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Difficulties for Expats
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What is the hardest thing about living abroad?
stoutbeerus
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What is the hardest thing about living abroad?
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Running out of money and not having the heart to ask your parents for help. But this gives you a rare opportunity to understand how much people will go out of their way to help you. 1) My girlfriend at the time worked at a 7-Eleven and all the unsold food for the day ended up at my doorstep. 2) My dormitory manager would occasionally leave an assortment of fruits and vegetables while telling me I’m getting thinner by the day. 3) My Indian friends occasionally invite me over for dinner under the pretence of having cooked too much food. 4) My Indonesian friend almost always cuts in line at the convenience store to buy my food. 5) A Sri Lankan friend who works at the school cafeteria always had a bag of fried chicken that she would share with me. 6) A friend of mine from Philippines asked me to help him develop a workout regime in exchange for treating me food. I’m sure working out was the last thing on his mind; I mean, I don’t even stretch, much less go to the gym. But really, the hardest thing is having all these wonderful people around you and not knowing how to pay them back.
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For me, I would have to say holidays and festivals. Imagine waking up on a holiday, but specifically a holiday which is personal to your home country. Let’s take American Thanksgiving for example. On Thanksgiving I would sleep in since I didn’t have to go to school that day, wander into my living room still in my pajamas and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. After that was over I’d get ready and head into the kitchen to help my mom with whatever she needed to put together a feast for five that evening. Around 4pm I’d sit down at the table with my parents, brother and grandpa and eat until we couldn’t move. The next day, was a more personal tradition. It was the day my mom, grandpa and I would make Welsh Cookies all day. Now imagine doing that for 21 years in a row, but when you are 22 something is off. You wake up in Ireland on the last Thursday of November and you have to go to class. You have an assignment due the next day so you have to meet your study group and can’t get time to breathe until 8pm. There’s no parade, no feast and no cookie-making the next day. To everyone around you it’s a normal day. That’s the hardest part about living abroad for me. It’s also an opportunity though. It’s a time for me to get to share my traditions with my friends, and I also get to experience theirs. Since living abroad, I’ve celebrated more holidays and festivals than I could have imagined. Mainly since I’ve incorporated Irish and Indian Holidays into my calendar. I’ve stood in the middle of Dublin to watch the St. Patrick’s day Parade, and I’ve played with colours on Holi. I’ve even celebrated my own holidays in different ways, like celebrating Christmas when it was 40 degrees Celsius instead of 40 degrees Fahrenheit. I love seeing how passionate people are about sharing their traditions. I’ll never forget the first Diwali I spent with my Indian friends or the first Thanksgiving I shared for my English friends. Photo: Thanksgiving feast for 10 in Australia Photo: First Holi Festival Photo: St Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin Photo: Dressed up for Diwali 🙂 It’s hard to be away from home during the holidays, but at least I’ve been able to surround myself with people who I can share my days with <3