A
male
age
41-50,
anonymous
writes:American expat in Germany here.My 15-year-old daughter really really hates it here, he's been here since she was 9.Keeps insisting she wants to go back to North Dakota where we're from.We live in a small town, but I work in a big city up the road, about 20 miles away.Says she doesn't fit in, and where we live hasn't got many Americans and she doesn't fit in with lcoal culture in her words.She keeps telling me and my wife (her mom) about how much he hates it here.We aren't able to return to the US until 2024 due to my contract not expiring until February 2024.I like where we live, but she doesn't.She says she's got no real friends, doesn't fit in with the culture here and wants to move to a new North Dakota town or city.As it is, she has no friends here and feels lonely.Really wants to meet fellow American expats but I can't find much on that in our area.She keeps saying how she msises things like Mexican food, McDonald's, everythng that was good about the U.S.As it is, my wife CAN'T work here, she's a trailing spouse. Not DOESN'T WANT TO. It'd be illegal for her to work here.I don't know how to help my daughter with this.She's very emotional about this and I'm concerned.As it is, she said it's not just due to being unable to speak the language (she only speaks English or Chinese) but also looking Chinese too, despite us being American.We're American, with Westernized first names like John or Jane, but a very obvious Chinese surname.Our accents are the dead giveaway we're American; look up on YouTube "North Dakota accent". Reply to this Question
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female
reader, RitaBrown  +, writes (28 May 2022):
Why not send your wife and daughter back to North Dakota in 2023. Your wife can get a job and help get things ready for you when you return in 2024. You'll only be apart for a year. But your daughter's probably just going through a whiney, petulant, adolescent phase. As soon as you move back to North Dakota, she'll probably start complaining about that too. She probably doesn't even remember it properly.
And how come your daughter doesn't speak the language if she's been there since she was 9? German is a pretty easy language to learn and if she's enrolled in the local school system she should have picked it up by now. Or have you sent to an international school which would normally be full of Americans. (I went to an international school in Germany myself.)
Or are you saying that your daughter is home schooled (which is actually illegal in Germany.)
And I don't quite understand how one can miss McDonalds in Germany. The place is lousy with branches... Even when I lived there as a child which was sometime last century. You must live in a really out of the way place like the shores of Lake Trollweiher....
A
female
reader, RitaBrown +, writes (27 May 2022):
Send her to boarding school.
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