Australian Family Loves Strongsville, but 'It's Time to Go Home'

When a business deal brought the Armstrong family to Strongsville from Australia five years ago, they weren't sure they wanted to live here.

Now, they're not sure they want to go back.

"It's bittersweet," said Sarah, 18, a recent graduate of Strongsville High School.

The Huntington Park Drive family is in the process of  so they can move back to their native Australia. 

"We love it here," mom Wendy said. "We're going home with extremely mixed emotions."

Say that Again?

True, it was a bit of culture shock when Zack Armstrong, who works in nuclear technology, struck a deal with an American firm that required him to move to the United States.

"It didn't really hit you till you came here how lonely you were," Sarah said. "You had no family around you and no friends."

And, of course, there was the language barrier, they laughingly say.

"We say we speak three languages -- English, American and Australian," Wendy said.

"It's not just the pronunciation -- it's the meaning of things," Zack added.

It's still difficult for Wendy to remember to say "ketchup" -- back home, they call it "tomato sauce." They put "petrol" in their cars and cook with "gas."

The biggest translation problem? The letter "A." 

"Whenever I say our name, Armstrong, I see people start to write down 'I,'" Wendy said.

Lachlan, 18, Wendy and Zack all have serious Aussie accents, while it would be difficult to tell Sarah didn't grow up in Strongsville.

"I think it's because I talk more," she admitted. "And I got tired of people always saying 'what?' when I talked."

Another big difference between the two countries: a sense of community.

Back home, you might know your neighbor on either side. "Here, everyone knows everyone on this street, and the next street," Wendy said.

Time to Go Home

They're heading home now for a variety of reasons. For one, now that they're adults, Sarah and Lachlan would have to get their own visas, and going to college while here on a visa is prohibitively expensive.

"We've got no real future here," Sarah said.

Zack no longer works for the company that brought him here. And the family left their two oldest sons, then 21 and 23, in Australia when they came here.

Once they get home, both the teens plan to go to college, although they said there is far less pressure to graduate high school and move directly into a four-year university program -- most kids take a "gap year" where they work or travel.

They won't be able to take much furniture with them, or their sports cars. They don't have a home yet in Australia, although Zack is talking about looking into living on a boat for awhile.

Wendy jokes they'll have to have a very big house to fit all the Americans who say they're coming to visit. 

They'll miss both Strongsville and the U.S., they said.

"It's been an awesome experience," Wendy said. "But it's time to go home."