Guest Jarper Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 close Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kernow43 Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Another depressed newbie! What is happening to PIO? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Welcome to PIO, sounds like you need to go back to the UK to preserve your sanity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest siamsusie Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Good luck with your return trip. Our kids have done exceptionally well with the education system here, and I am sorry it has let you down. My philosophy has always been to get out as quickly as you can when you reach a stalemate. Susie x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jarper Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 close Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Sorry you feel like this. I am wondering where you are in Australia because it doesn't sound like the Australia I know and love. I would guess either WA or Queensland?? Just a hunch... Can you not move elsewhere where there is a bit more culture and learning and opportunities to meet like minded people? These places do exist here just as they do in the UK. Where I live there is no' beach culture' and that would be the same for many areas - we are more into cosy little restaurants with logfires and libraries! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracy123 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 I have to say I really feel sorry for you and others like you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toolbox Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 I have to say I really feel sorry for you and others like you! Some folk would'nt be happy in heaven Geoff:rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jarper Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 close Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 IMO you cannot blame Australia for the people you associate with. It is all about demographics in both the UK and Australia. You have a simplistic view of the country and a lot to learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayBone Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 So because the people you have met do not share the same interests as you, they are cultureless and ignorant?? Mirror please!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris955 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Firstly, rest assured you aren't alone, far from it. This country most definitely isnt for everyone and although like anywhere it has lots to offer if what it is offering isn't for you then it can seem like hell. Not really the fault of the country but that doesn't help. The UK is a wonderful place to live, again not for everyone but many only realize once they have left. We are very different, Australians are very sensitive to criticism whereas the British almost seem to welcome it. This can sometimes make it hard to express your views without coming across as a "whinger" even though it may be your heartfelt feelings. I have no idea why you are here for another 3 years given your feelings and to be fair it is none of my business but for the sake of your sanity can your return not be bought forward ? The Australian way of life. I have recently taken to referring to it as "the Australian art of a 75-year-long death" which is harsh but adaquetly conveys my depressing feelings of emptiness, alienation and above all absolute frustration with the lack of culture and abundance of ignorance that plagues this land that has been driving me up the wall for the past 30 months. I often dream of the day when I will hop on 'North Korean Airlines Flight 666' and spend a sleepless 26 hours as a diarrhetic vomiting vegetable, touch down at Heathrow and queue for seven years just to rid my bowels of the plastic Vietnamese (or somethingese) plane (and plain) food that smelled funny, wade naked through a freezingly cold white sheet of arctic snow in the coldest day on record with fiesty wind that would peirce twenty layers of coyote fur, only to spend my life savings on a neverending pile of fish and chips and SMILE > :smile: Instead I am here on the internet once again, alone and miserable. Friendships have crumbled as people change and move on and forget. My confidence is nonexistent. I cannot remember the last time I had a conversation concerning politics or philosophy or religion or real music or film. I cannot remember the last time I met somebody who recently read an interesting book or watched international news. I cannot remember the last time I met somebody who had an opinion on something other than surfing, AFL/NRL/other acronyms, and other sports and petty things in which I have little interest. I am not prejudiced against Australians, and I'm not foolish enough to believe that all 20 million Aussies are imbisiles nor that all 60 million Brits are Einsteins, but I find a lifestyle like this wholly unhealthy for the brain (and I can say firsthand that in my experience the education system here IS inferior) just as the pathetic bout of media induced self-loathing that Britons partake in is unhealthy in all regards. It is absolutely true that you NEVER know the real value of something until it is taken away, so perhaps the culture shock I have endured for the past 2.5 years will prove to be an eye opener, a good thing in the long run. Now, though, I can't wait to go home in 2014. Before you say it, yes, I have been back, at winter's peak, and loved it. Anyway, thanks for reading (if you bothered...), writing disjointed rants tends to help me deal with things and I'm already feeling a bit better. I didn't intend to insult anyone, sorry for all my spelling mistakes, best of luck to all potential expats, and now you must forgive me for being patriotic... [YOUTUBE] [/YOUTUBE] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest36762 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Hi jarper I know exactly how you feel. I've been there myself. Through persistence, time, patience, a house move, meeting fellow expats from pio, becoming more accepting of the difference between the 2 countries, and lots of other factors (mainly not thinking of oz as forever), I'm in a much better place now. Please pm me if you feel the need to chat. We came out in august 2008. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris955 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Yes I think that is a good point, if you can think of it as temporary and maybe just an adventure it could make it easier. For us personally because we have an approximate date it is actually making it easier, we are looking at months not years but I still think if you can view this as a big adventure it will make the stay easier for you. Let's face it if Harpo can find happiness in Geelong then anything is possible :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest26012 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Sorry you feel like this. I am wondering where you are in Australia because it doesn't sound like the Australia I know and love. I would guess either WA or Queensland?? Just a hunch... Can you not move elsewhere where there is a bit more culture and learning and opportunities to meet like minded people? These places do exist here just as they do in the UK. Where I live there is no' beach culture' and that would be the same for many areas - we are more into cosy little restaurants with logfires and libraries! Whats wrong with WA and Queensland??? :mad: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris955 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Personal preference I guess. I wouldn't live in WA for any amount of money but wouldn't live in any State other than Queensland so it is just a personal thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Whats wrong with WA and Queensland??? :mad: I was wondering the same thing myself lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MACDONALDO67 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Life is what you make it. You tried, you don't like it now you have to / want to go back. Try that and see if you miss anything about Oz. Everyone to their own but when I hear my kids saying they are bored then they are only bored because they have allowed themselves to become bored. Have you allowed yourself to get into the position and feelings you find yourself in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayBone Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 The accusation of Australians having a 'lack of culture' seems very narrow minded to me. Define culture please? Australians have culture in abundance, a culture that is shared in the psyche of a large proportion of the population, i.e alot of people in Australia share the same values. Do you not think that surfing is a culture?? Around the world surfing is hailed as a religion, a way of life. Australia is the top of the pile for this! 'Family' is a very high priority in Australia, way higher than i have seen in the UK, is this not a cultural aspect of Australia? of course it is. Sport in general is a 'cultural' aspect of Australia. Come next year you can sit and moan about how the government have let the British athletes down at the olympics, whilst the Australians will have a barbecue and a beer to celebrate all the Gold medals. I know which cultural table i would rather be sat at. The beach is a culture, thats why they call it beach culture. Culture doesn't just mean, sitting in the theatre watching the Opera whilst simultaneously reading the broadsheets. It doesn't mean 'tweeting' your imaginary friends about political reform whilst taking the tube home from work. To be cultural you do not have to have an opinion on Colonel Gaddafi or the latest book by an exiled pro-democracy activist! Sport is a huge culture in the UK too, not AFL, NRL and NFL. But it is Football, RL and RU, Millions of 'cultureless morons' pack out stadium up and down the Country every week, oh and its HUGE in Europe too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest26012 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Personal preference I guess. I wouldn't live in WA for any amount of money but wouldn't live in any State other than Queensland so it is just a personal thing. No offence to you but the question wasnt aimed at you! :biggrin: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris955 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 I didn't say it was aimed at me. No offence to you but the question wasnt aimed at you! :biggrin: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Whats wrong with WA and Queensland??? :mad: They are from Melbourne. It is a rule there that at the beginning of each conversation you must display your worldliness and open mindedness by stereotyping the whole of WA or Queensland as full of hicks. It is not their fault I think the Victoria state government has enacted it in legislation and it is compulsory. Jarper would fit right in there. :biglaugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris955 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Why get your knickers in knot because it is the view of an individual that to them the country lacks culture ? I have seen absolutely no evidence to show that family is way more of a priority here than in the UK, quite the opposite but seriously if someone wants to believe it then it is their choice to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Why get your knickers in knot because it is the view of an individual that to them the country lacks culture ? I have seen absolutely no evidence to show that family is way more of a priority here than in the UK, quite the opposite but seriously if someone wants to believe it then it is their choice to do so. It's a discussion forum chris...even you wanted to get in the point that the uk is just as family orientated as australia :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris955 Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Seriously I wouldn't move back to Victoria for anything, I grew up there and escaped. What is the numberplate slogan down there ? Victoria, the place to be (leaving). They are from Melbourne. It is a rule there that at the beginning of each conversation you must display your worldliness and open mindedness by stereotyping the whole of WA or Queensland as full of hicks. It is not their fault I think the Victoria state government has enacted it in legislation and it is compulsory. Jarper would fit right in there. :biglaugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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