Was surfing and found this mail and these are my sentiments exactly at the moment. We have been living in Omaha NE for nearly 2 years, are on a 3 year work visa through my husbands company, and we are just stating the GC process. We have 3 kids under 5. We are just coming out of the expense of moving here, sold everything in the UK and are currently renting a nice house till our visas are sorted. We have good jobs, kids are happy, but we seem to just work a lot, have no paid vacation and have little money left for extras!
In August my 5 yr old starts kindergarten, so will be $500 better off a month with one less childcare. I think the place will look a lot rosier with being slightly better off.
We haven't been home in since we left 2005, and all our family thinks we are crazy that we aren't 100% happy here! We are 50% happy, we have the chance to make more money here, but i think it is just being so far from home and people who sincerely care about us and the kids.
I have found the nebraskans a strange breed...they feel quite alien to us. Life in omaha is all about american football, the aisles are full of scrapbooking stuff, I don't like mac n cheese or understand anything about taxes or health insurance and why I am always just paying out all the time! I find people v. uptight about their kids, and the social cliques in the office are like being in a high school. They are on the surface all polite, how are you etc, but will not let us in any further than that. I feel we are looked upon as a bit of an oddity, I am British and my husband is Italian, and people just don't seem to get us. About 50% of people we talk to have never been outside of the state, so to move our family over here I guess they think we are a bit crazy. They seem narrow minded and stick to what and who they know I guess.
Within the last couple of months we have got friendly with a really nice small group of people who have travelled a lot in the UK, and seem more laid back like us, so at the moment we are expanding our social life v. slightly, or atleast as much as we can with 3 kids and no babysitters around!
When we left the UK we lived in Kingston upon Thames, in a tiny house and limited extra money. Here we have a chance to be better off, but our kids will miss family in the UK and Italy.
We have only travelled a tiny bit, did a road trip to Chicago and South Dakota in the summer, I think we feel a bit stifled in Nebraska, having to drive to somewhere a bit more lively. Our plan is get our green card and get out of this state, so I think it is just the case of making an effort to get involved in life here, rather than just keeping to ourselves. Maybe the blandness we feel about life in Omaha is really just our perception, and that there is some richness to it if we look.
I think there is justa little emptiness, especially holidays and celebrations, that we are on our own. But life would be v. difficult to go home and start again.
Maybe the summer will brighten the outlook up a little!

LOL...!!

Thats funny, we have been thinking about this alot and the healthcare issues. Immigrants again, family tell us there are so many in the UK now that the NHS will go pop and there wont be one anyway. (maybe they just hate us and dont want us back there LOL)
There is also the retirement issues too, no I dont think we would survive at all. But I still dont really want to go back to all the Uk crap either. Can someone come and smack me upside the head, maybe it will knock some sense into me

Consider the changes over the last 10 years. US and UK.
Now add another 10..........another 10.

Sorry, but there is no way anyone can predict which will be the better place to live in the future.........

Me.........I'm hedging my bets. One ship starts to sink.........its time to hop aboard the other one. Just hope it isn't the Titanic.......... Case of being able to.......I know..........

Welcome to BE.

I think that what makes most people unhappy is the missing of family and friends. I bet if they had their parents/sisters/brothers here with them in the US, they wouldn't feel that unhappy.

It doesn't get easier, let me tell you, especially if you come from a very close family.

Wow Im so with you on every word of that! Glad its not just me, but wish it wasnt so crap.

We dont have a particularly close family, in fact some seem to have forgotten we exist now we arent under their nose! But its the only family we have, so better than nothing. I still miss them all like crazy though, even the ones I hate lol

I live in Morris County...North West NJ. I like NJ...most of the state is nothing like it is portrayed in films and TV. Around here it is very green...lots of trees...narrow winding roads...very much like the English countryside. I love the heat and the sunny winter days but I agree with you the bugs are disgusting...that's the reason I couldn't live further south.

I have been here 11 years and still feel homesick from time to time. I spent 3 weeks in the UK early in the year and it is just the same as it was in 1996. Ok there are some changes but it's basically the same...the good and the bad.

The thing I miss the most about home...apart from M & S and Cadbury's chocolate...is the connection with British people. When I'm home I talk to everybody I meet...there is just that connection which is something I haven't found here. I can't quite put my finger on it.

I think England would change more than America, its still stuck in the 1980's which was bad enough the first time around LOL

I guess we should wait for the gc at least, Im just SO ready to leave right now instead of being practical

Bugs in NJ? You don't know you're born.

I think your first step would be driving That would free you up no end.

I remember those years of not being allowed to work. It isn't that you will go out and find a job, it is just that you feel like a 'child' again relying on 'daddy' for everything and it sucks big time. I ran a very successful company, together with my husband, for most of my adult life and was stuck here without being able to work. It nearly did my head in I tell you.

If I hadn't had to homeschool my kids, I would have been gone years ago and divorced at that!

Oh, you're talking about the snakes and scorpions and roaches and fire ants, maybe?

Welcome to BE

We had lived just outside London and my family were in Leicester and Scarborough and my husbands family in Italy, so we would prob. get together about 4 times a year, but I think I feel almost a bit guilty that my kids don't get to have family times like we used to remember having with our families.
My kids are v. sociable, so we need to make an effort and perhaps get more friendly with our kids friends parents, or join the p.t.a at my son's new kindergarten in the Autumn. That said, when we went to the kindergarten round-up the leader of the US equivalent of the girl guides stood and did a talk about the kdis joining, and I thought I was on candid camera...this woman was soooo enthisiastic and unreal, a real stepford wives moment...
So think I may be a bit scared of getting too involved there!

My brother says to stick it out here. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the new EU countries and that are the ones they know about, sounds familiar.

Thats why I wouldnt like another state, they are bad enough here! Ive heard all about the recluse spiders etc etc no thanks LOL

We have a 6' black snake in our basement. Im told he is good for killing mice. Obviously not the mouse that sneaks into our kitchen at night, but Im not about to bring that up with him, hes bigger than me

We get the bears, but I dont mind them

Jersey girl you are right next door!