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Beijing last year. I lasted a month. The pollution was absolutely ungodly.
We quickly learned to make sure all the windows were closed and locked by 10 PM, because after 10 some kind of horrible gassy cloud of ash and soot descended on the neighborhood. Visibility was reduced to a few meters. It was hell on earth.
No amount of love or money could get me back to Beijing.
In fact I believe that today is exactly the day of the first anniversary of our escape from Beijing.
Your electricity went out a year ago? Weird. That stopped happening a while ago to everyone else I knew of.
I dunno how long ago you lived in Beijing, but that certainly is a far cry from what it's like today.
Oh I got it, you had crummy wiring...
And the pollution in most Chinese cities is indeed horrid. Quite possibly the worst part about living there.
At one place I lived in China, an answer to a leaky sink was to put a hole in the floor. Luckily that wasn't needed.
That being said, I loved living in China. I could see going back for a time.
Like I was saying. Do research. Everyone will have different opinions. Make sure you have an idea of what you want out of a place.
Although really, if you're flexible and open-minded you'll have a good time most places.
I have lived "abroad" pretty much all my life and I love it. I have been in the UK for over 20 years, then I spent 3 years in the US, then Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Tahiti, Italy, New Caledonia, South America, Denmark,North Africa etc... I only spent 4 years of my 41 years on earth in France which is "my" country and I can't say I feel traumatised in any way.
As a kid I used to be a bit fed up with moving schools every few months but otherwise I did and still do relish all the new adventures, cultures, languages etc... I got to do things most people will never be lucky to do and have experienced different cultures first hand not just as a tourist.
Some places I loved, some I hated but all of them taught me something and even the bad experiences have served me well in life.
After 20 years in the UK I am still baffled by certain aspects of life/society ( like binge drinking ) and some things irritate the hell out of me but on the other hand I find that about France and any other country for that matter.
I has taught me to be more independent, a lot less "proud" of any Nationality, and more respectful and understanding of other people.
When you live abroad ( and travel a lot) you start to realise that people though very different are also linked by a great chain of common human experiences and humanity and it makes you a lot more humble about where you come from . For me anyway.
I am a nomad at heart and wish I could move on all the time. I am experiencing seriously "itchy feet" at the moment and if my fiance could get a job anywhere else in the job easily I would be packed within a day , ready and raring to go...
I do not like being in one place for too long, it makes you complacent and less appreciative of your surroundings I feel.
My idea of heaven would to be able to spend 3/4 years in a place then move on to the next.
Living abroad is exciting, enriching and a great deal of fun. It can be difficult to adjust to certain cultures and environments but certainly worth the try. The world is way too be big and varied to constrain yourself to only one tiny part of it.
I never feel very French at all , not do I feel British or anything else. I am just me and for that I thank my father for dragging me around the world and giving me a love of "otherness".
I am at my most French when food is concerned , but apart from that I love many aspects of France and many others bug the hell out of me. I have no problem acknowledging any shortcomings from the Nation I was born in. As far as I am concerned Nationality is an accident of birth and babies become what we and their environment embues into them.
ALL countries have their upsides and downsides. There are no "best" /"worst" . it is just so subjective.
If I won the lottery tomorrow ( if I started to play that is ! ) there would be no huge mansions, no expensive cars, no diamonds , no private jets for me. Simply travel and live abroad until I dropped !
Great post, Mooseketeer. You hit the nail on the head for me.
Well, I can't really say it any better than that. I don't think you realise how fluid your concept of identity is until you immerse yourself in other cultures. You realise strongly how an accident of birth is just that and how quickly you can adapt to 'new' ways of doing and seeing things - if you let yourself. I see plenty of people resisting adaptation...'but it's not like home', it's natural and most of us will do it at first, but once you accept the differences and let them go you can see new possibilities opening up all around you.
You also learn to appreciate what you have at home, but 'home' will never be the same again. Like they say, for some ignorance is bliss, and for some not knowing the world outside their own is fine. But once you do, you'll look at where you come from in a new light.
BTW - when people who have lived in Beijing comment on how clean the air in in Hong Kong, I'm always amazed!! Say what?? Beijing's air is awful and air pollution can be truly debilitating.
If you've got the opportunity to live overseas, even for 6 months, you'd be crazy not to take it.
I was born in Australia, lived in Canada, now back in Oz for 10 years but wanting to go live someplace else again, back to Canada very likely, just a different city. I'd love to live in the US for some time. I've been there countless times and loved it. I would live in Italy for a few years too.
Last edited by Vichel; 03-17-2009 at 11:02 PM..
Reason: forgot something
I actually have lived abroad outside of the US before. The thing is though I don't remember much about the experience because I was so young. I was just born outside of the US before moving here, that's how I did it, that's how it turned out for me. I really think living abroad is a very good idea because it is one of life's best learning experiences.
Yes if your young without commitments, it is something i would recommend every one do. It gives you an entirly different view of the world and its cultures, it gives you an appreciation of what is good and bad about your own country and more open to ideas and change.
If you older with children however i dont think it would be worth the effort, unless you are living in poverty.
For the record my 5 years abroad consited around 2.5 years travelling, and for the remaining time i worked in london, Munich and Seoul (South Korea) where i also found my future wife
Last edited by danielsa1775; 04-13-2010 at 05:54 PM..
Has anyone lived abroad for a considerable time and tell me their experience? I have no idea what it would be like.
Even though this question seems to come up rather frequently in one form or another, I am always hooked by it. I think it must be because the experience has been so mind-bending that I find it difficult to believe it is really my experience.
I have lived in southern Europe for about eleven years now. I always felt that I was a finicky, just-so personality type - anal compulsive and very cautious; and while I think that was true, somehow all the pain-in-the-*ss stuff that others have mentioned has proved to be dealable.
No doubt this was helped to a great degree by the fact that I have lived in what one might call "second world" countries rather than ones with widespread abject poverty and truly abysmal infrastructure. I emigrated by myself...but, that actually may have been a plus: there was no one to whine to and I had to get things done myself or fall on my face.
I had lived in the middle of Manhattan for forty years, and while not at all wealthy, I was certainly used to merely wishing for something to have it instantly be there. Fortunately, I was thoroughly prepared to be freaked out when I left the U.S. and to have everything from getting a cup of coffee to getting car be completely different and difficult.
No, you cannot walk on the sidewalk, because this is the only place to park a car; yes, it took two years to get the widows in the condo to agree to fix the leaking roof, and two more to get it done right; yes, the sea gulls will walk into the apartment if you leave the balcony door open - its a fishing town (seagulls, by the way are feathered, sabre-toothed flying rats); yes, there is another form to fill out even after I have filled out the "final" form; no, no one believes in God, but, yes, we observe many religious holidays; no, the hot water heaters don't always work in summer because the water pressure is low and they ignite by water pressure - it's summer cold water is not that cold; yes, the garbage collector has to sing at 6 a.m.; yes, it really was necessary to close every single public parking lot in town for the same two-year period to build parking garages; no, they are not going frame the hole that is a short-cut through the city walls with a supporting arch, it has been just a hole for hundreds of years and it's doing its job...okay, so once in awhile another huge chunk of stone drops out of it.....etc.
But I did not go nuts, my expectations changed, my lifestyle changed...and I became happier than I had been in many years. And I have never once missed anything about the U.S., even though many, many things in the countries I have lived in don't measure up to standards expected in the U.S. I think at this point, I have come to the conclusion that as an American I needed far, far too much coddling in order to be happy.
I think as a result of living abroad I have ended up being much less of who I used to be.
Except for one year, I have always lived in neighborhoods that had no or very few non-native residents. The one year that I found myself living surrounded by other English-speaking foreigners was enough, I sold my place and moved. These are the "other foreigners" in my mind: they always refer to themselves as "expats" no matter how long they have lived abroad, they create a life and lifestyle that revolves almost totally around other such "expats," one of their favorite activities is endlessly discussing how the country could and should be changed to suit them better, and they are always talking about "home," etc., etc., etc.
I do not understand why they remain.
Within the last year I returned to the U.S. for the first time since I left. My thought was that being old that it might be wiser to return to the U.S. to go to ground, though I had no other reason whatsoever to leave where I am. I lasted five weeks in America - I could not get comfortable with the place - and I fled back home to Europe.
Has anyone lived abroad for a considerable time and tell me their experience? I have no idea what it would be like.
It really depends on the circumstances. I've lived abroad, and it can be very, very exciting. As other people have pointed out, it broadens your horizons and puts a lot of aspects of the American life in perspective. In fact, depending on where you are, after a while, you may not want to come back!
But there are a few things you should keep in mind.
First, there are vast differences between countries. European countries are cosmopolitan and tend to allow you to integrate, at least partially, in their societies. On the other hand, there are countries like the Emirates or Saudi Arabia, where expatriates basically live in bubbles and experience virtually no interaction with locals. I had a friend in college who spent 15 out of her 19 years living in Saudi Arabia -- most if it, inside an American compound. She did not speak a word of Arabic and did not befriend a single Saudi while living there -- and based on what she told me, that's true of the overwhelming majority of expatriates.
Second, there is the question of language, if you are thinking about living in a country that's not English speaking. Even if that country has a very tolerant and open society, there is NO WAY you will truly get a taste of it, unless you acquire at least some basic knowledge of the language. Learning the language is an absolute must for an expatriate.
Third, some people don't take to it well. Although many countries are, as I mentioned, very cosmopolitan, in most of the world, people are more reserved and not nearly as gregarious as Americans. Even if you know the language and local customs perfectly, it's harder to make real friends or to build a support network. At least at first, most of your circle will inevitably consist of other expatriates, either from your own country or others. It takes real effort to integrate in another society. At the same time, going to another country (and I don't mean Canada) means you will find yourself in a place where you likely know no one, and you'll be cut off from your family and friends in a serious way. The initial isolation is intense, and some people -- not the majority, by all means, but some -- are plunged into a profound depression, that's hard to get out of. Of course, people who naturally tend to be reticent do best.
Even though this question seems to come up rather frequently in one form or another, I am always hooked by it. I think it must be because the experience has been so mind-bending that I find it difficult to believe it is really my experience.
I have lived in southern Europe for about eleven years now. I always felt that I was a finicky, just-so personality type - anal compulsive and very cautious; and while I think that was true, somehow all the pain-in-the-*ss stuff that others have mentioned has proved to be dealable.
No doubt this was helped to a great degree by the fact that I have lived in what one might call "second world" countries rather than ones with widespread abject poverty and truly abysmal infrastructure. I emigrated by myself...but, that actually may have been a plus: there was no one to whine to and I had to get things done myself or fall on my face.
I had lived in the middle of Manhattan for forty years, and while not at all wealthy, I was certainly used to merely wishing for something to have it instantly be there. Fortunately, I was thoroughly prepared to be freaked out when I left the U.S. and to have everything from getting a cup of coffee to getting car be completely different and difficult.
No, you cannot walk on the sidewalk, because this is the only place to park a car; yes, it took two years to get the widows in the condo to agree to fix the leaking roof, and two more to get it done right; yes, the sea gulls will walk into the apartment if you leave the balcony door open - its a fishing town (seagulls, by the way are feathered, sabre-toothed flying rats); yes, there is another form to fill out even after I have filled out the "final" form; no, no one believes in God, but, yes, we observe many religious holidays; no, the hot water heaters don't always work in summer because the water pressure is low and they ignite by water pressure - it's summer cold water is not that cold; yes, the garbage collector has to sing at 6 a.m.; yes, it really was necessary to close every single public parking lot in town for the same two-year period to build parking garages; no, they are not going frame the hole that is a short-cut through the city walls with a supporting arch, it has been just a hole for hundreds of years and it's doing its job...okay, so once in awhile another huge chunk of stone drops out of it.....etc.
But I did not go nuts, my expectations changed, my lifestyle changed...and I became happier than I had been in many years. And I have never once missed anything about the U.S., even though many, many things in the countries I have lived in don't measure up to standards expected in the U.S. I think at this point, I have come to the conclusion that as an American I needed far, far too much coddling in order to be happy.
I think as a result of living abroad I have ended up being much less of who I used to be.
Except for one year, I have always lived in neighborhoods that had no or very few non-native residents. The one year that I found myself living surrounded by other English-speaking foreigners was enough, I sold my place and moved. These are the "other foreigners" in my mind: they always refer to themselves as "expats" no matter how long they have lived abroad, they create a life and lifestyle that revolves almost totally around other such "expats," one of their favorite activities is endlessly discussing how the country could and should be changed to suit them better, and they are always talking about "home," etc., etc., etc.
I do not understand why they remain.
Within the last year I returned to the U.S. for the first time since I left. My thought was that being old that it might be wiser to return to the U.S. to go to ground, though I had no other reason whatsoever to leave where I am. I lasted five weeks in America - I could not get comfortable with the place - and I fled back home to Europe.
That's awsome reading! Thanks for sharing your views/experience. Very interesting!
I have lived "abroad" pretty much all my life and I love it. I have been in the UK for over 20 years, then I spent 3 years in the US, then Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Tahiti, Italy, New Caledonia, South America, Denmark,North Africa etc... I only spent 4 years of my 41 years on earth in France which is "my" country and I can't say I feel traumatised in any way.
As a kid I used to be a bit fed up with moving schools every few months but otherwise I did and still do relish all the new adventures, cultures, languages etc... I got to do things most people will never be lucky to do and have experienced different cultures first hand not just as a tourist.
Some places I loved, some I hated but all of them taught me something and even the bad experiences have served me well in life.
After 20 years in the UK I am still baffled by certain aspects of life/society ( like binge drinking ) and some things irritate the hell out of me but on the other hand I find that about France and any other country for that matter.
I has taught me to be more independent, a lot less "proud" of any Nationality, and more respectful and understanding of other people.
When you live abroad ( and travel a lot) you start to realise that people though very different are also linked by a great chain of common human experiences and humanity and it makes you a lot more humble about where you come from . For me anyway.
I am a nomad at heart and wish I could move on all the time. I am experiencing seriously "itchy feet" at the moment and if my fiance could get a job anywhere else in the job easily I would be packed within a day , ready and raring to go...
I do not like being in one place for too long, it makes you complacent and less appreciative of your surroundings I feel.
My idea of heaven would to be able to spend 3/4 years in a place then move on to the next.
Living abroad is exciting, enriching and a great deal of fun. It can be difficult to adjust to certain cultures and environments but certainly worth the try. The world is way too be big and varied to constrain yourself to only one tiny part of it.
I never feel very French at all , not do I feel British or anything else. I am just me and for that I thank my father for dragging me around the world and giving me a love of "otherness".
I am at my most French when food is concerned , but apart from that I love many aspects of France and many others bug the hell out of me. I have no problem acknowledging any shortcomings from the Nation I was born in. As far as I am concerned Nationality is an accident of birth and babies become what we and their environment embues into them.
ALL countries have their upsides and downsides. There are no "best" /"worst" . it is just so subjective.
If I won the lottery tomorrow ( if I started to play that is ! ) there would be no huge mansions, no expensive cars, no diamonds , no private jets for me. Simply travel and live abroad until I dropped !
Having also been dragged around the world as a child because of an academic father, I agree with most of the post above. I still love to travel and concept of being stuck in one place doesn't sit well with me. As an adult I have also lived in a few different places/countries. But sometimes it is nice to be in the same place for a time as one gets tired for a while and needs to replenish their energy before their next travel adventure.
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You hit the nail on the head for me.
Beijing's air is awful and air pollution can be truly debilitating.
