howdy.
I'm an American living in the Middle East (Israel) with my Israeli husband. Our kids are dual citizens, and we speak two languages in the home, though I am homeschooling (kids are only 2.5 and 4.5 years old, though) so the primary environment is English/American.
Ds seems to be much more Israeli, in attitude, language, taste in foods, etc than dd, who is really the opposite in that way. Today they were fighting and dd was yelling at ds in English and he was shooting right back at her in Hebrew.
Either way they both ended up totally insulted. So I guess that bilingual thing is working, eh?
I miss the USA every day. I could go back and live there and be very happy. DH would not be so happy. I would miss Israel though. There are some great things about this country. Those great things do NOT include the constant threat of war, the sirens, the lack of customer service, the inability of the local population to drive (this goes for both Arab and Jew, btw...), the constant drama and pressure to conform, the beauacracy (which we would have to deal with in the inverse due to dh's immigrant status), the meddling nature of the society, the small size of houses, land, the expensive price of, well, EVERYTHING, my in laws, etc.. etc... etc...
But, the people can be warm and caring on day to day interactions. They genuinely love children and children definately feel that love. We have socialized health care, which is mixed blessings, but at least it's always an option for those of us that choose to use it. We are a pioneering culture, so it's a neat attitude. Jewish holidays and culture reign supreme, which is really special to live according to our religious calendar, which doesn't exist anywhere in the world. My "big" nose is considered "tiny" here in Israel...lol...
It's hard. I miss my family. I miss my friends, culture, songs and sights and smells of my youth, WATER, reasonable weather...
But I know if I lived there, I wouldn't fit in any longer and I know that if I stay here I will never fit in either...