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Message board > Expats from all over the world (continued)
Expats from all over the world (continued)
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Mariethe House
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Expats from all over the world (continued)
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Thanks to Julia ,David, psd4fan,Joy and linda/zora(Wow! ) for sharing
their stories about their experience as an expat.
http://www.eslprintables.com/forum/topic.asp?id=29591 If anyone else would like to share with us
something about their experience, please feel free do so here. This is my introduction from the previous link:
SO many natives
here are expatriated. I guess it is quite understandable but I am very curious
to know , when I see all the different places you have chosen to live in, I am
curious to know what made you decide to go there and leave your country.DO you
never regret it? Will you one day go back? what makes you want to go from one
place to another? Lots of questions I ask myself when I see your avatars. How
do you like it? what are the pros and cons?
WOuld you be willilng to share some experiences with us, more sedentary
people?
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26 Jul 2011
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douglas
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Hmmm..why am I an Expat?
I first came to Europe supporting hte armed forces in 1983. After about four years in Germany I married my wife (she �s German). With the exception of about a total of two years, we have lived in Europe since 1983. We �ve lived all over Germany as well as in Greece and Italy. When I took-on a teaching job with the German militray near Hamburg, Germany we moved into a small town in the country. It was a great place for my three children to grow-up and we made good friends here very quickly. After a few years we built our own house here and have decided to stay. About three years ago I got my first ESL job in a town only 5 miles (8km) from my home--life is good.
When I married my wife I knew I was pretty much committing to spending most the rest of my life in Europe and I had no problem with that. I do happen to come from one of the most beautiful and desirable places to live on Earth (California �s Central Coast). So when I go home to visit, I sometimes get that ache--but it is a decision I made and I have a good life here in Germany. If my kids ever decide that they want to pursue their lives in the States, we will probably follow, but i think we would keep our house here (alot of which my father-in-l�w and I built with our own hands).
In the beginning it was a bit hard thninking I was missing out on things with "my" family in the USA (I have a very close family with 5 siblings), but over time I noticed that everyone seemed to get together whenever I flew in with the family evry 3 or 4 years--my siblings have spread out all over the USA now. So I realized I wasn �t missing as much as thought. There are some things that bother me abit like my 16 year old son last seeing my Dad (who died last month) when he was about 6. But the pluses far outway the minuses. We have aclose relationship with my wife �s family who are about 6 hours from us and we have established our own lives here. Besides, I now live less than 10 miles from the site of the worlds largest heavy metal festival: Wacken Open Air (WOA)!! Our "family vacation" this year, just like last year, will be five days at WOA  m/,
I �ve always been one that adapts quickly to my surroundings and can find a comfortable niche whereever I am.
Cheers,
Douglas |
26 Jul 2011
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almaz
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Does anyone else here have a problem with the word �expat �? Don �t get me wrong, I �m as interested as anyone in discovering what makes people move from the comfortably (or, boringly) familiar to the �foreign and different �. I only mention it because, for the second time this week, I �ve had to listen to self-described �expats � who �ve lived in this part of Spain for many years, talking about moving back to the UK because their neighbourhood was being �swamped by immigrants �. The irony was that one of them even had the brass neck to say that the reason she left Engeland (sic) was because it too was being �swamped by immigrants �.
I forbore to state the obvious, made my excuses and left (� News of the World). |
26 Jul 2011
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almaz
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Mariethe, England?
More to the point, since you started the thread: have you ever left France for more than a holiday? When? Why? For how long? How did you feel? If you had the option and the resources now, where in the world would you go?
Oh, and why don �t you like the word �expat �?  |
26 Jul 2011
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Lucia13
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Here goes my story ...
I studied English and Spanish languages at a University in Armenia.After graduating I got acquainte with my husband,of Armenian origin but living in Lebanon(his ancestors were one of those who escape after the Armenian genocide) and moved to Lebanon where we got married.Not knowing Arabic,the only possible job for me was teaching(though never in my life I would imagine or ever had a slight desire to teach at school)so after 2 years I got a job of an English teacher at a local school.Though there are numerous Armenian schools here,it was a little surprising and freightening to get a job at a local school.The first year was awful,everything was new to me,I sat up at nightspreparing lessons and often had breakdowns and depressions.At the end of the year when evth seemed to smmoth down I got pregnant and got a job offer from a prestigious school notwithstanding the fact that I was pregnant and since then I �ve been working there.
What about the social life,my job and my baby relive my homesickness though I suffer a lot from being far away from my family.I don �t seem to enjoy my life here.I feel the half of my heart is in Armenia.Though married to an Armenian,I confronted with drastic changes of lifestyle and traditions an it took me a couple of years to get used to them but not accept them all.
Though I like the people here:very sociable,helpful,hospitable ,I don �t want to talk about the facts because what matters most for me are my feelings and emotions...
Let �s look now at the bright side of it,it was here that I discovered my love to teaching:)and one thing is evident,the longer you leave your country ,the harder is to get back!
With Love,
Lusine(in Armenian) |
26 Jul 2011
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almaz
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Triple gins and tonic all round, old fruit, what! |
26 Jul 2011
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douglas
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I used to not like the term "expat", but have come to terms with it--I never call myself and immigrant though because I maintain my US citizenship.
Here is an interesting definiton form wiki:
In its broadest sense, an expatriate is any person living in a different country from where he or she is a citizen. In common usage, the term is often used in the context of professionals sent abroad by their companies, as opposed to locally hired staff (who can also be foreigners). The differentiation found in common usage usually comes down to socio-economic factors, so skilled professionals working in another country are described as expatriates, whereas a manual labourer who has moved to another country to earn more money might be labelled an �immigrant �. There is no set definition and usage does vary depending on context and individual preferences and prejudices.
(Besides the term was good enough for the old drunk Hemmingway)
Cheers, Douglas |
27 Jul 2011
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Mariethe House
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Thank you Douglas for making things clearer. 
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27 Jul 2011
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I am sooooooooooo sorry! Scotland of course! Why did you leave Scotland? 
