Quote:
Originally Posted by Hero Protagonist
Even as a white American in NZ, which is about as easy a transition as you can get, you're still an outsider for a long time. The cultural values, norms, small talk etc are all different and it takes time and effort to assimilate properly. Or maybe it did for me since I'm socially ******ed in many ways.
Then there's the isolation from all your friends and family, who are now very far away. All the missed weddings and funerals from back home. If you make friends with expats, then they are often leaving so long term friendships are hard.
And If you don't have native fluency in the local language, you are never going to have a real conversation with a local, and your career will likely be restricted by that.
This.
Another issue with living overseas is having to relearn laws, regulations and policies that are different or may not have even existed in your home country.
Going back home long-term is also very challenging. The reality is that your experiences overseas simply doesn't register with natives in your home country. You'll talk about the places you've been and what you did overseas and their response is, "Oh, that's interesting." before talking about something that they did in your home country that you are unfamiliar with because you haven't lived there in years. That intimate connection that comes from shared experiences is lacking which makes socialization challenging at home as well as abroad.
Your friends move on with their lives. They get married, have kids, move to another part of the country and are too busy to really interact with anybody. Pretty much everybody in my former friend circle has either voluntary left it or has moved on with another commitments in their lives. Socially, I'd have to start from scratch.
When you're overseas and in a different country, you have a tendency to be sort of ignorant of political and social issues in that country. You haven't grown up exposed to them. You don't have the intimate historical knowledge that adds context to them. So it's easier to avoid bad news and remain happy. China is a full-blown dictatorship but aside from not being able to get porn and use Facebook without a VPN, I didn't feel the effects of the oppressive government on me while living there. That's the opposite when you're born in a country. Even if things are objectively better, you're more aware of the bad and that can affect your quality of life.