I Wanna Come Home!! Need Advice:)

GINGER BASTOS · #1 (**permalink**) 5th August 2007, 02:06 PM

Hello, Im An American With 2 Small Children 3 And 6 Years Old Living In Portugal For 3 Months Now And I Think I Made A Mistake!! I Moved Here After My Family Was Victims Of Immgration And Deportation In America. Yes Please Dont Start Judging Its A Long Story And A Sad One. I Chose To Move With My Husband And Actually Thought We Could B A Family And Start Over In Portugal. Unfortunatlly It Has Been Soo Hard On Us. I Gave Up A Life And All My Material Possesions To Come Here. Well, This Is A Poor Country And I Live In A Part Of Portugal Thats Not A Soo Called Tourist Section, Very Small Town And Thwe Monthly Income For Us Is About 600 Euros A Month And Thats 4 A Family Of 4. No Goverment Benifiets For The Poor Like America And Its Causing A Strain On My Marriage, He Works Soo Much And We Barely See Him. Theres No Bowling Allys Ect Here And I Guess Im Sounding Selfish. I Dont Have The Health Care 4 Me And My Children Like B4 And I Cant Even Call The Phone Co Or Whatever To Discuss A Bill Or What Do I Do In Case Of Emergancy?? Well, Im The Kinda Woman Who Likes To Be Able To Take Care Of Herself Nomatter What!! I Have 2 Small Children Who Desreve Bettter Than This. What Am I Supposed To Do?? Stay Here And Let My Kids Be With Their Daddy Or Take Them Back To America And Give Them Their Lives Back. My Son Wants To Play Football, Go Bowling Go To A Nfl Game. He Cant Do That Here!! Please Ghive Me Some Advice As A Mom I Dont Wanna Ruin Therir Lives Nor Mine. I Wanna Life To . Should I Have Given Up Soo Much Just To B A Family?? Its Not Much Of A Family When U Argue All The Time.im Not Happy ..

awayinamerica · #2 (**permalink**) 7th August 2007, 09:06 PM

Is there any way you can send your schools overseas to school? Maybe you could find an education program. You want to get the children out of that environment as quick as possible

gkloken · #3 (**permalink**) 10th August 2007, 11:41 AM

Why not find your husband and yourself work in a bigger city there,
or back in the USA?
There are so many positions available through the internet for the USA and Europe.
If you have USA residency or citizenship your husband should not have a problem to get a work visa legally too.

Sounds like normal "culture shock". Every country is unique with its own positives and negatives , some more and some less.
You alone can make the decision.

JohnSoCal · #4 (**permalink**) 2nd September 2007, 09:48 AM

Are you a US citizen? If so then, get on a plane and come back home with your kids.

choctawmicmac · #5 (**permalink**) 10th December 2007, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

Are you a US citizen? If so then, get on a plane and come back home with your kids.

That's not as easy as it sounds!! She doesn't have much money and maybe no one back in the USA to "vouch" for her US citizenship...maybe her passport has been stolen, maybe something else has happened. People who leave the USA in poverty and find themselves in even worse poverty abroad have a harder time getting back "home" than people from Muslim countries do getting a visa to "visit" the USA these days.

Do you people know what airfare from Europe into the USA is one-way and booked at the last minute?! The US Embassies only repatriate people from situations like this if there is a life-or-death emergency in the immediate family. They say otherwise but in reality it would have to be death of an immediate family member, not any situation they can simply pawn off as "you" got "yourself" into through lack of financial planning on "your" part. There's a "you brought this on yourself" attitude at the embassies abroad that always precedes their refusal to help you!

Don't just assume anyone with US citizenship is rich enough to afford last-minute plane fare back from overseas.

synthia · #6 (**permalink**) 10th December 2007, 11:36 PM

Her husband was deported, I think, and though she should be able to go back, he can't. Besides, this was posted in August, and she's done whatever she was going to do by now.

kidumu · #7 (**permalink**) 17th December 2007, 02:07 PM

If I were you, I will pack my stuff and go home USA.

kidumu · #8 (**permalink**) 17th December 2007, 02:17 PM

I have a good paying job here and get another offer in SA. Originally, I will love to be closer home in Africa. My family my kids are here. Any help?

Mamacats · #9 (**permalink**) 10th January 2008, 09:57 PM

You need to decide if you stay or go, if you stay learn the basic language.
There are bowling alleys in Portugal, I know of one in Lisbon and Algrave.
American football is not popular here but once he begins school he can play soccer (European football) and go to soccer games.

My son came here at five years of age went to school, made life long friends and at the moment is working in the computer field. Life is what you make of it, no one is going hand anything to you which ever country you live in.

Diane aka Mamacats
Ragdoll Breeder
Portugal