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Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

I think that you have misunderstood me. I didn't mean that we (people living abroad) did all the changing, but we were affected more in our time overseas than people in our home country and thus have changed as a result of that. People who never or rarely travel have lived in a society where things haven't changed as much.
For example, I have lived overseas for about 5 years out of the last 9 and I believe that I've changed more than my friend, who hasn't left Canada.
Our priorities certainly change.

Corey · Joined: 05 Jul 2003 Posts: 112 Location: Canada

Canada will always be my home.

khmerhit · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 8:24 pm Post subject:

I heard about a guy from Canada who worked in a mine. he got fed up with being a miner and went to community college to study photography. Then he went to Bangkok and became a professional snapper. After achieving this success, he went back to his small town in Canada where he met some of his former mates in a bar. "Where have you been? they asked. "Uh, well, I left the mine and took a photography course, and now I live in Thailand where I a make my living as a news photographer." Oh yeah?" they said. "Tell us another one. What do you really do?" They wouldnt' believe him. "OK," he said. "I'm still miner but I moved to another province." See what adult education can do for you....

Also, I recall talking to an Englishman who travelled the world a few times doing this and that and teaching English here and there. He said it beat becoming a criminal in his small home-town, which is what nearly happened to him. When he returns home, people ask him where he's been and he says "away." No one expresses the slightest curiosity about his life "away", in fact they dont ask him anything at all, because they assume he means he has been in prison!

Corey · Joined: 05 Jul 2003 Posts: 112 Location: Canada

Yep,

I think everyone should live outside their own country / culture for a little while.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

khmerhit · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 12:42 am Post subject:

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

Corey · Joined: 05 Jul 2003 Posts: 112 Location: Canada

Maybe if they had gone abroad they wouldn't have those troubles.

Just a thought. I know everybody does at some point. I suppose the difference might be in how the trouble is handled.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Shmooj,
I guess we can agree to disagree. I can only speak from personal experience because we only have one life on this Earth, but I can say that I have changed and gone through more struggles, changes and trials in my life than most of my friends back home. As a result, I believe I've grown and changed. I'm not trying to be arrogant, but it is difficult to express.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

Yeah no doubt. The hardest time to express what you've been through is when you go home isn't it.

Someone once taught me something very wise. They said that many overseas teachers forget to educate one particular group of people: those back home. That really hit home. They taught me that I kind of have a duty (more of a privilege really) to not only be teaching people here about aspects of my culture but also teach people back home of the culture here.

We took that so seriously we set up our website to do just that and it has been a great hit with people back home.

How are others helping to bridge cultural distances for those back home?

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

The various paths we tread - or choose to tread in life vary as much as we do.

Now, some of us come from small towns where if you want to measure change, the best unit of time to do that with would be decades. I do. I haven't been home in nearly four years.

When I do go home - which isn't going to be for another 2 - 3 years - I'll probably be barely recognizable as the gullable fresh faced college grad. Some people I know back home have changed. Some haven't. And for some it's hard to tell.

The thing about life is the more we get kicked around, the more we grow. TEFLers do tend to get kicked around a lot. So do others, I know. But on top of that we undergo the challanges of living in a different place with no language skills or support (when we first arrive.) After four years of this, I can take a lot in stride. Things other people might (and I used to) bemoan.

Doing a TEFL job for a few years is almost certain to "straighen you out" a bit. Life "back home" may or may not do so to the same degree. It really depends on how much we are tested, and how we respond to those tests.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

travelingirl68 · Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:50 am Post subject: Oldie but a Goodie!

I came across this thread randomly today and think it is my favorite of all that I have read thus far in the forum. There are a lot of different ideas in this thread, and I was wondering if anyone wanted to add to it since it has been around 1.5 years since anything was added.

I have an additional question for everyone as well - it took me about a year to get over culture shock and adjust to my first home away from home. I am looking to embark to another country for a long-term period in the next few months... For those of you who have lived in different countries for long (1 year or more in a place) periods, does the acculturation process get any easier? Is culture shock just as difficult in each place, or do you adapt more quickly having experienced the symptoms of it before?

Shmooj, I was enlightened as to my own prejudices reading your comments about ex-pats and our occasional arrogance about our worldliness. I have to admit, in going through reverse culture shock over the last 6 months, I definitely felt more 'changed' than those who stayed in the US at first - you have given me food for thought... Smile

Has anyone else experienced that resentment towards people at 'home' who just don't really seem all that interested about all the things you saw/did/learned abroad? I was warned about that before returning, but it was really disheartening...

Some people on the forum have lived/worked in many many places, some have settled into one location - I would love to hear why? Was it planned that way? For those who have stayed in one place for long periods - Guy in Mexico, dmb in Turkey, Roger in China to name a few - had you always had a certain passion for those countries, or did you 'fall' into your love gradually? For those who change countries often - ghost comes to mind - what drives you on so rapidly?

I know there are a lot of questions in this, but I would love to hear your thoughts on these topics...

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

I have always had a love of Latin America. It was this distant, exotic place for me, full of extremes. I hadn't travelled outside of Canada/US before coming here.

It wasn't my intention to stay in Mexico...I had wanted to travel the whole region teaching English and writing freelance travel pieces. Since I met my wife in Mexico City, I decided to settle here. I do get to travel around this country, if not around the region, and have no regrets about it.

I haven't lost the passion for being in Mexico/Latin America at all. If anything, it only grows stronger every day. If I had to pick one thing that keeps me here, besides my wife of course, I would have to pick the food, without joking. One of the simplest pleasures in life, but one that I would greatly miss should I decide to go elsewhere.