Skip to main content

My lastest attempts at a social life...

I'm starting a book club. I can't believe it, but I have 7 women coming to my house on Friday night. I haven't had that many people in my house since moving to this country. I'm hoping it goes well.
Since the sun came out again (this country is gray and dark from November to March) and my mood lifted, I have been trying to be pro-active with building a social life. I do this every year when the sun comes out and every year I get disappointed. I figure if I keep trying, something has got to pan out eventually.
With the help of Angela, my one and only English close friend, I have been really social lately. She's introduced me to a few of her friends (one who actually lived in NJ for a while) and we've gone out a few times. With the exception of one of the ladies that are coming for the book club, they are all Angela's friends. The other, I met at Ethan's nursery school. She's the only mom who talks to me. When her 3 year old first started there, he'd scream and cry every time. I could see it was upsetting her, so one day I went up to her and gave some words of encouragement and suggested some ways to make it easier for him. The next time I saw her drop him off, he went in smiling. I was so happy for her. After that, we'd say hello & chat every time we ran into each other. It's been months now and finally, I invited her over for coffee. She came yesterday (which was really nice) and she's actually coming back today for a play date and to the book club Friday night.
I also put a post on a local Mom's website and got 3 moms to meet me at a local park for a meet up. I've done this every spring for the last 3 years and it has never worked out, but I'm trying again. All I want is just a few close friends and some more kids for Ethan to play with. I wish it didn't have to be so hard. I never in my life had trouble making friends before and I'm desperately trying not to let it make me feel like there's something wrong with me. Maybe this will be my year.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey Erren, I hope it all works out for you and you end up with a ton of friends! Chris x
6:02 PM
Erren said…
Thanks Chris, but I'm not holding my breath.
9:02 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fight Club for Five Year Olds - Part 2

The other mother and I went into the school to meet with the teacher and the assistant head.  We both let them know how upset we were that we were not informed that our children were sent to the office and how much we were against the children being allowed to play fighting games on the playground.  I told them I wouldn't allow it at home and I'm really unhappy that it's being allowed at school.  They admitted it was a problem and explained that they are planning to introduce a a scheme to teach the children to play in a safe way.  They will be calling it 'Super Hero Training'.  They plan to give out capes & masks out to children who behave well as rewards at playtime.  They will have assemblies where they will teach the children to play fighting games without making contact.  I find this to be absurd.  The problem has gone on to long and I doubt they will be able to teach little children to change their games when they have sixty other childr...
5 comments
Read more

Attitude adjustment...

It's been a while since I blogged regularly. I guess I've been going by the rule - if you don't have anything nice to say - don't say anything at all. I hate 'woe is me' type entries and for the last month or so, I've been really down and haven't had anything good to say. I think it started with the news that Aniela (my fellow expat girlfriend) was moving back to the US and was exacerbated by the incident with Wayne's cousin and the flare up of my condition (along with a general feeling of homesickness & loneliness). I was really depressed for quite a few weeks there and haven't been doing much more than going to the gym and other random things to keep me busy during the day. I haven't even worked on my web classes (in any serious way) in weeks (probably because I can't concentrate when I'm in pain - never mind get very motivated). I'm not so down anymore. Maybe it's the sunshine. Maybe it's the fact that I'...
12 comments
Read more

On speaking English...

I have had so many new visitors that are future expats that I thought it would be a good idea to offer some words of advise to those coming to live in the UK and learning to speak the language... One thing to keep in mind - Add the word 'Trousers' to your vocabulary to take the place of the word 'pants'. In the UK, 'pants' means 'underpants' and people look at you funny if you ask them if they like your new pants! Last week, I told my trainer that all my pants are too big for me and he seemed a bit confused on why I'd be so forthcoming with such information. Unfortunately, it wasn't until later that I realized what I said! There are a lot of words that take on new meaning when you come to England. You'll soon find out that you don't really speak English - you speak American and you'll soon finding yourself translating in your head before speaking. Examples: Hair - bangs are called fringe & braids are called plaits. Clothi...
6 comments
Read more