posted November 06, 2005 01:10 AM         

Don't know, I've been thinking of moving back to the US.

I go wherever the wind blows me

posted November 06, 2005 09:04 AM         

But I would never renounce to my nationality, my true origins. At some point I was willing but, after living abroad I discovered I am a Spaniard. Nationality is origin, is identity, is what you are and where you belong. Living in the UK and travelling a lot, I dicovered those cultures were too far from me. I can’t feel I’m one of them. And I’m proud of my own heritage.

I also discovered that that golden way of life I had imagined wasn’t that golden. It depends what your priorities are in life.

I suppose I’d have renounced to it if I had felt fully identified, if I wouldn’t have felt a foreigner.

posted November 06, 2005 09:58 AM           

That being said, once basic needs are met, there's more to life than finances. There's sentiment and attachment.
If I were to stay a citizen given dire financial circumstances (given I actually had an opportunity for a better life someplace), it would be because of those.
Unfortunately, my soft spot in the US is, honestly, sadly, probably disappearing.
I love the Appalachains, specifically the Shenandoah (though going Westward a bit into WV doesn't break my heart one bit). I love the hills, woods, the wildcats, the music, the caves, the farms, all of it. I love the smell of it.
Just writing about it here makes me cry.

I can honestly say that it's one of the very few places that have ever made me feel truly at home.
(Oddly enough, I felt that way in London - I could navigate my way around that city pretty well without a map...creepy; and, to a lesser extent, in a part of Western China near someplace called the Temple of the Monkey.)
There have been plenty of places that I've *enjoyed* in this life, but those let me exhale, so to speak.
I have a feeling that the Highlands of Scotland may hold the same, though - pictures of the area always fill me with a sense of ease.

I haven't travelled many places - really just the UK, China, and Tibet so far - so that might not mean anything.

posted November 06, 2005 10:19 AM           

It's given my family a chance.
On my Mom's side, many of my ancestors apparently came over as indentured servants - Scottish, English, N. Irish, Irish - they were people who were apparently stuck enough that America provided an out.
According to the genealogy work that some on my Mom's side have done, they came over, worked off their debts, and moved to the mountains. There, they farmed and hunted and married Native Americans (there are quite a few old entries that read something like, "Sally Bartlett Marries Cherokee Man" - kind of the default category for anyone of American Indian decent for those record keepers - and then their kids are all named "Smith"; Blackfoot and Crow got in there as well, but more recently - it's thought that those family members were "beneficiaries" of the US Government's move of Plains Indians kids to schools back East).
When the economy, such as it was, went bust there, the moved back east to Culpepper and out towards DC.
My Grandmother's side started farming the land and making a living.
My Grandfather's side started construction and made a very comfortable living.

On my father's side, you have an immigrant story similar to my Mom's (but with some Texan Spaniard/Indian mixes thrown in) as well as a healthy dose of Germans and pure, Irish-Catholicism who all ended up back in the Blue Ridge; and then my Great-Grandfather, Louis Martin Aspeslagh, who left Ostend, Belgium, after his country was ravaged by WWI.

~~~

posted November 06, 2005 06:17 PM         

before, i thought america's modernized, hands off, to each his own, liberal policy was great. the education system is the bomb, is there anyone who would not like to go to a prestigious school and make high high salaries afterwards? (if you could afford it). yes welfare and stuff isnt that great but each country has its own personality, the American countrys personality is rugged individualism, as cliched as those words sound. you take care of urself, if u are a self starter and dont want to interfere in others rights, or if ur not too much of a groupist, then you will really love it here.

i also agree with ur wise statement that finances is not everything in fact it is only the first thing / factor.

now i feel uncomfortable here. i want to get my mba and leave. arab americans are not welcomed and appreciated in the same way. i posted in global unity about loving americans for their support after 911 and i stand by that, but increasingly, it feels like, as steelrose said, i just dont belong. i am not one of 'us' im one of 'them', and that is fine, i accept that myself. its not really discrimination, which is a very ugly word, but just alienation and isolation. sure i could earn ten times what i will if i move back to the middle east but thats A ok if i have the other things i want there.

personally i believe i am one of those ppl with a good financial sense. iwill make it wherever i go inshAllah. but, right now , ease, comfort, and being not just tolerated, but an appreciated integral part of society is something i need. with sun/merc/mars in the 9th house i definitely want to be socially involved, and i cant do that here, not with that impact.

Long winded reply, but i hope it answers at least some of ur qs

posted November 06, 2005 10:30 PM         

Hooray!

Now, how do we do it?

posted November 07, 2005 01:27 AM         

1 country would mean no place to escape its downfalls. and it WILL have downfalls as no nation does not.

1 government will mean a monopoly, no competition, a dictatorship established. how can the entire world decide on 1 government? either the tyranny of the majority will prevail or an unrepresentative minority will.

1 policy means, our way or the high way. if u dont fit in the policy, go to mars, or die.

1 system means intolerance of ideas and support of other systems. it is ALWAYS human being's desire to assimilate everyone into one big blob and discourage individualism and entrepreneurship that leads to frustration. this is the number one cause of suicide bombers in middle east. want more? then implement this!

1 race, unrealistic, and what will you call them? some people take pride in their race. i am arab becoz i speak arabic and arabic is beautiful. i dont want to be 'humankind' i am not one of many i am ME and arab is more specific. might as well go to homosapien! but i like being an arab, as i like being called a woman!

1 law system same thing as 1 policy!

no religion--u can never eliminate religion from peoples hearts. if i were crucified today i would die a muslim!

humans are diverse. let us be diverse. let us decide our own governments. let us have our own cultures. let us have our own policies, tailored to our communities. do not interfere! it is the interference that has us arabs up in arms. are we dying? then LET US PLEASE!!!!

we will figure it out ourselves!

posted November 07, 2005 05:37 PM         

ALL for ONE, and ONE for ALL

Pax et Bonum

posted November 08, 2005 03:27 PM         

But I must say, no matter how much of a wanderer and an explorer you are, no matter how much you love foreign lands, languages, food and exotic cultures, which I do to the deepest of my spine and guts… Believe me, it’s tough… It’s nothing close to rosey. No matter how well you speak, how well you imitate their behavioural patterns, how much you take in. You are always a foreigner.

They tolerate you. They may love your accent and call it sexy but the bottom line is they find it amusing and weird, uncommon. They won’t understand why you’ll do certain things or behave in a certain manner… And they’ll excuse you saying “It must be your Catholic upbringing…” or “Well, you had a dictator (Franco) only 30 years ago… That must be it… Repression” or “Just give it time… Spain is only 30 years retarded, your children society will be like ours now…”

It’s tough being alone and constantly misunderstood, constantly identified as a foreigner, as soon as you open your mouth. It’s tough when you are unable to connect with any woman your age, because you don’t share anything with them… any motive or experience, any value, not even the sense of right and wrong. It’s tough to feel a complete alien, day after day for more than 1200 days of your life, one after the other…

You don’t have family. You don’t even have true friends because they don’t connect with you at all… there’s nothing shared… You don’t have a safety net. You are on your own.

They don’t understand. And you don’t fully understand them either. You try to adapt imitating them, but some things you can’t fake… Some things are part of your blood, are part of your identity, are part of those values you have been sculpted to. And you feel painfully inappropriate. You even start to believe that there is something wrong with you and you are unlovable, difficult and unable to socialize… Then you react to being anihilated, very radically sometimes… You are what you are, you are proud of it and you don’t want to become one of them.

The more different the guest culture is from your own, the more alienated you feel. That’s why guettos appear.

posted November 08, 2005 09:15 PM         

quote:

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NH, $1,100.00 rent a month for a two bedroom duplex

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Tell me about it. Over here it's 1,400 just for a studio apartment.

Last year for a 3 bedroom it was 1,600 now it's 2000,00.

Yup that's the life

It's so hard because I wanna leave but I can't. i will not find another place like this ever. i would be to home sick!

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Gemini sun, Cancer rising, mercury in Gemini, moon in Taurus *29, venus in Taurus, mars in Libra