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So, my kids can finally find a job?

The population comment by the Pakistani isn't 100% accurate. Sure immigration plays a big role, but undeniably the South Asians still care about having kids and forming a strong family. In my school, most students just want to enjoy life, have kids in the far future, and they don't really care about family ties like these cultures do. They'll be tight with their parents but barely know their cousins or uncles. They'll be in their late 30s finally looking to get married and have kids, which is just not realistic biologically. 45 is the average age for menopause, and you see symptoms of menopause happen before then. Not rare to see a woman get perimenopausal symptoms at age 40. Meanwhile these Asians get married "young" (normal age back in the day), and they plan their future around their family's growth. Can't really blame it on immigration when other nations like Japan and Korea don't see a huge immigrant population from South Asia and still show insanely low birth rates for the locals, because they follow the secular societal standard of having one kid so you can enjoy life. South Asians could be living in a shack and still have 5 kids. We make fun of that in the west, and now our population is on a nosedive.

So many Canadians in the same situation — perhaps use your Canadian passport ? so many better places for you to be… find a nice job across the border in the US — it’s so easy to get a TN work Visa, or work tax free in the UAE, or build a nice career in Singapore. I had the same problem with Australia — it’s my home, and my heart will always fondly call it home forever. Australia is a big country with small job market, generally ignorant (but nice) people and limited economic diversity. One gets proper civic amenities only in either Melbourne or Sydney e.g., top notch medical care, a wide variety of groceries etc. Taxation is very high and although some people will tell you “we are well taken care of…” that is not true nowadays. The Australian Government’s policies over the last 40 years destroyed manufacturing, the economy, working conditions and inflated the property market. A reasonable 2-bedroom apartment in a Sydney suburb could cost you Au$2000-3000 in rent or Au$500,000+ to buy — and that goes higher as you get closer to downtown Sydney. The problem is that incomes are not high enough in Australia and housing quality is less than average overall for these ridiculous prices. Food, tolls and petrol cost a lot, although Sydney and Melbourne’s fresh food markets give you better prices than you’ll find in most other cities. My wife and I had a combined income of over Au$300,000/year while we lived there. We finally left Australia and moved to the US because even with our relatively high income we could only have an average house for around Au$1.8 million, we couldn’t fill up the tub and have a proper bath because of water restrictions, our kids would get an average schooling and their only dream in life would be to one day own a house. We didn’t want to live like that, so we wrapped up and left for good. The US is much better for skilled people — I don’t mean plumbers, tilers, roofers or landscapers, although life is good for them too. I’m sure someone will reply to this comment about the gun violence in the US. All I can say is that in the US we have the option to defend ourselves whereas in Australia we are expected to quietly die if someone kicks us in the head, stabs us or shoots us. Quality of life is good here in the US for me and my family. Fly free, mate!

Thank you for speaking about this topic!!! After staying there for 25 years, I can totally relate to it. Your life is in auto-pilot and you don’t even think. Life is good, you keep watching even the awful movies from your country, connect with the friends back home and read every news bit longing and comparing the life at home…that is the life we lived\n\nSuddenly, after my husband’s death, the light bulb finally turned on and moved to India to raise my son 6 years back. The impromptu play dates, relatives and friends dropping in, the casual conversations with the milkman, newspaper guy, the screaming noise when the kids are getting out of school, friends volunteering to take your kids for a weekend getaway… these little people connections are so important. \n\nWestern countries economically developed. But hungry for love and connection..

As a Mexican American I have faced all types of racism from people of different races, including my own. I lived in Mexico for a while when I was young and would get bullied by kids who knew I was born in the U.S. Teachers also treated me different; some treated me worse than they treated the other kids, and others favored me because I was American. When I moved to Philadelphia I attended a school that was predominantly black and asian. I was the only hispanic in my class. At the time Spanish was my main language and my English was “rusty,” which led to constant bullying from classmates. They would call me “dookie face,” tell me to “go back to my country,” and even had some girls put gum on my hair. I would cry every day. I later on moved to Chicago to an area that was mostly hispanic, and that didn’t stop the bullying, either. After I finally refined my English, I no longer wanted to speak Spanish unless it was to my parents. Yes, I guess the constant bullying pushed me to feel like I had to separate myself from my hispanic heritage. When my hispanic classmates spoke to me in Spanish I only responded in English, which would make them mad and they would think that I thought I was “better than them.” Anyway, that was long ago and now as an adult I can reflect on these things so that I don’t make the same mistakes. I get along with everyone and the only thing that changes how I feel about someone is their character, not their appearance.