Living
Overseas: Before You Jump
Thinking
About What You Need To Know Before Moving Abroad ~ By Samuel Atlee
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The
Expat’s Guide to Living in Spain - A report on moving to Spain. The
nation that produced the twentieth centuries best artists; including Picasso
and Miro. The backdrop for the novel
The Sun Also Rises by
Ernest Hemingway, the novel about expats that changed our perspective of
the world. Spain is among the quintessential expat destinations. With fine
real estate, excellent food, profound culture, and some of Europe's best
islands and beaches, Spain is an extremely worthy consideration as an expat
destination. This report by Arin Vahanian, eighty pages in length, provides
the details that we need when considering Spain as a destination.
Real Estate, Contacts, Employment, Legal Considerations, Citizenship, all
laid out in a comprehensive easy to read format. An Expat’s Guide
to Living in Spain will save you money, answer your questions, and prepare
you to live in Spain. Available
online in eBook form: An Expat’s Guide to Living in Spain - Click
Here to learn more - |
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| If
you’re contemplating a permanent move outside the United States, likely
you already have business or professional involvements that are drawing
you away to your future home. You may have already picked out a nifty place
to live. In your mind, you may be imagining a sun-drenched life of increased
leisure, lower taxes, and greater affluence.
Still, before
you take the plunge, its worth contemplating ahead of time the potential
downsides to your new adventure. What if, long term, you find that your
new neighbors are aggravating, service at the dry cleaners is too slow,
or that the service at your bank is either unfriendly or downright mystifying?
All too often, people make the jump without thinking of what they’re giving
up day to day. And it may be those things that torpedo your adventure,
particularly if a spouse or children are involved.
First, living
away from the U.S. takes you out of context. You’re removed culturally
from the ebb and flow of a familiar life. Of course, for some people that’s
precisely why they want to move, and it’s an additional inducement for
putting roots down elsewhere. For others, distancing oneself from family,
friends, football, and the movies comes as a bad surprise. And if these
things aren’t available in your new home, you may find yourself turning
on the local culture. What it lacks may have attracted you in the first
place, but are there other new things to sustain you? |
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overseas make sure to investigate what is available in the way of health
care, banking, entertainment and education. Then you can lay back and enjoy
the view. |
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Of course,
with satellite television and the Internet, this situation is a lot better
than it used to be, and maintaining contact with your U.S. interests is
a whole lot easier. Still, think about the way you spend your time at home,
then translate it into your new environment. How much will you miss? In
what ways does your new home duplicate that lifestyle or improve it?
Remember, the
U.S. is superb at two things -- health care and secondary education-- and
if you move offshore you’ll be leaving these behind. Unless you have college-age
children this may not be a big worry, particularly if you maintain your
U.S. citizenship. If you don’t, gaining access to U.S. universities can
be a problem.
Following the
New York terrorist attacks the INS has clamped down on foreign students,
and many U.S. colleges and universities that routinely catered to foreigners
are seeing this educational market dry up. The simple reason is that students
can’t get visas, or that getting visas has turned into a time-consuming
process, so keep that in mind.
There’s no
denying that health care in the U.S. is the best in the world. Your new
home may seem fine from a distance, but how will it be when you get sick?
If you have an existing medical condition, check out the local physicians
and facilities to make sure they can care for you when you need them. What
about dentists, eye care, and insurance? Before you leave, you have to
make sure that these are all in order.
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| Singapore:
Most efficient place In Asia to do business. One of the world's great airlines
takes you out and in. But no chewing gum! |
| China:
If you're not Chinese, you're going to need a Chinese to help you. It's
not just the language. Local regulations and business practices are idiosyncratic
at best. |
| Japan:
Prepare
to bow, and bow again. Formality plays a major role in every business encounter.
Old relationships are best -- which is why the Japanese are slow to change. |
| Korea:
Newbys to the Korean Peninsula remark that Koreans look like angry Japanese.
They're among Asia's most aggressive businessmen, and some of the toughest
negotiators. |
| Thailand:
All
goes well, if slowly, in the Land of Smiles. Remember: the King is a revered
figure here, and you can't poke fun as you can with the English! |
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Hong
Kong: Settling In
Much of the
above would have been helpful for me to know before I moved with my family
to Hong Kong. Of course, if your new home is a place much frequented by
expatriates, as Hong Kong is, chances are that someone from the American
Chamber of Commerce has already written a book for newbys just like you.
These hands-on guides are invaluable: they provide tips on everything from
grocery shopping to how to get a driver’s license. Tips on schools and
how to hire a maid. Where to get tennis lessons and where to buy a carpet.
How to bargain in the markets with the Chinese .
Most Americans
end up overseas for business, and little in their domestic working life
will have prepared them for what they’ll find. Certainly that was the case
with me; I’d been in the Peace Corps in North Africa, but aside from that
my world experience was restricted to tourist trips to Europe. So I had
no real knowledge of what a regional job in Hong Kong might be like, or
of the business practices I’d discover.
Before he left,
the man I followed into my post took me on a two-week trip through Asia
to help me find that out. In quick order we went to Japan, Taiwan, and
Korea; the week following, we hit the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
Needless to say, in each place business was conducted very differently.
The work ethic was as varied as the food. So was their degree of interest
in our business.
If I thought
I saw a new commercial opportunity, I kept things to myself, which was
wise. Of course, I wanted to do things my way in my new job, but I had
the good sense to wait before implementing a new strategy -- you have to
know the ropes to avoid disaster. China was impenetrable, Taiwan friendly
but reluctant. The Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand were sunny but slow.
Singapore was efficient. In Hong Kong, anything was possible. |
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Before moving
I thought I should learn Cantonese, but since everyone in my office spoke
English, this would have been a waste; at any rate, I spent two weeks out
of every five on the road, and I couldn’t learn six languages.
As for my family,
initially they loved it. Then excitement gave way to the everyday -- school
and athletics, videos and weekend shopping trips to the mall. Living overseas
is less hard on the children, because they adjust so quickly; it’s probably
hardest on the wife. After all, she has to figure out how things really
work, while you’re away, protected inside the cocoon of your office. Pay
attention to her. Keep things light. Remember, the adventure is for all
of you.
Here’s a handy
rule of thumb when you move: after six months overseas, you know just enough
to be dangerous. After a year you’ll begin to get a handle. After three
you’ll know your way around. Too, you’ll likely know if you hate or love
the place, and if you can stick it out, if you’re lucky, you and your family
will still be charmed, and your adventure will continue!
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| SAMUEL
ATLEE attended Duke University and the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop,
where he was a Teaching-Writing Fellow. He was a Peace Corps volunteer
in Tunisia and worked in Hong Kong for The Wall Street Journal. His stories
have been widely published in literary magazines, and he has received a
grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. To see his new collection
of short-stories -
Click
Here - |
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