I read somewhere (here maybe? another blog?) that the toughest years as an expat are 2,3,5,7 and 10. We are on 5.5 and I can't tell you how many days lately I've been yelling about wanting to pack up and go home. I'm tired of the shitty pay, the shitty housing, the shitty political climate, the shitty service, the shitty passive aggressiveness, all of it.
We moved here in our mid to late 30s and even since 2014 its changed a lot. 2016 was like the last good year I can remember, everything has felt downhill. And what work-life balance? Both of us work long hours because we work with (pick more than one): incompetent, lazy, useless, buck-passing, pointless people who always seem to be on vacation or otherwise out of the office. I took as much vacation last year as I did in the US and I'm on my second back injury in three years from spending 60+ hours a week at work sitting on my ass, trying to deliver a project that was underscoped, badly budgeted, poorly resourced but apparently 'critical'. For that I got: no raise, no bonus, no kudos, no nothing. Other Half can't even get a damn raise in two years, hes 50% under the UK market, and he's in a high-demand field, but trying to get through the recruitment process here is a NIGHTMARE. I feel like we have been treading water for almost three years and I know we are losing money by the month due to sterling crapping out and increasing inflation.
Our dream/goal (was) to get citizenship so we could spend time here or the US or wherever in the EU - I love fall and winter here, but hate the spring and summer. Brexit more or less ruined that goal, and now we are sitting and waiting out the clock (11 more months!) so we can just get the stupid passport to have SOMETHING to show for these years and then move on. I don't want to move back until after the election anyway, but in the meantime I'd rather try and get new jobs, move to a new place, and join some new groups because this last 2.5 years has just SUCKED on all fronts.
We have a new Canadian guy at work and at some meeting where the British people talked round and round, essentially reiterating the same points but not taking a decision or responsibility, we came out of that meeting where he was shocked we got all three procurement asks. I wanted to tell him - 'no, we got two. You got the British No for the third, but they weren't going to tel you to your face that your idea for the third wasn't something they actually wanted or needed so instead they made it sound like it was a go, but they have instead kicked it into the long grass and we are to never speak of it again." Although it was great fun double teaming my terrible manager earlier this week in trying to pin the guy down on specifics and answers on this project. Excellent sport. Should do it more often.