How does an ex-pat know it is time to move to a new country to get fresh experiences?
As I prepare to leave my third ex-pat country (USA—Mexico—Costa Rica), I’m beginning to see a pattern in the signs that present themselves to indicate that maybe, just maybe, it’s time to go:
1. You understand the city bus system run by five or more companies, their routes and their rates.
2. The on-the-street lottery ticket vendors treat you like a local: “lotteria, lotteria, lotteria”.
3. Your cheap coffee maker has broken down and you don’t want to buy another.
4. All the door-to-door salesmen know better than to ring your doorbell.
5. The cheap toaster you bought is on its last leg.
6. You know the TV/cable channels even though there is never anything to watch: especially not in English.
7. You know enough about the local politics to complain about specific politicians and their actions.
8. You know the national sports teams and their rankings in the international standings.
9. You anticipate the national holidays, know what they celebrate and which the locals take seriously.
10. Making a list of “Top Ten Ways an Ex-pat Knows It’s Time To Move” takes less than ten minutes.
Our next adventure: China – specifically, Wenzhou – where I will attempt to learn Mandarin Chinese, hope to take cooking lessons, complete my Baby Boomers Traveling guide and write a novel set in China. Until then, This Expat Life blog is on hiatus while I travel through Latin America and Europe for three months on my slow road to China. I’ll pick up again when I’m an ex-pat again. Until then, I’ll be blogging about the next leg of this, our second, ‘round the world trip under the Baby Boomers Traveling banner.
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Have fun! Will miss the mid-day read though!
Yup, looks like you are due to move. You probably could have included on your list…all the dishes you own are dirty and you don’t feel like doing the dishes…lol
Love you an enjoy your slow road to china!
It is quite interesting to see the life retrospection of an expat of 3 South American countries. I guess, there may have been other reasons to make you see that it is time to move on.
No door to door salesmen pester me here in Tenerife. Those that distribute fliers ring my bell, as I am the one who is almost always home.
Then they walk inside the house entrance and stuff pamphlets into all mail boxes or just put them onto the floor.
I don’t have cable TV, but know all channels nevertheless. We shall get digital TV pretty soon. I bought sort of a decoder. At least, I will have some TV then including CNN. Those without that magic digital box will be without TV altogether.
CNN is pretty much government controlled, they say. Isn’t it?
I only remember one loteria vender in Puerto de la Cruz, who was a bit loud. He was chanting funny sales slogans. I actually miss people like that.
All other loteria sales people just sit tired in a camping chair in front of a shop or on a street corner. Some of them are blind or only have one eye.
The other day I saw a pretty, top fit young girl in my neighborhood. She held a whole bunch of tickets and also found buyers.
Here, I am also kind of current with national sport, at least with soccer.
There is a tapas bar opposite my house. Goodness, it’s high life there , when it has a tv broadcast for a match. After that the young guys drive around the suburb on their motor bikes and hoot and hoot and hoot to proclaim their joy, after Tenerife scored important goals.
Now, to you and China: You have all my admiration and thumbs up for your decision to try tackle Mandarin Chinese.
Unfortunately, I know this will not be good enough. Many don’t speak Mandarin in China and only know their local dialect.
You must be itching to get going onto you overseas trip.