I think I have to leave the USA.

In My Humble Opinion
1

Today started off pretty good. The kids were unusually well-behaved, I repaired the brakes on the Camry in under 30 minutes (even replaced a rotor!), some financial/inheritance related documents arrived in the mail so I’ll be able to renew my SD membership next April, lawn mower started on the first pull…you know, a busy day but like clockwork, too.

So as a reward for an incredibly healthy performance at lunch I figured I’d ruin it by giving the kids a treat. Their unanimous decision was for ice cream at McD’s. Totally aware of the health paradox I’d solicited, I acquiesced and loaded up the fam into the Camry and headed for the golden arches. We got there. And then my mind began to reel.

At noon today, my hometown demographic was fairly well represented: 3 Hispanic families and 4 batches of Honkeys including us (the Vietnamese contingent was noticeably absent). With the exception of my wife, who is a health Nazi in nursing school ALL the adults there were disturbingly obese. I’m packing about 30 extra pounds…just in case…but these people were SERIOUSLY obese. And their kids were so whacked out on media (4 were lost in hand-held video games) and sugar that my own rugrats (ages 4, 6 & 8) were embarrassed for them & refused to enter the playground until the monsters had left the building. The wife & I looked at each other and, with the mind meld that comes after 20+ years, agreed that we were on Mars. Had been for almost 40 years. Kerry vs. Bush? Who gives a rat’s ass which clown runs the circus, it’s the circus that makes the clowns. We agreed that we need to be in a different show.

So we started talking heritage. She’s 50% Czechoslovakian (Prague), 25% Irish 25% Dutch. I’m a total mongrel with a maximum component of 40% Irish (accumulated through a number of generations) but with 400 years of indiscriminate North American interbreeding to require a shout out to sundry Native American tribes, Russian, German Jew, Mongol, English, Welsh and a suspected contribution from Brazil—which is a whole ‘nother Oprah of ethnicity.

Short version: We can’t stay here. We’ve both spent (brief) time in Ireland and loved every minute of it. We have both sensed a magic in the ground there that we’ve only found in one spot in the US. We want to move there because unlike this place where we’ve been raised, it feels more like home to our souls.

But…how the hell does one make a living there?

2

Looks like you and you’re wife will have to pick somewhere else.

3

I hear you man, and I have been thinking about the same thing.
But a word of warning… The weather in Europe can really suck compared to America. But that’s really not a problem, but Ireland can be pretty bad with reguards to the weather.
The bad thing about Europe is that the better the destination, the tougher the immigration and employment rules are. Its so hard to live in a Scandinavian country, because the standard of living is so high there. However, I think it would be much easier to go to a more southern country. You probably want to go somewhere they speak English though, right? You could always go to malta. Its on the Med and they speak english! Ever consider Australia or NZ? What about Canada?

No, but I don’t know how much time you have spent in Ireland, but moving to another country isn’t an easy thing. Even with no family in the US it gets difficult. There are times when you just wish you could just go driving somewhere and be alone. There are significant differences between Europeans and Americans in a lot of things.

But yes, the freakshow is scary, and it seems like we Americans are just becoming a bad parody of our former selves. Sure, the Europeans may have made fast food jokes in the early nineties, but have you seen the super-sized french fries? Its scary. So what can you do? Just live in America and teach your kids not to get involved in all of the stupid crap that goes on here? It is difficult. If you take them to a nice place they’ll probably grow up to be much happier people. Ireland seems to be behind on the whole process of setting up barriers to inmigration. They have just started dealing with it, since they have been a poor country until very recently, since they joined the EU.

One of the great things about Europe is the fact that it is much more socially oriented and social activities are often emphasized. Leisure is taken seriously there. This can be annoying as an American at times, but its a little hypocritical to enjoy the leisure, but complain at others!

But the magic in the ground is just a typical thing for going to Europe for the first time “for me at least” because it seems like people there seem to be much more concerned about their fellow man. This seems to be true to a point, but after a little while it goes away.

I don’t know your career or your wife’s so its hard to say. What kind of job would you like? What kind of education do you have? Ireland has a lot of IT stuff going on now.

4

BTW, your "location"is quite funny. I just got the joke.

Anyhoo, I lived in Japan 8 years total and had the option of staying there indefinitely. I chose to go back to Indiana.

There are fat kids there, too, but there is also elbow room and a lower cost of living. I really don’t think obesity is cause enough to become a refugee.

On the other hand, if you love another country enough, go and stay there out of love.

5

We don’t. We build our own mud huts and live off the potatoes we grow
:rolleyes:

6

STILL !? !? :eek: :confused:

Can’t ya even get the friggin’ leprechauns to help out some?

7

I was recently doing some surfing, looking for information on emigrating to Canada, when I stumbled on a very funny comment from a Canadian official (can’t find it again, alas). He said that sometimes, people from the U.S. discover that Canada has strict immigration controls only when they pull up to the border with all of their worldly possessions in a Ryder truck, and are turned away. A wonderful image! :smiley:

Somehow, we in the U.S. operate under the assumption that we could, if so inclined (that includes you, Inigo!), pull up stakes and move to another country. We accept the idea that the U.S. doesn’t let just anybody come live here, but feel almost hurt and offended when we learn that other countries aren’t real thrilled about having us move in!

Other countries may allow you to immigrate if you have certain job skills that they’re looking for, or if you’re bringing a big, stinking heap of money to invest, but if you don’t offer either of those things, they have no incentive to let you in.

8

If you want somewhere with crap weather? Hey we are your country! Want somewhere hard to get into? Yep we are your country! Do we speak English? Yep, after a fashion. Different from Americans? Well we have KFC, NcD’s, Burger King…so Not so different :D.
Just offering alternatives. :slight_smile:

9

I’ll thank you for letting me cling to the belief that Americans are revered and welcomed throughout the Civilized World and Australia. Actually, mom retired and moved to Tazmania. I suppose I could go for a visit, knock her off and retire there in her stead. Hmmmmmmm…But I’d get dizzy being upside down all the time.

10

I’m surprised they let her in - many countries make it especially tough for retirees to immigrate, since they generally don’t bring scads of money, and won’t be adding any skills to the workforce, but will be demanding medical services.

I suppose she got in under an asylum program, since she was fleeing cruel treatment at the hands of her horrible son.

11

Really? I’d heard Mexico was trying to encourage Americans to retire there.

12

Perhaps I can give you my opinion.

I arrived here from England via Hong Kong in 1995, and have made my way reasonably well - had several jobs, bought a house, a car, got married, and so on.

What do you do for a living? IT is big business here. Ireland is now, I believe, the largest exporter of software in the world. Most of that is as the European headquarters of US firms (e.g. IBM, Google), or re-exporting software that has been localized into different languages. Personally, I do the marketing for a small independent software company, though I never intended to work in the industry - just sorta drifted into it. Most people I know seem to work in this industry or its peripheries, though I do know one American expat who works in an environmental consultancy for the government, and another who works in politics (you know who you are ;)). I didn’t need any kind of work permit, so this may make things harder for you, unless you have a grandparent who was an Irish citizen, in which case you can become a citizen easily.

Working here is pretty cool. People work hard and play hard, but within a relaxed atmosphere. True to the stereotype, people do indeed drink a lot to socialize. The pub is truly the centre of many communities.

Ireland’s climate is “mild” which means few extremes - it rarely snows and only gets below freezing a few weeks every year, but the tradeoff is the Atlantic winds, which bring rain, rain, rain and lots of cold wind, and even in the summer you only get a few warm and sunny days. The east coast gets it better than the west, but that’s not saying much.

The west of Ireland is really special, and would be fantastic to live in, if you can put up with the awful weather most of the year. The difficulty as I perceive it is that if you want to live somewhere “magical”, there’s little work to be had. Most business is concentrated around Dublin, Cork, or Shannon, none of which are very pretty, though it is possible to commute from the countyside into the latter two cities, though more difficult to do if you live near Dublin, as the roads are terrible.

The midlands of Ireland are pretty dull. I’d call them the flyover counties if I ever flew over them. They’re the drivethrough counties I guess. It’s very rural, and there are few amenities.

We have most of the US fast food chains - BK, McD’s, Subway, though not a lot of KFC for some reason. A lot of people here are fat, but not the US-style gross obesity that fascinates and repulses the rest of the world. More a sort of too-many-potatoes-and-pints-of-Guinness podginess.

And my God is it expensive. It’s the most expensive country in the Eurozone, though salaries are a little higher too. Everything costs about double what you pay in the US. Taxes top out at 42% (though you get a tax-free allowance and a band at 20%) but without the benefits of free healthcare and comprehensive infrastructure that most European nations offer in return for this. For example, a simple visit to your doctor will cost you €40 (nearly €50) and you can’t claim this on health insurance. Also, if you want to get across the country, despite how tiny it is, it takes forever. Driving the 120 miles from Dublin to Galway last weekend took me 4 hours, since there are hardly any freeways, and you have to go through little towns and villages.

I have a love/hate relationship with the place. As with everyhwere, the picture postcard image isn’t really the truth. That said, I’m sure you’d find a warm welcome, as long as you don’t mind constant negative comments about your president…

13

I believe that’s because Mexico is relatively poor (by “first world” standards), so a retiree with a modest pension and some health insurance is a net economic gain to the country.

I’ve just been looking at Australian immigration (which includes Tasmania), and it appears that the only way a retiree can settle there is on a retirement visa, which is temporary (four years, with two-year renewals). I don’t imagine they’d deny your renewals as long as you’ve been behaving yourself, and haven’t become a drain on their social services in any way (like becoming destitute). The retiree must also agree not to use Australian Medicare or Social Security benefits.

14

Heck, we’re Dopers! We’re used to that. We’re usually the ones making the same sorts of comments!

15

I mention it because one of our American friends here is a Republican, and the poor guy has a simply awful time. I never ever talk about politics or current affairs with him.

16

Don’t quote me, but I believe Ireland has a booming (read: horribly bureaucratic) property/casualty insurance industry:p

But where do you live now? If it’s the midwest or the southwest, and you haven’t tried the coast, you really might want to do some more investigating before taking the giant leap of emigration. For all the jokes made from people who haven’t really been here, northern New Jersey/the metro NYC area has some beautiful areas and amazing cultural opportunities. And, especially in the city (all that walking I suppose) obesity isn’t all that common a sight. I can also recommend certain suburbs of Boston for similar reasons. Boylston would be a lovely place to have a family.

17

And culture, and beer, and food, and history and pretty much everything.

Honestly, this is probably the main reason I couldn’t move to the UK/Ireland area. I lived there for a while on a student visa while working in Parliament and the constant comments were just wearying. They were all meant in fun, and I have thick skin so I wasn’t hurt or anything, but it was just a drag. Even when I went hiking in Wales, I stopped in a pub and was treated to a discussion (ie, lecture) by two Welsh painters (not artists, housepainters) for about an hour on why America was bad. Fortunately, they paid for my beers during that span so I didn’t mind too much.

But it was just such an ease of mind to get back to the US and know I was constantly under the gun anymore, so to speak.

18

Nice post and well written Indgo Montoya… But…

Wait a minute here. Your packing an extra 30 pounds? And bitch about other people being seriously obese?

OK. There are folks that are hauling around an extra 100 pounds. I know that. But to me. An extra 30 counts as obese. Maybe not serious, but obese.

Colorado, and most of the mountain states have very healthy people living in them. And, from what I’ve seen, we take care of our selves, and our kids.

I gotta agree that the people in charge really aren’t in charge. But you have been here for 40 years? The US is very diverse. Lots of different places and people. You should check it out. But beware, if you come to Colorado, you may be one of the fat people you complained about.

19

So, it sounds like you’ve spent most if not all of your life in the same area, and now have decided that since there were obese people with whacked-out obnoxious children in a MacDonald’s one day that you must leave the country?

Have you lived in other parts of the country? Tried staying away from fast food places?

Walk around Manhattan, and you’ll see relatively few overweight people and lots of slinky-thin ones. Walking a lot and being in a fashion-conscious city make a difference. I’ve also noticed this in other upscale towns like Princeton.

I’d suggest doing more traveling within the U.S.; it’s incredibly diverse.

20

You went to McDonald’s and saw fat people? Wow, yeah, I can see how that would drive you from the country.