How do you cope with the heat abroad?

[admylin]

Dh is possibly getting a job in Texas which should have m ejumping for joy because I really want to move away from where we are now.
To check the place out we are going to Texas in July to stay with his relatives and I am somehow not looking forward to it because all I've read about Houston (where the relis live) is that it's hot and very humid in summer. I hate humid and quite happily spend my summers in the cool Lake district rather than sweat it out where we now live.
Please give me some encouragement and tell me I can cope with it, I have to start getting excited soon as it is also our potential home state in the near future so this holiday has got to be a success.

[expatinscotland]

I'm from Texas. You cope with it by running the A/C. EVERYWHERE. There's no place you will go that isn't air-conditioned.

But, the restaurants are outstanding and because the cost of living is so cheap you'll be able to afford a very high standard of living.

[admylin]

Yes I do have a shopping trip planned in a street that is covered like in a tunnel with AC everywhere!
So does that mean I'll need sweatshirts/jackets for inside and tshirts/vests for outside?

[expatinscotland]

No, you'll just need shorts and skirts all year and maybe a cardigan.

During summer, you don't spend much time outside, but it's reasonable the rest of the year.

Also, there are mosquitos there. The council sprays for them, because the Culex mosquito carries St. Louis encephalitis, but if you spend any length of time outside you're going to need a spray with DEET.

The shopping, I have to admit, is very, very good and services like manicures and pedicures can be had extremely cheaply.

It's a huge city - I am from Houston and my parents still live there - and it's incredibly ethnically diverse. There's no type of food or community you won't be able to find.

But the traffic is BAD. EVERYONE drives. Everywhere.

[needmorecoffee]

air conditioning. We lived in Virginia two years and it was 100F and humid. You'd be soaked with sweat just walking to the car!

[admylin]

Do you know Sugarland? That's where we'll be staying for the trip in July and then we want to go up to Dallas to see where dh might be working.
Doubt that we'll be able to afford the great shopping for too long as the pay doesn't seem very good and someone told me it's only a few hundred over being able to get free school meals for my dc.
Mosquitos that's the thing I hate most - second to humid weather. I am really alergic, can I get DEET in Europe or should I buy the spray over there?

[needmorecoffee]

make sure you get decent health insurance. Broken arm can set you back thousands and thousands.

[admylin]

Yes, that was the next thing I was going to ask about! Dh is terrible at things like that, half the relatives over there are doctors so he thinks we'll be OK - I'd better start looking around at what I can get from here.

[suedonim]

We're in Nigeria where it's hot all year round. The lowest temp I've observed is 27degC, which was at night. I've never had long sleeves on the entire two years I've been here! As others say, AC is the way to go. I imagine Texas will actually have the electricity to power the AC, unlike Nigeria, where there are outages every single day.

[expatinscotland]

There is no way I would go there unless I were getting paid well.

Sorry, but I wouldn't.

You will have to run at least one car and probably two, there is no real public transport.

And you wouldn't want to stand around in summer waiting for it.

[admylin]

Expat, I had a feeling it would be like that. I would much rather dh got a job in Scotland, he's applied for loads but no luck yet. Looks like it will be a life of mosquito cream and endless driving to get dc from A to B and shop - still I have to try and get some enthusiasm going here, suedonim do you cope well with the heat or do you sometimes think you would like to pack up and leave?

[ScienceTeacher]

You stay indoors as much as possible and use air conditioning. Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

[admylin]

And indians! Dh (born in Dhaka) thinks we're going to be sight seeing and doing things - I'm packing 10 good paper backs to read because it's going to be very boring sitting around with the relatives.

As to moving there, if he got this job, we'll see after the holiday if I think I'll cope or not.

[expatinscotland]

You need a car to even see the inside of a supermarket, I guarantee you.

Like I said, I was born there, at Hermann Hospital. My folks still live there.

Even when we lived abroad, they kept the house they've had since 1972, now worth far more than the $21,000 they paid then.

My sister branched out! She leaves in Galveston County. LOL.

But the idea of being really poor there, quite frankly, chills me to the bone. And I've been nothing but outside Houston since about the day I left.

It is very, very huge. You will not even find an apartment to rent that doesn't have A/C.

There is any and every type of ethnicity imaginable and mixes of all types therein.

Any type of food you want, any type of restaurant you want, and generally very cheap in comparison to the UK. It's not even necessary to speak English, and you'd be hard-pressed to find it in some parts of town.

If you're really going to go, however, please let me know.

You are more than welcome to get in touch with my folks. I can give you their phone number and email address and they'd be happy to show you around or whatever or where to get certain things. They are Mexican-American, and have many friends all over.

My mother's close first cousin lives in Sugarland and has done since the early 70s.

[admylin]

Thanks expat, that is a great offer. If we go for the job we'd be living in Dallas on a campus thing for post docs but most of them are from China and some other countries but I bet we wouldn't get much contact with 'real Americans'
SIL in Sugarland is from Pakistan and they are all quite religeous muslims so even dh is dreading it a bit as he'll have to sneak out without them just to get a beer!

[admylin]

Cali, yes I always think of you when I am trying to get excited about this possible move - have to get through this holiday first! I really hope I like it and cope and one of the best indicators will be how I feel on the plane back to Germany. imagine I feel glad about getting back to this place, then I'll know for sure not to move. That's just my imagination going wild with all sorts of possibilities though.

[expatinscotland]

Cool, am! Well, I also have a very close first cousin in Dallas who is a software engineer who is half-Indian (his father is from Kerala), half-American, he is Catholic, but quite involved in the Indian community there, again, if you need anything.

Cali is right, however, it was a very mild summer there in Texas as well last year and so far has been a relatively not too bad year.

[suedonim]

Admylin, I don't really do heat, unlike dh and dd2 who revel in being cooked. It's never bad enough to make me want to leave (tho there are plenty of other things that do! ) but as Expat says, we go from AC home to AC car to AC building. About the only time I'm ever in the sun long enough to make me feel yukky is when I get dd from school and have to hang around outdoors looking for her.

[elvisgirl]

I'm in Oz & possibly suffering more as heavily pregnant, but I would say get a really nice place to live, preferably with a stunning view then you won't mind staying indoors so much! This is what we've done, albeit by accident but I reckon it works!

Sacrifice any notions about saving power by being stingy with the A/C.

You can also get things like scarves or hats with some sort of gel pad in them which absorbs water then when you wear them they keep you (a bit) cool as the water evaporates.

[alipiggie]

Come on, come and join us. It gets very hot here in Colorado too - was at least 42 c this summer although in "real" money here 104 is somewhat daunting. But you get used to it. We go down to -18f in the Winter too. Lol. My best friend is from Texas ans she's one of the most wonderful, generous people that I know. You'll love it and can always come to Colorado for the cold to visit me. Short plane hop away or drive if you're really brave

[ScienceTeacher]

Does it get humid in Co, Ali? That for me was the killer - 100F, 100%, and not much relief at night. Roll on tornado warnings!