Reflections on personal experience.

One of the most exciting and enriching experiences a person can have is that of living abroad. Whether one spends a year away or many, living abroad is the first opportunity one has to stand on the outside of one’s country and look in, to compare cultures, procedures, mentalities, etc. We in the USA do very little REAL travelling abroad, much less living, and this bent toward isolation is probably detrimental to us in the long run. Living abroad, however, works better when it is a choice and not an obligation. I know of several cases in which a few people(victims?) were persuaded by others that the solutions to their domestic problems lay in living abroad. In these cases, it was the wrong advice. These people were, for the most part, like fish out of the bowl and overall, everything went wrong and only a few things right. Here, we come to one of life’s most important truths, but one many, many people have a hell of a time learning: Every thing is not for everybody!

What country and what part of the world should one choose? Here, personal interests and/or curiosity enter the picture. Additionally, one need not think in terms of a single country but two or three. It is easier, of course, to get in and out of a “Western World” or “Christian” country since these usually share our sense of values. Also, a country traditionally and firmly considered a political ally is an option, such as Japan. Even it is fairly “westernized.”

After choosing several candidate countries, one should do research as extensively as possible on these countries. Contact with the embassies needs to be made in order to find out the degree of difficulty in getting a visa or permit to work. What kind of work is available? Which professions and/or occupations are needed most? How do the answers to these questions tie in with your profession or occupation? Many of the long-term or permanent expats(The term doesn’t necessarily mean unpatriotic!) in any given country usually married foreigners or “locals” and, as a result, enjoy the privilege of having TWO countries in which to live.

One of the countries might be more favorable than the other due to factors such as jobs, lifestyle, cultural interests(art in Italy, etc.), pace of living, climate, the couple’s ages, etc. One who is ambitious in a material sense is unlikely to go and spend five to ten years in a country that pays poor wages, yet the same country might be appropriate for the person who is ambitious to achieve greater depth in culture, academics, spirituality, languages, etc.

What kind of people live in a specific country? Basically, the kind one looks for. Every country in the world has prisons and jails just as each has charitable organizations, churches, schools, etc. “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” so to speak. I live in a country in which half the world probably visualizes us as swaying and/or staggering along on the downtown sidewalks due to the effects of drug-taking or whatever, yet I can say that over the many years that I have lived here I’ve never seen a drug incident up close and hardly expect to. On the other hand, my dear wife went to live in the planet’s richest country and wound up marrying one of its poorer citizens! Again, what kind of people live in a specific country? Again, the kind one looks for. How am I going to be treated in a foreign country? Largely, the way you treat others. Should I change my life and go lilve in a foreign country if I have a reasonably-strong urge to do so? By all means, at least for a year or two. Don’t grow old and have that “I wonder what such-and-such experience would have been like?” question whack you in your siesta chair. Remember from the movie, “carpe diem?” Well, I say not only carpe diem, but carpe vita as well. Bon Voyage!