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Building and Keeping Relationships While Living Overseas
Managing your expectations about relationships as an expat
The perception of an expat’s life is that of being on an endless vacation with a job that you enjoy and lots of perks. Whether you are just starting your expat journey or continuing for many more years, there are challenges you will face along the way. No one tells you about the challenges of making and keeping connections until after you start experiencing them.
Making Friends Comes with Time
We have all seen the movies or heard the stories of an expat with lots of friends. They enjoy socializing with other expats as well as locals. Invites to events, activities, and getaways are the perfect scenarios after you are connected to a new community in your host country. Well, the reality of making new friends quickly and easily when you move abroad is far more challenging. Remember when you were a new kid in a new school or a new city? Yes, the same applies to an expat move. You have to navigate the culture, language, gender boundaries, socioeconomic privilege, class, or race. And these experiences don’t happen overnight.
While living on the island of Dominica, my neighbor and I were regular 5 am Saturday morning buddies to the local market for our weekly…
