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發表於 07-3-23 17:29 |只看該作者

Boston/ Houston?

Hi,

I'm planning to move to the States in coming 1-2 years. Still thinking whether we should stay in Boston,MA or Houston, TX...

Both my HB and baby are US citizens now and I dont want my baby to go thru the complicate and intensive education steps in HK. I want her to have a happy childhood instead of school marks, activitivity award to apply for later education....

In Boston - My HB's brother is there, they just had a baby girl at 4 mths old
InHouston - Mother in law and HB's sister are there, sister also had a baby girl a month younger than my baby

Can anyone give me some advice.

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發表於 07-3-28 12:53 |只看該作者

Re: Boston/ Houston?

I grew up in Houston, but I went to college in Boston.

I think it depends on what your husband does for a living. For Boston, it is more software/financial. For Houston, it is more electrical engineering / oil & gas.

As for living standards, Houston will be significantly cheaper, but it is not as interesting. You will need to drive to a lot of places. There are always lots of activities in Boston, but it is significantly more expensive to live there. I think the apartments there are even more expensive than in Hong Kong.

You may also need to consider the climate too...Houston is hot and humid, very much like the Hong Kong weather...Boston is dry and cold.

If it is my choice, I would go to Boston, as I like the city more. My husband cannot stand living in a boring city like Houston. We also enjoy the cold weather.

puff 寫道:
Hi,

I'm planning to move to the States in coming 1-2 years. Still thinking whether we should stay in Boston,MA or Houston, TX...

Both my HB and baby are US citizens now and I dont want my baby to go thru the complicate and intensive education steps in HK. I want her to have a happy childhood instead of school marks, activitivity award to apply for later education....

In Boston - My HB's brother is there, they just had a baby girl at 4 mths old
InHouston - Mother in law and HB's sister are there, sister also had a baby girl a month younger than my baby

Can anyone give me some advice.

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puff

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發表於 07-4-4 11:43 |只看該作者

Re: Boston/ Houston?

Hi, ivyscyip

Really thanks for your advise. What you had mention are all my concern...Job, living cost and environment.... Honestly, I definitely prefer Boston more as it is more city and better weather as u said.
Of course, if my HB can get a job in Boston before our move, the decision can be done easily. But I doubt it as we are both working in HK now.
Besides the living style and weather, may I ask what u think about education in Houston and Boston?

BTW, I have clicked to your photo link, your baby girl is cute. Were you take the photos in Hk studio, you had been back lately....Both our babies are about the same age... Very glad to know you...

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發表於 07-4-4 14:16 |只看該作者

Re: Boston/ Houston?

Boston is not necessary better weather, especially if you cannot handle the snow. Also, Houston is actually a bigger city (4th largest city in the US), and got more Chinese (a lot of Taiwanese live there).

What field is your hubby in? perhaps i can tell you which location will have better chance.

as for education, it really depends on how much money you have. If you are super rich, you can send your kids to private school. If you are upper middle class, you can get into nice schools by living in nice neighbourhoods. For example, Newton in Boston; Sugar Land in Houston (My hometown!!!). One thing is that at college, it really doesn't matter if you are from Houston/boston. You can apply to any school...and colleges really don't care which cities you are from. The only difference is that you will get a cheaper price if you attend state universities from your state....having said that..the state u (UT Austin is better than U Mass).

I took those pictures in HK, but I will go back to Houston and SF in October.

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MrsBee

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發表於 07-4-7 02:11 |只看該作者

Re: Boston/ Houston?

Puff,

I agree with ivyscip's comments. I am living in Houston. The weather in Housotn is not as humid as in HK. Hot? most of the time, u will stay indoor. Currently, a lot of people are moving from the west to Houston due to lower living cost. In Texas, we don't have state income. For personal income, we only need to pay the federal income tax. You can check the following website to see the housing cost in Houston. You should take a look Sugar Land and Katy area. A lot of asians are living in Sugar Land area.
http://har.com/

You and your hubby can check monster.com for jobs in Houston and Boston. You will have a better idea for the salary and benefits.

Anyway, Houston is expanding. The study said that the population of Houston will grow from 3 million to 7 million in 20 years. There are a lot of highway expansion around town.

If you have any question, please feel free to ask.

Ivyscyip,

Where are you now? West coast or East coast??

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發表於 07-4-8 15:27 |只看該作者

Re: Boston/ Houston?

HI Mrs. Bee,

I am in Hong Kong right now. I lived in Sugar Land since I was 10 years old. My parents are still there.

Where do you live? How long have you lived there? If you are an old Houstonian, it is most likely that we can find some connection. Afterall, there are not that many Hong Kongers around.

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MrsBee

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發表於 07-4-10 08:20 |只看該作者

Re: Boston/ Houston?

Hi ivyscyip,

I have been in Houston more than 12 years. I live in SW Houston (close to city of bellaire, not to china town area). I guess there are more HK people in Houston. 12 years ago, i didn't hear any Cantonese in Galleria. Now, i can hear more people speak cantonese in Galleria, especially in the luxury brand stores (LV, Gucci...) It's still not enough HK style food restaurants in Houston. We always go to HK cafe for lunch.

How's long have you been in HK? Was your baby born in HK or US?

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puff

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發表於 07-4-10 15:48 |只看該作者

Re: Boston/ Houston?

hi, ivyscyip, my hubby was graduated from UT Austin in Electrical Engineering but now is working as a analyst programmer in HK. Meanwhiel, he just got the cert of CISSIP and wanting to get job in the field of network security.

You are in HK now, spending holiday?....

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SY_Mom

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發表於 07-4-30 01:23 |只看該作者

Re: Boston/ Houston?

puff,

according to CNN, Sugarland, TX is #3 on the list of best city to live in the US. I heard from my friend that Sugarland is just abt 30 mins driving to downtown Houston. also, more and more Cantonese-speaking people living there now. school district is not too bad and houses are very cheap, compared to the those in Bay Area, CA.

so far, i've stayed in Houston for one day only (long long time ago), Austin, TX for about one week (long time ago), and Boston for one to two days for business several years ago.
with kids, i think Texas is a better place to live if u don't mind the hot weather. and Houston might be easier to get used to if moving from HK, and HK is hot in summer too. without kids, Boston might be a more exciting place to live if u don't mind the snowy weather.

but u can try staying in each place for one week to a month to see which place u like better before making yr decision. but anyway, u can still move around anytime to anywhere within the states once u've moved from HK.

just my two cents ...

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SY_Mom

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發表於 07-4-30 01:35 |只看該作者

Re: Boston/ Houston?

ivyscyip,

since u grew up in Sugar Land, how do u like it there? the public/private schools are good in the area?
do u go back there to visit yr family pretty often?

i'm thinking to move to Sugar Land, coz we could buy 3 to 4 houses for 1 house in Bay Area, CA. more importantly, i think the humid weather there might help my boy's eczema problem. it's very dry in CA. but for the last couple times we went back to HK to stay there for abt a month, his skin was very good. no eczema at all.
he just turned 4 last week, but the eczema problem's been waking him up almost every night and we're very frustrated! but when he's in HK, he didn't hv the problem. so my mom-in-law has an excuse to encourage us to move to HK with him.

but the thing i worry is the bad weather in TX - hurricane, rain storm, etc.

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發表於 07-5-2 13:15 |只看該作者

Re: Boston/ Houston?

SY_Mom,

I go back to visit about once a year. I am going back in October for my brother's wedding.

Sugar Land is about 15 minutes from the "Chinatown" (not the official Chinatown but where all the Chinese shops are), and 30 minutes away from downtown...however, I would note that offices are actually locate everywhere..not necessarily in downtown...so if you happen to work on the other side of town..it would take you a good 30-45 minutes to drive.

I like Sugar Land (but as you can see from my other posts...I like Boston more as I like the cold weather). I went to a public school there. The public schools in Sugar Land are quite good with lots of Asians (Chinese and Indians). To give you an idea about how many Asians are in the schools, I can tell you that my Class President as well as Prom Kings and Queens were Chinese or Indian. With such a huge population, I don't think you need to worry about discrimination, etc. It makes the schools quite competitive though. If you graduate in the Top 10 of your high school, it is likely that you can go to one of the top schools from around the country. For example, I was #1 in my class and I went to MIT. My year, I think 6 people went to MIT, some to Stanford, Yale, Dartmouth, Northwestern, etc. Otherwise, most people would go to Rice or UT Austin.

As for weather, I think hurricanes are not that bad, as Sugar Land is not in the flood area. It is just like typhoons in Hong Kong. Rain storms can be heavy at times, and it would make it difficult to drive through, but these come and go. I would worry more about the twisters, as there is no way of predicting where these will go....

I hope this help...You can pm me if you need more info.

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發表於 07-5-6 15:09 |只看該作者

Re: Boston/ Houston?

ivyscyip,

right ... twister is the most scary thing to me in TX.
have u ever had any experience with that while u were in TX?

UT Austin already sounds good to a lot of people. it's like the UC Berkeley in here.
yr high school sounds like the Mission San Jose High in our area (over 90% are chinese and indians).

i kinda like the good schools with all the races (white, chinese, indians, etc.). however, that kind of school districts in here are very expensive. i just checked Los Altos which costs US$1.2m to 1.4 for just 1,200 to 1,800 sq. ft. houses. with that much money, i could buy at least 3 to 4 houses in sugar land or austin.

btw, do u like Austin or Sugar Land better?
some of my husband's coworkers have relocated to Austin. they said the schools in Austin are excellent and the houses are huge and cheap.
i think Asians might love Sugar Land more than Austin. i'd been to Austin abt 10 yrs ago and just stayed there for abt a week and mostly in the hotel. it's a quiet town to me and not that many asians in there.

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