Never thought i would be here
 

Hi guys just thought i'd pop in and say hello and to scream out loud how homesick i am feeling, we have been in oz 8 months now and the 1st 6 months were great as i had my rose tinted glasses on, but the last 2 months have been hell, i wont go into detail but being treated like crap at work etc doesnt help, hubby loves it here and my 2 children are in child care and are really settled but they are still young so can adjust, hopeully, I'm really unsure what to do with my life, my dream has always been to be a nurse but we just cant afford to do it here so i'm thinking of going back to the uk to do it, i am doing care work but it is casual and some weeks i never get anything, we go back to the uk for a holiday at xmas just to see how i feel bout moving back and then i plan on going back next august ready for uni, the only problem is our PR visa states cannot enter australia after may 2012, i really dont want to give up our permanent residency as you never know what the future will bring and to go thru the whole process again is gonna be a ball ache is there a way around this like getting an extension? any advice will be grately appreciated on removals etc dont have a clue where to start, thanks in advance :)

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

Hi there,

Sorry to hear that life ain't all that hot right now. Hellish being on the emotional rollercoaster. Have you thought about doing your nursing part time or looking into getting citizenship so that you would be entiltled to HECS (pay back when earning certain amount). As for the PR might be a bit difficult extending this unless you have substanital ties to Oz and have to be out of the country for specific reason (not just back in the UK type of thing).

As for the emotions they go up and down quite drastically sometimes. Don't be hard on yourself. You're allowed to feel this way but sometimes you need to get out there and meet some others in a simialr situation.

Hope things settle a bit for you.

Cheers

Ginny

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

Thanks for tha advice but i dont think i could stick another 3 + years to get citizenship, we just dont have the money for me to study we are struggling as it is to pay the rent, i think i just want to go home, so what happens when my visa runs out is that it? no other way around it? Thanks

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

Sorry to hear you are feeling so homesick I can empathise with you. I am a nurse trained in UK and find it very difficult to practice here as for me I feel the loss of autonomy and independence awful.

You have a couple of options stay until you have citizenship then go back and do your nurse training, you could see about deferring the course till after you have citizenship. Or you could go back as planned to Uni let this visa lapse and then apply again for anothe visa when the time is right. I have been through the visa process twice!!!!!!!!!!

Just be cautious as nursing is quite different to UK and you may find it hard to adjust.

Good Luck

Just a thought are a 2 or 4 year wait for citizenship,sorry just noticed on your signature your the same as us 4 years

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

That's a shame and I know what it's like to be struggling here. Nursing is charged at the lower end of fees etc and part time might not be too bad. There's always the opportunity to do a Level III Cert in Aged Care which can get you entry to TAFE for an EEN course. I know it's a long way around but it would let you start earning sooner rather than later. As Tillysmum says you can always go back to the UK and re apply to immigrate later. Once your visa expires you can apply for a residents return visa but this is really only issued to people who have substantial ties to Australia.

It's really hard feeling homesick and I can totally empathise with you having been there a few times but I can say it does get easier. I've been lucky and made a great bunch of friends and have been out and about a few times. Just go with the flow. At the end of the day you have to do what's best for you and yours. Take care

Cheers

Ginny

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

Hang in there, chances are that this is just the end of honeymoon blip. It is highly likely that you will begin to feel differently again if you can somehow enhance your financial situation. Nothing feeds homesickness quite like poverty IMHO! I admire your ambitions to do nursing but in the short term for financial security, is there any other occupation you could take up which might give you a few more $$ in the bank so you arent struggling so much? Can you get even a second job shelf stacking so you can add just that little bit more to your fighting fund (fighting to go home or fighting to do your course, whichever happens at the time)?

Will your husband move with you if you really cant hack it any more or is he going to be resentful at having been wrenched from something he is enjoying? That's always a tricky sticking point, I reckon!

I believe that once you have the sense that you arent trapped in your situation, you will begin to see the positives of it again and the homesick stuff will disappear into the background so do hang in there for a bit but if it doesnt get better then high tail it home and never look back - there really is nothing magical about having an Aussie passport, believe me! {{{hugs}}}

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

Hi guys thanks so much for your advice, but i have tried everything with work situation, i just feel like banging my head on a brick wall, in the uk i was an auxillary nurse for the NHS, i have been doing that 6 years, idid my nvq's and i have adiploma in anatomy and physiology, i am also studying a diploma in health and social care and a certificate to be a birthing assistant so i'm not short of qualifications or expereince i have been told to do the enrolled course which is $3000 money i dont have but what is the point ,an EEN here is the same as an auxillary nurse, i applied to do a diploma in child care so i could get a job in a child care centre and work full time but guess what i sent out 20 resume's and nothing, i then decided to volunteer i applied at 4 child care centres but was told no thanks, my tutor from the course didnt understand as u need a placement to complete the diploma, something isnt right here i mean i'm a mom, i have my blue card, a disability card and a senior first aid certificate what more do people want, i was so desperate i went for a job in a call centre but didnt get it, i work for a nursing agency now but its casual and i only get 1 or 2 shifts a week sometimes nothing for weeks, I am sick of bein turned a way and struggling hubby hasnt a clue how its afffecting me he has to worry bout nothing, he just goes to work and sits on his ass the rest of the time, i really think the on ly option is for me to go home and finish my dream i was in so much of a rush to have this better life and i havent found it we are worse off, i have got the rest of my life to re apply if i want, i have friends here i also organise a bbq once a month so its not as if i'm not trying but its not my home it doesnt feel right and i'm just very confused, thanks for listening guys ur stars

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

Gosh Colly you really have tried very hard, my hat is off to you! I cant think of any other areas you could approach because you really have done them all.

You really do need to give your DH a bit of a clue about how unhappy you are, he needs to be in there supporting you and helping you to do whatever you need to do to get what you want out of your life! Maybe he needs to be getting a second job to help you all make ends meet better (I would have no compunction about sending mine out for a second job if I needed to!!!:sneaky:)

I hope you can find a solution - going home and achieving a sense of self fulfilment definitely sounds like a plan to me!

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

Hi Colly, i'm so sorry you're feeling so down and trapped in a corner. As the others have said it looks like you really have approached the situation from all angles and so i do not have any gems of advice.

The only thing i'd say is that i'm a nurse and have been here 7 months, i have made the decision to go home in December (when i will have been here a year), there's many reasons for this, but one of the biggest reasons is that nursing here is just SO frustrating and unfulfilling (for me, not the same for everyone i understand). The loss of my autonomy and responsibility has left me feeling like a glorified NA anyway. I dont know how much use this is to you but i felt like i wanted to let you know my experience.

If you have your heart set on nursing then i'd go home and do your training, (get the bursary etc etc so it's managable financially) and then reassess the Aus situation at that point. You will have to go through the frustrating visa application process again, but living back at home for 3 years will have given you perspective on where you actually want to live. In addition to this you will have the very valuable commodity of your nurse training.

Having said all that- if your mind is not set on nursing/healthcare then maybe it's worth staying here for a while and pursuing another career path (even if it's just to tide you over) until you're over the (as quoll put it) "honeymoon blip" and you can more objectively look at where it is you want to be.

Sorry for the rambling! Whatever you decide to do you are the only person who has to do it and so whatever you decide will be right. Best of luck and if you're ever in the need of a coffee and chat im down in Brisbane and always up for a natter with a fellow expat!!

xxx

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

Hi,

You've got a lot of qualities that will lead to something soon, just don't loose faith in yourself. The EEN's here are more than the UK auxillary's in that they are trained to diploma level (similar to UK diploma trained nurses). We get EEN's at the Uni I teach in into second year and finish in 2 years. It may be that you can apply for credit for prior learning for the qualifications you have gotten so far. Not sure if you've contacted the Uni's directly but well worth a try. I know there are some flexible options at the University I teach here in Brisbane.

It's hard when one of you is struggling and the other is happy and can't see what's wrong. I hope you can talk this over with your hubby. Sometimes they get so caught up in it all that they can't see how upset you become.

It is hard adjusting to a completely new way of life and does have many ups and lots of downs. The downs get less and the ups increase and far outweight the lows.

Ginny

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

Have to disagree with this point, im a diploma trained nurse and can do everything the degree trained nurses do when im working at home and here. The EENs are not allowed to do many of the basic things we are trained to do as diploma nurses.

Do agree though that they can do an awful lot more than nursing auxilliarys in the UK- a totally different role and much closer to trained nurse than NA.

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

Please dont give up your residency! About 4 months after i returned to UK from Canada i missed my old life terribly in Canada. When i left i thought that would be it. 4 years later ive hated every minute back in London. We got our full Canadian citzenship before leaving. You never know how you'll feel in the future.

Good luck!

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

I agree that they are not registered nurses. They are the same as the UK's Enrolled Nurses but they are trained to diploma level which is what my initial training consited of in the UK. We recieve EEN's into the second year entry at the University I teach in over here.

Cheers

Ginny

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

Hello,,

Just reading between the lines a little,there is no doubt that you are a tryer and i think perhaps that you need to be more open with your hubby and try to get him to understand your current state and give you more support. I feel that you must persevere because if you return to the UK,you will feel worse...Give it more time..

Re: Never thought i would be here
 

Hi there just to add the diploma for EEN is VERY different to the UK RN!!!! I work with EN's who are 12mth vocational trained in TAFE, they cannot practice without the direct/indirect supervision of an RN, only the endorsed EN's can give medications. The qualification is not recognised in the UK and Colybabe is quite right that she would only be able to work as a HCA back in the UK. I know its difficult, but to achieve your ambition, the most sensible solution is to return and do your RN training then ping pong back! Mind you, you may feel differently after your visit in Dec chick XXXXX