Living in Vancouver (neighborhoods, park, dinner)

[notnamed]

Sunburn? That sounds miserable . Loving the snow, huge fluffy flakes.

Made pretty easy friends with neighbors here. I don’t think it’s much different on that front than anywhere else trying to form adult friendships with strangers. Join a club/meetup around a hobby you are interested in and you’ll be half way there.

[nadasd]

Dont waste your time trying to make friends in Washington state, the land of socially retarded. Move to Idaho, Montana or back to Minnesota. I have made adult friends everywhere. Washington people are social introverts who call themselves independent who dont know any better. They all sit by themselves or with there spouses. Thats it. No one ever comes knocking on your door to say hello. Good look with your move,

[USDefault]

Originally Posted by nadasd

Dont waste your time trying to make friends in Washington state, the land of socially retarded. Move to Idaho, Montana or back to Minnesota. I have made adult friends everywhere. Washington people are social introverts who call themselves independent who dont know any better. They all sit by themselves or with there spouses. Thats it. No one ever comes knocking on your door to say hello. Good look with your move,

New account. Two posts. Says the same thing about Spokane and now Vancouver WA. Put on your ignore list.

[Redbelly]

Originally Posted by USDefault

New account. Two posts. Says the same thing about Spokane and now Vancouver WA. Put on your ignore list.

Not too good at spelling, either.

[mathlete]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Just go to the Clark County annual Minnesota Picnic, you will have enough friends for life.

But if you arrive AFTER that picnic, you might need to wait a year to find good friends. (or go visit a Lutheran church that MIGHT have a couple people from MN, but you will have to seek them out)

The PNW was settled by independent people who like to keep their independence. I have not got used to or subscribed to that attitude during my 35+ yrs here. It is just the way it is. lonely..? not really... people are congenial enough, but seldom 'friendly'.

If you are used to, or enjoy being invited over for dinner once in a while... get over it. We invite 2 - 4 couples / families / month over for dinner, so about 50 / yr for the last 35+ yrs. We have had about 4 invitations into homes in the last 35 yrs in PNW. But... we travel a lot, so are invited into many homes / yr worldwide (Just not in PNW). People always have a great time coming over, and during snow events we open our home to neighbors... but if it were not for that, we see our neighbors only a few times in a yr, some adjacent neighbors only once every 5 yrs. I miss our MN neighbors (passed away), we spent a lot of time together helping them in their old age. We had some great times (and lots of meals / hot dishes) together.

StealthRabbit, I'll be your friend


We're actually a lot alike, though I suspect I'd have more to learn from you than vice-versa. I'm an engineer and inventor with dozens of patents and split my time between the Portland area, Taiwan and Japan.

[nadasd]

Originally Posted by USDefault

New account. Two posts. Says the same thing about Spokane and now Vancouver WA. Put on your ignore list.

No I live in Spokane and have lived in the couve also. In my opinion people are not very friendly. What does the age my acount have anything to do with this. I wouldnt ignore this post. Washington people are not that outgoing. In my opinion.

[nadasd]

Originally Posted by Redbelly

Not too good at spelling, either.

Spelling, god talk about passive aggressive. Geez your wierd. See what I mean. Why dont you work on your social skills and I will learn how to spilling.

[Redbelly]

Originally Posted by nadasd

Spelling, god talk about passive aggressive. Geez your wierd. See what I mean. Why dont you work on your social skills and I will learn how to spilling.

I rest my case.

[NW4me]

Originally Posted by Redbelly

I rest my case.

Although in this day and age, sometimes an autospeller is to blame...

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Just go to the Clark County annual Minnesota Picnic, you will have enough friends for life.

But if you arrive AFTER that picnic, you might need to wait a year to find good friends. (or go visit a Lutheran church that MIGHT have a couple people from MN, but you will have to seek them out)

The PNW was settled by independent people who like to keep their independence. I have not got used to or subscribed to that attitude during my 35+ yrs here. It is just the way it is. lonely..? not really... people are congenial enough, but seldom 'friendly'.

If you are used to, or enjoy being invited over for dinner once in a while... get over it. We invite 2 - 4 couples / families / month over for dinner, so about 50 / yr for the last 35+ yrs. We have had about 4 invitations into homes in the last 35 yrs in PNW. But... we travel a lot, so are invited into many homes / yr worldwide (Just not in PNW). People always have a great time coming over, and during snow events we open our home to neighbors... but if it were not for that, we see our neighbors only a few times in a yr, some adjacent neighbors only once every 5 yrs. I miss our MN neighbors (passed away), we spent a lot of time together helping them in their old age. We had some great times (and lots of meals / hot dishes) together.

Unfortunately, this phenomenon is occurring in many parts of the country. It reminds me of what it was like growing up in coastal CA and walking or riding my bike to school. Now schools are lined with SUVs, minivans and soccer moms waiting in a long line to drop off their little pumpkins. In addition to that the larger family unit has decentralized - scattered to the four winds. So kids don't ride their bikes over to grandpa's house any longer. That doesn't exist for many dare I say most family units and its not good, IMO. But they don't know what they're missing.

The notion of a big town picnic where everyone hangs out and socializes seems almost a relic of the past. I'm not saying some parts of small town America still aren't like this. It just hasn't been our families' experience while raising our kids. Some change isn't always for the better, unfortunately.

In your examples you've done everything right to bring back a sense of community. But it seems to have been more of a one-way street. Having guests over takes a lot of work and its hard if not reciprocal at least occasionally. That's not to say the other don't enjoy it. They could just be super busy riding life's treadmill of work, school, kids, etc...

I'll admit we're guilty in this area to a degree. Though we're 'trying' to do it more as sort of a lofty goal. We're having friends over tonight in fact even though my wife isn't feeling well.

Derek