Blogneid and more strangeness

After getting married and pretty much having little left that I should be doing other than the completely depressing job hunt, I began to feel lonely. I am no longer living in the city where I went to college, so my social network is pretty much non-existant. Work here was lovely and the people were lovlier, but the sensation that these people are my husband's aquaintences and I am encroaching has been growing the longer I am away from the office, months and months now.

In the quest for kindred-spirits, I set off through the world of ex-pat blogs. Whether that was a smart thing to do . . . I dunno. The blog is full of alarmingly clever, intelligent, well-smoken Americans forging their way intrepidly in foreign lands, but I have yet to encounter anyone like me.

First off, let me complement them generally by saying that their blogs are beautiful- particularly Heisse Scheisse. Love the name, love the grass. And Still Here, Still Foreign, might be a little too pink for my personal taste, but it's still nicely organized and her wedding pictures are to die for.

And now, the reasons for my sense of isolation, even in blog-land. . .

I actually do speak German, and fairly well. I was once at the stage where I couldn't say or understand anything, but even then I had years and years of German behind me. My German was latent, just waiting for the right opportunity to develop - which it did, but I am no linguistic genius and I don't know if my German will ever get much better than it now is. My mother lived in Germany for only 2 years and speaks German much better than I ever will.

I am not a computer programmer or a highly paid consultant jetting off from one country to the next. I am unemployed and desperately hopign that will change. My husband has a modestly paying job. He has a great job actually - intellectually stimulating, in a position where one is always building on one's knowlege and where the regulatory aspects of the job are still very much in touch with the science - but we will never be wealthy. The tax structure has changed, and we're a couple of years too late to get any support from the state for buying our own place. I worry that we might never be able to do it.

I don't teach English.

I am not pregnant. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!!!)

I do not knit, although I tried to learn a few times in my life.

I am not a journalist or author, I am just an Earth/Environemental Scientist trying to get a job.

I am Catholic, not raised Catholic or recovering Catholic or Catholic, but. . . I don't always go to church. I am not a good Catholic, but I generally believe what the Church teaches. - - - I have oodles of friends who are atheists, friends who are Muslim, a friend who is rediscovering her LDS faith and a friend or two who is Catholic, but those folks aren't here and there is way too much "religous person = book burner" attitude online.

I have tried to meet some expats here in town, but let me tell you, when someone introduces themselves as follows. . .
"My name is Joe. I am from California and I am living here in Germany because I am afraid of my governement . . . blah blah blah and they are the equivalent of the Nazis etc." - you get the picture.
. . . I just don't feel like there is any hope of really communicating with this person.

Do these people have any clue how offensive that is? I grew up in NJ. We have neighbors who are Holocaust survivors. I rather doubt they vote Republican (I have no party offiliation) but you can't compare the two without trivializing the suffering of persecuted groups in Europe during the second World War.