The life of an expat, good, bad, and whatever. The things you never knew or thought to ask....

The life of an expat, good, bad, and whatever. The things you never knew or thought to ask....

(And on a completely unrelated note, I have included some favorite pictures from over the years living as an expat....)

 Greetings to family and friends and random strangers who are unfortunate enough to end up here. As this posting/position in Antananarivo (Madagascar) has been particularly challenging for me, I thought it was a good time to express a lot of what I spend my time doing and thinking about which may not be what many of you expect. I imagine that one could write a book from the title I have given, and indeed many books have been written on many of the topics I will mention shortly. But I am not writing a book (at least not at this point) and thus, this will be more of a conversation starter posting, than deeply informative. But I still hope it will be somewhat informative nonetheless.

Let us start with what exactly I mean when I am talking about an expat. An expatriate is a person who is in a country not his or her own. So any person could be called an expatriate simply if he or she is living in a country not their own. Thus, I (or anyone) would be considered an expatriate in each new country in which I live and get established.  I suppose one could even call refugees expatriates, but it is likely that a more detailed definition and differences would become clear in that case, related to details based on choice to leave ones country of origin, and freedom to return, as well as ability to support oneself, and the temporary status of an individual in the country which is not his or her own.

Thus, the term 'expat' is a shortening of the word 'expatriate' and a common one used with humanitarian aid workers, as all of the above things apply. When one is an expat in a new country, the first order of business is to learn everything which a local person learns in that culture in basically the first 15 years of their life. (Or of course you can ignore the fact you are in a new country and the effort of engaging with the local environment and stay in a bubble of expats).

You think this is an exaggeration? Think again.


I will shortly give examples, but I will first add what might be included in 'everything learned in the first 15 years of life'; I mean more than how to get around in a particular city and how to enjoy different foods. I mean...what is considered socially acceptable behavior, what kinds of questions are ok to ask and what are not, how is acceptable to express/ display your emotions (or not), how do people look at money, how do people view or follow certain religions and all that goes with that, how various institutions are setup and what `they look like`(postal system, school system, retirement, insurance, etc.). Political establishments, elections, and how that impacts the society etc.

While many of these things are the grand-scape, there are of course the small things, like what foods are available, what is your body`s reaction to new foods, where can you expect to find a toilet, how to unlock a door, can you brush your teeth with the water from the faucet, can you /should you look who in the eye on the street, social behavior and respect given on all levels, are communications direct/circular/indirect/ implied, what clothes can you wear, hair styles/length/color/ display which is appropriate, what is considered attractive and unattractive for men and women, are animals pets, or food, or both, And of course this is all learnt and communicated via the context of a foreign language - if not for the expat then most likely for the local person trying to communicate about such things. For example, if they are sharing with me in English, this is not their first language either and thus may not always have the exact word or meaning to explain. They may also not understand what you are trying to communicate or ask of them as well as one might hope, expect, or think. Until you realize via the course of events that this indeed the case. (Examples to come.)

Ok, I think you get the idea, now for specific examples (be assured that any one who has been considered an expat at some point in their lives will have many, many examples to share with you.)

1. How to eat: US= knife, fork, spoon vs. India = with your hands
2. How to go to the bathroom: western world = sit on toilet use paper to finish (most of the time) Vs. may African and Asian cultures = squatting over hole, use water to finish.
3. Where to drive: right Vs. left side of the road
4. Where does the water come from: running water in the house all of the time Vs. running water some of the time which cannot be drunk directly Vs. no running water, must be carried, purchased, etc.
5. How to do your hair: free and down is great Vs. Muslim or other extremely conservative cultures must have hair tightly back or not showing at all.
6. How to eat an ice cream cone: US hold and lick the ice cream to eat it Vs. Morocco (and likely other countries) do NOT lick your cone in public. Nope, just don't do it. Get a spoon.

I think this is where I will leave it for this blog posting, hopefully with a little bit of laughter, and next posting I will go a bit more in to detail as to what some of these kinds of things indeed look like in the every day work and play of an expat - or actually of me.

So, many of you reading are currently or have been expats, let me know what you think? Comment or send me your funny example or story (and let me know if I can include it or reference it in my next posting(s)).

Lots of love hugs and Christ-focused greetings for the coming holidays (crazy how time flies!)

Until next time,
Jessica

Annnddd........ I'M BACK!

Hello, hello, hello again blog world!

It has been awhile (as I had to modify my type and form of communication while in a particular -stan country the past 2 years.) As I am now in Madagascar my life continues (shocking, I know). So instead of writing ANOTHER email (which is what I already spend much of my life doing) I figured I would at least change the mode of transportation - I mean communication.

So, what to start with, to wow you back into spending a tiny portion of your life in to reading what I write......hmmm. Tough. Here are a couple of random thoughts from my day to start with, both the deep (at least I think so) and the ridiculous.....

- Getting older gives more opportunity to see things from new perspectives and the grace to work with people who have no ability to view things from another perceptive. (of course we know which person I AM!)
- I really, really like working out/ physical activities. They just make everything better or easier, that may have something to do with workout = Jesus talk time.
- It is definitely in the 'storms' of life where you find out who you are and what you can be.
- I would HATE being a celebrity, it is soooo tiring to be stared at and yelled at ALL the time! (Being a white person in a small African community this is what happens).
- It is really, really hard to press on when everyone around you seems to be expecting perfection or failure and no matter what you do it is misunderstood and you are looked at like 'why are you here again?'
- Thank you  America for letting me grow up playing indoor soccer. It is good to be back!
- Not thank you 'Merica for being in such a funk of an election and giving me absolutely nothing worth saying when every person asks me "what do you think about the candidates.....?"

Ok, I suppose I should give a bit more context to things, especially as this is my first posting in a while.

I am still working with Medair and enjoying it. As a relatively small NGO it is great to know people across the organization and globe on a personal level and interact directly with beneficiaries as well as national staff. This is my 2nd posting with them and I have made a big step up - though you wouldn't know it necessarily by the title change. I went from Project Support Manager to Program Support Manager. Shocking, I know. But really, in relief and development there is a known and significant difference between the words 'project' and 'program'. If you are not aware of this I will spare you the masters degree explanation and simply say that as Project SM I was over the support aspects of one base before, where as now I am over the same areas, but for a country, which includes 3 bases. The benefits of this are that I get to move around between bases. The negatives....my team is spread out and thus more challenging to manage. :)

I am based in the capital city of Madagascar, which like all other Malagasy words --(no, I am not making-up the word 'Malagasy',  that is what you call 'that' of Madagascar) -- Antananarivo is a very long, complicated spelling, multiple syllable word. For example, I cannot even pronounce a single full name of my staff! They all go by one part of one of their names, which is usually three names.

So I am head of logistics, finance, HR, IT, and security for the moment (which seems a bit...different, from my previous experience in security management). Our current work is focused on water and sanitation work, for those of you in the know, that would be WASH. There is also a bit of health and nutritional education thrown in the mix.

Some tidbits about Malagasy culture:
-people are highly sensitive, to most anything, but they are very gentle calm people (for the most part).
- Sometimes too calm. There is not an overwhelming amount of energy, motivation, loud voices, or going out after dark. All of this has its pluses and minuses of course.
-So far, coconut foods and vanilla season are awesome. I am looking forward to mango and avocado season in the coming months!
- Traveling around the country is challenging, options include ' taxi brusse' which are local taxi vans which carry a bus load of people in a van for many hours, smallish boats - in which all seats come with their personal barf buckets, moto (i.e. motorcycle) riding on the back of someone who knows how to drive in 2 feet of mud, Pinz (old army supply vehicle) which needs special training for driving because of the gears and the special axis, and of course cars, in the cities.
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What's Next.......?

This coming week I will be headed to one of our field bases (my 2nd visit) to go for a deeper field visit. My next posting should include pictures from this trip. So keep watching for what is yet to come!!! I love comments and love hearing from you. Do you have questions or suggestions for me on what I should write? Let me know.