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| Egypt, Cairo, taxi, Dec2008 |
I'm visiting Vietnam for two weeks, for work.
The plan is for me to work and live in Saigon (HCMC), starting at the end of 2010.
A mate of mine wrote "Getting a grip on HCM? Looking for long term place to live? I'm sure you'll steer well clear of the expats."
It made me think about how do I relate to expats when " I IS one 'o dem MESELF ?"
I know where I want to live in Saigon, I have the area sorted, just need to find the flat or room. Might live with a Vietnamese family if I can get my own space, else will get a flat.
Re other expats: I found I cannot ignore other expats,in fact I don't want to, but I don't want to submerge myself into them either. I need other expats, they can help in ways no others can - its a kind of 'we are all in this together' thing, and the ship will only survive if we all help each other. I'm overstating the point of course.
It's a balance thing.
But there is a need for a kind of support only other expats can give.
Sometimes I talk to students who are lost and have NO connection to their own people in Australia.
Re other expats: I found I cannot ignore other expats,in fact I don't want to, but I don't want to submerge myself into them either. I need other expats, they can help in ways no others can - its a kind of 'we are all in this together' thing, and the ship will only survive if we all help each other. I'm overstating the point of course.
It's a balance thing.
But there is a need for a kind of support only other expats can give.
Sometimes I talk to students who are lost and have NO connection to their own people in Australia.
They have cut all ties with their own country men and they get into trouble, have difficulty coping.
I suggest, "ask one of your countrymen, they will know how to deal with this multicultural relationship - how to get visas, work, deal with this in your culture etc... "
Because I live in Australia, there are always things I have no idea about that only their own people know.
Other students get too much into their own people and hide there, their English does not improve and they don't have friends outside their own culture. They live in a ghetto.
I've done that too. Work pressure makes it harder to leave the ghetto.
Other students get too much into their own people and hide there, their English does not improve and they don't have friends outside their own culture. They live in a ghetto.
I've done that too. Work pressure makes it harder to leave the ghetto.
Hmmm.......
Now that I think about it again: he key is who you live with.
If you live with your own people (other expats) you don't mingle with the local culture as much. That applies to expats in SE Asia and to overseas students in Australia.
The best balance I've seen was when a Lao student lived with an Aussie flatmate. She still kept up her connection to other Lao as part of her wider circle of friends, but she did not live with them, talk Lao at home, socialize with only her own people.
However: each person is different and what is right for one is not right for another.
Some people need to hide in the womb till they are ready to emerge, others need to leave all their own culture behind and go solo into the jungle. The Colonel Kurtz types I guess.
And then these things change over time as well.
It is not unusual for newcomers, new travellers to fall totally head over heels in love with a new country and culture and go feral and disappear.
The joys of expat lifestyle is discussed here http://heikorudolph.blogspot.com/2009/01/joys-of-expat-lifestyle.html
I wrote this blog to give an idea of the positive and negatives of each choice.
Now that I think about it again: he key is who you live with.
If you live with your own people (other expats) you don't mingle with the local culture as much. That applies to expats in SE Asia and to overseas students in Australia.
The best balance I've seen was when a Lao student lived with an Aussie flatmate. She still kept up her connection to other Lao as part of her wider circle of friends, but she did not live with them, talk Lao at home, socialize with only her own people.
However: each person is different and what is right for one is not right for another.
Some people need to hide in the womb till they are ready to emerge, others need to leave all their own culture behind and go solo into the jungle. The Colonel Kurtz types I guess.
And then these things change over time as well.
It is not unusual for newcomers, new travellers to fall totally head over heels in love with a new country and culture and go feral and disappear.
The joys of expat lifestyle is discussed here http://heikorudolph.blogspot.com/2009/01/joys-of-expat-lifestyle.html
I wrote this blog to give an idea of the positive and negatives of each choice.
Some of my best friendships have been with expats while living in Japan, Laos, Thailand, visiting Taipei, and Saigon.
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| Sep2008 |
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