Relocation advice: Bay Area or SoCal? Also, culture shock... :-/ (San Jose: rent, house)

[talljess]

I'm moving to California after living abroad for many years. My husband and I (both in our mid 20s) have been living in the Middle East (really good money here) for a couple of years. We are tired of the people here and want to live in a more open, outgoing, accepting and more exciting place. We both lived in Europe and would love to live in a place where we could walk to dinner/grocery store/parks, etc. Of course, we would need a car, but would prefer to share just one. Both of us plan on working full time. No job prospects as of yet (we are both Business majors, he has experience in the Oil and Gas industry). Where would you suggest to live that meets our criteria? Namely:

1. nice place for less than 2,000 USD a month (1500-1700 preferred)
2. walking culture, or at least nice sidewalks nearby (but living area less than an hour's drive from prospective jobs)
3. not too cold (i.e. downtown SF)
4. nice job prospects for both of us
5. someplace with an international feel, and I don't mean 2nd generation Asians or Mexicans, they're American in my book... (I mean non-american, educated foreigners living or working in the US)

My husband is American, born in Ohio, but has never lived in the US, grew up in Middle East. (He is mixed race, you can probably guess which ones) I'm worried that he's going to experience some major culture shock actually living in the US as opposed to just coming for long holidays once a year... Any advice about dealing with the culture shock?

BTW, sorry this is so long. I'm new to all of this...

[okie333]

Originally Posted by talljess

I'm moving to California after living abroad for many years. My husband and I (both in our mid 20s) have been living in the Middle East (really good money here) for a couple of years. We are tired of the people here and want to live in a more open, outgoing, accepting and more exciting place. We both lived in Europe and would love to live in a place where we could walk to dinner/grocery store/parks, etc. Of course, we would need a car, but would prefer to share just one. Both of us plan on working full time. No job prospects as of yet (we are both Business majors, he has experience in the Oil and Gas industry). Where would you suggest to live that meets our criteria? Namely:

1. nice place for less than 2,000 USD a month (1500-1700 preferred)
2. walking culture, or at least nice sidewalks nearby (but living area less than an hour's drive from prospective jobs)
3. not too cold (i.e. downtown SF)
4. nice job prospects for both of us
5. someplace with an international feel, and I don't mean 2nd generation Asians or Mexicans, they're American in my book... (I mean non-american, educated foreigners living or working in the US)

My husband is American, born in Ohio, but has never lived in the US, grew up in Middle East. (He is mixed race, you can probably guess which ones) I'm worried that he's going to experience some major culture shock actually living in the US as opposed to just coming for long holidays once a year... Any advice about dealing with the culture shock?

BTW, sorry this is so long. I'm new to all of this...

hi there. My father has also worked in the oil and gas industry as well for over 30 years. we are originally from oklahoma and had mooved to california where my dad got a job at an energy company in the bay area ( hes a landman and being one you can work for different companies that deal with land laws). we lived there for almost 10 years an LOVED it. Culturally it is exactly what you guys are looking for. Fremont has its middle east culture , Berkely has its aisan culture along with other varieties, Oakland, Richmond, Vallejo, Pittsburg are more some rough areas with mostly black culture, San Jose area is mostly young profesionals, hispanic culture, union city and newark are hispanic, aisan, black a little more ghetto. Its really hard to sum up every part of the bay area and to be honest i didn't even cover the tip of the iceburg as far as culture goes. Within different cities there are alot of different cultures that stick to their origins. As far as rent goes for the two of you renting a small house wont be a problem, go check craigslist.org under california then S.F. Bay Area.

As far as southern california goes, the oil and gas industry is more in Bakersfield. There is virtually nothing in the north bay area oil and gas wise. more in the southern calfiornia area.

Diversity is not the same type down here as the bay area. The overal professionalism and intelligant culture is more north. Depending on where you choose to live, the southern california area is a little more expensive with exceptions of course. In my opinion the diversity in southern california mostly consists of white, alot of hispanic and a little black.

sorry i couldn't have been more help


good luck

[talljess]

thanks for letting me know that oil and gas jobs are located down south! hmmm, bakersfield... not exactly what i was picturing.

what about san diego? what industries are big there? a few people have told me that it is a great place to live, and is beautiful, of course. but what about international diversity? and cost of living?

[18Montclair]

Chevron's World HQ is in the Bay Area and so are thousands of their managerial and executive positions. There are also several refineries and research facilities in the Bay Area as well.

Also, The Bay Area overall is more expensive than SoCal.

[bigdave01]

I would choose somewhere in the Bay area. If you don't want to live in SF than I would recommend Berkeley or Oakland.

[talljess]

thanks for the advice everyone! i'm still torn between north and south though... i would love to live in downtown SF, but don't think that i can handle the weather. (i want the ubran-ness of downtown, but the weather or berkeley) i think that i would prefer the sun and beach down south. hmm, i find it interesting that the Bay Area is so much more expensive than SoCal, probably because SoCal is more spread out...

i'll look at Chevron to see if they have offices down south, thanks for the tip 18montclair! I'm at Fluor now in Kuwait, but not sure if i wanna stay with them. although they do have 3 major offices in SoCal...

[blonde_cali_girl]

Both are a great choice

[Taboo2]

Chevron is in San Ramon, across the street, and the weather today is going to hit 102. It is usually about 95 out here in the summer.

[Papaskunk]

If you'd prefer warm weather, I'd check out Pasadena. Lots of diversity in the area, and Pasadena has a transit line into LA. Housing is affordable, and the city has a lot of culture as well.

[timelesschild]

I would have to disagree with the above poster who stated that the main ethnicities in LA are white/brown with a little black. There are 224 languages spoken in the LA Basin. I live in an area where the store signage is in at least 8 different languages - it is so interesting. I would also take exception to the idea that the main intellectual activity is in Northern California. Just isn't true - that's a stereotype.
,
Back to Southern CA destinations, I would suggest Glendale - nice Armenian culture - and the San Gabriel Valley - plenty of 1st generation Asian culture from many different countries. Check out the city-data individual city pages for an overview of each city's mix of ethnicities, as well as the percentage in each city who were born overseas. It really helped us, and we LOVE the international flavor of our area.