Tag Archives: relocation

The Value of Expat & Travel Writing

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Deanna Herrmann:

And Writing Around the World is up in full swing! Monday featured Charlotte, from Sherbet and Sparkles, with The Value of Travel & Expat Writing.

Originally posted on TIPSY LIT:

valueoftravelwriting
From the age of 14 I wanted to live in Japan. It was all I could think about, and I’d spend hours every day dreaming about the day I could move there. Coming from a family who do at least 3 long haul trips a year, I have never been nervous about going to foreign countries, nor have I ever been scared of things like flying. It’s just second nature to me. So when I finally got to live in Japan I didn’t think anything of it.

Then I started writing my blog.

I was 20 and a university student in Japan. I’d write about how to live in Japan – about going to the supermarket, buying a cell phone, getting a hair cut and at the same time I’d give details about how much Japanese would be required to complete each task and give some key vocabulary.

I started to…

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expatriate

Sorry Military Families, You’re Not Expats

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I realize that this is a bold statement. I realize this might offend some people who I have formed friendships or acquaintances with, however, having lived both lifestyles, I feel I can voice my opinion confidently (although it is based solely on experiences in Germany as shown below).

I truly mean no harm to anyone’s feelings. This is in no way some example of a lack of patriotism. And by no means is it meant to show ANY disrespect to the military,their families and the difficult roles they endure.

It’s a clarification on the use of a word.

It’s the truth.

Physical location is the only way in which this definition would loosely apply to you.

Let’s take a look…..

Military Families

  • You do not have a foreign bank account and still receive your income in U.S. dollars. You bank at American banks, on base, that are set up to utilize that particular country’s banking system.
  • You receive a USAREUR license, not a foreign driver’s license. While the test you take is similar, it is not as extensive as the one you’d take without your military umbrella. You are not required to attend any sort of driving school (aside from the short safety briefing) or have your license translated. The fee you pay is minimal in comparison. (last known, $10)
  • When you shop off-base you refer to shopping in the “economy”.
  • You have VAT forms making you exempt from paying local sales taxes.
  • When you file your federal taxes, typically your stateside residence is what is used thereby excluding you from sometimes providing information related to foreign income and savings.
  • Your medical insurance is still covered by the U.S. government and in most instances, you do not have to use foreign hospitals or treatment facilities.
  • You have a special SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) passport as well as your tourist passport. Your SOFA passport grants you residency in another country for the length of your tour.
  • You are exempt from paying international postage fees when mailing anything to and from the U.S. Along those same lines, you can receive mail from any company that ships to APO addresses from the states.
  • You are exempt from paying the local gas prices both on and off-base. (last known, $3.55/gallon)
  • You are provided COLA (cost of living allowance) with your housing and utilities paid for whether you live on or off base.
  • You are exempt from paying annual vehicle taxes that are required in Germany. Furthermore, you don’t have to pay for your car inspection.

Expats

  • We have foreign bank accounts, no access to U.S. dollars and pay bills through the foreign banking system.
  • Depending on what state you are from, in Germany you must either take the written and practical test, only the written test or you’re lucky and your stateside license transfers over completely. Based on those first two scenarios, you have to enroll in driving school. Furthermore, you must have your stateside license translated and pay all appropriate fees. We also must acquire our own study guides which are not always provided for free. (In my case, it’s a total of  €250)
  • The “economy” is my home, no differently than the U.S. is your home when you are there. Expats don’t use such terms as there is no other shopping option such as the commissary or BX.
  • We pay the sales taxes with no exemptions. (19% here)
  • We file taxes using our foreign address and in some cases are required to submit documentation from foreign accounts.
  • We are covered through insurance provided in our country of residence. We only utilize healthcare options available in our country.
  • We only have our tourist passports and must go through the visa/immigration process rendering us our residence permits.
  • We only have access to our postal system, thus paying high international shipping rates and no access to stateside companies unless they ship internationally (again high fees) or they have an international store.
  • Obviously, we must pay the local gas price which as of now is around $8.55/gallon in Germany.
  • We don’t receive any kind of financial assistance or benefits for being an American living in another country.
  • We pay, on average, €100 per year in taxes for our vehicle and the inspection costs €90 every two years.

Bottom Line

Expats live according to the laws and governing systems in the countries in which they have chosen to reside. Military families receive benefits for their service and maintain as close to an American lifestyle as possible while living in another country. Both choices are voluntary, but very different lifestyles.

I absolutely agree that military members and their families should receive these benefits.

I completely disagree that you should call yourselves expatriates.

While you may live here in the physical sense, you don’t live here. Take away access to your American life, fully divulge yourself into the lifestyle and culture of another country, follow their rules and systems and only then you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Yes, I once lived overseas as a dependent of a military member.

No, I never, not once, called myself an expat.

But I do now.

I have no ties to my “American” life aside from family and friends in the U.S. I fully embrace Germany as my home and do my best to live here just as any German would; no exemptions.

I live my life solely as an American expatriate in Germany.

I am an Expat. 

 

Saturday Feature: Sara in Le Petit Village

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Yes, I realize it’s not Saturday and for those of you just tuning in, I explain the delay caused by living life here. And boy did we live some life! I had 4 glorious days with my boys filled with sunshine, great food, shopping, apartment hunting and even a DATE! Can you imagine? We haven’t been on a date, alone, for almost a year. Did I mention it was wonderful?

So, here I am, back to all my lovely fellow expats and readers and for this feature, I want to share Sara with you. She was an American expat in France who is now going through the stages of becoming a repat as she adjusts to life in the states once again. This post in particular, she says goodbye to the LPV and I thought you’d all love to meet her (if you haven’t already) and see the place she used to call home.

♥

The Last Days of the LPV

My last days in The LPV whooshed by. I was busy; suitcases needed to be packed, bits and pieces had to be sold, given away and moved out, and goodbyes needed to be said. I was sad, but after six months of preparations, ready to go.

Because my move date was closing in, and I was a spinning top barely able to catch my breath, I made a point of snapping a photo or two every time I was out and about in the village. I was too busy to truly appreciate it all at the time so it was important that I captured it to savor later. Well it’s later.

I have no idea what the story behind the unicorn that has tagged Le Petit Village is all about. I’m pretty sure our local tattoo artist painted it, but as for the significance behind it, I’ve got nothing. I dig it though and like to think a unicorn was chosen because that’s The LPV’s symbol. I honestly couldn’t think of a better one.

I’m actually going to miss walking into my yellow post office. Post offices should be painted cheery colors, it’s a bit deceptive to be sure, but cheery nonetheless. Every time I accomplished something at La Poste (which doubled as our bank), I felt like I had slayed a mythical beast. It tried to better me on more than one occasion, but I remained victorious. Suck it La Poste, I own you.

And of course I’m going to miss the creepy tree house behind my house. It became my favorite thing to show visitors… it’s a medieval building that has been eaten by a tree for heaven’s sake! How does that even happen?!

But what I’ll miss the most in The LPV, is coming home to this door with Gregory and Fifty. There’ll be other doors of course, other homes, more memories, but I doubt any will hold a handle to the quaintness of this one. It’s too darn cute.

There was one last thing that I knew I had to capture, the bells. The church bell at the top of my garden that clanged hourly, driving Fifty batty and ensuring that no one in our house ever slept past 7AM. Now I find myself straining to hear them toll. Clocks strike another hour and are met with nothing, no sound. It’s downright un-Petit Village like.

♥

Sara I was glad to see that Gregory and Fifty made it safely. Hope you are all adjusting well and I wish you the best in your new repat adventure!

Everyone else, please go give Sara a virtual hug and thank you for being patient with me. Don’t forget, no linkup this week as I work on the exciting Tipsy Lit feature, showing off several of your favorite expats!

xx Deanna

Saturday Feature: The Tide That Left

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Ok you guys, again, I found it hard to choose this week so I ended up using the few rules of the link-up to break the ties I had among my final choices. Don’t forget that the post needs to be from the previous week and you must share via Twitter. 

Now on to the winner, Amy from The Tide That Left. I had seen here around the blogosphere for a little while, but it wasn’t until we both guest posted for Polly that I really discovered her. This story featured here is also the one (mostly) that I read on Polly’s blog and it blew me away. I love how international relationships begin, but I find inspiration in how they weather the storms of long distance, travel and sacrifice. Amy and her husband are a prime example of both sacrifice and fighting for the one you love. After you read her post, you’ll see what I mean.

♥

Expat Life: Love Lessons Learned

I’m not a celebrator of Valentine’s Day. I’m moody and grumpy like that, but thankfully Mr Tide is moody and grumpy in the same way so we both spurn the day of love hearts and chocolates (who am I kidding? We NEVER turn down a chocolate) and all is right in our little love-nest. 
 
Last December I wrote the following as a guest post whilst the gorgeous Polly from A Girl and Her Travels married her Russky and enjoyed time with her family. I’ve given it a tweak or two, but the general essence is here in all it’s smushy glory. One obligatory Valentine’s Day blog post. 

Our expat relationship started as a long distance relationship in 2009 when I met Mr Tide just days before he moved to Libya for work. We fell in love via the medium of Skype, helped along by his visits home to England every couple of months. The thing about LDRs is that they need an end in sight in order to work, and so, a year after we met, I moved to Benghazi, Libya, to be with him. It was a big leap for both of us, but one well worth taking. And I guess that’s lesson one we learned about expat love - you need to be brave. You might take plenty of leaps throughout your time as expats, but if you can hold hands while you do it, you’ll both land firmly.Libya was incredibly hard for me, much harder than it was for Mr Tide. Our little love nest in Benghazi was a safe haven, but beyond that I was miserable. Mr Tide realised this, and so we decided to say goodbye to Libya and hello to Russia. In December 2010 we moved to Moscow, which is evidence of lesson number two - sometimes you have to give a little (or a lot) to make sure that you’re both happy. It can be tough to make those decisions when they involve the career of a loved one, but if you’ve chosen to be in this together, then you both need to be on board. In my experience, there will always be a way for you to both get what you need/want, if you’re willing to compromise.

Moscow was quite an adventure, and our longest stint together. We got engaged in Moscow and it will forever be a special place for both of us. One day in mid 2012, Mr Tide received one of those phone calls. His old boss had a job opportunity in Qatar we couldn’t say no to. The only problem was that they needed him to start right away and the decision needed to be made within 24 hours. We stayed up nearly all night talking through the options, discussing how we felt, challenging the circumstances to see if they could/would/should work differently. We learned, perhaps not for the first time, that communication is key. We were determined to come to a decision together on this, so we didn’t stop talking until we’d got to that point. June 2012 saw us getting married (we had to fast track our wedding plans) and moving to Qatar. We had three weeks to rearrange our wedding, and then we flew to Doha together the day after we said ‘I do’.

Since then we’ve lived in Angola and South Africa, as well as a short stint in the UK to sort out visa issues. We ended 2013 by moving to Tanzania. It was the year of learning to be flexible; most importantly to be flexible with each other. I used to be the kind of girl who needed her life mapped out, but since we started our expat life together we’ve both had to find a way to go with the flow. We’ve chosen a lifestyle that throws up the unexpected, and we wouldn’t be able to cope if we didn’t roll with the changes. That’s not to say it’s plain-sailing, but of we keep flexibility at the heart of our discussion we can usually find a way through.At the beginning of 2014, as we settle into life in Dar es Salaam, we’re aware that life is bound to throw up some challenges, but I’m sure if we remember all the lessons we’ve learned over the years we’ll be just fine. Better than fine!

What lessons has life taught you about love? 

♥

After all that moving AND a long-distance relationship, you can see why I thought this was a special post. I hope you all are enjoying this as much as I am and that you keep linking up. I look forward to reading them every week! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Saturday Feature: Beginnings In Bayern

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Welcome to the first Saturday Feature! If you’re just joining us, on Monday I held a link-up where you could submit your favorite post from the prior week for a chance to be featured here on Saturday. I have to admit, every single entry this week was a good one! You made it SO HARD to choose! In the end, I decided on Shannon as a fellow expat in Germany who will be returning to the states very soon. They have already packed out of their apartment and she is beginning the series of goodbyes. I thought we could help make her smile by featuring her today and going by her blog and sending her some well wishes. 

♥

Moving Sucks but I’m not going to be a Grumpy Cat about it

I guess we’ve finally entered that period where it’s time to start saying the goodbyes. This weekend we left our apartment and moved into the hotel on post. I said goodbye to my Women’s Ministry friends today. The countdown to America has officially begun.

Leaving our apartment had its share of tears. As I walked through before we left, every room had a memory. I thought about the day I arrived in Germany after our wedding and how Fionn carried me across the threshold. I remembered teaching myself to embroider in my craft room, trying to fill up oodles of spare time with something, anything productive. I thought about the days spent battling my German washing machine, inventing things in the kitchen, and time spent drinking tea with girlfriends in my living room. The joy of finally making friends!

One thought that really struck me was how much my experience in this place has changed. If you told me in 2012 that I would be in tears when faced with leaving my Bavarian village in the middle of nowhere, I would have laughed in your face. I would have been elated to get the hell out of Dodge. Moving was hard, and I let myself get bogged down by a lot of negativity. Pretty much, I was the human version of Grumpy Cat.

My goal for our next move!

When I first came to Bavaria, after the newness and excitement of getting married and moving to a new country wore off, it seemed pretty bleak. It took me ages to make friends. I was rejected or just ignored from every job I applied for. I had tons of free time, nothing to do, and lots of people asking me, “What do you do all day?”

In the darkest times, probably about 8 months into my move abroad, I often dreamed of just going back to the States. I wondered if my situation would ever change or improve. I wondered if I should give up hope. I wondered if I would feel this way forever.

Whenever I worried about things as a kid, (which was pretty much every night), my mom would tell me,“The best and the worst thing about life is that nothing lasts forever.” That phrase has been on repeat in my brain as I face the daunting prospect of moving to a brand new place, making new friends and a new life, and then (most likely) picking up and moving again 6-8 months later and starting the process all over again.

I’m not going to lie, I’m scared. Scared of all the work it’ll require, scared of going through that “period of suck” that everyone endures when they move to a new place, and most of all scared of the what if’s.

What if I’m lonely? What if I don’t make friends? What if I can’t find a job? What if we get sent somewhere I really don’t like and I’m miserable?! Oh man, what if we get Alaska??

I’m scared of all these things. But then I think about 2012 Shannon and how much she hated Bavaria and how that girl morphed into 2014 Shannon who ugly cried when she gave up her apartment keys. I think of 2010 Shannon moaning that she was going to be alone FOREVER and just needed to get her brood of cats already because she’d never meet the right guy and how that girl became 2011 Shannon saying “I do.” Or how about 2009 Shannon who cried on the train to Paris because she was convinced she’d never live in Europe again or see any of the international friends she’d made that semester ever again. If only she could have seen me a few weekends ago meeting my best friend from that semester for a drink in Berlin.

My point is, despite my fears, I am going to try to embrace two things this year: hope and patience. Life changes and we despair. We get stuck in that moment and refuse to look ahead. But around the corner, sometimes just days or weeks or hours away, is something great. Something life changing. Something hopeful.

Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof - Life is not a Pony Farm

Moving sucks. No doubt about it. But as I prepare to move again (and possible again and again), I’m reminded that moving means a fresh start. I don’t know what the future will hold for me. Maybe I’m a few weeks away from meeting a friend who becomes like a sister to me. Or maybe I’m a few opportunities away from the job of my dreams. Maybe I’ll be one door over from the neighbor who inspires me to do life better. Who knows?

Yeah, I’ll have bad days. Frustrated days. Woe is meeeeee days. But I hope that once my pity party is done, I’ll remind myself that being a Grumpy Cat won’t help anything and I need to embrace some hope and patience.

Cause the best and worst thing about life is that nothing lasts forever.

(Thanks, Mom.)

♥

Hope you all have a great weekend and join me again for The Monday Ante for your chance to be C2C’s Saturday Feature!