First let me say we are a British ex-pat family living in Switzerland (which we absolutely love) and we thought we would be here for good to bring up our children. We built a house, our children go to local swiss school in our village, we have loads of friends and we are part of the community. We spent a lot of effort and time on learning French and fitting in. My children are now bilingual.

Then the bomb shell! my husbands company are relocating everyone to Germany Cologne area. My husband speaks a little German and myself and the kids not at all. Can anyone tell me about the area and the lifestyle. I am worried that children do not start school until they are 6 and my son started at French speaking school age 4 ( he is now 5), would he have to wait? What is the cost of living like?

Then the second bomb shell, we also have a choice to go to the USA to the Westchester area in New York. A total unknown to me. Does anyone know this area? the schools system? cost of living?

Finally, my husband has another job offer back in Britain (we haven`t lived in the UK for 15 years). I am not sure that we are just going backward? but it seems the least risk as we speak the language and have family there.

All opinons welcome, as we seem to be going round and round without making a decision.

Welcome to the forum! You should post your questions about Westchester in the American section.

Westchester County is a very nice, and expensive, area outside New York City, although it is located in another state, Connecticutt. A lot of people commute to the city by train. I've never been there, but someone I worked with moved there and thought the area was beautiful. For some reason, I think the school system is supposed to be very good. There are some very rich areas, with big estates.

Hi - what a range of choice you have!

Cologne is a lovely area, but yeah you and the kids would wind up having to learn German. And there are the schools - not only do they start kind of late in Germany, but the kids only really go a half day, which makes it difficult if you're interested in working.

Westchester in NY would seem to offer the widest range of choices. I don't have the details, but I'm pretty certain there are French language schools available in the area. (Private schools, of course, but it would certainly keep the kids up to date with their French.)

Westchester county includes some very well-to-do areas, though the public school systems vary by district (as is always the case in the US). You can start here in researching the area: Westchestergov.com The Wikipedia also has an interesting article on Westchester Country. And if you Google "Westchester County" you will find there is LOTS of information online. Of course as a suburb of NYC, you have access to all the cultural and other resources of the city.

It would be a very different lifestyle than Switzerland, but certainly one to consider.
Cheers,
Bev

What was I thinking in even answering? I forgot you are from New York, Bev.

I'm not from New York, as it turns out - though I did do lots of research about the NYC area a couple years ago for a job I was working on. Still have access to some great resources for the area.
Cheers,
Bev

Maybe I just made an assumption because you are so knowlegeable.