The question posed by @Abundance.Tribe is - "What is Your "Understanding Of The New Normal?"
"How is it going to affect your life and what measures if any are you going to put in place to help you maintain the life that you want?"
๐ It Wasn't Normal Before COVID-19 ๐ฆ
ย ย ย We landed in Suriname out of hardship long before Emperor ๐ฆ ๐ COVID-19 ruled the world, but shortly after our Ecuadorian immigration lawyer screwed us. Things haven't been "normal" for several years, basically since the day I lost my Cambodian residency visa and work permit.
ย ย ย Also, we were unable to legally marry in Cambodia due to a new law requiring prospective non-Cambodian fiances to earn $2,000 USD per month before being granted the right to marry a Cambodian citizen within Cambodia. This is a salary I am not even eligible to earn in the USA, where I have no formal education.
ย ย ย In short, we left Cambodia to look for a "new normal", wanting to have the same basic rights most families in the world have, specifically the right to remain together. Access to a country where we can simply remain a family seems to much to ask of this bureaucracy and border obsessed world.
๐ Welcome Emperor COVID-19 ๐
ย ย ย With the dawn of COVID-19, what was a difficult situation became even worse, as we found ourselves stranded in Suriname weeks before attempting a relocation to Tbilisi in lieu of the economic collapse here.
ย ย ย Now all of our paperwork from Cambodia has expired, and we still weren't able to get married here or in Ecuador, so we still lack basic family rights.
ย ย ย Now that COVID-19 runs the world, most governments' immigration systems have shuttered, and few are even allowing tourist visas of any kind. It was already difficult looking for a future home with Cambodian passports, and now we are simply stuck here by the powers that be.
ย ย ย The "new normal" means working extra hard to make life seem stable for the @KidSisters. Suriname has done absolutely nothing to help us with the education of our daughters during pandemic school closures, while Cambodian stepped up to the plate with E-School Cambodia, an awesome and free iOS app offering a Cambodian public school education.
๐ท Creating Abundance In A Non-Abundant World โป๏ธ
ย ย ย We've found ourselves more or less having to adapt on-the-fly due to the ever-changing world and its new laws we live under. I wouldn't say we have put any measures in place to maintain the life we want, as the life we want is not allowed by those in control of borders and land.
ย ย ย Love is the one thing that is always in abundance in our home no matter the circumstances. Also, noni fruit shall be in abundance too, so long as we see you Surinamers not picking your trees day after day.
ย ย ย Yes, we have resorted to stealing fruit, but hardly the prized fruit of Surinamer, more of a waste product to be tossed in the ditch. One man's trash is another man's treasure, and we are not sorry for disrespecting western concepts of "private property."
ย ย ย Use it or lose it if you have aerable land with edible things going to waste. If Suriname is the one place in the world we can remain united under COVID-19, then we shall survive as we see ethically fit.
๐ Hive Is The New Normal ๐ฏ
ย ย ย I am reluctant to admit the dysfunctional Hive Blockchain is the most stable thing in our lives at the moment. Other than making awesome spicy food and homeschooling our kids, there is little more we have much control over at the moment.
ย ย ย @Sreypov and the @KidSisters have learned a massive amount of computer schools, and everyone's English has improved as a result of engagement on Hive. Between my online Khmer language classes and our Hive blogs, we are now breaking even per month, and just in time, because our life savings just ran out.
๐ง Survive And Wait ๐ฅฑ
ย ย ย There aren't any better-than-Hive jobs here in Suriname for a foreigner who doesn't speak the language and has no formal education. I've already found out what the Venezuelans make working at the Chinese corner shops, and it's not as good as what we are making on Hive.
ย ย ย So, until the Suriname economy and/or the world economy begins to pick up again, and immigration laws return to a non-repressive state, we are living the same day again and again, waiting for news from higher powers.
ย ย ย There are many more folks in a much worse state than us as a result of COVID-19, so we give thanks for what we have, and can not express how blessed we are to be safely be a united family for another day. For now it's impossible to plan further ahead than the upcoming weekend.
๐ THANKS FOR READING ๐
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I hope you can find a way to turn your lives around... Meanwhile, keep using Hive for the extra income. You seem to be doing rather well considering the circumstances. So, keep it up.
PS: You have repeated a paragraph by mistake:
All sorted, thanks Eagle Eyes @trincowski. I've got a few stickkkkkky keys, this has been happening on Microsoft Word a bit to, but got to use this machinery until it self-destructs.
It happens... one time I have not only repeated a paragraph but the whole post, photos included. It took 3 days for me to catch the error and nobody said a thing about it. ๐คฃ
Donโt feel bad. Making $2000 a month with a formal education is pretty unattainable as well. The talking heads in corporate America have decided that regardless of inflation-$32000 a year will be the โmedian income,โ they and their friends exempt from the norm, of course.
I cracked that once but it required me to be in near constant agony with respiratory issues and constant serious injury, as well as extremely sleep deprived and treated like complete trash in the workplace.
Now Iโm content with my $1600 a month living. All that ever happened was I was moved to a tax bracket that left me with less take home pay than I have now...and additional taxes owed at the end of the year.
You arenโt missing much in the โ$2000 a monthโ department.
Give thanks man, everything happens for a reason I guess. If I could've somehow magically produced a $2,000 a month salary in Cambodia, we would've never had to have left and faced all this hardship.
However, making $2,000 a month in Cambodia legally is not anything I have ever heard of. I think a successful non-corrupt person could maybe top out at $1,000 per month.
Now we survive on around $400, giving our landlord $250 for rent, which leaves us $150 for the month in Suriname. Even in Cambodia, $150 for living costs for a family of 4 is possible, but not extremely difficult. Here that's almost impossible. We do a lot of urban foraging to supplement our diet. I can't wait til things get better.
Sad to hear how governments, institutions and universities are preaching globalization, but the bureaucratic systems are constantly showing the opposite.
I'm glad to have heard you've already met @faustofraser.
The second wave of covid is slowing down, so we are planning to meet this month.
Hit me up on discord (Jeanlucsr#8411) if you want, I might have an fun idea.
We've already been on some adventures together, and I found you on Discord btw. I'm looking forward to linking up.
The same thing happens to me. I was a tour guide, and my work in the new normal for me is the hive blockchain.
Out of topic, I am so curious about what you do with the noni fruit. Maybe you or @sreypov could share about it later whenever you have time.
The noni fruit we use to make juice, something we used to sell commercially in Cambodia. Here we found an abandoned tree and picked it clean, and we've found most Surinamers don't know how to use the fruit.
It will ferment by itself, all you have to do is wash the fruits clean, then sunbathe them each day unti they ripen and get soft, then put them in a clean jar. Continue sunbathing the jar everyday for a week or so.
Presto, you have noni juice.
Thank you. I am looking forward to try it. I know this has great benefit to our health, and it easily grow here.
Good to see you got the ole Noni going. I've an abundance over here these days. I know the road is rough but just think of the experiences your two girls will remember compared to staying in Cambodia all this time. You all are survivors and when the time comes you'll be off to greener pastures ;) The best part is that you are together. Bless up!
That is what I try to focus on, the @KidSisters will have a more real understanding of the world. Monkey already understands what a consular man is at 6 years old, and she questions why certain nationalities can travel easier than others.
I guess we can take solace in knowing we are still together, and Suriname isn't actively trying to break us up like so many countries have or would.
You live in such a state of insecurity, ruled by bureaucracy, yet your love of family and the love they have for you is so consistant that I admire it greatly. Even in the worst of times we find happiness in the seemingly smallest things. Stories like yours make me check myself over petty complaints - in the global scheme we are doing fine and it's hard to see people you have gotten to know go through life with such uncertainty and difficulty. Much love. X
Thanks for the kind words @riverflows. We had a good laugh last night when we realized we would've been screwed no matter what we did in the western world. Had we successfully immigrated in Ecuador we would've still had money to open a cafe, and that would've gone very bad during COVID-19.
Either way the world system would've made sure to take our savings back to zero, but it's not the first time we've started over with nothing, and probably not the last.
I admire your mindset - you understand and are okay with how lack can turn to abundance and back again on a pin x
You wanna come with us to create a new normal in Peru? Think we might be stuck in Cambodia until all has passed but Peru is where we are heading to. Always welcome.... miss our cookouts and get-togethers..... strange people have arrived in Kampot! Not our cup of tea anymore. Kep is still ok for now.
We miss you very much too @amy-goodrich. Before COVID-19 there were only a handful of countries we had a chance at living in with three out of four of our passports being Cambodian.
Now that COVID-19 has changed the world, that list is even smaller. We're making it a point to not try to live in countries that don't want to open the door for us. Peru is one of the countries with draconian immigration policies focused on people not from poor countries.
With all the strife we've been through because of borders and immigration policies, we have committed to never try live in or spend tourist money in any countries that have biased immigration policies. We've given up on the western way of life, even though Suriname has provided us a safe home.
The Latin American and Caribbean lifestyles are still too western and familiar to me and the things I was fleeing from when I went to Cambodia. East Africa, South Asia and the Balkans are on our list of potential places to go to. Perhaps even Tbilisi some day, but we will have to wait until next tourist season.
If you do end up in Peru, come visit us if we're still here, as we can't get Peruvian visas, or any visas in South American other than Ecuador and Suriname for that matter.
Oh @justinparke ! I can't even imagine what it would be like to be denied even the right to be married and have the considerations of a family. I guess there is no such thing as common law marriage there?
With you as a US citizen you could marry there right? It is just getting your family out of the country and into USA? Could someone sponsor your family so they could come to the US? I guess now with Covid what might have been able to happen before is different now.
Glad you are at least breaking even and your family is together and healthy!
Thanks @porters, as far as Suriname is concerned, we are a family for immigration and visa purposes, but COVID-19 and the economic/political collapse have made dealing with government offices all but impossible. We can marry here when/if the government resumes activity in these areas, but it's hard to say when that will be.
All of our Cambodian paperwork is now expired, so it's truly up to Suriname to save us. There's a long shot we could come to the USA, but I doubt it. The way the world has changed, we are likely to only be able to return to Cambodia or go the USA in the near future, but attempting immigration in a new place is nothing short of impossible at the moment.
For now the only flights out of Suriname are repatriation flights to Amsterdam about once a week, and it will be that way for the foreseeable future.
We are pursuing Suriname passports at the moment as a last ditch effort. If the family can get Suriname passports, then they could get Suriname criminal background checks and other various up-to-date paperwork, giving us a chance at getting out of here to the USA, where we have some family support, or to a cheaper cost-of-living country where we can get back on our feet.
Sorry to hear that you can not travel to where you want and get to where you would prefer to live - it must be very difficult! I does sound like you are on top of things though - hopefully they will start going your way!
I do love how you have adapted to make a decent living for your family under such circumstances - ah!the power of love!
Thank you for sharing your reality with us all, you are definitely experiencing some struggles at the moment, but you know what matters the most and that is so important. That is what we need to focus on right now, what we have and how to hold onto to it. You will find a way, I am sure to achieve all that you wish. xxx
Thank you @abundance.tribe for posing the question, as it's a subject we already dicuss everyday within the family. Abundance is the fortitude these life experiences give the @KidSisters, and we are thankful for that. Bless up!