How has living abroad changed you?

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

Since being in Aus for 6 years, I now . . .

1. Prefer showers to baths - haven't had a bath for years. Used to love lounging about in the bath reading.

1. Vegemite over Marmite

1. No longer terrified that the children and I will instantly expire the minute the mercury climbs over 24 degrees.

1. No longer think 24 degrees is perfect for the beach. Minimum 30 these days

1. Really loved the outback and thought it was beautiful not just "stinking hot and full of rocks and flies"

How about you?

I am much more friendly to randoms.

I NEED an en suite.

I have less nice stuff.

Grocery shopping is a major financial outlay.

1 degree C is an outrageous midwinter low.

I feel safer.

YY to all of yours thelittlestkiwi particularly the friendly thing. I was much less friendly when in the UK.

Claudia, what a great question!

I've hopefully broadened my horizons a bit...

When we moved to the US 4 years ago, I rejected (in my mind) the wife of my DH's high school friend because she was 6 years younger than me, didn't have children, and seemed to have vastly different taste in clothes to me when we went shopping together (I know, I know..). Also, she said things like "I knew we'd be friends!!"

I now realise she's lovely, funny, has lots to say, and is open minded enough to want to be friends with a "forriner".

(USA for 7 years now)

I am chattier and less reserved to randoms in shop queues. Friendlier in general.
I expect people working at tills to say 'hey, how are you?' before they start beeping in the prices of stuff.
I am shocked at the cost of everything in England, especially food.and clothes.
I expect really good customer service from pretty much everyone and everything.
I drink a LOT less than friends in the uk. Maybe 1 -3 beers in a night, twice a month. Most of my friends still in London drink every weekend.
I think driving 7 hours for a weekend away is reasonable.
When I visit England I am amazed by how few potholes there are, and how great public transport is.
I am fervently nostalgic for.the NHS.
Winters don't feel "right" without one or two road-closing snowstorms.
I expect to spend 3 months in shorts and tank tops each summer!

Yes to what blackcurrents said but I live in the south so expect to wear flip flops 10 months of the year

Kiwiland - 1 year today

Family life exists and work values it.
Don't know where the four pairs of gloves I own(ed) are.
A boat seems an essential acquisition in the foreseeable future.
Insulation is new fangled and 12 degrees inside is average.
Things are so far behind in my industry that I feel like I've got a crystal ball.
Can fix anything with No. 8 wire ;0)

hootie I spent a week in NOLA at christmastime and didn't need a coat! It was like being somewhere exotic!

We are a lot poorer! but that is our fault for choosing a v v expensive suburb of Sydney to live in!

I am thinner and fitter - despite being 36 weeks pregnant I am still 10kgs lighter than I was when I first got pregnant with DS!

We have loads more friends, mainly because our work life balance is a lot better than it was in the UK

We've become Christians

I complain when the temperature drops below 14degrees!

I sold out an bought an enormo-mobile - the kind of massive van that would take up an entire road in the UK - but here is considered a 'family car'. I bloody love it and love the fact that i can car pool a whole bunch of kids down to the local beach where it was 32 degrees today.

Oh, and I now want to slap my former self for ever being irritated by people trying to speak english very badly, even after several years in england. It's bloody hard work functioning in a forrin language, innit?

Also much more tolerent and understanding of other immigrants since starting language classes with all the Columbians, Nepalese, Japanese etc here but realised that the key to proper integration is everyone having to speak the same language.

Las Vegas, US for 2 years...

I have learned to bite my lip and keep my own counsel a lot of the time and have no discussions that are in anyway political, or cover religion or well anything except what colour nail varnish I favour and what I am doing at the weekend. Otherwise I shall be reminded that I don't belong here and I have no vote.

I have learned that aparently the majority of things are my fault just for being British, slavery and the global economy meltdown, but my accent is cute so they'll let me get away with it as long as I don't have an opinion on anything....

I have learned to read labels very carefully indeed, and read between the lines much more on what things like "natural" mean in food.

I have a new found love for Tescos - as they created Fresh and Easy and so allow me to buy marmite for less than $10 a jar...

I now consider a 7 hour drive as... meh... not that far....

I have got completely used to having to repeat myself 10 times to be understood when I order water anywhere.

I miss the NHS - A LOT!!!

I have actually managed to camp in a tent in the woods with bears, wolves and poisonous spiders and lived to tell the tale and I do it often.

I have learned that I will be given evils if I don't put my hand on my heart and say the pledge of allegiance. Even if I stand respectfully facing the flag, and explain to folk who ask that I don't do it as I respect the process too much to lie. This often happens to me most week days. I still don't do it.

:( Sharklet! Are you going to stay there long term?

I have found that I love the German attitude to bringing up children in a lot of ways (the encouragement of independence and self reliance and the freedom they can have outdoors) though I am on the fence about school.

In some ways living in a country where I don't speak the language fluently has made me more introverted and less adult, as I can't have a "grown up" in depth conversation due to my language skills. This is not good.

In other ways it has made me more self reliant.

It has confirmed I am pants at languages, though I understand and make myself understood I sound stupid - if somebody moves to a country as an adult and is not fluent within a few years don't judge them, even if they make an effort and speak the language all the time, learning a new language over the age of 30 just doesn't come naturally to some people!

NZ, South Island for 8 years (how did that happen)??

I have become one of those "chatty" people who enjoys random conversations with strangers.
I miss mountains if I go somewhere flat.
I left my DS's bedroom window open all summer and he is on the ground floor - would never ever do that where we lived in the UK.
I walk round our town at midnight on my own without a second thought.
I take a deep breath at the supermarket cos food is bloody expensive. But on the positive side we cook and eat everything from scratch.
If I run over a rabbit while driving, I don't get upset like I used to.
I say 'awesome' and 'sweet' in a non ironic way
I am happier

We get citizenship this year - v excited, apparently we get a NZ native shrub and have to sing the national anthem :) Best get practising .....

I live overseas in England (from south Africa) and these make me smile a bit sadly because I have gone the opposite - I am now suspicious of people who start up random conversations with me (but am reverting to my old way since ds was born, thank goodness).

I am also constantly surprised by how j have adjusted to the weather here. Even this awful summer is barely fazing me!

after a year I am still resisting change [idiot]

YY theenglishwoman. After a year of french I still have people look at me blankly when I ask for something simple like water.

Oh and when I ask you to SPEAK MORE SLOWLY PLEASE I don't mean 'say the first couple of words really slowly and then go back to rabbiting on.' I mean say all the words slowly and I may just about understand you and be able to respond.

What a great idea for a post. Really enjoyed reading those. I've only been in Singapore for 3 weeks (which is the longest DH and I have been out of the UK!) so not much to say but:-

1. To echo a line I read here just before we relocated, our house is just bricks and mortar. Family's what matters.

1. That having moved here in 3 months from the initial idea to actually turning up, and then having DH buggar off to Korea for 6 day 2 weeks in I'm tougher than I thought I was.

1. That maybe, just maybe we will adapt to the heat, just a little.

1. That the friends we have here are true friends of the highest order.

1. That at £4 for 2 litres of organic milk maybe I can try to forget what I read many years ago about non-organic milk. (I don't even drink the stuff - just the kids and DH!).

1. That we have each other and we're on an adventure and it's started well and we're going to be okay! It was the right decision.

Sorry - a bit dull!

K x

That when going in a local shop you have to memorise every blessed person in there so you know when it is your turn...
Forget queing Italians are unable to queue
They are unable to use indicators to overtake , or often just to make a turn you have to be able to mind read.
since they changed roundabouts so that you give way to traffic on them ( the same as the rest of Europe) the Italians are exempt from this .

You have to round round from surgery to hosp back to hosp and then to doc when you need a blood test - the Uk its all centralised and seems so much smoother.

I am more careful what I say, anything can be inetrpreted the wrong way.
I love the genuine ' ciao how are you?' the comments about the dc , the open and friendliness of shopkeepers, bar staff and restaurants .
This summer I am appreciating the weather over here sooooo much more and am dreading the weather when I go to the UK.
Despite the whinges in the UK the benefit system is 100 times better.

I could go on and on........

Been in Australia nearly 3 years now (NSW)

How have things changed me - well, I do a lot less now as I had to give up my self-employed business when I left the UK (insurance issues etc.) so I put on weight.
I also walk less and drive far more - partly because it's so fecking hilly where I am, and partly weather-dependent.
I spend more time in doors than I ever used to - partly weather, partly because of the bastard year-round mozzies that go for me within minutes of me stepping outside.
I am now bothered by spiders (necessarily) where I never cared less about them in the UK
I get much colder in the winters here than in the UK because there is no CH and the insulation in our 1920s house is appalling
I have a tumbledrier for the first time!
I am less able to do things practically - I used to manage my general home electrics by myself but here I can't even put lights up because I don't know the wiring system; I can still change plugs (and even managed a socket today - yay!) but feel irritated by this.
I HATE not having an airing cupboard.

In attitude - I have had to modify my general shock levels at the things that some people say because where I live there is still a fair amount of non-PC attitude
I have learnt to accept that I am going to have to travel far further to go to certain shops etc. - think nothing of a 40min pop up the road now, whereas in the UK that would have been a bit of a bind. And I go 2h to see an osteopath!

I am no safer here. In fact I feel a lot less safe because we live very close to bush land and I fear the bush fires. We had our car stolen from our lean to a couple of weeks ago, crashed and burnt out - no safer at all. :(

I go to the dentist less. It's fecking expensive.

I am generally less able than I was in the UK - I don't know where to go for things, I don't know how systems work, I don't feel able to talk to many tradespeople because there is still a lot of chauvinism here as well (have encountered it first hand) - and that really pisses me off. :( Obviously after I've had to do it the first time it gets easier, but I feel inhibited by my lack of understanding and knowledge (and get no help from DH, who is a native Aussie ).

Dubai for 4 years

1. Far more materialistic. Think that goes with the territory of middle east expats

1. Cannot cope with only one toilet in a house, like when we go back and stay with parents. Husband has his own 'poo cupboard' so I don't have to go anywhere near his toilet smells.

1. I used to hate heat why the fuck I moved here, I do not know but now I can't believe people in the UK are going topless in beer gardens in 25 degree heatwaves. 25 degrees means I'm wearing a jumper!

1. I'm far more chatty and less judgemental of others, because you have to be

1. I have a shorter temper, maybe to do with the level of fuckwittery cultural diversity in customer service.

1. On a professional level, I'm more assertive, have a much wider array of experience and more confidence in my own ability.

1. I now know what makes a friend. It isn't who is there for you on a daily basis, its who will still be there for you even if you've not seen them or spoken to them for months on end. And that's both for my friends, and for being a friend to others.

I've been in the US for a looong time.
I now appreciate the UK more than I ever did when I lived there.
I appreciate the beautiful countryside, the green, the rain, pub lunches, fish and chips, bisto gravy, the ability to go for a walk on the prom.
I'm also a much more confidant person than I was, but maybe that comes with age, I don't know.
It has brought my Dh and I much closer together as a couple, much more than we would have been in the UK surrounded by family to help, here it's just us, we have had to team up and make things work, get through all kinds of problems and get on with it. Somehow I think we wouldn't have needed to get this dependent on each other in UK as we'd have had other family members about to support us separately in whatever problems we had at the time.

Out of uk for 4 years in various locations

That it doesn't matter so much where we are as long as I have dh and my dc's, we're a great unit,
That I miss my family but have realised that fundamentally its a choice of looking back or looking forward for us and our kids.
That the world is a big place with some many adventures - why stick to one location forever...

Uk for nearly 17 years.
Became a lot more diplomatic, people back in Portugal are a lot more straight talking to the point of being hurtful.
I also became a lot louder and more assertive, that's what London does to a shy 18 year old student (either that or trampling her/his soul)
Learnt to admire the resilience and stiff upper lip of the British people, if my country folk were a bit more proud like the British maybe they would be in the bowl of mess that they are right now.
Saying that I became a lot more proud of my country and nationality, I just wish that everyone else could see Portugal the way that I do (again less mess).
Now that the Uk became a bit more like home, especially since we've had our LO we'll be off pretty soon to a new adventure to try and give our child a bit of what we had in our childhood but, with bears in it :)

yy Thumbwitch I feel less able, there are things I just don't get. tax/ medicare/ childcare rebate/salary sacrifice yadda yadda I am also feeling the consequences of having disempowered (!) dh over the years by doing everything...now he needs to do much more as he is the citizen, but poor bugger doesn't always know where to start!

and also the shock levels.... I am having to pick my battles.... we are in a very conservative little place ho hum...

Been in the UK for 14 years, originally from NZ

Much more confident driver. I used to be terrified of the 'motorway' into Auckland, now I drive around the M25 and into London without thinking twice.

More confident travelling- have been all over the place independently as a family, not just 18-30's package tours!

More interested in politics, I took very little interest growing up in NZ. Also history, I know a lot more history from living in the UK.

I'm more patient and can stand in queues for hours happily

I've learnt when to shut up, instead of just saying whatever I'm thinking.

I've learnt how to get around on the tube, with kids and that bringing up children in London isn't child abuse.

I'm much more racially tolerant than I was when I was in NZ. Our part of London is so diverse, I love it.

TheEnglishWomanInTheAttic No we are not sticking around in Vegas long term. Hubby is in the military so we'll be moving on (hopefully soon as it is a living hell here! - not all the time but a lot of it...) We are hoping for a posting to Italy or Germany but I guess it depends on who gets voted president in November and what foreign policy / defence spending choices they make...