Hi everyone
Well after planning to move back to the DR for years the first phase has happenned. My wife and 2 children have arrived in Santo Domingo where we all plan to live. I will have to follow on later when all my business and financial affairs are sorted here in the UK. This may take up to a year though.
I must tell you that I never thought being parted from them was going to be so painful. I am struggling to keep my head up even though I will be visiting them in October. I ring them every day but its a massive strain not getting upset when talking to them. The kids are in holiday mode at the moment and are fine, they now have a big family and circle of friends that we never had here in England.
We always dreamed of the move back to the DR and were aiming for doing it in 2010. However my daughter Ana has just finished primary school and we felt that rather than let her do 2 years at secondary school, when she would start to cement potentially very close friendships with new classmates, it would be better to make the move now.
Therefor I have to stay here. But I know its only been a few days but nothing could have prepared me for this sense of loss. I have my mum & dad here and my sister and her husband and my work to keep me busy, if I can keep my mind on it. But I must, so I will.
We are doing this for a better quality of life, mainly for our children.
The UK and particularly on the outskirts of London where come from has become a strange place over the last few years. The populaton is flooded with mainly European immigrants looking for a better standard of living. Consequently our small town like many other has undergone a huge rebuilding
process where every spare square yard of land has been used for new houses and apartments. Local places are filled with more foreign people than local people. I am not prejudice in any way, I understand that economic migrants are only looking out for what is best for their families. Thats fine. But the cultural landscape has changed overnight it seems, and the British, who are reserved at the best of times, seem to be retreating into their houses, shtting the doors, and shutting it all out.
The levels of violence among young people in particular has sky-rocketed in England. Every day we are assaulted by a barrage of TV and newspaper images and stories of yet another stabbing, another shooting.
The worst elements of European countries, ex-Russian sate countries and African countries have also flocked here. They know they can easily take advantage of our rediculous immigration control, or I should say lack of it.
Some of these people come from environments so steeped in violence of the most viscious kind that they see no reason not to carry on there criminal ways here when they are faced with a police force more concerned with being politicall correct than dishing out justice.
We know the Dominican Republic is no paraidse free from crime, far from it, but we know that if you commit a crime there and are caught you are in deep $h1t.
We want the latin family values to be the influencing factor in our childrens lives as they grow and develop. We want them to grow up respecting their elders, teachers, figures of authority. Here recently a girl in my daughters class struck her teacher in the face with a fully weighted punch. The teacher had a swollen and bruised face. The child was only spoken to. No other action was taken. The rest of the class were told not to mention the incident as it was 'gossiping' and spreading bad rumours about the school. My daughter only told me because she 'let it slip' and begged me not to mention it to her teacher on 'leaving day'.
Kids who are violent are given more computer time so they can be calmed down, rewarded in other words for being violent. I lost count of the number of times my son came home with bruises and bumps and cuts where he had been hit or kicked by these ruffians. He was told from an early age at school not to fight back, as a result he has had his spirit squashed and has become frustrated and timid. We as his parents tried to encourage him to hit back when he was faced with a persistant attacker but he was loathed to hit back, basically because he is a good child who respects what the teachers say, don't hit back.
The level/standard of schooling here has nose-dived. My children only got a tiny amount of homework and it was rarely marked. When I complained to the teacher and even head-mistress I was told that they were doing fine and it was due to the large number of kids in class and the resultant time per puplil the teacher could allocate. Back in January we came to Santo Domingo and the kids took an entrance test to one of the private schools there, they both did poorly. This was despite both being rated in their UK school as being very intelligent and towards the top of the class academically. We were shocked, when we came home we enrolled them both in extra Match and English classes at the week-end. They have come on greatly thank goodness.
Wow this has turned into a bit of a rant hasn't it.
I'm gonna see if I can upload some pictures of my kids and my wife and I to the members gallery now so everyone can see what I am missing
Cant wait to be out there with them. It's so lonely here without them and I am hurting bad. Thanks for listening.
Regards,
Paul
Well after planning to move back to the DR for years the first phase has happenned. My wife and 2 children have arrived in Santo Domingo where we all plan to live. I will have to follow on later when all my business and financial affairs are sorted here in the UK. This may take up to a year though.
I must tell you that I never thought being parted from them was going to be so painful. I am struggling to keep my head up even though I will be visiting them in October. I ring them every day but its a massive strain not getting upset when talking to them. The kids are in holiday mode at the moment and are fine, they now have a big family and circle of friends that we never had here in England.
We always dreamed of the move back to the DR and were aiming for doing it in 2010. However my daughter Ana has just finished primary school and we felt that rather than let her do 2 years at secondary school, when she would start to cement potentially very close friendships with new classmates, it would be better to make the move now.
Therefor I have to stay here. But I know its only been a few days but nothing could have prepared me for this sense of loss. I have my mum & dad here and my sister and her husband and my work to keep me busy, if I can keep my mind on it. But I must, so I will.
We are doing this for a better quality of life, mainly for our children.
The UK and particularly on the outskirts of London where come from has become a strange place over the last few years. The populaton is flooded with mainly European immigrants looking for a better standard of living. Consequently our small town like many other has undergone a huge rebuilding
process where every spare square yard of land has been used for new houses and apartments. Local places are filled with more foreign people than local people. I am not prejudice in any way, I understand that economic migrants are only looking out for what is best for their families. Thats fine. But the cultural landscape has changed overnight it seems, and the British, who are reserved at the best of times, seem to be retreating into their houses, shtting the doors, and shutting it all out.
The levels of violence among young people in particular has sky-rocketed in England. Every day we are assaulted by a barrage of TV and newspaper images and stories of yet another stabbing, another shooting.
The worst elements of European countries, ex-Russian sate countries and African countries have also flocked here. They know they can easily take advantage of our rediculous immigration control, or I should say lack of it.
Some of these people come from environments so steeped in violence of the most viscious kind that they see no reason not to carry on there criminal ways here when they are faced with a police force more concerned with being politicall correct than dishing out justice.
We know the Dominican Republic is no paraidse free from crime, far from it, but we know that if you commit a crime there and are caught you are in deep $h1t.
We want the latin family values to be the influencing factor in our childrens lives as they grow and develop. We want them to grow up respecting their elders, teachers, figures of authority. Here recently a girl in my daughters class struck her teacher in the face with a fully weighted punch. The teacher had a swollen and bruised face. The child was only spoken to. No other action was taken. The rest of the class were told not to mention the incident as it was 'gossiping' and spreading bad rumours about the school. My daughter only told me because she 'let it slip' and begged me not to mention it to her teacher on 'leaving day'.
Kids who are violent are given more computer time so they can be calmed down, rewarded in other words for being violent. I lost count of the number of times my son came home with bruises and bumps and cuts where he had been hit or kicked by these ruffians. He was told from an early age at school not to fight back, as a result he has had his spirit squashed and has become frustrated and timid. We as his parents tried to encourage him to hit back when he was faced with a persistant attacker but he was loathed to hit back, basically because he is a good child who respects what the teachers say, don't hit back.
The level/standard of schooling here has nose-dived. My children only got a tiny amount of homework and it was rarely marked. When I complained to the teacher and even head-mistress I was told that they were doing fine and it was due to the large number of kids in class and the resultant time per puplil the teacher could allocate. Back in January we came to Santo Domingo and the kids took an entrance test to one of the private schools there, they both did poorly. This was despite both being rated in their UK school as being very intelligent and towards the top of the class academically. We were shocked, when we came home we enrolled them both in extra Match and English classes at the week-end. They have come on greatly thank goodness.
Wow this has turned into a bit of a rant hasn't it.
I'm gonna see if I can upload some pictures of my kids and my wife and I to the members gallery now so everyone can see what I am missing
Cant wait to be out there with them. It's so lonely here without them and I am hurting bad. Thanks for listening.
Regards,
Paul