That
bold decision we made when you finally decide after some struggling and hefty experience
to cross the boundaries of our country and move abroad to work, when you
eventually pack your entire life into two
suitcases and fly, for don’t know how long.
While everyone has their own part of
struggles and difficulties moving into an entirely different country overseas
and beginning to work abroad, but on the long run, the experience tends to be a
great positive experience in life.
So when you start working abroad, as an
expat, you come across a lot of assumptions and misconceptions that people have
about you and your lifestyle from back home and then you also deal with a lot
of questions that people make from home as well as from your new country about
your home country. Well, if you’re working somewhere abroad and living overseas,
you can totally relate to the 15 things below:
1. We do not just
learn and adapt to new cultures easily
People
assume that after moving abroad for work, we suddenly develop new language
skills and just automatically get adjusted to the new culture of the new
country. Well, it happens slowly and indeed it is kind of a struggle. Going to
the first grocery shop, the first day at work, talking to the locals and having
so much misconceptions about them and also feeling like you know nothing about
the new country and yes, getting lost in places trying to commute around is a
struggle. It takes quite some time to learn and adjust to the new lifestyle of
the new country and doesn’t happen instantly.
2. We aren’t the ‘Lucky Ones’ or the ‘Blessed Ones’
Getting a job abroad and working there doesn’t
make us the lucky ones and this has nothing to do with luck. Yes, having the privilege
to work abroad may mean a new and better lifestyle and of course our Instagram and
Facebook feed may appear really amusing but after all that comes a lot of hard work.
Getting a job abroad isn’t about luck but behind all that is all the hard work
we did, hunting for the job, all the paper works and all the running around we did
to finally secure the job and then move to the new country.
Yes, anyone can get a job abroad and one
doesn’t have to be lucky to get one. All one needs is hard work, persistence
and belief in oneself.
3. We miss our friends back home and it is hard to keep in touch
Moving
abroad and working overseas open the door for us to meet a lot of new people
and make new friends as an adult but friends back home with whom you spent so
many years and actually grew up with are different. Whenever we scroll down our
Facebook feed and see their pictures and updates, we miss them. It feels bad to
miss a friend getting married back home or not having to attend that birthday
party where all the friends attended except you. Though the internet has made
it easy to keep in touch, it is still hard when you’re in a completely
different country with a new job and surrounded by new people.
4. We didn’t make an impulsive decision
A lot of people think that expats working
abroad make impulsive decision of moving abroad and working suddenly. Apparently,
most of us didn’t suddenly decide to move abroad for work, packed our clothes
and headed to the airport to travel. A lot of time was spent in planning,
decision making, paper works and the struggling for securing a good job.
5. We feel low sometimes too
Another shocker – we have bad days as well and
sometimes we even get bored. Moving abroad may mean seeing new places and
having different experiences but it is not always rainbows and butterflies.
We also have days when we feel low.
Sometimes you just feel bored and wanna stay in the bed in a weekend doing
nothing. We have times when we feel like going back home. We have those low
moody days as well. I personally have experienced that when I tell my friend I
am really bored and I am just in bed the entire day, they ask me how I can
actually be bored living in New Zealand.
6. We don’t instantly blend with the locals
Moving to a new country and living as an adult
expat isn’t such an easy initial experience. We don’t just walk into a bar and
start instant conversations with locals. Especially if you work in a non-English
speaking country, that could even be more difficult. We spend a lot of time and
experiences learning new ways of life and local cultures and then that makes it
easier to blend with the locals which is a process that doesn’t happen in an
instant.
7. We sometimes feel really lonely
There are days you just feel very lonely. Yes,
living and working abroad is exciting, challenging and very positive but as
humans with emotions, there are days when we feel very lonely and suddenly
start missing home. There are times when we feel no one understands you. It is
a natural human process of adapting and we feel it too.
8. New Places and New Challenges
Moving into new place comes with a lot of new
challenges. Even a simple task like going to the grocery store to pick up some
food can be a big challenge. I still remember when I first moved to Oman and
went to the super market to get some food, I was really confused. I had no idea
about what brands were available, new brands I wasn’t familiar with, getting
used to the currency, dealing with locals who couldn’t speak English and didn’t
actually know whether the products were actually cheaper and expensive.
And yes, of course challenges come when you
have to go around the neighbourhood. Wanna go pick up some Chinese food? Where?
And the bakery? Where is the pharmacy? How do I go to the mall? These are
little but quite a challenge when expats move to a new country and we all have
to deal with it initially.
9. We do get ill and being sick abroad is so much worse than
being sick at home.
Being sick sucks but falling sick abroad means
it sucks ten times more than being sick at home. Yes, there is no family to
take care of you and then you’ve got to go to the doctor who has an entirely
different way of treating patients and then dealing with the insurance if you
have one. Medical facilities are strict abroad so getting pills for a common
cold also would require you to go to a doctor and then have a proper checkup
and then get a prescription to get your medicine. So next time your friend tell
you he is sick, please don’t ask him, how it is possible for him to catch cold
while living in such a hot place!
10. It is so hard when our close ones are sick or in trouble
back home
You know what being desperately worried is?
When you get a call that someone close back home is sick or in trouble and then
there you are, so far away from home and can do nothing about it than just
worry.
11. We learn to value the little things in life
If you
ask anyone of us who have been living abroad how our experience have been, we
wouldn’t talk about that fancy restaurant we went or the cool beach we visited
mostly. As an experience here, we learn how to enjoy and value the small things
in life. We would probably talk about the new languages and words we’ve learnt,
and how we met interesting people abroad and what inspiring people we’ve met.
We start valuing experiences than substances and we talk about those life
changing little experiences more.
12. Birthdays are not that exciting
Working
abroad means your birthdays are not that exciting. Maybe a phone call from home
and reading birthday messages in Facebook and then you’re back to your same
busy day of your everyday life. Maybe you could go for dinner or a small party
with friends on your birthday abroad but it is nothing compared to those feast
you had with friends and family back home.
13. We actually don’t know when you are coming home exactly
Yes, we
miss home and we want to be home on holidays, events, family gatherings but we
can’t control everything. A lot of friends and family from back home may ask
you if you’re coming home soon or for an event or festival and there is nothing
you can do or say. When you live and work abroad, it is not possible to get a
leave on the very special time you want to. Plus travel expenses too can get
higher and it could be hard to just fly back home anytime you want to.
14. We may not have plan to move back home.
A lot of
people from back home may ask you so when are you planning to move back home?
I mean
we move into a new country, get adjusted to new cultures and finally start
having control over the flow of life and then we just can’t move back home in a
year. Once we move abroad, we start building a life there, making friends, getting
a proper lifestyle and blending with the new cultures so after all the hard work
we’ve put, when we start to grow in our work life, it is quite hard a decision
to make to just move back home.
15. Yes, we change.
Yes, we
change once we start living and working overseas and that’s a positive change
most of us have making a better version of oneselves. You grow up into a
stronger, more mature, independent and open-minded person. You learn about new
cultures, social life and rules and actually even have a little reverse
cultural shock when you come back home.
Most of
the time when you return back home, you return as a better person than what you
were when you left. You grow up into an individual who have had a bunch of
great experiences and now with lot of amazing stories to share and have had
made great connection from people around the world.
So if
you ever get a chance to move abroad, live and work and that’s what you really
want too as well, yes go grab it!
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Nice realizations....
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