American immigrant

I'd like to get the perspective of Latin Americans primarily from those nations which have the most Anglo-American immigrants.

One thing that has been ticking me off is the refusal for Anglo-American immigrants to speak Spanish or Portuguese when they reside in Brazil, Quebec, and the Spanish-American nations and territories.

Now many of them do this very well and they become very interesting people, but there just seems to be such a handful of them that bring this tacky American/Canadian energy to Mexico City, Santiago, São Paulo, Montreal, Buenos Aires, Panama City, etc... and it just becomes a bit overwhelming.

How do you feel about it?

This happens a lot in Spain, Portugal, and France as well, with Brits playing the role of Anglo-Americans.

I moved here 5 years ago with my partner and I remember when we were moving it was really hard to gauge how much life would cost. I figured I'd give you guys a breakdown of what I spend in order to live as an example of how you can make it work. Some stuff about me: I have no children, my husband and I work full time. He takes the car to work and I take the train. I have 2 large dogs.

• Rent: €1115 per month

• Energy: between €130 and €280 per month

• Health insurance for 2 adults: €272 per month (I pay a bit extra to get PT covered)

• Car insurance: €52 per month (low because we have liability only)

• Road tax: €44 per month

• Municipal tax: €30 per month

• Water tax: €18 per month

• Liability and renters insurance (legally required!): €15 per month

• Travel insurance (so I can go to the US to visit and not go broke if I get hurt/sick): €11 per month

• Internet: €27 per month

• Phone (unlimited data for 1 person. My husband gets his through work): €35 per month

• Bank fees: €5 per month

• Prescription medication: €10 per month

Optional stuff that I pay every month:

• Gym membership (cheapest gym): €30 per month

• Streaming services: €25 per month

• Roadside assistance: €10 per month

• NS subscription 1 route (so I can get to work): €230 per month (this is partially reimbursed by my employer)

• Dog food for 2 dogs: €50 per month

Remember that income in the Netherlands is way different than the US. It doesn't matter if you are a computer science manager or a doctor or what, you will likely NOT make 100k per year. The median salary is €2800/month or €33,600/year. That gets taxed at a 37% rate. Things like bonuses, overtime, anything above base salary is taxed at 52%.

If you have savings or assets of over 50k (per adult) your *savings* above 50k is taxed at a standard rate.

You cannot generally acquire financial assets because of FATCA. I do some basic stock trading, but it is very limited by the banks.

If you have any debt, you will not get a mortgage. If you do not have a permanent contract from your employer, it will be difficult to get a mortgage.

Credit cards and car financing exist here, but they are in general not a thing. You are better off living off of a debit card and purchasing a car with cash. This is what most Dutch people do.

Some things are easier about living here. Some are harder. I think it's just smart that you know what you're getting into if you are going to move.

I hope this helps!

I was thinking about how there’s no real word for someone from Britain except Brit which isn’t used that often which led me to wonder why a Brit of Chinese descent is called British Chinese instead of a Chinese Brit like we’d call them a Chinese American.

I feel like the simplest explanation is that the word “Brit” doesn’t really get used that often, you’d just call someone British not “a Brit” so you would add the ethnicity afterwards. But I always thought it sounded a bit weird as an American that the ethnicity of descent was last. British Chinese seems to describe a Chinese person who is also British whereas Chinese American describes an American who happens to be Chinese. In the former the most important part seems to be Chinese whereas in the latter it’s American.

Is there any meaning behind this beyond simple “it’s easier to say”. I know some European countries are also ethnicities (German for example) and therefore some locals don’t consider immigrants regardless of generation number in Germany to be German. Is this a similar principle?

So my wife and I are wanting to relocate, and we feel like we've exhausted most of the possibilities in the US... we can just never fall in love with an area on paper or in person no matter how much research we do. This is a voluntary move, and we would both work from home, and likely keep our American jobs, mine is already an international company and it shouldn't be a problem.

On paper, the whole Toronto area seems to tick all of our boxes, (well a lot of Canada does, but we zeroed in on Toronto for many reasons.) And from afar I think this time we're more excited about it than any other location we've checked out. In fact when we made the decision today to agree to at least travel there soon for an initial exploration, my wife was in happy tears. We think we're a good fit as far as the culture and politics are concerned, and we think it "fixes" a lot of the reasons why we don't seem to fit as well in the US.

Realistically, we would only be able to afford a house in the much greater Toronto region or maybe up to an hour away ( or even further but we just don't know). We have 2 kids, 2 dogs, need some yard, need some office and work space at home... I know it's a big ask, and we may even end up getting less house than we do here in Las Vegas, NV. But yeah, it's fair to say the housing market is scary no matter what, and we may be forced to rent for a while anyways.

But we are newbs at this, and have barely ever really left our country before. I think Canadians are awesome, polite, hearty, and all the good things... but maybe there are prejudices that we should be aware of? We don't consider ourselves obnoxious, in that typical American stereotype, by any means. And I think it says so much that just wanting to move away from our country in the first place should be reason enough to conclude what we think about many Americans ourselves. (Close family and friends excluded of course!)

In the coming days, I'm going to ask separately more about the culture, immigration and expat concerns, the seasons, the family friendliness, the school system, ahhh, just everything in general! I probably will eventually have a million questions, but in short.

TLDR: But anyways... How are Americans treated up there? Is there anything obvious or subtle we should do while existing there, not just to fit in, but to make terrific new friends?

And finally, we're really hoping to get any city or town recommendations to check out! We are overwhelmed right now at all the choices. Thank you in advance!

Edit: So here's my first official apology to Canada... I did not realize until today that us US citizens calling themselves "Americans" was actually a bit of a diss to our neighboring America-ins. I see the presumption, and never thought about it before. I guess because we think it just shortens our full US of A title, we just lazily think of it that way. But I had no idea that it was in bad taste, and I sincerely apologize!

So whenever we do show up, I shall buy a round for the whole bar and make amends!

By Archimandrite Cherubim Karambelas

It is a sad thing that many Greeks outside their country fall victim through carelessness to anti-Christian ideas and heresies, losing the priceless treasure of the Orthodox faith. This happened to a man named Angelis Kioussis.

He had set out from the Lion of Thebes, his fatherland, for distant America, hoping for a good career. As he was clever and enterprising, he not only managed to succeed professionally but he even became very rich.

At the age of forty he wanted something novel to play with. Blinded by his wealth and darkened by arrogance, he became entangled in the nets of a satanic sect. His soul was so poisoned that he forswore Christianity in a solemn ceremony, and defiled the icons of Christ and the Theotokos. Others had performed this wicked deed, and nothing had happened to them.

But God, Who forbears and is silent, sometimes judges it right to break His silence. This happened in the case of Angelis - the scourge fell as he was leaving the room where the abominable deed was performed. God delivered him to the power of the devil. Outwardly it appeared that he had been stricken with sudden madness.

"Angelis, the wealthy one, is ill!" The rumor spread among the emigrant Greeks. "He doesn't know what he is saying or doing - he has a serious mental illness!"

His brothers now had the thankless responsibility of going around from doctor to doctor and from psychiatrist to psychiatrist. They were fortunate they had so much money to spend. He was examined by the most eminent psychiatrists, given the best medicines, and nursed in the most modern sanatoriums, but there was no result. Several doctors said to themselves: "This is a strange illness! It doesn't seem normal. A peculiar case! What shall we do?"

His relatives began to understand that Angelis' illness lay outside the jurisdiction of medical science. They remembered he despised the Faith and brought him back to their fatherland, having recourse to the Church and the help of priests. Now in place of drugs he received the exorcism of St. Basil the Great. Their new course of action finally led the possessed man to the Holy Mountain.

"Shouldn't you take him to the Holy Mountain, so that some holy hieromonk can pray for him?" several people recommended.

This suggestion was immediately adopted, and Angelis with his brothers came to New Skete, where they had some friends.

Some time ago in New Skete we met the monk who had received them in his Kalyva, Fr. Eustratios the hagiographer. When we questioned him, he told us the story in detail. He also described the madness of the possessed man. He would carry around four or five round balls like oranges and amuse himself by throwing them one by one into the air with great speed. He would catch them and throw them again, without any falling down. The most skillful jugglers would have envied him!

Various kinds of demons torment demoniacs. Some work at midday, others at night, others once a month. Some are deaf or mute, others shameless babblers, etc. Angelis' demon was characterized as "harmful and distorting the mind" and "voluble". Under his influence the unfortunate man ceaselessly chatted and talked to himself, rambling on about all kinds of subjects. His tongue never stopped.

The Fathers of New Skete worked hard to drive it out, but were not successful. This demon was very difficult: "His neck was made of iron nerves". They bethought themselves to find some elder "mighty in battle". Such a one was Fr. Ignatios the Confessor, who had healed many demoniacs.

Thus Angelis was led to Katounakia, where they met Fr. Ignatios and the battle was planned. Fr. Ignatios perceived that much labor would be needed to expel this spirit. His disciple of the same name would assist him in the struggle, in the Liturgies and exorcisms. For forty days they would fast, perform the Divine Liturgy daily, read the exorcisms, and beg God's mercy. Angelis, by Fr. Ignatios' command, had to go to confession every day and tell his most secret thoughts, and everything that the devil said to him.

For thirty-nine days they waged this hard battle, and on the fortieth day the sufferer breathed the air of freedom. The chains which had bound him for so many years were broken. His relief was indescribable. Rejoicing, he returned to his fatherland, and then to America, where, "clothed in his right mind" he continued his life. And never did he forget the Holy Mountain and the venerable Elder Ignatios who had freed him from the devil's tyranny.

From Contemporary Ascetics of Mount Athos (vol. 2), pp. 510-512

Hello! I’m a Slovak American descendent- my moms Slovak great grandparents immigrated to the US in the 1800s and settled in Iowa. Their kids were all Slovak so she grew up with a lot of Slovak food but it had an American twist because as you can imagine, some of the same food was not available in the Midwest.

To connect with some of my roots, I thought it would be fun to make some Slovak recipes for my mom that she had as a kid. I’ve already made pirogi, and that turned out great, but now I wanted to make haluski. However, what she remembers of the recipe differs from what I have found online.

Substituting the potato dumplings for egg noodles seems to be common, but she also remembers cottage cheese being a part of it. I’m sure the cottage cheese was used because bryndzove wasn’t available in Iowa. She doesn’t remember bacon on it either, so that’s another difference.

My plan is to make egg noodle haluski, with cabbage and onion and then add the cottage cheese to get absorbed by everything. I’ll comment here to let you all know how it turned out.

So what I want to know is if this is common and if there are any other Slovak-American haluski recipes out there that use cottage cheese. Please share if you have something similar- Thanks!

So my gf is Romanian, and I think I'm going to be moving over to your country from New Jersey to be with her (also mine is starting to suck and I can't afford school here). Does anybody have any advice? For instance, what's the deal with the protests? I've done a bit of reading, but most info is in Romanian so I don't understand the full scope. I'll be living in Bucharest, I speak English (obviously) and German, but I have no degree, and most of my work experience is in construction. Are there opportunities for me in Europe/Romania?

TW: SUICIDAL IDEATION

I’ll get this out of the way — I do not condone the murder of her mother & murder in general. I also do not condone lying about being gangraped.

I watched the Netflix doc about Jennifer’s story and I couldn’t help but understand what she was going through. I’ve been there. From the pressure of academics to feeling like your life is confined to the expectations of your parents, I feel like almost every Asian kid has gone through that growing up.

I was also infatuated with a older drug dealer guy who made me think that rebelling against my parents was the best thing to give me freedom, and I did feel the adrenaline rush of knowing what I was doing was fully in my control. I wasn’t allowed to date until recently, so a lot of my relationships were in secret and led me to making bad choices with who was influencing me.

I also hid my grades from my parents, in fear that they would beat my ass over a B. I didn’t go as far as forging documents, but I would lie and tell them I got a higher score than what I did get. They couldn’t check because I was taking dual credit and didn’t allow my grades to be accessed through the FERPA thing (I jumped on that opportunity as soon as I could.)

I sympathized a lot with her story, she just wanted an out. She was cornered and felt like she had no other choice. She was coddled and her parents didn’t give her the knowledge of being an adult. I also sympathized with her parents. The classic tiger parenting style is all they knew growing up in an Asian country. They just wanted best for her, but abusing her wasn’t the way to go. I saw my parents in them. I never thought about killing my parents, but I did think about killing myself a lot. I thought that was the only way out from the mental toll my parents were putting on me.

I think the documentary portrayed her in such a negative light. She was manipulated into orchestrating this nefarious plan. I’m in the middle of how I feel after learning her story because I feel for her but what she did is also evil.

I really do think we need more awareness on Asian mental health and the detrimental effects of the “model minority.” This girl could’ve been saved if she had the resources. If more people provided the resources.