I sat at my work computer in utter disbelief. My total number of clocked in work hours at CDI this past year: 1383 hours of teaching! What could one do in 1383 hours? Run several marathons, read various medical texts, write an epic novel or stitch a beautiful quilt with your best girlfriends?
A year has come and gone. If you have been reading along through the past twelve months you will have a rather clear idea of what my life has been like over here. Why did I come here? Financial incentive and a need to live abroad before settling down would have been my initial reasons for heading over to the ROK. After a bumpy start I managed to quickly find my place in an exciting social scene. I also perfected my teaching skills and can confidently say that I can handle a classroom with great ease.
However, I came here with more than just a whim for the new and need to build up my savings. Another goal of mine has been to live in a very foreign country for a year so I can understand what it feels like to be a minority. There were many times when I thought I may not make it to the end of my contract (but deep down I always knew I wouldn’t let a difficult situation stop me). I successfully survived Seoul’s bone cold and windy Winter, Yellow Dust Spring pollution and hot and humid Summer.
As I sit here writing the final chapter of this book, I realize that its successful completion is another crowning achievement of my time here. I had many moments where I just didn’t want to write anything as I was exhausted from work or too busy with my social life to sit and spend endless hours writing away slouching over my couch.
After talking to hundreds of people this year I have run into some wild characters. It is much easier to fill your life with colourful personalities from around the world in a city like Seoul as all of the Anglophones socialize in a tightly knit community. After talking to many expats who have lived in Asia on international assignments for many years, I had to ask myself why so many people love living abroad. Mind you, I’ve met my fair share of people who absolutely loath living abroad. Most of these people came to Korea solely to make money, forgot to open their heart to the new and bizarre, tend to compare everything to the comforts of back home and totally miss the point of being here. These bitter foreigners aside, I realized that international assignment addicts have six things in common:
1) Money and Lifestyle:
Expats usually earn a very attractive salary and lead a very good lifestyle. If they didn’t what initial incentive would thy have to uproot their partners, families or belongings? Expat assignments are typically characterized by exciting work travel; increased means and opportunity for personal travel, the financial ability to indulge in dining-out culture and higher quality leisure time. Life for an English Teacher in Korea is a fine example of this. I make twice the amount of money than my friends do back home, work half the hours and pay considerably less for goods, services and tax.
2) Challenge:
Few experiences compare to the high-intensity challenges that expats encounter overseas. On a personal level, there are cultural adjustment issues, language barriers to overcome and an urgent need to build new social support networks. On a professional level, there are increased pressures and responsibilities at work, plus a rapid need to prove that your competence matchers your salary. These dynamic challenges combine to produce an exhilarating cocktail that either leaves you with a stinging hangover, or a perpetual love of the chase. I think what makes expat assignments addictive is the empowerment one gets from facing so many challenges and being successful – including overcoming the failed moments and crises. You come out stronger and emerge bolder. I believe what that does is make you feel a little bit invincible and prepared to take even more risks.
3) Elevated Status:
Rightly or wrongly, many expats are given an elevated status abroad. This comes sometimes via greater authority in the workplace but mostly simply due to a distinctively non-local physical appearance. It is easy for an expat to develop a penchant for this new-found sense of importance, because who doesn’t like feeling special? When one of my best friends had her going away party she mumbled to me, “I am going to miss people staring at me and telling me I am beautiful.” That may seem very vain. But for a large sized white woman it is somewhat exhilarating to live in a culture where you are actually considered beautiful. I actually think a lot of the “Lifers” who move here indefinably, do so because they have found a place where they are accepted. Let us not forget how judgmental Western culture can be in terms of aesthetic. If you have felt out of place or unsexy your whole life, just imagine how liberating it must feel to move to another country where you are treated like a treasure.
4) Great People:
Like many things in life, it is the people that can make the real difference. Expats on assignment routinely meet people from all over the world who are both “interesting” and “interested” in each other’s travel experience. Expats tend to be open minded, liberal and excited to engage in a dialogue of discovery. One of the nicest perks to living abroad is avoiding conservative, small minded neophobes. Everyone here seems to want to “see and taste everything at least once.” This understandably makes for lively and engaging conversations in a gathering of like-minded people. Again, this is difficult to replicate back home in suburbia. I actually cringe at the idea of working back home and chatting with people at work who make sweeping statements about “Asians.” Take a look at a map and try to tell me that Turkey, India and Indonesia are “similar in proximity and culture.” Morons! My most profound realization living in “Asia” has been that ignorant generalizations are in fact racist.
Every expat is in the same situation…so friendships form fast and furiously, crossing cultural, racial, religious and political boundaries. Perhaps the hardest thing about going home again (and indeed the most terrifying) after living abroad is that, quite frankly, nobody really cares about all of your adventures and significant challenges which lead to profound personal growth.
5) No Incentive to Repatriate:
Repatriation can be exciting to look forward to, but like returning to school after a summer vacation, once you have been reassured that your friends and family still love and remember you, you are already planning your next escape. There are two key reasons why expatriates have difficulty repatriating. One: We want to use what we have learned overseas when we return home. Unfortunately, the majority of returnees are not assigned to jobs that recognize or utilize their international experience effectively. Two: Because we have been “challenged” by our international experience, we can never return “home” and pick up where we left off.
A burly man once told me, “Once an expat, always an expat, even if you repatriate. It gets in your blood and you won’t be able to shake it. Your experiences living abroad begin to define you and force you to live your life differently.” I think this guy is onto something…
Twelve months. It falls through your fingers like sand. I clap my hands together and try not to inhale the dust which lingers in the air. Hands clean, I’m ready for a new adventure.
