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For some it is hard to resist the allure of a move overseas and the thought of becoming an expat. Whether it is for work, or for other more personal reasons, living in a foreign country can be tremendously satisfying. However, going to another country to establish a new life, I believe, comes with some responsibility and below I would like to present five tips that every aspiring expat should know and think about before they pack their bags:

• do some research - make sure you can legally work in the country you wish to relocate to (this includes volunteering).
• realize that your life will not improve if you are trying to escape demons, whatever your issues are at home they will only be magnified overseas.
• respect local customs and cultural differences.
• remember you are not in your home country so try to go with the flow.
• no matter how long you live in a foreign country you are still a guest in someone else’s country.

These tips are not meant to be condescending or cynical. Unfortunately, we have seen many people move overseas only to be drastically disappointed because their particular brand of hair gel was not available. Or, because “things do not run like this in their country.”

If you decide to move overseas – GOOD LUCK - and for further information, you may wish to read Adjusting to Life Overseas.

If you travel, or spend an extended period of time overseas, then there is a good chance that you might encounter reverse culture shock upon your return home. Reverse culture shock is a funny phenomenon and if you have not experienced it, can be difficult to explain. As a means to prepare students’ who have been abroad the University of Iowa’s International Programs website has this description, “Reverse culture shock basically consists of feeling out of place in your own country, or experiencing a sense of disorientation. While everything is familiar, you feel different. Even walking through the airport and hearing American English spoken can be a very surreal experience.” I can still remember leaving Papua New Guinea and American Samoa and arriving in the United States and everything seemed foreign to me. Specifically, from the way people greeted each other to how people passed others in a crowded grocery store aisle is tremendously different depending on where you are. Sometimes reverse culture shock can be extremely overwhelming and the University of Iowa site goes on to further explain that, “Fitting your new life into your old one can be frustrating. Since every country has a unique approach to life, it can be difficult if you’re used to operating within cultural mode, or have made that approach to life a part of you, to return to the U.S. where the rules are different.”

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Recently I was asked by ExpatInterviews.com to provide information and details on living overseas in the British Virgin Islands and in Culebra. The team at ExpatInterviews.com created their site because they feel, “it’s always exciting to know about what motivated people to live in another part of the world, how they generate their income, how they manage to live there, and what they’ve learned from their experiences in a land that’s become their new home.”

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Today, I was supposed to put up a post on Reverse Culture Shock but that is going to be preempted by some really GREAT news! I have just had an article published at ZenHabits:

Escaping The Cubicle And Getting Off the Corporate Treadmill

Zen Habits is a fantastic website that was started by Leo Babauta and he covers topics such as, achieving goals, productivity, being organized, motivation, eliminating debt, saving, getting a flat stomach, eating healthy, simplifying, living frugal, parenting, happiness, and successfully implementing good habits. Leo has done a tremendous job with his website in a very short time and he now has close to 20,000 subscribers. In fact, Leo’s site is so popular that it got me to thinking, maybe we need to hold a ZenHabits week down here in Culebra …

If you have ever traveled, even for a short time, or lived overseas for any length of time then you have probably experienced culture shock. Being in a foreign country introduces one to language barriers, food differences, and cultural and social innuendos that can make everyday life a real challenge. For most people who have not traveled it is hard to really understand the difficulties associated with trying to accomplish everyday common activities in a foreign country. For example, trying to buy gallon of milk if you don’t speak the language, ordering off a menu that only offers meals made out of raw meat, or even just going for a walk in an enormous strange city and trying to remember where it is you are staying.

Many travelers truly enjoy the differences but culture shock can afflict even the most hardy of expats. According to Dr. Carmen Guanipa, “The term, culture shock, was introduced for the first time in 1958 to describe the anxiety produced when a person moves to a completely new environment. This term expresses the lack of direction, the feeling of not knowing what to do or how to do things in a new environment, and not knowing what is appropriate or inappropriate. The feeling of culture shock generally sets in after the first few weeks of coming to a new place.” If you live overseas and find yourself depressed, lonely, longing for family, or the familiar, fear not as you are probably just going through the culture shock cycle.

Popular coping mechanisms for culture shock include taking some positive steps to help alleviate the frustration. First off, remember why it is you chose to move overseas. Also, Dr. Guanipa recommends that persons start exercising, and or try to complete some simple tasks, which should help one deal with the stress associated with getting acclimated in a foreign land.

Next time we’ll discuss the concept of reverse culture shock, which occurs when you go home after being overseas for an extended period of time.

This post has been brought to you by the Culebra Blog.

For the expat, or any traveler really, culture shock is a reality and is a term generally associated with the anxiety that is felt when dealing with a completely foreign culture. Yesterday I received an email from a friend of mine who has just returned from Central America to California and he was recounting a story of going to get gas in his car and the reverse culture shock he experienced doing this seemingly simple task. Also, I know from my own experience both living overseas and returning to America that the whole thing can be somewhat overwhelming, e.g. walking in to a mall for the first time in two years and hyperventilating.

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In order to provide more information on Culebra I have just launched Culebra Blog. This site (mytropicalescape.com) was originally developed as a way to help others’ who are interested in living overseas whether in a working, volunteering, or long-term traveling capacity. Because I would also like to get out more posts on our new island home, and not wanting to turn this into a “strictly” Culebra site I decided it would be best to separate the two.

So, if you are looking for expat information you have come the the correct place. However, should you like more specific details on Culebra, (e.g. tourist activities, how to get there, where it’s located, etc) then I suggest you head on over to the culebra blog.

Post made possible by the Palmetto Guesthouse

A while back I read a story that stated, “the BVI is the number two investor in China for new infrastructure.” For an island nation of approximately 25,000 people I find that completely overwhelming. Well, today I did a little further research because I find the topic fascinating and discovered that for the first eight months of 2007 $9.91 billion dollars from the British Virgin Islands was invested in China. If you would like to read the whole article you can have a look at the British Virgin Islands Business News.