Want to relocate to Brownsville, Harlingen, Mcallen area. (Austin, Edinburg: fit in, homes)

[hedosean]

Hello, I live in Northern Kentucky. I am married with 7 children (though one is married and out of the house.) My wife and I are college educated and want to move to this area to teach HS and I would like to teach ESL in a night school or volunteer center a few nights a week. We are "anglo". Though we have both had several years of Spanish in HS and college we are by no means fluent but hope to rectify that as soon as possible when we move down.

We have many reasons for wanting to move. simple ones like we hate the cold and love the heat. Practical ones like we want to teach AND be successful and buy a home which is not likely in Northern Kentucky. Spiritual reasons like we want to work with the Mexican/ American populations and help to give them tools to achieve success.

We hope to move by early next year and seek whatever local employment we can find while living off of savings and working on finding teaching positions.

My concerns are our unfamiliarity with the area. What neighborhoods/ schools should we attempt to live and work in? Being anglo, will it be difficult to fit in in neighborhoods? The list goes on but you get the idea.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'll even read the insulting racist posts that I sea from time to time.

Thanks

Sean

[Smooreslife]

Move to Mc Allen Texas, I love it here. North side of Mc Allen (past Dove street) is the best place to live. And it is easy as pie to manuver around here. North to south streets will lead you into other cites Edinburg to the north, and Mexico to the south. East to west streets will lead you to other connecting cities as well, Pharr Texas on one side and Mission Texas on the other. And you just can't seem to get lost. though you may think you are...lol.

Lets say you are driving east on Pecan street, You go east on 2 to 5 miles on Pecan, and pecan will turn into Mcpherson street in Pharr Texas, Same Pecan street going west 2 to 5 miles will turn into 495 in Mission Texas...lol. If you drive way too south on 23rd and 10th street you will hit Hidalgo Texas and 3 miles further south past Hidalgo Texas will be a whole new coutry... Mexico.

I say Mc Allen is the central major city, all the other cities lead to and meet at Mc Allens center...

It is also an easy 45 minute drive to South Padre Island and Brownsville Texas, 20 to 30 minutes to Harlingen and Mexico.

The schools are Awesome, the neighborhoods friendly.

Sandra

[texan55]

Originally Posted by Smooreslife

It is also an easy 45 minute drive to South Padre Island and Brownsville Texas, 20 to 30 minutes to Harlingen and Mexico.
Sandra

um.... 45 minutes to the island?

more like an hour and a half.

[j96g]

Agree, the beach is about an hour and a half, from McAllen. McAllen would be the best choice. Can't add much more, but there are nice homes in the Sharyland area as well, that is a suburb? between Mission and McAllen. And since you love the heat, McAllen is hotter than Harlingen and Brownsville, sometimes by about 5 degrees and I've seen as much as 10, but at night.

[j96g]

one more thing, but this is just my opinion, I don't think it matters too much being Anglo, but you would fit much better in McAllen as well in that respect.

[dinotx]

I have lived down here for 20 years due to my job. It totally sucks. Hot, people cant drive safely, they are all concerned about themselves and themselves only. You will be very unhappy down here.

[slalinh]

As for living in the valley, McAllen is a very nice town. Traffic is heavy due to half of Mexico shopping in McAllen.....people from Monterrey, Mexico City go to McAllen to shop. The town definitely caters to the Hispanic consumer. Shopping is great. The city is very clean, modern, safe and population is majority - Hispanic. Many nice areas to live in. Schools I am sure would love the ESL teachers.

[extexanwannabe]

If you love the heat, you will certainly like it here. We've had 72 days this summer (so far) at 100 or higher.
If you're driving east on Pecan and Pecan becomes McPherson, you are lost because Pecan becomes Ferguson at the Pharr city limits. If you're going the other way into Mission, Pecan becomes Griffin Parkway; FM495 is the designation given by the state and it runs from Palmview to Alamo.
Yes, an hour and a half to South Padre Island. My wife is a life long inhabitant here, and I've lived here 30 years. Pack away your winter gear as you MAY only need it for 3 months or so. There are two colleges/universities in the immediate area.
North McAllen has a lot of nice homes as does the Sharyland area (pricier though in Sharyland).

[roflmao]

"we hate the cold and love the heat"

I would trade you if I could, I grow weary of the two seasons, "Summer" and "Oh its 95, there is a old fat guy in a thong with a santa hat, and I'm at the beach, must be winter."

"Spiritual reasons like we want to work with the Mexican/ American populations and help to give them tools to achieve success."

Head for the lower valley, San Benito, Los Fresnos, Brownsville, it is the poorer area with those most in need of help. McAllen and the upper valley have plenty of success, two fraking B&N's compared to the lower valleys.... oh that's right we don't have even one and I have to drive for 2 hours to buy a book.

"What neighborhoods/ schools should we attempt to live and work in?"

Living in Brownsville is fine, compaired to what you may read here. Just avoid the areas around the airport and downtown (like any other city in America). Tons of new shopping/home construction/neighborhood development on the north west side of town. And you would proably do what most the rest of us do, work in one town, live in another. I currently live in Los Fresnos (little hole in the wall smack between Brownsville, Harlingen, and South Padre Island) and work in Brownsville (can watch people in Mexico from my office window). Avoid Brownsville ISD, matter of fact pretend it dosent exist, they have a lot of problems. Los Fresnos CISD (takes the largest chunk of land out of the county, so there are students from several different cities) is a good place to work along with the Harlingen school district.


"Being anglo, will it be difficult to fit in in neighborhoods?"

Being "anglo", and living in the area for 15 years, even in the shady parts of Brownsville. No, as long as your a nice guy and treat everyone equal, as they are. Will you experience racism? Somewhat, but 99% of the time its indirect racism, little things that make tasks more difficult than they should be. Do many whites blow this way out of proportion, make it seem like their puppy was raped, and then post it here, YES.


and dinotx "people cant drive safely".... 10 minuets on any road in Boston and you will be praying for the mass holes to disappear and valley drivers with their duct taped bumpers and last names on the back window to appear. I love driving here, and I do it full time on a motorcycle, only have been hit once, by some lady from Austin in a hurry to get to Starbucks.