[Katiana]

Originally Posted by smydovro

Hi Everyone!
My husband is being recruited by a company in Omaha and we are thinking of relocating there from the Philadelphia area. My question is simple. Will we fit in? One thing is we are Jewish. Although not extremely religious. The other thing is we are Democrats and tend to be on the more liberal side of things and the third thing is my husband has tattoos. I know this may seem a little shallow of me but I worry about leaving all of my friends and family here and moving across the country and then finding out that we are'nt going to fit in and have a good life out there. I have 3 children and it is important that we make friends and build a good life for them. Any thoughts?

Also, I have been researching and so far I really like what I see in Omaha and the Papillion area.

I am from Pittsburgh, have lived in Wilmington, DE which as you know is basically a suburb of Philly, and I can tell you, Omaha is not Philly! DH is from Omaha, grew up near Elmwood Park. I have spent a lot of time there. I think you will like Omaha. Different from Philly, but not worse, probably not better. Although there are anit-Semitic people in Omaha (some related to me by marriage, LOL), I think on the whole you will find it a good place to live. There is a "live and let live" attitude there, like most places in the west. As has been mentioned, a good-sized Jewish community. DH's family is/was blue-collar Democrat.

[Vbright105]

You are going to LOVE Omaha...For the most part, people here are nice...a much different atmostphere from the East.

[smydovro]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I hope I didn't offend anyone. I actually was just voicing my fears - It's a very emotional decision to move my family 2000 miles across the country away from all of our family and friends. I can see from the responses that everyone seems open and friendly. To be honest, the suburb we live in is mostly Christian and Republican and we have many, many close friends who we love and love us so I'm not sure Nebraska will be much different in that regard.
To answer someone's question my husband is in utilities - specifically power generation.
This is a bittersweet choice because honestly our area has just become too expensive to live while I am a stay at home mother. Omaha is very attractive because our dollar will go much further. Seems like Papillion is a good place for families and I am excited to come out and get a first hand look. Again thank you all for your responses and feedback.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by Vbright105

You are going to LOVE Omaha...For the most part, people here are nice...a much different atmostphere from the East.

Now that I completely disagree with! (That easterners are somehow not nice.) Again, some of my extended family in Omaha feel that way and in the past have had no compunction about expressing it. "You're OK for an easterner" is one I have heard. Even DH asked me what was wrong with that. I replied: what about the rest of my family, my friends and everyone I grew up with? PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE, everywhere. You will find wonderful people in Omaha. You will find awful people. It's a big city. That is the nature of big cities. It's the nature of small towns, too, actually.

[Victor 13]

Originally Posted by smydovro

Seems like Papillion is a good place for families and I am excited to come out and get a first hand look. Again thank you all for your responses and feedback.

I have a good friend and sister-in-law that live there and they love it!

[Dave1215]

Originally Posted by smydovro

Seems like Papillion is a good place for families and I am excited to come out and get a first hand look. Again thank you all for your responses and feedback.

If you are not looking for Urban than I am a huge Papillion advocate - so if you have questions you might do a "search" on Papillion under the Omaha thread of City-Data-Forum... you'll see a lot of discussion... if you don't see what you want just repost a new thread....

[kdbrich]

Originally Posted by smydovro

Thanks everyone for your responses. I hope I didn't offend anyone. I actually was just voicing my fears - It's a very emotional decision to move my family 2000 miles across the country away from all of our family and friends. I can see from the responses that everyone seems open and friendly. To be honest, the suburb we live in is mostly Christian and Republican and we have many, many close friends who we love and love us so I'm not sure Nebraska will be much different in that regard.
To answer someone's question my husband is in utilities - specifically power generation.
This is a bittersweet choice because honestly our area has just become too expensive to live while I am a stay at home mother. Omaha is very attractive because our dollar will go much further. Seems like Papillion is a good place for families and I am excited to come out and get a first hand look. Again thank you all for your responses and feedback.

The reason I asked about your husband's job was because my company has recently hired several contractors from the NE area. We're an insurance company, and we work in the IT dept of it. In fact, my boss is a nice Indian (country of India) man from the NJ area.

Honestly...people are pretty accepting here. It's likely a smaller town than what you're used to...but then, it's nice to have a 15 minute commute.

[TommyG]

I'd agree with the previous posters - Omaha and Papillion are both great areas for newcomers. I'm a strong Democrat (from the West coast, nonetheless), and I haven't had anything but a warm welcome from everyone. The Demos aren't as vocal as the hard-core conservatives, but we're out here. You'll find a few rotten apples in every town, but for the most part everyone I've met here has been great.

Good luck to you & your family!

[Dave1215]

Originally Posted by smydovro

This is a bittersweet choice because honestly our area has just become too expensive to live while I am a stay at home mother.

If you still want to stay at home, I know many in this area that are still able to do that - so affordability of this area has been key to that quality of life.

[Vbright105]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Now that I completely disagree with! (That easterners are somehow not nice.) Again, some of my extended family in Omaha feel that way and in the past have had no compunction about expressing it. "You're OK for an easterner" is one I have heard. Even DH asked me what was wrong with that. I replied: what about the rest of my family, my friends and everyone I grew up with? PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE, everywhere. You will find wonderful people in Omaha. You will find awful people. It's a big city. That is the nature of big cities. It's the nature of small towns, too, actually.

My Father was from the East Coast...and he was great. My point was different parts of the country have different "cultures." Midwest culture is different from Eastern. Southern different still. None better than the other, but Midwesterners are generally more open and friendlier to strangers. My father used to call anyone not from the MA/RI area a "Greenhorn"...but yet my father was a warm, witty man who came to and spent the majority of his life in Omaha/
I remember going to NYC years ago...it was a culture shock! While I'm not saying people there aren't "nice," they sure are different from Nebraskans. In NY, for instance, seldom do people on the street make eye contact. In Nebraska, people wave at you as you drive down the street even though they don't know you. Just different ways of doing things.