National Public Radio was recently running a photojournalist series called
Project Xpat. Its aim was to highlight what it means to be an expatriate, and what life is like for an American living abroad. Interesting, but maybe only because I qualify as someone who could contribute to the project. Ever since I stumbled upon it whilst reading my Facebook News feeds, I've been thinking about one particular question that the series posed "What does it mean to you to be an Expatriate?" The request was to answer in 10 words or less. Difficult to narrow it down to 10 words, and difficult to only answer once. So here is my answer to NPR - in more than 10 words.
Being an expat means:
- Being an adventurer. I feel I am in constant search for that next cultural discovery.
- Living with an identity crisis. The term expatriate refers to one who has withdrawn residence from their home country. So technically, I don't belong there anymore. But I am an emigrant in my new country, and therefore, I don't really belong here. I am stuck somewhere in the middle.
- Living life as one big juxtaposition - while feeling I live in limbo between two countries, I simultaneously understanding myself better. I know who I am and who I want to be; I understand my limits and I understand how far I want to push myself.
- Being closer to my immediate family - we spend more time together as expats than we did in the US. Our boys aren't as "scheduled" as they used to be - neither are we.
- Being farther away from my extended family and friends. There is no way around it, this is tough.
- Making friends quickly and expecting to lose them to the expat life of moving. Don't discount this because these were made quickly. These are friendships that are built from an indescribable bond expats share. They are intense and indelible.
- No matter how long or short a person has walked with you in your path, they impact your life.
- At least in Europe, living with the word "small" - smaller grocery stores, smaller cars, smaller space - being extremely smaller than the average Dutch person.
- Becoming more aware of the wider world and the issues that drive regions and their divisions and unity.
- Learning to go into any store, and play the game "What's in that package - will I like it?" - because you are illiterate in the country you are living in or visiting.
- (This may be exclusive to me) Wishing you studied harder in French and Spanish class when you were in high school.
- Knowing that jokes and phrases that would make people laugh or nod in understanding in your home country don't in your new country - in fact, they may drop dead in the water…and all you get back are empty stares and the sounds of crickets feeding off the uncomfortable silence you've just created…not that that has ever happened to me…
- Eagerly waiting for the next "unknown".
- Learning to never say "never".
This is what is feels like to be an expat…here is what it looks like to be an expat.
