Checklist - who lived abroad pre-kids?

[MissChief]

..if so where was it and what were you doing?
Seeing this new subject is making me feel all nostalgic for the excitement & smells of pastures new - a sense of feeling really alive...[yeah, very corny, I know, but worked for me every time! Well, for a while anyway...]

Personally, several yrs on, I'm still mighty surprised that I ever came back to the UK! I now seem to be stuck here I suppose what with kids and dh's job..Have occasional fantasy of taking off to Australia/S America/Africa...

Anyway, my years abroad took in Central Africa,
Hong Kong, Spain and Middle East mainly teaching but some of it with the family. How about others?

I lived for a year in Normandy, studying and au pairing.
Not very exotic but I loved every minute of it :)

I studied in Germany and France, lived in Venezuela for a year, and worked in Morocco before getting preggers.

I would love to move on to pastures green(er). Just something different. There's something about being in a foreign country that makes daily life more interesting (even if you are just cooking, cleaning, shopping etc. it's somehow less mundane).

I spent a year in Dijon studying. It was a fantastic experience and I'm so glad that I was given the opportunity.

I've always admired those who lived in France as I've got such a horror for the French language (after tortuous lessons to A-level, why the hell did I choose to do it for so long?!)
Still emotionally scarred after all these years
so have to rush through France if en route to anywhere else on the continent..

I lived in Greece for 3 1/2 years - I was a holiday rep.

IKWYM Sandy, but OTOH I remember how strange it was popping back to the UK to see friends and how they just could believe that I had any kind of normal (ie working) life when overseas - they always seemed to act as if I was on a permanent holiday! Working somewhere like HK, nothing could be further from the truth - it was truly a workaholics paradise, I regularly worked 2 p/t jobs on top of my f/t one, partly because that's what everyone did but mainly because it paid me loads of dosh for great holidays!

Lived in spain and hated it... spent several happy years in Asia though. Get very nostalgic when I think about it...

Spain can me v hard work IMHO - very close-knit rather narrow-minded communities even in the big cities. Hard to get decent job with good salary and condtions too, shame though as it's such a beautiful place to be..

i know Ks - I'm a country girl at heart
C is near that great metropolis of Oxford, though, isn't it?
I'm settling into the 2 week hol thing now, esp with kids it's so practical, if mind-numbingly conformist. I used to be so disdainful of all that!

Malaysia - I was designing an effluent treatment works on a chemical plant.
Spain - I was designing an effluent treatment works on a chemical plant.
Italy - erm, you get my drift.

Agree about spain... I did meet some lovely people and i enjoyed the scenery but also lots of racism and pervy old men

Spain - part of year abroad for degree (working, not studying). Agree with other comments about working in Spain.

Mexico - year abroad again, somewhat nightmarish.

Amsterdam - strangely didn't enjoy it that much at the time, not really sure why.

Sweden - may well end up back there at some point, it seems almost like home for me and dh, he lived there for 7 years.

I lived in Corfu for 12(ish) years (i think) . I did 6 months in Athens too.
My parents emigrated when i was 12-13 so i spent all my teens there.
Nannying in Athens

I lived in/around Toronto, Canada for 3 years as a children's nanny

I was about to get my dual citizenship but came home to get married to DH before the paperwork came through.

I didn't know anybody in canada and everybody in family/friends thought I was very brave

I used to come home twice a year though

It was a deffo brill experience

Japan - JET scheme- loved it.

Also worked for a short time in NZ- does that count?

I always fancied doing the JET scheme but never had the nerve (was a shy young thing as a student)..just did US camp counselling instead.

Me!

As a child/teen, lived in Venezuela, Columbia, Panama, Singapore, UAE and S. Africa.

On my own, I lived in France for one year when I was 15-16 and again when I was 20-21.

Am now an expatriate to the UK.

Jimjams is JET going to work as an English teacher in Japan?

My DN1 is wanting to do that after university

Zambia
PNG
France
USA
Russia (with and w/out kids)
Turkey (with kids,ie right now!)

Oh, I completely forgot about my stint in Germany - close to the Polish border. It was winter, -25 some days and I was commissioning the coal and ash handling systems on a new power station.

moondog! You were in Zambia?! You and I have a lot in common methinks. What's PNG?

ks I was based in Caracas teaching English but floated about the country with my backpack. I shudder to think of it now. What were you doing there?

AH GINGE,SO IT WAS YOU IN MALAYSIA
I love malaysia,very jealus of you.

Me, in NZ, teaching and having a great, value for money quality of life!