Why does my husband constantly threaten to leave me & take my name off the account?

If you have difficult time with interviews you’d really benefit from disability vocational service. They’ll help you.

It’s nice to make friends at work but most people work because they have to eat, not because they want to make friends. Work is a necessity unless one is independently wealthy.

Ton of jobs don’t require much interaction and shyness isn’t a factor.

If people who needed companions for elderly didn’t call you, you call them . Don’t wait

I can wing it sometimes. Sometimes not. I understand that about work. My experience has been that hardly anyone ever tries talking to me which kind of hurts as I end up feeling rejected.

I mostly go to work to make money too. I tend to keep to myself too most of the time,

The job regarding the elderly person didn’t include a number, so I just emailed them.

I’m 51 btw.

Living outside your home country isn't for everyone. It can come with a lot of challenges, especially if you don't speak the language. I've been living outside the U.S. for over 20 years. Generally, it's been a good experience for me, although the country is going in the wrong direction currently. I spoke the language before moving here, which did help a lot.

Where do you live? That’s good that you speak the language.

Chile, at the end of the world.

What’s it like over there?

That’s not so easy to answer. I guess like anywhere, it has its good points and bad points.

Geographically, it’s kind of like the West Coast of the U.S., but the other way around. The north is desert and the south is lush and green. There’s a lot of nature. We have the Andes and beautiful (although cold) beaches. Patagonia, in particular is amazing. The climate is also quite mild apart from the far south.

We have a lot of good, fresh ingredients for cooking like produce and seafood. The wines are also excellent. Chilean cuisine has typically been quite bland, but restaurants seem to be experimenting more. We also have a lot of Peruvian restaurants due to Peruvian immigration. Peruvian cuisine is considered one or the best in the world.

For a while we had been the most economically and politically stable country in the region and it was also among the safest. I quite liked living here.

Unfortunately, we had the so-called social uprising in late 2019. It was played up in the media as spontaneous. In the interest of not getting to political, all I will say is that it now doesn’t seem so spontaneous, more like an intentional attempt to destabilize the country. It was a very hard thing to live through – looting, burning and rioting. We had curfews and military guarding supermarkets.

Then, the pandemic hit and we had some of the toughest restrictions in the world. That was again a lot to experience.

Now, things are just sad. A new government took office last year. Since then crime has gone up, the economy isn’t growing and these issues aren’t being addressed. The problems felt in many parts of the world like inflation, a housing crisis and uncontrolled immigration have also intensified.

I am at least pretty fortunate in my personal situation. To buy a house, my husband and I moved out of the capital, which is experiencing the worst of the crime wave. I work from home for a U.S.-based company that pays in dollars and my employment situation is pretty stable. My husband’s work is also steady since he works for the government. Unfortunately, he’s working hybrid and has to go into the city weekly to a not too safe area.

We have a decent house, much better than where we were renting, and our neighborhood is gated with security. When we bought the house, security wasn’t a major consideration. Now it is. When we moved, we had hoped to go more to the city or have people visit here, but that really hasn’t happened. The long COVID lockdowns and curfews eliminated that option for a while. People are still not staying out too late, in part because of that habit, in part because things are less safe. The last few times I had to take the train in the city, I didn’t feel comfortable at the train station and that’s the main transportation to here.

Yeah, the last few years sound kind of depressing, but I try to focus on the positives. There are a lot of projects to do around here, like gardening, and we have our dogs and cats. This area is much more peaceful. We are able to do some exploring in our new area, which I appreciate. If we had stayed in the city, we’d never have get to know these places. I’m trying to convince some of our friends to do a day trip out here. If not, we have to go to the city next month, so I will see if I can meet up with a few people.

Well, that ended up being a novel. Going back to the US isn’t something I want, and my husband’s career is not exactly portable, So, I’m making the best of it all and hoping things get back to some normalcy in the coming years. Maybe we’ll check out Uruguay some day. He can practice his profession there.

I've been able to set up a life that generally works for me, despite the negatives, which I am working on.

I've had inquiries from some people in the U.S. that want to come here now, and, honestly, I discourage it. Immigration is overwhelmed, so getting a visa takes forever. Without a visa and ID, you can't do basic things like set up a bank account.

The housing crisis also means that landlords are increasingly demanding. Many don't want to rent to foreigners. Even years ago when I arrived, it took some work to find a rental when my permanent residency was being processed. I'm glad we have our house now and don't have to deal with the rental market.