“How does it feel, to
be on your own, with no direction home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling
stone” -Bob Dylan
“It's no fun being an
illegal alien, I tell ya, it's no fun being an illegal alien, no no no no no”
-Phil Collins
Many people have strong opinions about borders, immigration
laws, being an expatriate, etc. Some of those opinions are insightful and
brilliant and others, not so much (is that the best you could do, Genesis?). For us, living overseas has been an adventure
and a challenge. We have 2 months left in our 25 month expat experience and we
are each going to share some thoughts about being “foreigners.”
Hannah
Hannah has had some ups and downs while living overseas. With Hannah it is
all about the people – she loved making new friends in Nicaragua and Peru but really
misses all of her peeps in the United States. Regardless, she really stretched
herself and managed to find her way without too much difficulty. Click
here to see her video and the positive spin she puts on the expat experience.
Emma
Emma seemed to really enjoy living
overseas and has clearly put some thought into the matter: click on this
link to see her video. While she also had her fair share of challenges, she found her way too
and seems to have benefited from the experience.
In both cases, the girls adjusted very quickly to Nicaragua
and Peru. I suppose that things like cultural identify, patriotism, borders,
immigrations laws, working papers, and other artificial barriers between people
have not yet tainted their world view. The parents are a different story.....
Aileen
I can´t believe we only have 2 months left! I think that on some subconscious level, I am getting ready to head home. I still really appreciate the warm and friendly people, the awesome
weather, the beautiful views, and the very affordable cost of living (gymnastics
for U$2/hour and private guitar lessons for U$7/hour). And of course it has been a great opportunity
for the kids to learn Spanish and for all of us to experience different
countries and cultures. But I have to
admit that about 23 months after originally leaving San Francisco for
Nicaragua, I´m really looking forward to living in America. Some of the things about being an expatriate that were initially
amusing for their novelty are now starting to get on my nerves. Like, if you´re going to serve dinner at 11
pm, why tell us to come at 5? And would
it kill the teachers to give us more than one day´s notice that we need to send
in obscure arts and crafts materials, like 30 centimeters of silk ribbon and styrofoam
balls that are 2 centimeters in diameter?
There are some less tangible aspects to the expat experience. One of the biggest benefits about living in another country
is the opportunity to see things through a different lens. This has been a
wonderful opportunity to learn more about the world and each other. On
the other hand the hardest thing about being away from home is not being a “regular
person.” It can be a little bit tiresome- the feeling that everything I do and
say is put in the context of my being a foreigner. "She thinks that way
because she´s from the U.S."
"She dresses like that because she´s a tourist." "She washes the dishes like that because
that´s how they do it where she´s from." I´m sure once we´re back in the USA I will laugh at myself for whining about these very minor
annoyances. However, like anything else being an expat has its pros and cons.
Ni modo.
Jeff
When we moved to Nicaragua, the transition was quite easy
for me. I had lived there before, knew the culture and had friends in the
country. The Nicaraguan government is pretty laid back about enforcing
immigration laws which also made life easy for us. Peru has been a very different
story. The culture was new to me, the social-economic climate is hard to
understand, and Peruvians are very formal so making friends is more challenging.
All of this led to some culture shock that manifested itself in the usual ways
– like deciding that a broken traffic light was a metaphor for everything that
was wrong with Latin America.
Despite some challenges, I have lived in other countries
before and knew how to work through the various phases of culture shock. However,
the one thing I was not prepared for was dealing with the fear of deportation. Unlike
Nicaraguans, Peruvians love their rules, regulations and paperwork - including
those related to immigration. Furthermore, the new President of Peru is a
populist (of the worst sort) and during his campaign promised to kick all foreigners out of "his" country. As a result of all this, going through immigration control was a frightening
experience; fortunately, we were very good at getting in the line with the nicest
immigration officer (tall men under the age of 40) and never had any problems crossing the border. That does not mean it has been easy.
Technically, we are not breaking (m)any immigration laws.
However we were never able to get national identification numbers (DNIs) and this
has created some real issues. For example, the kids could not get report cards last
year because the federal Department of Education had not accepted them into the
computerized student registration system due to our lack of DNIs. When I found
out that we were in a centralized government database, I half-expected the
police to knock on our door and I suppose they still might. To make
matters worse, trying to do things like get a telephone line, join a gym or
visit the doctor without a DNI can be complicated and sometimes unpleasant. In
fact, I recently got harassed by a clerk for being an “illegal;” I am not sure
if he was joking but it was sort of belittling and frightening at the same
time.
Living in another country is wonderful but also has many
physical and emotional challenges. Adding the fear of having the carpet pulled out from under you can make it even harder. It is not as if we were cowering in our apartment but that constant concern can be pretty hard to deal with sometimes. I cannot begin to fully understand the plight of
undocumented workers in the USA, but I have certainly developed more empathy for their
situation. Some very generous people have gone out of their way to help us navigate and enjoy life in Peru. When we are back in the
USA I hope to return the favor by reaching out to others in much the same way.
