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2012-01-10 11:19:06
By Rebecca Marston Business reporter, BBC News
These four professionals have very different feelings about the countries they
moved to for work:
"The State IS the religion. You cannot contradict the State. It's not that it
is a crime, it is as though it's a sin."
"All of a sudden it was: 'What year is it?' Time becomes funny in perpetual
summer. I've been used to marking my life in terms of 'Oh, it's winter again.'"
"The best thing is being abroad - to have the feeling that there is something
buzzing here and you are in the middle of something happening."
"Our first impressions centred on how clean and modern the city is, the great
hospitality and the multi-cultural aspects."
The comments are from people living in Abu Dhabi, India, Malaysia and Sweden -
but not in that order.
Among the hundreds of thousands of professional people who are living away from
their home country, part of the attraction for them was to experience something
very different from home.
Old Europe
That is the reason at least that prompted Veronique Briquet-Laugier, a
French-born scientist, to move to the French embassy in Delhi, trying to boost
co-operation between French and Indian scientists.
"I wanted to get away from Old Europe. It is going to sleep. India is a dynamic
economy and an exciting one."
Chris Callahan Chris Callahan in Malaysia: "Truly an international melting pot"
At first the move went well: "My first impressions were above my expectations.
I was expecting it to be less developed - not in science because they are very
advanced - but the airport and shopping malls were far better than I was
expecting.
"But then I found it chaotic. I thought: 'What IS this - I want to kill
someone!"
US-born Chris Callahan, another Westerner who wanted a move to a fast-growing
Asian country, found adjusting a simpler process. He moved from one dynamic
economy - Hong Kong - to another - Malaysia.
Serial mover
An entrepreneur, he went to set up a TV production company: "I was fed up with
Hong Kong. I found it very segregated. I had lived in China and found it
strange to live in a predominately Chinese city where there was so much less
effort to get to know each other."
Start Quote
I have no Swedish friends. Not one. Other countries, sure. Canadian, Maghreb,
Iranian, but - apart from my wife - no-one from Sweden
Alessandro Serio Teacher
His first impressions matched his expectations: "I loved it. I thought it was
great. It bills itself as a multi-ethnic and multinational society and it was
fantastic. You can see Indians, Chinese and Malay Muslims, truly an
international melting pot - unlike Hong Kong everybody would sit around
together - and the food was not bad!"
Alessandro Serio is another mover who found settling initially plain sailing.
Italian by birth, he had lived in a number of countries, like Chris Callahan,
before this move, in his case stretching across Europe and Africa. But he was
not prepared for the move to Sweden.
"My first impression was what I was expecting it to be. Everyone was blond and
good looking and it was easy to get a job. There appeared to be perfect social
integration and no conflict. But after a while I started to notice things were
a bit different.
"The first thing that happens is you start to get into the system. The permits,
permission to stay, the work permit. In London no-one cares, in Paris even less
- you really disappear. In Sweden, they come and look for you, with emails and
all sorts of communication methods.
"You have to learn the language and lesson one was An Introduction To Sweden.
The instructor was 10 minutes late, yet the first thing she said was: 'We in
Sweden are very punctual.' They seem to have have a vision of themselves that
they simply don't live by themselves."
'Delusions of grandeur'
He found the country far from the social melting pot enjoyed by Chris in
Malaysia.
"No-one eats together. The all sit and eat their lunch at the school I work at,
at the same time, at the same table - but they don't really talk to each other.
Not even about the weather. I have no Swedish friends. Not one. Other
countries, sure. Canadian, Maghreb, Iranian, but - apart from my wife - no-one
from Sweden."
Alessandro Serio Alessandro Serio found Swedish life did not live up to his
hopes
Sonia Middleditch, managing director of WorldNet Recruitment and Training, says
adjusting to a new country can be a combination of euphoria and bewilderment:
"It is crucial that whoever is going abroad is sufficiently prepared for what
to embrace. We try to do this by bringing in experts to talk them through what
to expect.
"A lot of people have delusions of grandeur, particularly the young, who think
if they are going to Barbados they are going to be sitting on St James' beach
drinking cocktails - and that's not the reality.
"People have chosen to go to their new countries, so there is an element of
'This is what I was hoping for; this is what I was expecting.' But after the
early excitement, they settle in and start to see what is missing."
Veronique Briquet-Laugier's experience mirrors this. But she adjusted by
embracing the system.
"I was more indulgent at the beginning. I was trying to find my way and I did
lose patience once the novelty had worn off. But here one should not scream or
shout at any point. People just look really helpless if you start doing that.
"Now I know better ways of holding my temper and expressing myself. Now I am
more Indian and I feel more part of the country and people."
'Blind faith'
Steel executive Shannon Hore has worked hard to understand his new host
country, Abu Dhabi, in a bid to avoid that uncomfortable junction.
He moved from Perth, Australia, with his wife: "Abu Dhabi is a Muslim country
and as an expat we need to be very sensitive to their beliefs and cultures.
This means being aware of prayer times during the working hours and providing
time for Muslims to pray.
"This also means that during the holy month of Ramadan, we need to ensure that
we do not drink or eat in public during their fast - even chewing gum is a
no-no."
But even with understanding, religion can throw up some unexpected pitfalls.
Start Quote
Indians are quite similar to French, they talk all the time. They are into
politics and are interested in everything
Veronique Briquet-Laugier French scientist
Alessandro moved from one Christian country to another, but he did not find
many parallels: "When you first move here, you are told that Sweden is highly
secularised. But Sweden is one of the most religious countries I have ever been
to.
"There is an orthodoxy of the system, a religion of the State based on blind
faith. If you make your religion public - Catholic, Muslim or Buddhist - people
get really irritated - a lot."
For Chris Callahan in Malaysia, the system remained bemusing, too: "One night a
leaving party was arranged for someone, but the plan was to stitch him up. It
was arranged with a massage parlour to give him a massage and when he was
vulnerable a fake policeman would arrest him. But the parlour owner said 'What
do you want to do that for? We'll get one of the ones I pay off to play the
part.'
"But another time I went to the police to report a stolen wallet. I was
surprised to find there was a fee - of 30p. But then the women working in the
station weren't able to type so the report could not be filed. I offered to do
it - and they said OK. So I typed my own police report."
Moving on
Chris Callahan found his host country's view of him also verged on the bemused:
"The locals see you as weird. You're fascinating to them. It means you can get
away with anything.
"My dog was banned when the guards changed at my apartment - dogs are seen as
unclean in certain Islamic cultures. I just told the guard it wasn't a dog -
that it looked like a dog but it wasn't - they were too confused to do
anything."
Alessandro Serio simply came up against a straightforward stereotype: "Italians
face more or less the same prejudice everywhere. We get asked about the Mafia,
how many times do you call your mother... They think we all hang our laundry
out across the alleyway, all the things like that."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, he is thinking of leaving the country where he says the
State is the religion.
Chris Callahan has left Malaysia, but for a new entrepreneurial venture, and he
would have no qualms about returning, even though the seemingly eternal
sunshine blurred his sense of time.
Shannon Hore is staying in multicultural, modern Abu Dhabi, for now: "This is a
very friendly and hospitable part of the world with lots to see and do. There
are so many opportunities to travel - after all, Australia is so isolated."
Veronique Briquet-Laugier is still in Delhi, where she is no longer so likely
to feel homicidally annoyed.
She says she is enjoying the buzz and the "feeling of being part of something"
more and more: "Indians are quite similar to French, they talk all the time.
They are into politics and are interested in everything - I can see the
Mediterranean in them!
"And practically, it is much better here. We have a maid and a driver and we
can order whatever we want to eat."