An Expat's Response to an Expat Article Written by...not an expat.

Opening up facebook this morning, as I rather pathetically do every morning, I saw a friend had linked to an article about what "the rest of us" could learn about expats: http://www.theage.com.au/travel/blogs/the-backpacker/what-we-could-all-learn-from-expats-20130711-2psde.html

My first observation was that the writer had never, in fact, been an expat.  Had never forced himself through the cavernous and jarring realities of looking for housing, employment, social environs, edamame, pears, or simply adventure in a new city, country, language, and culture than the one he or she had been initiated in through years of socialization.  I have, three times now, and although all of my experiences have been in Europe, they are none the less expansive or educational. 

To completely eradicate any myths that this article purports, we are not all people who act instead of dream.  I, and many of my other expatriate compatriots dream of trips we cannot take, adventures we cannot experience, and lives that we simply cannot live. 

Reasons why these experiences are not being had:
a) No money!  Teaching English, which is in fact at the bottom of the barrel of expat careers (righto on that one, Mr. Groundwater!), is also not very high paying.  Unless you are fortunate to have savings or another stream of income, you are sadly out of luck when it comes to traveling all the time. 
b) No time!  Funny thing - if you cancel a lesson to go on a trip, you also forfeit  profits from that lesson, which would have contributed quite nicely to said trip.  It's quite a no-win situation.
c) No teleportation!  Despite all the technological advances in international travel, and there certainly have been some, there is no magic wand that gets you out of the city to where you want to be, and then back to where you need to be.  Sometimes you just need to be where you chose to live, not elsewhere. 
d) No autonomy!  Your boss may not give you time off, you may need to go back to your place of origin for a family emergency, or you may need to take some personal time off because you need a break from all that expat life has thrown at you.  Sometimes it is simply out of your control completely. 
This is certainly not a complete list, and if you have more to add, I would love to hear them in comments! 

Other myths that I am here to refute:
-Just because you're adventurous to move to Prague or Berlin or even Taipei does not mean that you're going to be up for everything, eat insects, go on a dangerous excursion that could potentially have stupendous consequences, or risk everything for that big wave.  Not all of us are such amazing risk takers!  Some of us just wanted to be somewhere else. 
-Not all expats are friendly!  Just because they're at a couchsurfing meeting doesn't mean that they want to immediately become your best friend.  Sometimes people just want something from you, or in many cases in Berlin, some just want to get laid - not be your friend and travel companion. 

So...sorry kids, it's not always the dream it's cracked up to be.  But, I will say that it's always worth it, and that the tough experiences make your life richer, make your decisions easier, and generally contribute to the long list of awesome things you did with your life when you're thinking it all over on your deathbed.  I would highly recommend it to anyone, even if I have experienced all of the above.  Don't expect magic to come to you - you have to go out there and make it for yourself!