re: sidda

Submitted by concerned (Italy), Jun 3, 2006 at 17:10

Thanks for your concern shown a few days ago in asking on why I don't return to the States now. As an ESL (English as a Second Language teacher) I've been really busy with lesson preparation, especially for spoken exams in English. Now that all of that is behind me, I've got more time on my hands.

First of all, I haven't given up my USA citizenship and never will! I still have my passport and my NYS driver's license as I'm originally from that state. There are, however, many problems blocking my return to the States. These have been long-standing ones, too.

By now, I've been here for 19 years. That's a long time, and though I realize I'll never fully be accepted as if I were a "native," still roots do develop and grow. Not only, but I've started my own private school for teaching English here and it seems to be going rather well, though it's only two years old, so it isn't so easy to just drop and run, sp to speak. I'm saying this not only from a career standpoint, but also a bureaucratic one as well.

Another thing is that I've been married to a national for 17 years and she needs MAJOR medical care, plus three operations: one on her knee and two for her hips. At 46 and 48 years of age respectively, what insurance company would cover us? We're simply too expensive. Not only that, but getting back to the job issue, I've been out of the USA job market for so long, who would want me, let alone my wife? To even reasonably hope to get a job in the States, I'd need to know at least some Spanish, and I don't have even minimal Spanish, and no Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, etc., just the language of the country where I live in. I have done some Internet research, so that seems to be the current situation. In addition, I posted my resume online for 6 months with no requests, NONE whatsoever!

So, though this is brief, it pretty much sums up why it's just about impossible for me to come back to the USA.

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