Expats all countries

Hi,

Just wondering if there are others out there cut off from international families and trying to support them from afar?

My elderly mother is in isolation, waiting to get her vaccine in the UK. She goes out for food shopping and walks and that is it. I have increased our Skype chats and have sent her jigsaws and books to read. She didn’t really read much before but has become an avid reader now and we are spending a lot of our Skype chats talking about the books.

She will be alone on Xmas day when usually my brother, sister, niece and nephews would be there.

Anyone else?

Yep, all DHs family are in eastern Europe. His parents are in their 80s so it's hard not to worry. They have all their groceries delivered now and I waver over getting more stuff delivered because I'm always nervous that a delivery person could bring COVID! Luckily they are pretty ok with the internet, so increased Skype calls and emails with lots of photos being added to a Google album. They will spend Christmas alone and are feeling it. My BIL and family are there too but trying to keep their distance.

Our biggest fear is what if something happens. I try not to think about it most of the time. MIL is one of the most precious people to me in the whole world.

I am Aussie but DH is English and DS half English and was born there, we knew we would not be there for this Christmas (non-covid related) but were to be there July next year, there is 99% chance we won't be now.

My ILs are in England in Tier 3 so should be able to see my SIL/BIL's there and my nieces and nephew hopefully for maybe a little bit but they have medical conditions which means they have been told to isolate more than normal but all the relo's live close to them to help thankfully

I guess I qm pretty lucky that my parents and inlaws are all in NZ and both have a child in country to support them if required. So I try not to worry about them.

So it's just us here in Melbourne and DH's brother in Sydney and of course seeing him this Xmas has been canned.

I know of two families who had parents visiting from overseas when all this started in March, one from India and the other Malaysia. It must of been so hard when airlines resumed to send them home ( the Malaysian parent went home in May and the Indian parents left start of December).

We have family in the UK. None that I'm close to, though. I hear about them via other family members that are close and giving emotional support.

One couple, the husband has really bad lungs, moved out of London a while ago because of the air quality. His wife commutes to London for work. They have barely seen each other this year, other than the occasional distanced outdoor walk.

In good news, another in the UK got his flu vaccine recently. They arrived to discover they were using it as a test run for mass covid vaccine rollout, with the army involved. He said it was amazingly efficient, he was in and out in 3 minutes and most of that was spent removing and putting back on layers of clothing.

It is a nightmare. I had a long post but have deleted it.for privacy reasons. Suffice to say: the way in which the federal and state governments do not care one bit about Australians stuck overseas ( unless possibly they happen to be their mates) sucks big time.

But by all means let the film industry flourish.

My large family is spread around the UK and Ireland. They've been living in a dystopian reality for the whole year. My parents (separated) both shielding for several months. My brother unable to attend his wife's antenatal appointments. Another sibling's entire family very ill with covid. Job insecurity. Six months of home schooling. Living through an endless tinkering with restrictions and lockdowns and still the virus rages across the landscape like a bushfire. And don't forget they've already been dealing with the Brexit fiasco.

We Skype and FaceTime and swap stories and memes and try to support each other and stay optimistic about life getting better soon.

The greatest irony is that the world pitied Australia 12 months ago and now the apocalypse is everywhere else. It's very surreal that my life is still so normal compared to my family's. I worry constantly about their welfare.

Yes, Ernegirl, things are terrible in the UK. They had 39 thousand new cases in the past 24 hours and over 700 deaths. They think the NHS is getting back to the peak last seen in April and have put more of the country under tier 4.

All I can hope for is that the vaccination program ends the nightmare. I don't honestly have any confidence in any of their government policies on public health.

My parents in their mid 80s are in NZ so that has been a relief from the Covid side of things. But we have missed trips over there this year for a 90th birthday and my father recently had a stroke and I was unable to go and help my mum who struggled at home on her own. I have always felt that I could get to them quickly if I needed to but this year has taken that away from us. I sense they are lonely as none of my siblings live near them so they have been isolated for most of the year and have had to rely on friends to help them out.

Yep my gran who lives alone age 85 and my dad who is battling cancer (going well for now) but does have his wife

Scary to think if we will ever see them again

My large family is spread around the UK and Ireland. They've been living in a dystopian reality for the whole year. My parents (separated) both shielding for several months. My brother unable to attend his wife's antenatal appointments. Another sibling's entire family very ill with covid. Job insecurity. Six months of home schooling. Living through an endless tinkering with restrictions and lockdowns and still the virus rages across the landscape like a bushfire. And don't forget they've already been dealing with the Brexit fiasco.

We Skype and FaceTime and swap stories and memes and try to support each other and stay optimistic about life getting better soon.

The greatest irony is that the world pitied Australia 12 months ago and now the apocalypse is everywhere else. It's very surreal that my life is still so normal compared to my family's. I worry constantly about their welfare.

This exactly. I am constantly thinking of my family and friends in Italy and the UK.

Over the years, many have come to consider themselves as Europeans and they have properties in Europe and family members working across Europe. Some of them have tried to come back to the UK for a family Christmas, and are now stuck in limbo in various places - the UK is in a terrible mess between Covid and Brexit. Boris Johnson needs a kick up the bum for procrastinating over the latest lockdown. Many people made plans because he repeatedly insisted that the Christmas holiday would be going ahead, only to cancel it a couple of days ago

It's getting hard to be optimistic on the zoom calls!

I hope it's ok to put this in here, I couldn't see anywhere else to put it...

My mum and dad in the UK had their first jab today

Mum wasn't expecting hers so soon as she's not quite 70 so she's very happy. Most of their friends have had a least their initial dose as well.

I hope it's ok to put this in here, I couldn't see anywhere else to put it...

My mum and dad in the UK had their first jab today

Mum wasn't expecting hers so soon as she's not quite 70 so she's very happy. Most of their friends have had a least their initial dose as well.

My IL's got theirs yesterday in the UK, they are both in the 70's well MIL is just

NZ is waay behind. They only just approved the first vaccine. I don't think my parents will get jabbed until June or July being in their 70s.

Some of my relatives work in healthcare- they've been vaccinated. My mother is up next and once she's been jabbed I will sleep better at night.

yeah my elderly gran is back home and lives alone

my dad with his cancer (he has his wife and yorkies with him at least)

my ouma and aunty - also back there but we dont speak as i will not entertain family conflict and mud slinging and lying

my mother is in QLD and my sister is here in SA

yeah my elderly gran is back home and lives alone

my dad with his cancer (he has his wife and yorkies with him at least)

my ouma and aunty - also back there but we dont speak as i will not entertain family conflict and mud slinging and lying

my mother is in QLD and my sister is here in SA

Hopefully your Dad and other family are vaccinated soon.

I'm here is Aus but all of DHs family is in the UK.. multiple issues with extended family, everything from elderly but healthy grandpa to reasonably young parents in law but with health issues, cancelled weddings, grandkids growing up that we don't know...it's hard

Family in Europe like many here. Mum has had first vacc dose so I'm really pleased about that. Sibs will have to wait some time. A more extended family member was in ICU with COVID about a month ago, still really sick though at home now.

One silver lining is that I contact friends and family over there a lot more than I did. Not a day goes by without a FB / Whats App msg from someone and often long convos. So despite the distance and the feeling that its going to be sooo long till we see each other again, there's a closeness there wasn't before.

MIL has by some miracle pulled off getting both her jabs for the Pfizer Vax. I am so relieved. Antsy for rollout here to ramp up so we can go see her.

A good article by Jill Stark on how difficult expats find it being cut off from their loved ones overseas.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/13/with-australias-delayed-vaccine-rollout-a-reunion-with-my-parents-overseas-inches-further-from-reach?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Even though my brothers just made it out of India on one of the last flights out last March, my younger brother is planning his next trip. He's eyeing off airfares and considering when it might be possible to go. Both brothers are fully immunised as they work in hospitals. But my elderly aunt and uncle live in Mumbai where Covid is currently again raging. This is the longest we have gone without anyone visiting them. They can't live alone and have carers coming in and out constantly - we remain amazed that they have not contracted Covid.

My cousin in France keeps inviting us over as does my cousin and his partner in England. They don't seem to quite understand that we can't travel there just to visit.

I was on a Zoom call with friends from the Philippines and so many of them have now been touched by Covid. They talk about restrictions but then in the next breath log out to take a parent to yoga. But I know things are bad there when even the wealthy are complaining about how hard it is to get a Covid test.

Bumping

1 minute ago, Ozgirl said:

Bumping

thanks