! Not a troll and I'm 35. And however not typical to look like this (or any other way) in the NL, nobody judges you based on your looks over there. I see that the idea of becoming old is usually associated with becoming boring and I disagree with that. I am the same person, just wiser. And a good mom, my looks don't prevent me from checking homeworks, cooking meals or loving my kids dearly. My house is cleaner than most soccer mom houses out there. This is the type of attitude that makes me want to vomit. I am already unemployable here, despite my qualifications, now apparently I am not qualified to be a mother. Open your mind wehotex, old does not mean boring and judgmental
To all other posters, thanks for your input, I have heard that Austin was a bit more progressive, but I guess I'm trapped if the downtown area is similar to Houston. The input was much appreciated. Tot zo!

Austin's downtown is nowhere like Houston! There are people who want Austin's downtown to be like the Upper East Side of NYC. There are people who want downtown to be like uptown Dallas. There are people who want downtown to be like Haight & Asbury in San Francisco. Downtown Austin can be all of those things and none of those places; but it is extremely tolerant and you will find many "like minds" within the city. You'll be fine in Austin!