Woohoo Thank You and Welcome All Expats!

[EdnaMarie]

Thanks MDC for finally starting this forum. We are multicultural in so many ways and it's a big part of how we are learning to parent.

Also just wanted to shout-out to all my expat tribal members. Soon I will be retreating from my expat status for awhile but for my last month-and-a-half I'd love to hear from y'all.

So let it begin- the expat thread has a home!

Topic- do you live in a rich, middle, or poor-income country?

[nznavo]

Hey! It's nice to be here. You're moving back to the US? You need to keep posting here - I like your insight.

I've lived in all three and am now in a rich country, richer than my own. It has its pros and cons I guess. It's an easy life but not always one whose values I'm in tune with! I find everything to be very money focused here.

[deethai]

I live in a poorer income country and I like it. People are more social and happy, food is very cheap and readily available in form of healthy take-aways and restaurants, never have to cook, it's affordable to hire help for the household, less bureaucracy, easier to sort out things with money alone, better lifestyle all in all.

[EdnaMarie]

I think Thailand is considered middle-income, actually. If you have take-aways, that is already civilization in my book.

WB list

You will note that these statistics do not take into account quality of life, but still, people go on vacation to where you live. When I say poor country, I mean, like Chad or something.

Human Development Index

Okay, well ZIMBABWE is in the middle and comes in above Malawi, while the UAE above Turkey (no offense to UAE residents but I personally value democracy and women's rights above comfort, that is just my opinion), so scratch that! What a moronic list. So political. Like if you say you have 100% literacy, you get to beat your neighbour. Grr.

Sorry to get off topic.

[nznavo]

Ha. That HDI list has me all 'Wait! So Sudan is above Kenya?'.

I would call the part of Bangkok I lived in rich. Obviously there's a lot of variation. I remember going to Bangkok years ago from Cambodia with a colleague who'd also taken her adopted Cambodian daughter along. It was the first time she'd left Cambodia and she had lived on the streets prior to adoption. She thought Bangkok seemed a really poor city, I guess because people begging on sky train overpasses is more of a contrast than people begging on dirt roads? It was really interesting. But I digress.

[EdnaMarie]

Sudan is above Kenya??? How is that possible? Ugh. Kenya is all in the news for minor rioting but civil war and genocide in Sudan are so commonplace that we hardly even hear about them any more and yet... Sometimes the UN just makes me want to punch a wall. It's all about reported statistics.

So, nobody living in Chad, I guess? Am I officially the MDC member with the worst living conditions?

[OhDang]

well i live in the united states so i have life easy compared to kenya and places like that, but I just wanted to say that is so neat that you guys live in a different country. I have never met anyone who lives on the other side of the world This is why i love MDC!

--sorry to get offtopic a bit--

[amitymama]

I am an American living in the UK so I'm in a 'rich' country. However, there are big differenes in consumerism and the way of life compared to the US. I get by with no car, no tumble dryer, no microwave, and a teeny tiny house with pretty small rooms. My DD's room is 6x7! I like the more relaxed and community-centered way of life.

[EdnaMarie]

Amity, are you in Scotland or where? Isn't public transport fantastic? I hate that we will have to buy a car when we are in the US. Blech.

[amitymama]

Originally Posted by Mahtob

Amity, are you in Scotland or where? Isn't public transport fantastic? I hate that we will have to buy a car when we are in the US. Blech.

I'm in London actually. Public transport is pretty good, yes. I have to admit that some days I would kill for a car, simply to be able to get out of the house when the weather is bad, or go visit more rural areas on the weekends, but overall I like not having a car. No monthly payment, insurance, expensive petrol, worrying about parking, road rage, accidents, car seats, etc..

[mntnmom]

We're in Germany, not as expensive as London...but we get paid in US dollars, so the exchange rate hurts!
We tend to prefer the "less-developed" world view, and are hoping to move in the next few years.
I only found this thread by accident because I lurk here. DH and I are both American Anglos, so I don't consider us multi-cultural. Though now that we're all learning German, I suppose we are.

[peggyitaly]

Cool!

I'm so glad to have found this thread!

I live in Italy - so a rich country - with my Italian husband. But like Amitymama, we get by with fewer comforts than what I had growing up in America. We've got two dd's

My situation is quite interesting because I grew up in a multicultural household - My father is Chinese and my mother has European origins. Even though I didn't learn Chinese I definitely felt exposed to Chinese culture in some way. I've had my challenging moments : here in Italy as a "Chinese" person, but I can also say I that I have grown to love my life here.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone here

Peggy

[yvonnemlv]

Hi there, I'm an American, now dual with Sweden citizenship, living in Sweden since Aug 2000. I've 2 lil ones and one on the way. My DH is Swedish. It's nice to see that there is now a multicultural forum here on MDC!

[calynde]

Hi all,

I'm an American in Switzerland (er...so rich country!), married to a Swiss, and we are soon embarking on a life of global nomadism!!! Rotating every 3-4 years between somewhere out in the world and Switzerland. We have a bilingual household (English/German) and live in a bilingual city (German/French).

Nice to have a forum!

[Alcyone]

Hello! :

I'm an American married to a Dane and living in Denmark. I'm a bit jealous of yvonne because Denmark does not allow dual-citizenship (except through birth) and I am not willing to give up my US although I would love to gain EU. I am pregnant with out first, who will be so lucky as to have both.

We are just outside Copenhagen, which is "rich" and expensive. As others have mentioned, life here is still a lot different from the US. I always get a good chuckle when some American says "I live in a small house, only 1500 square feet!" or some such. Our condo is less than 600 and although we have to get creative to make room for baby, we in no way feel the need to move.

I have never owned a car, even in the US, and no, I didn't live in NYC! So living in Europe has opened a lot of doors for me in that regard. DH has never owned a car either and we have no plans to get one, but we do love to travel.

[jeannineb]

Hi everyone. I am an American living in Norway with my Norwegian husband. So, another "rich" country here. We have only been here about 10 months, so I am so happy to have found this forum, I still have lots of questions about being an expat. We have a 3 yo dd and are currently TTC #2.



Jeannine

[yvonnemlv]

Originally Posted by Alcyone

Hello! :

I'm an American married to a Dane and living in Denmark. I'm a bit jealous of yvonne because Denmark does not allow dual-citizenship (except through birth) and I am not willing to give up my US although I would love to gain EU. I am pregnant with out first, who will be so lucky as to have both.

We are just outside Copenhagen, which is "rich" and expensive. As others have mentioned, life here is still a lot different from the US. I always get a good chuckle when some American says "I live in a small house, only 1500 square feet!" or some such. Our condo is less than 600 and although we have to get creative to make room for baby, we in no way feel the need to move.

I have never owned a car, even in the US, and no, I didn't live in NYC! So living in Europe has opened a lot of doors for me in that regard. DH has never owned a car either and we have no plans to get one, but we do love to travel.

Sweden just made dual citizenship legal 2 years ago I think. It's fairly recent anyway. But I don't know if Swedes can get dual, I think so... I know that immigrants no longer have to give up their previous citizenships now to get Swedish citizenship. Maybe Denmark will come around soon for you too? It is LOVELY to be able to go anywhere within the EU now and work and live without worrying about permits as much.

I hear you on the house space.. we've 119 square meters which is 1280 square feet and that's the biggest we've ever lived in here before. We're finding it quite luxurious. I can't imagine a typical 2000-3000 sq. ft house in the states and what that would be like! It seems our home is huge!

We're also car-free and loving it. There are times when it would be nice to have a car, but then we can rent one for a decent price for a few hours or over a weekend if we really need it. And it STILL costs less than owning a car and paying for gas, upkeep, taxes, and insurance.. (and renting a car is not cheap here like it can be in the states).

[Alcyone]

Originally Posted by yvonnemlv

Sweden just made dual citizenship legal 2 years ago I think. It's fairly recent anyway. But I don't know if Swedes can get dual, I think so... I know that immigrants no longer have to give up their previous citizenships now to get Swedish citizenship. Maybe Denmark will come around soon for you too?

Presently the only party that has ever even mentioned it as a possible concern is Ny Alliance, and they have no power to speak of. On the flip side, Danske Folkeparti has more power than they should. I could be wrong, but my impression is that Denmark is more xenophobic than the other Scandinavian countries. I'm still new here though and lots can happen in a few years though, so I can still hope.