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Meeting Other Expats in South Africa
| Published: | 15 Jun at 10 AM |
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Filed: Meeting Expats,South Africa
No thank you very much, I don’t have the time of day for them.
Bit harsh you think? Maybe not, maybe you feel the same you just don’t realise it yet.
I’ll never say never, but joining an expat group is the last thing I want to do, you see I don’t really consider myself an expat in the sense of moving from country to country every few years or so on a short term contract where the company do absolutely everything for you.
We haven’t immigrated, we’re just renewing our visas every few years or so, but it looks like we are here for the long term, min 9 further years until hubby retires. I use the term expat as that’s what people know and think they understand, most commonly translated into ‘Jammy sod, living the life of riley, on a golf course with a swimming pool, sun shining’ well the grass isn’t any greener on the other side, it’s the same. Same shit, different country, that’s all.
I prefer to meet other like minded people, not just expats, but ‘people sharing a common interest’ groups are a bit difficult to look for. I look to meet other people with similar life experience. But I don’t consider other expats as necessarily having a common theme with me. My friends are locals, some may be from other countries, different backgrounds, careers.
For the first time in my life I have made friends because of me. Not me as a child through my parent’s friends, or through my kids, or through work. I haven’t had that in South Africa. I’ve made friends because of me. I used the medium of volunteer work, I had the advantage of searching for the right environment, and there were many false starts as I tried to settle into various charities, but if I didn’t feel I fitted in, I moved on.
There are many different types of expats and very soon I will be joining up with a group of them which I’m rather looking forward to doing. They are expats living in my home country. It will be interesting to find out what they like and dislike about the country I chose to leave, what were their biggest surprises/difficulties and what they still want/need to achieve/do and maybe I can give a little back like the locals in South Africa have done for me.
I will leave you with my expat experiences to date.
‘How to spot an expat’ http://www.chickenruby.com/2012/02/how-to-spot-expat.html
‘Different types of expats’ http://www.chickenruby.com/2012/11/what-kind-of-expat-are-you.html
Suzanne is a Welsh expat living in South Africa. Blog description: As if raising teenagers isn’t hard enough! We thought we’d emigrate to South Africa as well. Join me on our journey with a few rants thrown in.
Bit harsh you think? Maybe not, maybe you feel the same you just don’t realise it yet.
I’ll never say never, but joining an expat group is the last thing I want to do, you see I don’t really consider myself an expat in the sense of moving from country to country every few years or so on a short term contract where the company do absolutely everything for you.
We haven’t immigrated, we’re just renewing our visas every few years or so, but it looks like we are here for the long term, min 9 further years until hubby retires. I use the term expat as that’s what people know and think they understand, most commonly translated into ‘Jammy sod, living the life of riley, on a golf course with a swimming pool, sun shining’ well the grass isn’t any greener on the other side, it’s the same. Same shit, different country, that’s all.
I prefer to meet other like minded people, not just expats, but ‘people sharing a common interest’ groups are a bit difficult to look for. I look to meet other people with similar life experience. But I don’t consider other expats as necessarily having a common theme with me. My friends are locals, some may be from other countries, different backgrounds, careers.
For the first time in my life I have made friends because of me. Not me as a child through my parent’s friends, or through my kids, or through work. I haven’t had that in South Africa. I’ve made friends because of me. I used the medium of volunteer work, I had the advantage of searching for the right environment, and there were many false starts as I tried to settle into various charities, but if I didn’t feel I fitted in, I moved on.
There are many different types of expats and very soon I will be joining up with a group of them which I’m rather looking forward to doing. They are expats living in my home country. It will be interesting to find out what they like and dislike about the country I chose to leave, what were their biggest surprises/difficulties and what they still want/need to achieve/do and maybe I can give a little back like the locals in South Africa have done for me.
I will leave you with my expat experiences to date.
‘How to spot an expat’ http://www.chickenruby.com/2012/02/how-to-spot-expat.html
‘Different types of expats’ http://www.chickenruby.com/2012/11/what-kind-of-expat-are-you.html
About the author
Suzanne is a Welsh expat living in South Africa. Blog description: As if raising teenagers isn’t hard enough! We thought we’d emigrate to South Africa as well. Join me on our journey with a few rants thrown in.
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