December 2010 The Expat Telegraph published an article I had written called Thoroughly Modern Expats.
For a number of years following I was a regular monthly columist for them.
Reading through the original articles that I submitted recently, I was taken by a) how relevant many of them still are today, and b) I had no online record of them of my own.
So I have added the original submissions to this blog, so if you want to read more of them just search for telegrapharticles, and while you are at it you may want to search for expatarticles as well to see other columns I wrote in the past for various newspapers in Spain.
I have written before (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/8702243/How-I-devoted-my-expat-life-to-helping-Spains-abandoned-animals.html) about the non profit project that we have set up here in Spain to help with the re-homing and transport of abandoned and rescued cats and dogs to Germany and the UK (www.alstrays.com) so I won’t bore you with the details again! Suffice to say that when we decided to base ourselves in Spain (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/8227961/Expat-technology-thoroughly-modern-expats.html) the plan was to find a way of making a living doing something we enjoyed and to make life more meaningful.
One thing our project has helped us achieve is a greater level of integration and socialisation with our new hosts. We deal daily with the local community: rescue centers, animal lovers and our excellent vet. This integration has been crucial not just for the success of the project but for the satisfaction we enjoy from our expat lifestyle. Integration and a good social life are key to a successful expat lifestyle with a HSBC Bank International survey (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/8109569/Settling-in-is-expats-biggest-worry-when-moving-abroad.html) highlighting that 41 per cent of expats said that re-establishing a social life was their biggest concern when moving abroad.
We are lucky, extremely fortunate to have found something that we both care passionately about, and can afford to do on a non profit basis, supported by the blogs that we run and the writing and content that we have contracts to provide.
To be honest it may cost us money each month, but it keeps us out of the bars and cafes and gives us a purpose and structure to our day, something that sadly a lot of expats appear to lack, certainly those that haven’t moved abroad to work full time. No doubt Dr Ben van den Anker would agree (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/8228123/It-takes-two-to-tango-the-importance-of-socialisation-in-expatriate-adjustment.html) as he believes that deliberate socialisation is clearly related to expatriate adjustment and turnover and requires participation of host country nationals, or in other words it takes effort on both sides, with the onus in my view being on the expat to make the first move.
Of course we are not alone in either enjoying our expat lifestyle or having found a way of combining a number of passions to create a new lifestyle. The Post Office ‘Happiness Index’ (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/8371688/Expats-search-for-better-quality-of-life.html) last year claimed that most expats leave the UK looking for a happier life, and find one, with 70% of us apparently regarding ourselves as happy little bunnies, although 66% of us feel under pressure financially, and only 60% feel a greater sense of community
I have been reflecting on this recently as I meet more and more people that are doing something that they are passionate about. In general I would say that those that have ‘something to do’ are a lot happier than those that don’t, and that those that are doing something that they are passionate about are the happiest.
For example Vivienne Wharton who set up the Animal Welfare Support Murcia – AWSM (https://www.facebook.com/groups/AWSMassist/). For her ‘day job’ she runs Tara Casa (www.taracasa.com) a dedicated retreat for relaxation, but in order to support her passion for helping the animals has come up with a creative way of combining her two passions: Dog therapy retreats for you and your dog in Spain (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dog-therapy-Retreats-for-you-and-them-in-Spain/227966867279538), a great combination of pampering both the dog and the owner with a percentage of the price donated to AWSM projects and charities.
Or Karen Considine who has a passion for horses and Southern Anadlucia where she has setup Ride Andalucia (http://www.rideandalucia.com). She puts her success down to listening to the people who have lived in the area for years and understanding their ways of doing things.
“All it takes is being a bit adventurous and a good bump of locality, listening to the people who live and work and understand these mountains rather than trying to bring in ‘the way we do it in Ireland’ and, of course, a lot of hard physical slog on a daily basis clearing trails, exploring new routes off season, looking after the horses and – the part I hate – managing the website, bookings, invoicing and balancing the books!”
A lesson perhaps for many an expat looking to set up a business in their new country Karen is adamant that the success of her business depends on the goodwill, help and advice of local people: Pena Caballista members hire her their horses, the Pena de la Caza clear trails and find new routes, as do the shepherds and arrieros. Local smallholders allow her to cross their land and the local hotels and restaurants despite the ongoing financial crisis in Spain still manage to give her special rates for her groups of riding guests.
Needless to say the ‘passion’ need not be for animals. A neighbour of ours is passionate (or is that obsessive) about golf and over the years has devoted much time to organising competitions and visits to other golf courses for fellow expats. This has evolved into a thriving Friday Golf Society (www.fridaygolfsociety.es) and recently extended even further with a venture into a golf shop Poniente Golf Discount (http://www.ponientegolfdiscount.com/), a far cry from their previous life in the UK.
Of course it isn’t easy to combine your passion with making money as Eye on Spain owner Justin Aldridge, who has a passion from childhood of solving problems, found out when he moved over to Spain in 2004: “We moved over with my new idea, which was to build a website for off plan buyers to follow the progress of their properties being built. It was to be called Eye on Spain (www.eyeonspain.com). The idea for it had come about from our own need for this same service, which didn’t exist at the time. So yet again, I bought myself a book and started learning how to program websites and build databases. Six months in I soon realised that the idea was good but again, I couldn’t sell it to anyone. Hardly anyone was paying for the service. Money was getting burnt at an alarming rate and I couldn’t see how to turn the idea into something that actually made money. At this point I got lucky. I met someone who taught me one thing that was to change the course of my life and the website. I truly believe that an element of luck is always needed to make something happen. Today, Eye on Spain is a successful and profitable business. We lead a great life in Spain but now I’m getting edgy again…I’ve got some new ideas which I want to get going.”
Nor need not living in an expat community hinder you. Guy Bell from Valencia set up a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/thecv35) ‘for something to do’ which has become popular and brought people together in many ways: “We live in a very “Spanish” area and the English and the spanish dont really mix as much as they could, although in general the Spanish are very curious and are keen to the know the Brits. We started a language and culture exchange too, with help from the town hall, which has surpassed all expectations and last month I met the minister for tourism and culture who is very keen on working with us to attract Brits back to the area.” Not to be left out his wife has fired up a passion for genuine Cornish Pasties and English cakes, and the Spanish love them.
Further afield, in Qatar, Victoria Scott (toryscott.wordpress.com) has been busy making a new career for herself after her pilot husband landed a job with Qatar Airways, based on a passion for writing. “I now have a range of magazines I write for here in Doha, covering everything from travel, to food, to music, to business. I’m also the presenter of a radio show on QF Radio featuring the work of the Qatar Philharmonic. Radio is a real passion of mine, and it’s wonderful to have the opportunity to broadcast again, much as I love writing too.” As with many an expat Victoria loves the variety that her passion provides, along with the flexibility of work hours, enabling her to still enjoy the excellent weather, and their little boy who was born in Qatar.
Luck, passion, hard work and an ability to try again if at first you don’t succeed are just some of the ingredients that you need.
Last month I was somewhat pessimistic about what 2012 held in store for many expats (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/8958213/What-2012-holds-in-store-for-expats.html), especially here in Spain. Nothing I have seen so far makes me think any different: unemployment rose again in December to 4.42 million, and Fitch, the credit ratings agency, has cut its Spanish growth forecast for this year to zero from 0.5% following a contraction in the final months of 2011. The low pound continues to add more pressure to those with pensions or rental incomes paid in sterling. Add in falling property prices and it is little wonder that some surveys claim that as many as 75% of expats in Spain want to go home to the UK, although if all surveys were to be believed 70% of us expats are both happy and want to go home!
Going home may seem attractive on the surface, but look a little deeper and ‘frying pan and fire’ come to mind as the UK hovers on the brink of another recession and has the most indebted economy in the world in relation to GDP, if you include private debt.
Doomed if you do, doomed if you don’t then? Not necessarily. Maybe 2012 is the year that expats should show some passion and get involved in something that you really enjoy and believe in. It isn’t my place to tell any expat what they should do, but hand on heart I suspect that not many expats that aren’t working full time can say that they have ticked off all of the goals they set themselves when they moved abroad. With all the issues that we will face in 2012, and the resulting reduction in options, for many to throw yourself into something that you are passionate about and believe in may well be the best thing you can do.
Please feel free to search on Google for the published versions of these columns.