Seven Reasons Not to Become an Expat

We love living the expat life. The following is from "Adventures in Expat Land" and is a great post for anyone thinking of being an expat. We are living the dream, so can you, you just need to make it possible to do so. Where there is a will, there is a way. As in our case, having God on your side and it being His will also helps a lot. 

 

Oh, the picture is me standing up at the crater at Poas Volcano. There is a lot to see and do here, you just got to do it.

So please enjoy the following post... 

Seven Reasons Not to Become an Expat

 

Many people harbor a secret dream of trading in their current life to become an expat. Making a break and moving abroad.

 

Not surprisingly, the frequency of such dreams tends to spike after you return from a wonderful vacation overseas.

 

Who doesn’t know someone who has sighed and murmured, ‘What I wouldn’t give to live in such an amazing place like Provence/Rome/Tahiti/fill-in-the-blank?’

 

But before you decide to chuck it all and head for a new life overseas, you might want to consider what’s really going on.

 

Here are my top seven reasons NOT to become an expat: 

 

1. You’re ready for the ‘easy’ life. Sorry, for most of us, it doesn’t exist. If you live in Fairbanks Alaska or Aberdeen Scotland, I totally get how too many hard winters might drive you to a warmer locale. Why do you think we refer to Americans and Canadians who head south in winter ‘snow birds’?

Maybe you’ve bought into the idea that life in a tropical paradise is everything you’ll ever want: relaxing, rejuvenating, stress-free. Or you want to move to a quaint country village with the idea of living life at a slower pace. Admirable goals. But behind the easy going facade of most places, the day to day reality can be quite different. What you thought was relaxing might actually turn out to be boring; what you once considered a leisurely pace may be more of a snail’s pace.
Life is rarely what it seems. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have all of the people who thought it would be great to own a bar/restaurant/bed-and-breakfast only to learn it really meant long hours, hard work, miniscule profits, rare days off, getting up early, staying up late, making beds, cleaning bathrooms, and so on. 

2. You expect to replicate your current life, and just add travel. Not going to happen. Oh sure, depending on where you move, you may be able to achieve a similar lifestyle. And for the lucky few, you may find a higher quality of life than you left behind. But for many, perhaps most, their way of life changes quite a bit. So if you dream of moving overseas and still living exactly as you do now, doing exactly the same activities, you may be disappointed.
What seems like a ‘must have, must do’ in one culture may not even be an option in another.  Which means recognizing that you probably have to leave behind your former way of life. 

3. You’re unhappy with your life. Whether it’s your never-satisfied boss in your demanding drudge of a job, your inability to stomach one more day of carpooling through bumper-to-bumper traffic, or your irritating next-door neighbor that has put you over the edge, it probably isn’t enough to justify turning your world upside down, packing up and moving halfway around the world to start over. Not if you expect everything to magically straighten itself out.
Running away sounds good in theory, but rarely works in real life. Regardless of the origin of that famous quote (Buddhism? Confucius? Buckaroo Bonzai?) it’s absolutely true: no matter where you go, there you are. 

4. You can live cheaply and save a ton of money. Perhaps in some places. But more than likely, this won’t be the case. In some areas, costs are considerably higher than ‘back home,’ or the taxes are more onerous.
For those places where the cost of living really is significantly lower, then you need to ask yourself why that’s the case. You may find that things are cheaper, but the selection is poor. Or local jobs pay significantly less than you’d hoped.
Maybe you’re hoping you can choose the right place abroad to make more money doing the same type of job you’re currently doing. Possibly. Just remember that when salaries and wages are higher, there’s usually a good reason: the weather is atrocious part/some/all of the year, rental/sales options on property may be limited, there’s a lack of decent schools, traffic is horrendous, the air and/or water quality are iffy, it’s challenging/boring/dangerous to live there. There’s some reason why employers have to pay more, other than out of the goodness of their hearts.
Oh, and if average earnings are high, you can bet that costs for available consumer and other goods are higher, too. Funny how the marketplace works like that. 

5. Let’s just go, we’ll find work once we’re there. Maybe. But maybe not. I recognize that some expats have the luxury of being able to work anywhere in the world. (And for many of them, the caveat is ‘as long as the internet connection holds up’, which may prove to be a little dicey.)
For others, they figure it will be easier to approach employment agencies, contact companies, apply for positions and get interviews if they are actually there. That may well be true. But for every expat-to-be who has taken this tactic and succeeded, there are another dozen who run out of time, money or patience and head home.
Keep in mind that it isn’t always easy to get approval to work in a foreign country, let alone find actual work. That nasty credit crisis that has wracked the economies of so many countries is global. Companies in many countries have cut back hiring or been forced to lay off employees.
And those companies that have traditionally employed lots of expats? Many have cut back on expat packages – forcing current expats to choose between converting to ‘local hire’ status and losing some of their previous benefits and allowances for such things as housing, school and transportation costs or being let go. 

6. It’ll be just like it was on vacation. No, it won’t. Not to say that it might not be great, but you can’t expect to replicate the carefree relaxation of vacation because it isn’t vacation. By definition a vacation is an escape from everyday life; if this is your new daily life, it isn’t always going to seem vacation-like.
When you’re soaking up the rays poolside at that great rental property in Tuscany, shuttling by Vespa into town for casual dinners of handmade pasta and a carafe of the local red wine, it’s easy to assume you could live like that all the time. Until you find out that riding a scooter the 3 miles into town isn’t fun mid-winter with howling frigid winds, and the darn thing only seems to work on alternating weekdays anyway.
Or that you don’t become best friends with your neighbors because they’re too busy farming the land or working in town to hang out with you, let alone spend hours helping you improve your language skills.
When you were on vacation, you never had to worry about fixing the leaky water heater or maintaining the yard or garden or paying the confusing tax bill or trying to find a reputable local contractor to help with the repairs and renovations you find yourself knee-deep in. 

7. It sounds like fun, so why not try it? Well, yes and no. It can be fun. And exciting, educational, eye-opening, energizing, amazing.
It can also be uprooting, disruptive, alienating, challenging, lonely and just plain hard work.
Much has been written about the transitional phases of dealing with expat life. Labels differ according to various experts, but essentially the stages are:

• honeymoon: everything’s so new and exciting!
• disillusion: why do they do it this way? back home we always/never…, why is everything so hard?
• bottoming out: feeling anything from moody to irritable to withdrawn to unhappy to angry to mildly depressed, and occasionally worse
• acceptance: it is what it is so I’d better make peace with it, learning to appreciate the differences, looking for the positives and not dwelling on the negatives
• flourishing: embracing what makes your expat home unique, making the most of what it has to offer, building a life that is engaging and satisfying and rewarding

These stages have been identified and discussed precisely because most people tend to go through them. Maybe not in exactly the same sequence or for the same amount of time. It may take one person six months to work their way through the phases,  another a year, someone else longer.
So in light of all this, would I still recommend becoming an expat? That depends.
IF you can:

• let go of the fantasy of the seven reasons I’ve listed above;
• conduct the necessary research about the potential places you’re seriously considering both to evaluate and then to prepare;
• carry out the personal soul-searching about your motivations and whether you’re truly ready, willing AND able to embrace the roller coaster of change coming your way;
• commit to riding out the tough times with a sense of humor or zen-like acceptance (and preferably both);
• realize that you will likely have to give up some of the old (the familiarity of your routine, the closeness of existing friendships, seeing family as often as you may like, etc.) in order to pave the way for the new;
• understand that it may not be forever, but just a phase in your life;
• and you STILL feel a sense of excitement and wonder at seeing life through the lens of another country and culture…

Then welcome to Expat Land!

Source = http://www.adventuresinexpatland.com/wp/2011/03/26/seven-reasons-not-to-become-an-expat/

Day 16 - 10 Questions To Ask Yourself First Before Moving To Another Country

Last week Michael Snyder wrote a great article titled " Should You Move To Another Country To Escape The Collapse Of America? 10 Questions To Ask Yourself First" Funny thing is that I keep an eye on Micheal's pages and posted this to my Unpacking Costa Rica blog. That same day I must have had 15 or so people forward me the article. So I included it in the next PZ News Watch for everyone to read. I want to thank everyone who sent this article to me, I know that they did that looking out for Tracye and I. Since many have sent this to me, I thought that I would take the time to answer these in light of relocating to Costa Rica. 10 Questions To Ask Yourself First Before Moving To Another Country 1 - Do You Speak The Language?  If Not, How Will You Function? I am not fluent in Spanish and neither is Tracye. One thing going for me is that God has blessed me with the ability to pick up languages. When I was young someone spoke a form of Souix. I am part Cree Indian and they come from the northern Canada area. The Cree speak a Souix dialect of sorts, at least that is what it sounds like to me. I remember a movie called " A Man Called Horse" and in the movie an Indian language was spoken. Funny thing is that a lot of what was said, I could understand. I also remember a song someone taught me when I was young. I think it was a corn growing song, but I still remember it today. When I was a young child my parents spent some missionary time in Haiti, we could not go due to the problems that were taking place there. My parents had to learn the language and because of that, I picked it up as well. In Haiti they speak a "pig-french" or french mixed with African. I understand that it is close to the Creole that is spoken by the Cajuns in Louisiana. When I was with the 82nd, we were "encouraged" to learn a second language. So I chose Japanese. Not that we would be jumping into Japan any time soon, I loved sushi and wanted to learn the language. I learned it well enough that I could go into a nice sushi restaurant and speak to the chef behind the counter and carry on a pretty good conversation. Today, I can still understand a little bit when I see films like Shogun, or the "B" Japanese monster movies. After the 82nd, I was stationed in Germany where I picked up German and became pretty fluent. Not 100%, but again enough to talk to the Germans and carry on a day to day conversation. Living here in Texas, one just picks up pieces of Spanish. While we were down in Costa Rica we already found ourselves picking up the language pretty quickly. The Costa Ricans are very patient and if you try to speak Spanish, they will bend over backwards to try to help. 2 - How Will You Make A Living? Since Prophezine is on the internet, it really does not matter where we live as long as we have solid internet capability. This is one reason why Belize was not a great fit with us. Belize does not have very fast internet nor is it stable. As long as we have the internet, we should be able to continue our mission that the Lord has given us. 3 - Will You Be Okay Without Your Family And Friends? This is a great question and one that I point out to people who are thinking of moving. Having people that you know in a foreign land is important. This is one of those things that if you do not have friends or the ability to make friends, it will be pretty difficult and is one of those things that will cause a person to return to their country of origin. Tracye and I are fortunate because I have some High School friends who live in Costa Rica as well as my old friend Gary Kah and his wife. John Price and his wife also moved to Costa Rica and I learned that Daniel Daves author of "Warning America" was also living in Costa Rica. Now the hard thing will be leaving our grand kids here in the US, but we are already working on getting them their Passports so that they can come down and visit Waa-waa and Nana. 4 - Have You Factored In Weather Patterns And Geological Instability? This is another excellent question and one that rated high on our list. See living here in Texas things have become pretty dry due to a 5+ year drought. Temps have also gotten a lot hotter during the summer and one becomes a prisoner in one's own home. We wanted nice spring like weather and where we are relocating, the weather is literally spring like 365 days a year. It is 80-85 during the day and low 60's high 50's at night. 5- What Will You Do For Medical Care? Here in America we have not had a regular check up in probably 5-6 years. Why? Plain and simple, we can't afford it. In Costa Rica the medical is on par if not better than here in the US. That is because Costa Rica got rid of their military and are a neutral country just like Switzerland. All that money they saved, they put into education and medicine. Today Costa Rica has some of the best medical available in the world. We checked into what it is going to cost us to get insured and for private full coverage and the ability to walk in anytime it will cost us $60.00 a month. I can't even pull into a doctor's parking lot for that. 6 - Are You Moving Into A High Crime Area? The crime rate in Costa Rica is pretty low. Yes they have crime, but not the violent crime they have here in the US. The crime that they have is more crime of opportunity. Leave a cell phone on a bench, it will be gone. Your Laptop is sitting on the front seat of your car and the passenger window is open, it is gone. The same thing happens here. The Costa Rican people are very non confrontational. They have a 97% literacy rate and absolutely no welfare at all. They truly believe in "you don't work, you don't eat." Put all these together and you come up with a very content peaceful people who do not use drugs and alcohol to escape. Poverty levels are very low as well as wealthy levels. Costa Rica has a very large middle class with a strong work ethic. 7 - Are You Prepared For "Culture Shock"? We know that this will happen. The honeymoon phase will end and the long term marriage begin. What helps with this is having friends you can visit, things you can do, places to go. What also helps is a willingness to adapt to your new culture and integrate yourself. The failure to integrate is one of the main things that causes a person to return back to the US. In fact here are the main things that will cause someone to move back.... A - Failure To Integrate - "I am an American and if you do not like it, to bad. Gimmie my Oreo cookies and Kraft Mac & Cheese. Oh Spanish... I don't need no stinking Spanish." Get the idea? Unless you have a lot of money, you will not last long being an "ugly American." B - Lack of Community - Being an expat it's easy to make friends. Being a "gringo" the locals are curious about you and ask you all sorts of questions. Being from Texas is also a big plus. Everywhere I have been globally, people love Texans. You will hear "Hola Ya'll." Would-be political foes back home become fast friends overseas. Same for those of different age groups or economic status. In an expat community, you're all in the same boat. You learn from each other, depend on one another and, more than anything, you tolerate uniqueness and respect one another for the decision you made to try out expat life. Todo está tranquilo == Everything is Tranquil, another famous line that one hears a lot in Costa Rica. Failure to fit in is something that will do you in quickly and you will be packing your bags pretty fast. C - Missing The Grand Kids - This is one that we are going to have to deal with. The solution? SKYPE.. it is a wonderful thing being able to video phone your kids and grand kids. It is the next best thing to being there with them. We are going to also help our daughter get the grand kids passports so that if things get "weird" they can jump on the next flight out and come on down. 8-What Freedoms and Liberties Will You Lose By Moving? Look at what freedoms and liberties we have lost already here in the US. Our constitution is pretty much gone, the powers that be has the American people over a barrel and life today is basically legalized slavery when 54% of your weekly earnings go to some form of taxes, fees, or other required bill one must pay. Religion, Free speech? Gone. Look at how many people speak in a whisper today and churches are over the 501c3 barrel. Talk about real sin and the IRS comes knocking at your door. Drones flying over the US. The ability to detain Americans indefinitely, forced Obamacare or pay massive fines, and the list goes on. 9-Is There A Possibility That The Country You Plan To Escape To Could Be Involved In A War At Some Point? Again, like Switzerland, Costa Rica is a neutral country. She is a country that marches to the beat of her own drum. There is no need to invade Costa Rica nor any desire. This is mainly due to the fact that she does not have what the world craves...that being oil. Costa Rica is happy growing some of the world's best coffee, bananas, mango and other produce. 10-When The Global Economy Collapses, Will You And Your Family Be Okay For Food? You can not walk 20 yards without running into some coconut, banana, plantain, mango, guava, passion fruit, papaya, etc etc etc. You would have a hard time starving in Costa Rica. Same goes for Belize, the tropics has a lot of food growing wild. Over the years Tracye and I have been looking for a place to relocate. We knew that God would open the doors once we found the right place. We have tried looking into many areas in the US and God never opened the doors. We looked into Mexico, Belize, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and other areas in the Caribbean. No doors opened up. That is till we visited Costa Rica on the invite of an old friend. From that first open door, the doors kept opening and we have been faithful in trusting God in walking through those doors. Living a life with the Lord is exciting and Tracye and I truly live Proverbs 3:5-6. Proverbs 3:5-6  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. When you trust and put your life in God's Hands, life is an adventure. There are ups and there are downs. Valleys and mountain tops. But no matter what, He is with us and His grace is sufficient for us. That is His promise to us. If you have any questions about living abroad or you would like to learn more about Costa Rica, feel free to contact us. If you would like to come down for a visit, let us know and we would be more than happy to show you around. Pura Vida!

Day 19 - Guest Post - Should You Move To Another Country To Escape The Collapse Of America? 10 Questions To Ask Yourself First

 By Michael Snyder

Why are so many people leaving the United States right now?  Over the past couple of years, an increasing number of Americans have decided that moving to another country is the best way to prepare for the collapse of America. 

According to the U.S. State Department, an all-time record of more than 6 million Americans are now working or studying overseas.  Of course many of those that have left the country do not believe that the U.S. economy is going to collapse, but without a doubt there are an increasing number of preppers that believe that now is the time to "escape from America" while they still can.  And certainly there are a lot of reasons why the U.S. is becoming less appealing with each passing day.  

In addition to our economic problems, crime is on the rise in our cities, our liberties and freedoms are being eroded at a frightening pace, political correctness is wildly out of control, and our corrupt politicians continue to make things even worse.  But is life really that much better in the rest of the world?  The sad truth is that life in most other nations is more difficult than it is in the United States.  Yes, there are some nations that are relatively stable and that look promising at first glance, but the truth is that moving to another country is never easy.  If you plan to do it, there are some hard questions that you need to ask yourself first.

If you plan to move permanently to another nation, it would be wise to visit first.  The way that things work in a foreign country is often very, very different from how things work in the United States.  If you are not accustomed to being in a foreign culture, it can feel like your whole world is being turned upside down.

But of course it is definitely possible to make a successful transition to another culture.  Millions of Americans have done it.  The following is from a recent RT article...

Ever dream of leaving it all behind and heading out of America? You’re not the only one. A new study shows that more US citizens than ever before are living outside of the country.
According to statistics from the US State Department, around 6.4 million Americans are either working or studying overseas, which Gallup says is the largest number ever for such statistic.
The polling organization came across the number after conducting surveys in 135 outside nations and the information behind the numbers reveal that this isn’t exactly a longtime coming either — numbers have skyrocketed only in recent years. In the 24 months before polling began, the number of Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 living abroad managed to surge from barely 1 percent to over 5.1 percent. For those under the age span wishing to move overseas, the percentage has jumped in the same amount of time from 15 percent to 40.

But picking up and moving to a foreign nation is not something to be done lightly.

The following are 10 questions to ask yourself before you decide to move to another country...

Do You Speak The Language?  If Not, How Will You Function?

If you do not speak the language of the country that you are moving to, that can create a huge problem.  Just going to the store and buying some food will become a challenge.  Every interaction that you have with anyone in that society will be strained, and your ability to integrate into the culture around you will be greatly limited.

How Will You Make A Living?

Unless you are independently wealthy, you will need to make money.  In a foreign nation, it may be very difficult for you to find a job - especially one that pays as much as you are accustomed to making in the United States.

Will You Be Okay Without Your Family And Friends?

Being thousands of miles away from all of your family and friends can be extremely difficult.  Will you be okay without them?  And it can be difficult to survive in a foreign culture without any kind of a support system.  Sometimes the people that most successfully move out of the country are those that do it as part of a larger group.

Have You Factored In Weather Patterns And Geological Instability?

As the globe becomes increasingly unstable, weather patterns and natural disasters are going to become a bigger factor in deciding where to live.  For example, right now India is suffering through the worst drought that it has experienced in nearly 50 years.  It would be very difficult to thrive in the middle of such an environment.

Many of those that are encouraging people to "escape from America" are pointing to Chile as an ideal place to relocate to.  But there are thousands of significant earthquakes in Chile each year, and the entire nation lies directly along the "Ring of Fire" which is becoming increasingly unstable.  That is something to keep in mind.

What Will You Do For Medical Care?

If you or someone in your family had a serious medical problem in the United States, you would know what to do.  Yes, our health care system is incredibly messed up, but at least you would know that you could get the care that you needed if an emergency arose.  Would the same be true in a foreign nation?

Are You Moving Into A High Crime Area?

Yes, crime is definitely on the rise in the United States.  But in other areas where many preppers are moving to, crime is even worse.  Mexico and certain areas of Central America are two examples of this.  And in many foreign nations, the police are far more corrupt than they generally are in the United States.

In addition, many other nations have far stricter gun laws than the United States does, so your ability to defend your family may be greatly restricted.

So will your family truly be safe in the nation that you plan to take them to?

Are You Prepared For "Culture Shock"?

Moving to another country can be like moving to a different planet.  After all, they don't call it "culture shock" for nothing.

If you do move to another country, you may quickly find that thousands of little things that you once took for granted in the U.S. are now very different.

And there is a very good chance that many of the "amenities" that you are accustomed to in the U.S. will not be available in a foreign nation and that your standard of living will go down.

So if you are thinking of moving somewhere else, you may want to visit first just to get an idea of what life would be like if you made the move.

What Freedoms and Liberties Will You Lose By Moving?

Yes, our liberties and our freedoms are being rapidly eroded in the United States.  But in many other nations around the world things are much worse.  You may find that there is no such thing as "freedom of speech" or "freedom of religion" in the country that you have decided to move to.

Is There A Possibility That The Country You Plan To Escape To Could Be Involved In A War At Some Point?

We are moving into a time of great geopolitical instability.  If you move right into the middle of a future war zone, you might really regret it.  If you do plan to move, try to find a country that is likely to avoid war for the foreseeable future.

When The Global Economy Collapses, Will You And Your Family Be Okay For Food?

What good will it be to leave the United States if you and your family run out of food?

Today, we are on the verge of a major global food crisis.  Global food reserves are at their lowest level in nearly 40 years, and shifting global weather patterns are certainly not helping things.

And the global elite are rapidly getting more control over the global food supply.  Today, between 75 and 90 percent of all international trade in grain is controlled by just four gigantic multinational food corporations.

But grain is not the only thing that the food giants control.  Just check out the following statistics from a recent Natural News article...

The paper said three mega-multinationals now control better than 40 percent of global coffee sales, for example. Eight companies control the supply of cocoa and chocolate. Seven control the lion's share - 85 percent - of tea production. Five multinationals control three-quarters of the world banana trade. And the largest half-dozen sugar traders account for about 66 percent of world trade, the new report by the Fairtrade Foundation said.

The elite are also buying up food producing real estate all over the globe.  That is why farmland prices in the United States have been absolutely skyrocketing lately.

The people that run the world are rapidly getting a stranglehold over the global food supply.

So wherever you end up - whether it is in the United States or in another country - you will need to make sure that you can provide enough food for you and your family to live on independently of the system.

These are all things to think about when considering whether or not to move out of the United States.