Online dating

There are loads of online expat groups for people like us who moved here but don't have a lot of friends. We've been exploring the "online friends" option for a while, but haven't been successful.

For example, the day of Obama's inauguration we read that one of the groups was hosting a celebration at an American bar. We thought, "This'll be awesome!" It wasn't awesome. It was totally disorganized: we couldn't differentiate between the Americans and people just hanging out at the bar. The people who were obviously Americans (guy wearing a USA flag tie, chick with USA flag scarf) were MUCH older than us. We were also in bad moods which didn't help motivate us to be social. It reminded me of when I was single and would go to a bar and just sit there with my girlfriends, scanning the room all night but never approaching anyone, and then going home and thinking, "Well, THAT sucked." It's no fun.

Then there's the SUPER organized groups who have screening processes, membership dues, and attendance requirements. Thanks, but I did the whole sorority thing in college.

The other problem is, a lot of these groups like to actually DO stuff (museums! garden walks! concerts! hikes!) And honestly, we don't like doing stuff, unless "doing stuff" involves sitting, eating, and/or drinking. Is there a group out there that likes to drink wine and yell at the TV? I'd join that!

Iain is more open-minded and optimistic than me, and has kept looking. That, or he's getting really sick of weekends with me and the cats and is desperate to find some new friends.

It paid off. On Facebook, Iain found a group called New Kiwis. We went to a happy hour they hosted and as soon as we walked in I thought, "Cool." They'd organized it perfectly -- they booked a private room so you knew exactly where to go, and everyone there seemed friendly. It was small enough so you could really talk to people. Everyone was from everywhere: England, Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, France, Germany... It was cool. The ONLY scary part was a comment one of the people made about someone being "very Christian". It was meant as a compliment, like "He's a great guy, very Christian." This raised some red flags, so we're hoping she meant it in a nice or innocent way, and not a creepy moral majority WWJD fish decal way.

When we got home, I went to the site and looked through every event and picture, and there is nothing that implies that it's a religious group, so maybe it was just an odd comment, or perhaps this woman just happens to be particularly religious. Iain said, "I'll take that over Republican!"

We stayed for two hours, met about 6 potentially cool people, and plan to attend more events. I hope it works out!