Leaving Your Home Behind

[shawna7 4]

OMg Crikey!! you said it..**ANTI CHRIST** **shaking head** thank god others feel my pain..lol

[rhymeswithcandi 0]

I have to comment on the teenage girl thing. I endured exactly the same type of thing, but without the "you've moved me to another country" trump card that your girls have. (Mine had another trump card.) I also had the "pleasure" of my mother adding fat to the fire by offering my teenage daughter a place to live. Let me tell you.... TEENAGE GIRLS ARE THE ANTI-CHRIST. I kid you not. I really feel for you ladies. You sound like you're going about things the right way. But you need to have a talk with those people who are giving the girls an out. It is EXTREMELY important that you are all on the same page. If the girls think there's an out, they'll go for it. And all that will happen is that the problems will go with the child, but it will not make things better. Only time and perseverence will resolve it. I would not want to live through that hell again if you paid me millions of dollars. The nice thing is that it ends in a couple of years, and the meanagers suddenly turn into nice people again, but extremely apologetic nice people. Good luck.

WELL put!

[rhymeswithcandi 0]

OMG too funny! You know what! Just for laughs, I'm going to start a topic just for words/pronounciations!

Crikey! you rock!

That's an awesome idea! DO it! My husband and I talk about these differences all the time.

[bluegreen 0]

This post reflects exactly how I'm feeling right now:) I am new to VJ too, and discussions like this are such a godsend - I don't feel so pathetic! I have only been here in CO for 2.5 months, but I do really miss home and definitely feel like I don't "belong" yet. I am also from Vancouver (well, Whistler) and I think I am also just missing the sheer physical beauty of home. On the plus side I have not seen rain since I left! My husband is also new to Colorado, and although it is great here in so many ways, we are planning on moving back to his hometown of San Diego in a year or so. I think the west Coast mentality in Cali will help me feel more at home.

I think also, as a very independent woman, I am really struggling with being so reliant on someone else - not working, or paying for anything myself. I own a condo in Canada which I should think about selling to help us in our life here, but I can't seem to let go of it - I think it is a tie to home and also a symbol to me of an accomplishment I made on my own, with no help from anyone. But, I do need to remind myself that I am now part of a team:)

And yes, I also find myself on my soapbox about healthcare and labour laws (or lack thereof). Hubby is learning to listen to this and take it for what it is - homesick venting!

Thanks again - this really helps!

[bluegreen 0]

Oops - dupllcate

Edited February 20, 2008 by bluegreen

[Krikit 1,165]

This post reflects exactly how I'm feeling right now:) I am new to VJ too, and discussions like this are such a godsend - I don't feel so pathetic! I have only been here in CO for 2.5 months, but I do really miss home and definitely feel like I don't "belong" yet. I am also from Vancouver (well, Whistler) and I think I am also just missing the sheer physical beauty of home. On the plus side I have not seen rain since I left! My husband is also new to Colorado, and although it is great here in so many ways, we are planning on moving back to his hometown of San Diego in a year or so. I think the west Coast mentality in Cali will help me feel more at home.

I think also, as a very independent woman, I am really struggling with being so reliant on someone else - not working, or paying for anything myself. I own a condo in Canada which I should think about selling to help us in our life here, but I can't seem to let go of it - I think it is a tie to home and also a symbol to me of an accomplishment I made on my own, with no help from anyone. But, I do need to remind myself that I am now part of a team:)

And yes, I also find myself on my soapbox about healthcare and labour laws (or lack thereof). Hubby is learning to listen to this and take it for what it is - homesick venting!

Thanks again - this really helps!

Yay Whistler!!! Welcome to VJ, Blue. It's a great place to visit.

[bluegreen 0]

This post reflects exactly how I'm feeling right now:) I am new to VJ too, and discussions like this are such a godsend - I don't feel so pathetic! I have only been here in CO for 2.5 months, but I do really miss home and definitely feel like I don't "belong" yet. I am also from Vancouver (well, Whistler) and I think I am also just missing the sheer physical beauty of home. On the plus side I have not seen rain since I left! My husband is also new to Colorado, and although it is great here in so many ways, we are planning on moving back to his hometown of San Diego in a year or so. I think the west Coast mentality in Cali will help me feel more at home.

I think also, as a very independent woman, I am really struggling with being so reliant on someone else - not working, or paying for anything myself. I own a condo in Canada which I should think about selling to help us in our life here, but I can't seem to let go of it - I think it is a tie to home and also a symbol to me of an accomplishment I made on my own, with no help from anyone. But, I do need to remind myself that I am now part of a team:)

And yes, I also find myself on my soapbox about healthcare and labour laws (or lack thereof). Hubby is learning to listen to this and take it for what it is - homesick venting!

Thanks again - this really helps!

Yay Whistler!!! Welcome to VJ, Blue. It's a great place to visit.

Thank you:) I think I am feeling extra irritable because my husband is going to Whistler next week for work and for MY Mum's 60th birthday!!! Boo hoo, poor me.

Okay I'm over it now

Edited February 22, 2008 by bluegreen

[Krikit 1,165]

Thank you:) I think I am feeling extra irritable because my husband is going to Whistler next week for work and for MY Mum's 60th birthday!!! Boo hoo, poor me.

Okay I'm over it now

Ohhhhhh, that would DEFINITELY make me miserable. And someone would have to pay!

[bluegreen 0]

Thank you:) I think I am feeling extra irritable because my husband is going to Whistler next week for work and for MY Mum's 60th birthday!!! Boo hoo, poor me.

Okay I'm over it now

Ohhhhhh, that would DEFINITELY make me miserable. And someone would have to pay!

Oh yes, I will be milking this a little, have no fear...

[Sprailenes 47]

I have been missing Canada like crazy.

I go to look at the Barrie street cams just to get a glimpse of hime.

[Team J and B 2]

Awww shucks. You Canadians are so cute.

We went to visit B's friends on the east coast last year and as our first meeting gift I brought them two boxes of Old Dutch Ketchup Chips. The fact that they're huge boxes but very light meant I had to hand carry them from airport to airport.

I feel better today. NVC finally received our file. Another two months or less between today and the interview in Vancouver, I reckon. That's ok, at least I know where I stand.

And YVR and SFO are only two hours by plane away, so it's not that bad. And there are always deals to be had. Or when my friends pop over to Vegas I can meet them there for the weekend.

Thanks for the stories and cheering up.

J of Team J and B

[Krikit 1,165]

I have been missing Canada like crazy.

I go to look at the Barrie street cams just to get a glimpse of hime.

I do that too. One of the cams I link onto is the Burlington Waterfront in Cams Across Ontario where I used to walk from my house. It has live motion streaming and a few different views, so it kind of feels like I'm there. Kinda. But not really.

[shawna7 4]

I have been missing Canada like crazy.

I go to look at the Barrie street cams just to get a glimpse of hime.

I do that too. One of the cams I link onto is the Burlington Waterfront in Cams Across Ontario where I used to walk from my house. It has live motion streaming and a few different views, so it kind of feels like I'm there. Kinda. But not really.

I've been watching CP24!!! I miss homeeeeeeeeeeee..waaaaaaaaaa..ok..I feel a bit better..

[Krikit 1,165]

I've been watching CP24!!! I miss homeeeeeeeeeeee..waaaaaaaaaa..ok..I feel a bit better..

Oh! CP24! Do they have live streaming? I can't seem to find a link.

[Reba 2]

I've been here a little over 3 years now, and I still don't like it much. I'm getting used to it, but I can't say that I'll ever like it here And by "here" I mean small town western North Carolina. I have no idea if life would be any more enjoyable in some other part of the country. I'd like to think so, because its hopelessly miserable here and we plan to move this year somewhere closer to the border and therefore closer to my family. Up-state New York likely, or maybe Vermont.

The only reason I'm here in the US and he's not in Canada is because Canada wouldn't let him in. We would still have a year or more of paperwork to endure with Canadian immigration to get him able to cross the border, and I've been bugging him to get on it since the day I arrived.

When it became apparent that I'd have to move to the US rather than him to Canada, I begged and pleaded that it be somewhere other than this area, but unfortunately BOTH of his parents fell ill with terminal cancer and they wanted him to move closer to them. Why, I have no idea, they never wanted to see us after we got here

He was working 80 hour weeks when I arrived, and I had no friends or anyone to talk to. Ever. I tried to "make friends" with his parents, and for whatever reason they just didn't like me. Too outspoken for them. Too liberal. Too Canadian.

Everywhere I went to try to meet people, I would be insulted about being an immigrant, or my non-racist sensibilities would be insulted to the point of nausea.

My husband has no close friends, so there was no-one "built in" so to speak for me to get to know. And with him working 80 hour weeks, he had no time for me to show me around or introduce me to people. I was completely and entirely on my own.

I've had 4 jobs since I got here, and the one I have now is the most tolerable, though boring and mindless. I get paid a pittance, barely liveable wage, and the cost of healthcare scares the ####### out of me. And yes, I have insurance, but the freakin' deductibles are so bloody high, it doesn't really cover anything. By the time we meet our deductibles, I'm fairly certain the year will be over and we'll be back to square one, OR my employer will switch insurance companies again so we'll start from scratch again at Jan. 1. They apparently have done that for the past 3 years, which I wish I'd known when I took the job last spring. Not that it would have mattered, there are no other jobs in this town. Our county has the highest unemployment rate in the state apparently. And a lot of employers don't offer health insurance benefits because it costs too much. My husband has been out of a job now for just over a year. There are others in town, whom I see quite often applying for jobs at the furniture plant where I work, because I'm the receptionist and they're in there once or twice a week looking for work...some have been out of a job for 2 years or more. There's just no jobs here. And the town doesn't seem too anxious to try and bring in some industry to get people working again. I work at the LAST furniture plant in town that is still manufacturing and not totally outsourcing to foreign countries. Henredon just closed up their plant at Christmas and laid off 500+ people and kept on less than 20 office employees. I think I've seen all 500 of them come thru our place to put in an application.

I also expect that we'll be back to lay-off hours this summer, and I will only have 4 day work weeks. Which means 4 day week paychecks. We haven't got caught up on bills from last summer's lay off yet

Home may only be a 2 hour plane ride, but the cost is anywhere from $400 to $700 or more and I just don't have the money for it. My take home pay is less than $1000 per month. So I'm stuck here for the duration. And I feel stuck, all the bloody time. We don't even have the money to go to a movie in town most of the time.