African American/Indian Family relocating from Pittsburgh (San Antonio, Alamo: daycares, new home)

[mklm]

My husband is AA and I am Indian. We are thinking of relocating to SA from Pittsburgh, PA. I currently have a job offer near Sea World and another near Alamo Heights. We are leaning towards Sea World job. We have 2 children (6 & 8 y/o). We are looking for recommendations for an area to focus on for our house search.

Things that are important to us:
1. Reasonable commute (around 20-25 min each way)
2. Area with racial/cultural diversity. We would love to find a racially integrated neighborhood.
3. Good Schools
4. Area with young families/children
5. If we can get the above, price is the least important in our search criteria.

Other Questions:
1. My daughter has seasonal allergies esp during spring and fall. I've heard the allergies in SA are awful all year round. How bad is it? I'm assuming the allergens are different in Pittsburgh vs SA?

2. We both will be working full time. How are before and after school programs in SA? What kind of activities do they offer etc?

3. Are there really no Indian restaurants in SA?

4. Any other tips/suggestions/comments you have would be greatly appreciated. This will be a huge move for us but we are looking for a better community and quality of life for our children and family. We love to go camping (or glamping) and besides for a couple of months during the hellish summer I think we should be able to enjoy time outdoors more than we do now.

Thank you in advance.

[Kthnry]

3. There are a dozen or so Indian restaurants in San Antonio. Try searching Yelp for Indian. (Yelp also categorizes a bunch of other restaurants as Indian -- Afghan, Ethiopian, etc. -- so you have to pay attention.) I don't know how good or authentic they are. I love Indian food, but I'm a typical American with a wimpy palate.

Most Indian restaurants are clustered in what's called the Medical Center area because a lot of Indians work at the Medical Center or at the nearby USAA headquarters. There are also lots of Middle Eastern and other "ethnic" restaurants in that area as well as international grocery stores. Ali Baba was originally a middle eastern grocery but now has a large Indian food section, including probably 30 brands of basmati rice.

I think your family will enjoy San Antonio. It's amazingly accepting of all kinds of diversity.

[houstmom]

Who told you there were no Indian restaurants here? There are several.

I don't find SA to be that culturally diverse. It is mainly Hispanic and White. I have some Indian heritage and rarely see Indians in SA. However I don't think I live in an area popular with Indians. I think some may live in Stone Oak. Stone Oak has good schools and has young families. I think most NEISD schools have an after school program called KIN that is open until 5:30 pm or 6. Daycares also pick up children after school and take them to the center.

I personally would not want to live in Stone Oak because the traffic is awful and the subdivisions are extremely cookie cutter. All I see when I go there are endless rows of similar homes.

Cedar tree allergies are awful here in December-Feb. but I think it takes several years of living here for someone to develop those allergies and not everyone develops it.

By the way, if you have never lived in Texas, you may get a culture shock. I have lived in Texas most of my life and moved to Michigan for about 6 months and had culture shock.

[mummyhunter]

Originally Posted by houstmom

Who told you there were no Indian restaurants here? There are several.

I don't find SA to be that culturally diverse. It is mainly Hispanic and White. I have some Indian heritage and rarely see Indians in SA. However I don't think I live in an area popular with Indians. I think some may live in Stone Oak. Stone Oak has good schools and has young families. I think most NEISD schools have an after school program called KIN that is open until 5:30 pm or 6. Daycares also pick up children after school and take them to the center.

I personally would not want to live in Stone Oak because the traffic is awful and the subdivisions are extremely cookie cutter. All I see when I go there are endless rows of similar homes.

Cedar tree allergies are awful here in December-Feb. but I think it takes several years of living here for someone to develop those allergies and not everyone develops it.

By the way, if you have never lived in Texas, you may get a culture shock. I have lived in Texas most of my life and moved to Michigan for about 6 months and had culture shock.

I need your input as I am planning a move from MI to San Antonio. What kind of Culture shock you are talking about?

[Texasmann]

Originally Posted by mummyhunter

I need your input as I am planning a move from MI to San Antonio. What kind of Culture shock you are talking about?

Seems the culture shock was being in Michigan and not vice versus. But moving from one region of the country to a completely different region in a different part of the country, there will be some type of culture shock to some degree.

[Texasmann]

Originally Posted by houstmom

Who told you there were no Indian restaurants here? There are several.

I don't find SA to be that culturally diverse. It is mainly Hispanic and White. I have some Indian heritage and rarely see Indians in SA. However I don't think I live in an area popular with Indians. I think some may live in Stone Oak. Stone Oak has good schools and has young families. I think most NEISD schools have an after school program called KIN that is open until 5:30 pm or 6. Daycares also pick up children after school and take them to the center.

I personally would not want to live in Stone Oak because the traffic is awful and the subdivisions are extremely cookie cutter. All I see when I go there are endless rows of similar homes.

Cedar tree allergies are awful here in December-Feb. but I think it takes several years of living here for someone to develop those allergies and not everyone develops it.

By the way, if you have never lived in Texas, you may get a culture shock. I have lived in Texas most of my life and moved to Michigan for about 6 months and had culture shock.

The medical center is huge with Indians. Lots of them.

[GEM-Texas]

That is true. IMHO, the best area for you is in the NW quadrant of the city. Probably just below and above the 1604 road.



As far as Indian restaurants, I had students of various Indian subtypes - Muslim, Hindu and Jain. They didn't report any troubles here and took me to some restaurants they thought were pretty good. Some had their parents visiting from India and they seemed to think the food was OK. There are a few Pakistani identified restaurants.



There is a Sikh temple off Babcock in the NW and I've seen elderly Sikh gentlemen taking strolls in that neighborhood. There's a Buddhist and Muslim center also.



Neighborhoods in the NW have reasonable diversity. Where I live, I see and know folks from China, the Middle East, VietNam and India. Of course, Hispanic and African-American. I saw more overt racism in the Pacific NW than here.

[StormNinja]

Culture Shock indeed. I immigrated here and didn't speak the language and didn't know anyone. Didn't know that people look for diverse culture neighborhood. I see people from all races everywhere I go-work, the mall the movies. I never looked to cozy up with my kind type of neighborhoods or people. whomever I meet and wants to be my friend is fine with me-i don't ask them about their culture and background. The liberal media in this country loves to play hate/love politics and put everyone in boxes, based on their color, heritage and upbringing. so very sad indeed. Never hear of anyone else complaint that Indonesia or China is not diverse and how come they don't accept immigrants from all over the world.

[houstmom]

Originally Posted by StormNinja

Culture Shock indeed. I immigrated here and didn't speak the language and didn't know anyone. Didn't know that people look for diverse culture neighborhood. I see people from all races everywhere I go-work, the mall the movies. I never looked to cozy up with my kind type of neighborhoods or people. whomever I meet and wants to be my friend is fine with me-i don't ask them about their culture and background. The liberal media in this country loves to play hate/love politics and put everyone in boxes, based on their color, heritage and upbringing. so very sad indeed. Never hear of anyone else complaint that Indonesia or China is not diverse and how come they don't accept immigrants from all over the world.

There is a huge statue in New York City that has this quote inscribed on it: "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."

The US is a nation of immigrants. Everyone in the US except for Native Americans are immigrants (or forced here due to the slave trade).

China and Indonesia do not have this same history.

[joelaldo]

There is a huge semi-permanent Indian community along Fredericksburg Road between Wurzbach and Huebner. Indian restaurants abound. There are even specifically South Indian, Punjabi and Pakistani specialties. There are like 5 Indian grocery stores in the near northwest side. One of my favorite places recently closed down (Pavani express) but they are opening another Indian place in the same spot.

There's also a huge middle eastern community along Wurzbach road with plenty of respective supermarkets.

The area around Sea World is more affordable, but commute times to anywhere outside of that area are astronomical. It's not unheard of for folks who live there to commute 45-50 minutes. It may be convenient for the job you have NOW, but if you or your spouse switch jobs, it becomes quite burdensome to live out there. That being said, it's where all the new home construction is. I can't speak too much on the schools, but it's in Northside ISD, which is not the worst school district in the city.