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 been introducing myself as an expat for nearly ten years now and while I am not surprised to find myself an expat, I would never have predicted I would end up in Spain. Ever since I first lived abroad as a student back in the early ’80’s when I studied in America, I have always felt that one day the expat lifestyle would be mine permanently. butt at no point did I ever think it would be Spain: America, Canada and Australia all cropped up as options with varying levels of probability during a career most notable for it’s variation and lack of stability.
That we settled in Spain was an accident really, albeit a happy one, and rather as the best parties tend to be the unplanned ones, our eventual move to Spain has turned out well. Our journey down the slippery path to being an expat at the time seemed unique, but with hindsight was really nothing special: work meant we travelled a lot so didn’t really have an entrenched base in the UK to leave behind, we started off living in Spain on a 50/50 basis splitting our time between the UK and Spain, then we ‘based ourselves’ in Spain and I would take contracts as and where they cropped up which for a time meant we were 50/50 between the USA and Spain, then we decided to ‘pack it all in’, ‘take some time out’ and make Spain our home for the foreseeable future, and then we were adopted by four cats!
We are pretty typical as expats go and in my experience expats fall broadly into two categories: those that are expats through work related moves, and those that aren’t. Of those that aren’t retired people understandably make up the largest percentage, with an increasing number being those that have retired early (not always through choice), and those that have done well enough to sell up and move abroad to ‘enjoy life’. Of the rest: ‘looking for work’, ‘escaping the rat race’, and ‘wanting a fresh challenge’ seem to the most popular reasons. Then of course over here in Spain we have the Costa del Crime, but best not go there: literally or literarily.
In my view those that are expats through their career i.e. posted overseas, and those that have retired at a normal retirement age, lets say 65 for now although for how long that will be the age is anyone’s guess these days, are the lucky ones. By that I mean that they only really have one variable in their life as they are doing what they would be doing anyway, only in a different country. For them life is pretty much mapped out. They are going to carry on working until they retire, or they are retired. The rest of us have this void of no mans land stretching ahead of us, and time for the expat can be a double edged sword for sure.
Ironically expats have a tendency to consider themselves pioneers, but in reality the majority of us are just followers, and for many where we end up is more often as much a case of where it isn’t as where it is: “I knew I didn’t want to live in the UK, came across this place, liked it, and thought I would be happy living here” ……… oh for a € for every time I had heard that line. “We wanted to live in a foreign country, learn the culture, experience a new way of life” all said from within the comfort of the local British Pub; I would be seriously rich by now on those €’s.
I would also like a € for every expat that I have spoken to who after the initial shine has worn of their new lifestyle is bored, frustrated, drinking too much, spending too much time with ‘other Brits’, or running out of money. More often than not this occurs during the third year of living as an expat, especially for those that have done well enough to sell up and move abroad to ‘enjoy life’. It happened to me with my own blog Almerimar Life and I have spoken to a number of people recently who hadn’t realised it had been three years, but upon reflection all agreed that they too had fallen prey to the Expat’s Three Year Syndrome.
A number of people I have spoken to decided that after three years their golf handicap weren’t going to get any better, and playing the same course for the next thirty years didn’t hold as much interest as they had envisaged. A common comment heard across the expat communities of the world is “in reality I was too young not to be doing nothing, I needed to be using my brain”.
As an expat after three years I reckon one of three things will happen to you:
1. If you are lucky you will go back to work, start a new hobby, or get involved in charity work.
2. If you are unlucky you will return home, your expat adventure report card nothing more than a “could have done better”.
3. If you are really unlucky nothing will change and you will become an established part of the bitter and twisted expat club, to be found daily dispensing advice to anyone that will listen (and cough up the cost of a glass or two) on where it all went wrong and what they should do to avoid the same mistakes.
All of which can be prevented by finding something to do. Call it a hobby, a pastime, or whatever you want, but doing something that provides an interest, keeps the brain ticking over, introduces you to new people, places and pastimes should not be underestimated by the expat.
Of course it doesn’t have to be a hobby. An increasing number of expats are looking to go back to work, partly it must be said to replenish dwindling accounts effected by the exchange rates and collapse of the holiday rental market, but in most cases the reason given is simply that they are bored. I know of someone that is applying for jobs in the UK and if successful plans to commute each week, staying with friends in the UK during the week and flying back to her husband and children at weekends. On the salary they are expecting they are not going to make much money each month, but the motivator isn’t money, it is having something to do that uses their brain, challenges them, and provides variety each day.
For the majority of expats though finding an interest will suffice and if you are stuck for ideas on what to do check out the Expat Blog Forum to see what other expats are doing to fill their time. Photography and writing are two popular, and obvious, hobbies, both of which I recommend fully as if nothing else they help you see the ‘day to day’ from a different perspective and make you more alert to the goings on around you. A dmartin36 said “now that I”m re-entering expat life, I’m looking forward to picking up needle-pointing again”, and a dpshaer interestingly said “biggest hobby as you’ve probably noticed from the article I posted is playing in and overseeing the development of the Essex Arrows Baseball Club” which seems a great example of integrating cultures, and goes a long way to explaining why there might well be a Little League in Waltham Abbey by now!
If photography appeals then you could do worse then look at Craig Ferguson’s site Craig Ferguson Images for some great photographs and an example of how it is possible to combine the expat lifestyle, with a hobby, and make money out of it. For those wanting to write then a blog is perfect, and a great place to start is by setting up a blog on MyTelegraph, or maybe you feel that you have a book inside you (apparently we all do) in which case Jo Parfitt a ‘veteran’ of the Expat Lifestyle offers sound advice, and useful services, on how to write your life stories.
Another option is to do what Robin Pascoe has done and turn your expat experiences into a business. Her Expat Expert site includes her books, video lectures and chat groups which she has developed since 1998.
If it helps think of the expats The Three Year Syndrome along the lines of The Seven Year Itch made famous by Marilyn Monroe, not to bad if it happens to someone else, but best avoided, and easily prevented by learning from the experiences of others and keeping your mind and body active.
Please feel free to search on Google for the published versions of these columns.