I've put a poll on my blog asking expatriates who have left the United States (for any reason) what the #1 reason they WOULD return to the US is - and the #1 reason they would NOT return. I think for all of us there is a little bit of pull toward the new place(s) and still some things we might have found better about the US. Please take the poll! The results aren't very interesting or meaningful unless quite a few people respond.
Thanks for your input - and I'd love to hear some thoughts on the topic here in this forum too!
Polls:
http://cndrnh.blogspot.com/2008/06/poll-1.htmlhttp://cndrnh.blogspot.com/2008/06/poll-2.html
For me, language is the reason to return. I really thought I'd be great at German by now, but when reality hits, there's so much else on my mind, and I haven't put my all into learning - it's much harder than I thought it would be. I would love to be able to communicate again without having to consciously think about sentence structure.
At this point I think the health care situation in the US isn't very attractive relative to what I've experienced here. Vacation time is another big issue (which I forgot to put on the poll). I think overall, the quality of life is just better where I am now - but I'll never fully feel like I belong, the way I do with my US family around me.
A Poll for American Expatriates
The reason why I left America and went to live in Europe was because the Dot.Com business crashed in 2000 and Bush hijacked the Presidential election. But life unfolds as it should and I'm a lot happier living in Spain. But i do relate to the comment you made about not really fitting in because of the language. Of course, English is my preferred idiom to speak and my basic spanish gets me by, but not in the way I'd enjoy dialoguing with people. Money and health services is another issue. I am married to a Brit and prior to moving to Spain, we lived in the UK where i truly loved being, but we decided that Spain would offer us a more tranquil and less stressed life we were seeking. I have no complaints. The people are friendly and helpful in many ways. WE live in a beautiful place, but sometimes the isolation from the States kicks in and then I miss my family and friends terribly. If i were to move back to the States it would be because of them. And honestly, i think Obama has something to do with my wanting to return to the States as well. The main factor for my staying in Europe is health care. We are taken care of by the Health services and you can't beat that anywhere in the US.
Look forward to hearing from you.
American Expat living on the fringe of happiness/isolation
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