My Life as an Expat

This is a general belief people have that a Life of an Expat is very colorful and very attractive.
It's been 5 years for me now living an Expat life in a Middle East region.

That's true that we move to another Country for some benefit, else it would not make any sense shifting your roots. But at the same time there are many things that one needs to compromise on while living a life of an Expat. It is not as simple and easy as it looks. There are many challenges to deal with at Culture, Society, Traditional levels.

First of all the biggest sacrifice that one makes is living away from Family.

Why did I choose to live this life?

My hubby had a very lucrative job offer. The one, where we could work couple of years and the rest of the life would be sorted. Being very practical we decided to take up this offer. The plan was that me and my son would also shift with him. But then after all was finalized my Son was not very pleased to move and he decided to stay back in India. It was very discomforting for me, but then we did not want to force him either. I quit my job and moved to Oman. I never had plans to stop working, I had a thought that I would find something in the new Country and move on. But unfortunately the year we moved, the Oman ministry came up with a rule that they would not issue any work visa for Expat females.
This was really one big hit for me. I was not ready to quit.

When I shifted here. I would keep wondering all day long for months and months what am I doing here in this Country. I was feeling absolutely hopeless, because the laws would just not allow me to do anything. It was mentally frustrating. I could not even take up simple Yoga classes as any work, even if it is small time, doing it from home without a work visa is illegal.

The first one year, was extremely difficult, because the place was new, there were no friends, we did not even have our own car. That was another challenge getting a license, again it is so strict that one gets license here in nothing less then a minimum of 8 to 10 months after end number of attempts. There is no public transport in the city, except for some buses which would run through the high-way, and the Taxis have their own sky high prices. Though a lot of it has changed in the last 5 years. I see the Bus connectivity has improved a lot. From being a complete free bird, I started facing mobility restrictions.

After a lot of contemplation, I decided to move back to India and start working again and my Husband made a understanding that he would live alone here for sometime. But then at that point of time, he started facing health issues and developed the autoimmune disorder of Myasthenia Gravis. That was it, now there was no way that I could leave him and go. I had to be with him, he needed care. I was feeling like the whole of the Universe was conspiring against me.

Then somewhere in my mind I came to terms of settling down in the place in the best manner I can. After almost 2 years, I started getting some HR Consulting work from home offers. That was quite welcoming for me, and then Steem came into my life, and I started getting back on track.

After that things have progressed well.

When I talk to other Expats also I see that almost everyone faces challenges in the first 1 to 2 years of settling down and it is never so easy as it looks from the other side.

There are many time when back home something is urgent, someone is sick and it is not at all easy to be there. One needs to create a new home in a new Country and that takes a lot of effort. Thankfully Oman is not one of those rigid type places. Everything is quite free and liberal here, so in that sense there was a relief. Else in the first place I would have not decided to shift.

The other thing for an Expat is always an uncertainty of the Job. The employer may just decide to not have you and there are no laws that support you. Overnight they may ask you to leave and go and mentally you always need to be ready for that. We are already preparing now to move back, may be in a year or so we are thinking of shifting back to India.

Currently in the Covid situation, Airlines have had the most impact. My hubby works for an Airline and they have laid off so many of their staff. So the uncertainty remains. Rather then something coming as a surprise to us, if we ourselves start preparing it would be better.

For me these 5 years have been a good roller coaster ride. It has taught me many lessons in life. While it has taken away a lot from me, it has also brought many new things in perspective. The empty times have also helped me scratch the surfaces deep within and explore my own inner-self.
I do not know what the future holds for us but yes from our side we are planning up things and then leave it to the Universe.

Thank you for visiting my blog. 👼🏻👼🏻💖💖🌹🌺🌸

"Unlimited Abundance, Blissful Happiness and Unconditional Love"