NationStates Jolt Archive

Are you (were you or will you be) an ex-pat? If so...what is your country of origin, and where are you living now? What caused you to become an ex-pat? How long have you been one? What are some of the experiences you've had as a stranger in a strange land?

Are you (were you or will you be) an ex-pat? If so...what is your country of origin, and where are you living now? What caused you to become an ex-pat? How long have you been one? What are some of the experiences you've had as a stranger in a strange land?

I'm originally from the netherlands (and am currently living there again), but I've lived in Saudi Arabia for 8 years: I moved there with my parents and sisters for my dad's job. So i've been living in holland for the past 6 years again, and to tell you the truth, I'm getting bored here. Its good that I moved to a different city last year or else I'd be really really bored. Hopefully within a few years I'll be out of holland again, not sure where to yet, but I'll find something. Experiences? like what sort of experiences, I've had a lot of experiences.

Are you (were you or will you be) an ex-pat? If so...what is your country of origin, and where are you living now? What caused you to become an ex-pat? How long have you been one? What are some of the experiences you've had as a stranger in a strange land?

..currently living in my country of Origin (UK) but i've been an expat in new zealand for 12 months, saudi arabia for 9 months, and australia for 9 years. Dad is in the oil industry - so it was relocation of his job that made us move.

Weirdest thing ever was living in saudi (i was 13) - biggest culture shock for me was having cubicals in MacDonalds - women aren't allowed to be seen eating public, so Macdonalds have cubicals that you have to shut the doors on so that women can take off their head dress and eat with their family.

.. that and a rich arab pilot wanting to buy me off my parents

among other things :)

..currently living in my country of Origin (UK) but i've been an expat in new zealand for 12 months, saudi arabia for 9 months, and australia for 9 years. Dad is in the oil industry - so it was relocation of his job that made us move.

Weirdest thing ever was living in saudi (i was 13) - biggest culture shock for me was having cubicals in MacDonalds - women aren't allowed to be seen eating public, so Macdonalds have cubicals that you have to shut the doors on so that women can take off their head dress and eat with their family.

.. that and a rich arab pilot wanting to buy me off my parents

among other things :)

Where did you live in saudi arabia?
I guess I never really had the culture shock seeing as I moved there when i was a lot younger (3); I moved back and forth a few times between saudi and holland. I guess what i do find sorta funny is that nothing ever seems to change there, except more shopping malls, and at the moment more security.

I'm originally from the netherlands (and am currently living there again), but I've lived in Saudi Arabia for 8 years: I moved there with my parents and sisters for my dad's job. So i've been living in holland for the past 6 years again, and to tell you the truth, I'm getting bored here. Its good that I moved to a different city last year or else I'd be really really bored. Hopefully within a few years I'll be out of holland again, not sure where to yet, but I'll find something. Experiences? like what sort of experiences, I've had a lot of experiences.
How about, difficulties with adjusting to the different culture? I always enjoy those stories:)

Shoutout to my kin still in Bardejov, Slovakia.

http://www.epier.com/store/outpostflags/ItemImages/85_usslovakia.JPG

Ja som Slovensky.

Where did you live in saudi arabia?
I guess I never really had the culture shock seeing as I moved there when i was a lot younger (3); I moved back and forth a few times between saudi and holland. I guess what i do find sorta funny is that nothing ever seems to change there, except more shopping malls, and at the moment more security.

Dharan & Jedah

I got used to it, but it was a very restrictive place to live - at the time we were there, there were tensions in the gulf as well - so security was really high, armed police everywhere, we couldnt leave the compound we lived on without 2 male escorts - they got rid of all the idian gaurds and put arabs on the check point to the compound - needless to say all the home distillaries got confiscated - god the booze out there was leathal (yes i was 13, but i was a very depressesd 13 at the time!)

How about, difficulties with adjusting to the different culture? I always enjoy those stories:)

Well, I have more of those stories from when I came back to the netherlands; the language for one... I went to a british school in saudi, and then when i went to holland for two years (in between in living in saudi) i had to suddenly switch to dutch for primary school... that didn't go so well.... Now I've just finished my first year at uni, its officially all in dutch, but under stress I still don't do so great with dutch so all my exams i did in english:p except for my last one, i managed to do that one in dutch and I was very proud of myself:D

How about, difficulties with adjusting to the different culture? I always enjoy those stories:)

when we moved in New Zealand I was 9... we moved to a part of the north island that was quite poor at the time, and I remember the kids used to walk to school in bare feet even with 3 inches of ice on the ground.

Mum tells this story a lot, but i dont remember it much - apparently they bought me a pair of plimsoles - just $3 shoes from the shop on the high street - and mum came home one day and found me burrying them in the garden, crying my eyes out cuz i got picked on at school just for having shoes!

I'm originally from Germany and have been living in Ireland for three years now. Before that, I was in Montreal for 6 months. Ant I spent most of my childhood between Germany and Austria.

I don't really feel like a stranger so much... there are a few things that seem a bit odd to me, and I'm pretty sure there are a few things the Irish find odd about me, but there was no major culture shock.

Dharan & Jedah

I got used to it, but it was a very restrictive place to live - at the time we were there, there were tensions in the gulf as well - so security was really high, armed police everywhere, we couldnt leave the compound we lived on without 2 male escorts - they got rid of all the idian gaurds and put arabs on the check point to the compound - needless to say all the home distillaries got confiscated - god the booze out there was leathal (yes i was 13, but i was a very depressesd 13 at the time!)

I lived in Dhahran too. I remeber the home distillaries, hehe. My father acutally got offered a job once by someone who worked for the royal family, the job was to import acohol for them :D . To bad he decided not to do it, that would have been interesting. Talking about tensions, we were in saudi when the gulf war was about to start, luckily we got moved back to holland but my dad had to stay.

Wow. I'm half Irish, (Dublinian I believe), and grew up in Manchester.

I lived in Dhahran too. I remeber the home distillaries, hehe. My father acutally got offered a job once by someone who worked for the royal family, the job was to import acohol for them :D . To bad he decided not to do it, that would have been interesting. Talking about tensions, we were in saudi when the gulf war was about to start, luckily we got moved back to holland but my dad had to stay.

what year?.. we were probably on the same compound .. haha

Wow. I'm half Irish, (Dublinian I believe), and grew up in Manchester.

which half? :p

do you still have the accent... i go nuts over an irish accent ... a nice irigh accent - sprial on bb just annoys the shit out me.. but i think it's more to do with his crooked tooth and stupid face

what year?.. we were probably on the same compound .. haha

well, i lived in riyadh too, but that was something like 1990 and a few yaers before that, then in 1992 i lived in the ETE compound ( we also lived in eurovillage compound for a bit) and i think 1993 or 1994 i moved to the alrumaih compound, left in 1996, but came back in 1998 till near end of 2000

Did you go to school there?

well, i lived in riyadh too, but that was something like 1990 and a few yaers before that, then in 1992 i lived in the ETE compound and i think 1993 or 1994 i moved to the alrumaih compound, left in 1996, but came back in 1998 till near end of 2000

We were there... in.. *does the math based on her age*... '94

Did you go to Dharan academy by any chance- british section/american?

which half? :p

do you still have the accent... i go nuts over an irish accent ... a nice irigh accent - sprial on bb just annoys the shit out me.. but i think it's more to do with his crooked tooth and stupid face

No. A "Sloane" accent.

As for BB, Spiral fucks me off almost as much as Cezar did..... not that I watch it at all......:p

Well, I'm not necessarily an ex-pat, but there are some things about wider Canadian society that were very hard to adjust to when we moved off-Reserve. Like, native people introduce themselves and immediately start comparing family members to see how they are related, but most Canadians don't, or don't do that until much later. A typical introduction goes like this:

"I'm Janice Cardinal*."
"Hey, is your mom Phyllis?"
"No, Phyllis is my dad's cousin. Harold and Judy are my parents."
"Harold Cardinal! My grandmother's sister has a great nephew named Harold Cardinal."
"From Saddle Lake?"
"Yes!"
"Cousin!"
:p

*I'm picking names out of a hat.

Did you go to Dharan academy by any chance- british section/american?

I was home schooled.. .mum and dad didnt want to send me to school in bahrain because if anything happened they'd have closed the causeway - noone would get out and no-one would get in. and they weren't happy with any of the alternative schools

it was strange, it was quite lonely, but at the same time i had quite a few american friends that i hung out with

I was home schooled.. .mum and dad didnt want to send me to school in bahrain because if anything happened they'd have closed the causeway - noone would get out and no-one would get in. and they weren't happy with any of the alternative schools

it was strange, it was quite lonely, but at the same time i had quite a few american friends that i hung out with

ahh, yeah, at some point my two older sisters went to the bahrain school, but that was later on. There were definitly always enough other kids in most compounds though :)

ahh, yeah, at some point my two older sisters went to the bahrain school, but that was later on. There were definitly always enough other kids in most compounds though :)

my tan was fab when i came back!.. i used to just hang out in the pool or at the community hall with the other - i remember we put on an xmas grotto for the kids in the december - because traditionally arabs dont celebrate the holiday - but we decorated it and we managed to get hold of santa suit - and i was a 5 ft 6 elf (and i'm not that much taller now than i was then) - it was good fun!

my tan was fab when i came back!.. i used to just hang out in the pool or at the community hall with the other - i remember we put on an xmas grotto for the kids in the december - because traditionally arabs dont celebrate the holiday - but we decorated it and we managed to get hold of santa suit - and i was a 5 ft 6 elf (and i'm not that much taller now than i was then) - it was good fun!

I always liked the christmas things in saudi, i remeber they started pretty early. I was an elf once, but a pretty tall one. At some point my parents somehow managed to get a really big (fake) christmas tree. I also remeber how in Shula mall(don't know if that's how you write it) they were illegally selling christmas things, and everytime the police came by they'd have to hide everything. I do miss the whole-year-round tan, and the nearly-whole-year-round swimming.

I am an ex pat Brit who has been living in Brazil for 8 and a half years now.

I don't remember any particulalry strange events, but then my life in England was not exactly devoid of peculiarities, so perhaps I just don't see them as strange.

Attitudes are a little different, particularly to things like rules and laws. Everyone here seems to think that the rules and laws are great for the others, but an exception should be made for them because - they are a friend of the mayor/member of this football team/studied at that school/grew up in the town - whatever.

What is strange is the reaction that the less educated natives have to a foreigner speaking their language. They are genuinely frightened by this. There is a sort of subservient mindset that tells them that they should speak my language rather than my having to speak their's, but as they don't speak my language they prefer to avoid talking to me if at all possible. (It is either that, or I just scare them anyway. :eek: )

It's your excessive verbage, AB...:p

It's your excessive verbage, AB...:p

Says the woman with 17,000+ posts. ;)

Says the woman with 17,000+ posts. ;)
Some of my posts are one liners. Most of yours are novelettes...were we to do a word by word comparison, factoring in your vacation time, I bet you'd kick my verbal behind:)

Are you (were you or will you be) an ex-pat? If so...what is your country of origin, and where are you living now? What caused you to become an ex-pat? How long have you been one? What are some of the experiences you've had as a stranger in a strange land?

15 years (divided 1 year and 14 years) as a US ex-pat here in the land of Wa (aka Japan).

Why? Good question. I came as an exchange student on a junior year abroad due toi a long interest in Asian things. i enjoyed my time here. I returned to make some money between undergrad and grad school, improve my Japanese, and to fill the sense of incompleteness after my 1st year. At first, I stayed on because I liked the place. Now I stay on because this is as much home as the USA. Afterall, I've spent a significant portion of my life, especially almost all of my adult life, here.

My stories could fill a book...

15 years (divided 1 year and 14 years) as a US ex-pat here in the land of Wa (aka Japan).

Why? Good question. I came as an exchange student on a junior year abroad due toi a long interest in Asian things. i enjoyed my time here. I returned to make some money between undergrad and grad school, improve my Japanese, and to fill the sense of incompleteness after my 1st year. At first, I stayed on because I liked the place. Now I stay on because this is as much home as the USA. Afterall, I've spent a significant portion of my life, especially almost all of my adult life, here.

My stories could fill a book...
What do you do there?

What do you do there?

Mostly I teach ESL. I do an occassional bit of acting as well.

I an originally from Cornwall in England and I now live in Canada. I moved to Canada because, well, it's better than Cornwall -- although, not in every respect.

I'm from Mexico and moved to Canada almost four years ago. For pretty much the same reason as Don Quixote there.

Most shocking thing was the weather, but I adapted fine to it.

Mostly I teach ESL. I do an occassional bit of acting as well.
A regular Jank then, eh?

Just about two years ago I moved to Japan from America as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme and have been attempting to get junior high school kids in a small town in Nagano to learn English, with various amounts of sucess.

Why... Well I've been interested in Japan and learning about it since I was in 2nd grade back in elementary school. My fiancee is also Japanese so it was fair that I spend some time in her country and learn her culture and language as best I can.

After one more year I'll be heading back home for a bit but will be coming back to Japan to raise our kids at least through elementary school.

As for weird experiances... As Daistallia 2104 said, I could fill a book.

What caused you to become an ex-pat?
Parents' midlife crisis.

How long have you been one?
Since September 2001.

What are some of the experiences you've had as a stranger in a strange land?
Oh, there were many. Not that I could identify any worthwhile anecdotes right now.

I'm from Mexico and moved to Canada almost four years ago. For pretty much the same reason as Don Quixote there.

Most shocking thing was the weather, but I adapted fine to it.

I don't get it. If you lived in Mexico, why does it matter that Canada is "better than Cornwall -- although, not in every respect"? :p

A regular Jank then, eh?

Hadn't heard that one before. But if you mean this (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jank):
Jank

(fr. "Japanese" + "Yank") A young leftist American, usually male (but can also be any Westerner of either gender), who travels to Japan for the express purpose of shallow cultural dabbling, inflation of self-worth, and the search for a supposed sexual haven; teaches conversational English because he/she has no other marketable skills.

This morning the train station in Nagoya was crawling with Janks on a summer exchange program.

No, not at all. :upyours:

I don't get it. If you lived in Mexico, why does it matter that Canada is "better than Cornwall -- although, not in every respect"? :p
Well, because Cornwall is better than Mexico, although not in every respect. At least they gave us the "paste."

Are you (were you or will you be) an ex-pat? If so...what is your country of origin, and where are you living now? What caused you to become an ex-pat? How long have you been one? What are some of the experiences you've had as a stranger in a strange land?

born and raised in london till i was 18. spent the last 8 years in spain.
Just prefer spain.
strangest thing (remember i'm from london) total utter strangers saying hello/good evening to you when you walk by. People being helpful, etc.

I think I'm technically an ex-pat.

I came to Dresden, Germany from the US to study. However I only need to come home with one credit to graduate, so I spend most of my time at my internship (somewhat paid) and see classes as an interesting annoyance. I don't live anywhere near the other exchange students (different program).

If you're an english speaking ex-pat in europe, check out Expatica.com. It isn't great but it does offer some useful advice and news bits for ex-pats.