My Blog

Hi there! My name is Rachel and I am restarting this blog to tell my experience of life as a Permanent Resident in California. I will talk about Green Card application, life in California, country dancing and more.

I moved to Cali in December 2014. I came as an au pair, although my job was really to teach the children I cared for English, as they were of Russian origin. It was a great way to come to the USA for free and experience a different lifestyle than I was used to in England. I was paid very little, but I had come with a goal of gaining life experience, travel and the pursuit of happiness.

I was 24 and had lived a fairly sheltered life in a small village, with very protective parents. And, although I had moved to another city for university and had lived on my own before, I had never really experienced travel or other cultures. My focus when I was at university was studying and doing the best that I could, and on my boyfriend at the time, with whom I had a long-distance relationship. Then I went on to do teacher training, and that was so intense that I had little time for anything else.

I became a teacher and I discovered that I wasn’t happy. And so I gave up the career that I had worked so hard for and found a way to travel while being paid. Granted, my salary was nothing. But I didn’t care. I went hiking every opportunity I could; I went to beach parties; I had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, since I had a network of au pairs; I continued my studies at Stanford University and Palo Alto Adult School – honing talents that inspire me and that I am passionate about, art and writing; I won a cruise to the Bahamas; I explored California on my own and with friends; and eventually, I met my husband.

My husband is from Texas, originally, and he’s a real cowboy. He is a country music radio DJ. I have always had a love for country music and I had started exploring country night clubs etc. I met Randy (my now husband) at a small concert at a club in San Jose, California.

Since then, I got more and more into the country culture. And I even have become a line dance instructor. I absolutely LOVE country dancing. It has been a completely unexpected turn of events for me, and I never would have discovered my love for dancing if I had remained a school teacher in the UK.

So here I am, still in California, living the life, just wondering what will happen next.