Expats in Canada have provided some advice to JasonLove, an Expat Exchange member considering a move to Canada within the next year. Canada is one of those countries where a lot of U.S. expats and British expats think it will be so much like home that it will be an easy tranistion. – from the U.S. and the U.K.

sunluver67 offered the following advice:

British Columbia is the most expensive province to live in! Ever thought of Ontario? The Metro Toronto area offers corporate offices such as IBM, Microsoft and big insurance companies like Sunlife Financial. There woud be many tech jobs for your husband.

Another member, ost, offered a slightly different perspective:

Vancouver has a job big offering for Software Developers (probably the biggest in Canada), so your husband should be fine. It is an expensive city, but the salaries are quite good. You can rent a 1 or even a 2 bedroom apartment for less than 1000$ if you search.

What are your thoughts? Share your thoughts on Moving to British Columbia on the Expat Exchange Canada Forum.

Here is an Expat Report on Moving to Kelowna, B.C.

Here is a recent article about Canadian job-seekers heading west again – mostly to Alberta.

Expats have a lot of tough decisions to make. Should I take an international assignment? Should I bring my family? What should I bring? What should I leave at home?

These last two questions are the focus of this blog entry. It’s never possible to know exactly you should bring. There is bound to be something that you think you’ll need that you don’t, and something you thought you would need that is more or less useless in your host country.

Here are a few samples:

From an Expat in Mussoorie, India

Name three things that you wish you had brought and three you wish you had left at home.

Three things I wish I had brought: a good pair of winter slippers, because houses here are uninsulated, so the winters can be cooler inside than out; another set of good kitchen knives, since ones we have found here are not of very good quality; another pair of indestructible sandals from some of the big name brands, since here you can get cheap sandals custom-made…but they also require resoling, and have no arch support!

Three things I wish I had left at home: electric blanket, because even despite a transformer & converter, it still blew and now the fancy function doesn’t work; our queen-size fitted sheets that we were told to bring, because you can’t get fitted sheets here–only to find out that ‘queen size’ is really closer to king, it being two single beds pushed together; my winter coats, because you can manage just fine with a sweater and t-shirt, silk underwear and normal clothes, and so on – winter coats are a waste of space and it’s not cold enough!

Here’s another from an Expat in Skei i Jolster, Norway

Name three things that you wish you had brought and three you wish you had left at home.

I brought everything with me and should never have come but here goes: I should have brought a never ending supply of salt ‘n’ vinegar crisps, branston pickle and sarsons vinegar and should have left at home me, my passport and my career.

Ouch!

If you are living abroad or have recently, please take the time to fill out your own Moving & Relo Expat Report. Expats and soon-to-be-expats can greatly benefit from the wisdom of your experience!

Expat Women in Saudi Arabia… it’s a conversation expats have always addressed on Expat Exchange. Back in 1995, Betsy Burlingame pulled together an article called, you guessed it, Expat Women in Saudi Arabia, that has been widely read by a great many expats that have considered moving to “the Kingdom.”

Here’s an excerpt:

Expat women in Saudi Arabia face a much different experience than their male counterparts. For some, wearing an abaya and headscarf, not being allowed to drive and abiding by the rules that govern interaction among the sexes are just a formality. For others, they turn out to be a source of great frustration… even deal breakers. Any woman considering a move to Saudi Arabia, should really do her research, talk with other women in the cities where she may be living, and, if married, discuss the positives and negatives at length with your husband (Note: unmarried couples are not allowed to live together in Saudi Arabia).

And the topic has been in the news lately, as some Saudi women are getting behind the wheel in a country where driver’s licenses are only issued to men. Several Saudi women were arrested for driving last week, as noted on Canada.com:

Saudi authorities detained six women on Thursday for driving cars in the capital in defiance of laws allowing only male motorists on the conservative kingdom’s roads.

Saudi Arabia has no formal ban on women driving. But as citizens must use only Saudi-issued licences in the country, and as these are issued only to men, women drivers are anathema.

Outcry at the segregation, which contributes to the general cloistering of Saudi women, has been fuelled by social media interest in two would-be female motorists arrested last month.

Rasha al-Duwaisi, one of those detained on Thursday, put the ages of the group at between 21 and 30 and said they had met in a district of Riyadh late in the afternoon to teach each other how to drive using three cars.

We outline this topic because it’s important for people who go abroad to understand what exactly that means for them, and this is critical for women who move to Saudi Arabia. Maybe the one thing I say more than anything else to people I work with in counseling and psychotherapy is that it’s important to collect as much information as possible, make sure you’re viewing it accurately, and only then make an informed choice about what is best for you (and your family). This advice is well suited to all expats, especially those new to the expat lifestyle.

Some expat reports we get at Expat Exchange are just flat out fascinating. Maybe it’s the therapist in me, but I just can get over some of the dynamics that help shape the cultural experience of some expatriates.

What if you are an Asian American, living in Beijing, and you don’t speak Mandarin or any other dialect of the Chinese language? Here you go:

If they speak another language in your new country, do you speak the language? If yes, did you learn the language before you moved or while abroad? If no, are you planning to learn the language?

Many young college students speak English as well as Mandarin and some other native dialects. I did not learn Mandarin nor do I want to learn Mandarin.

As an Asian American, most Chinese thought I was Chinese and tried to speak Chinese with me. Once they find out I’m American, they are in disbelief and tried to yell Chinese at me as if I will understand them if they yell at me.

Most cannot understand that Americans consist of Europeans Americans and other ethnicities. I’m treated better and they are more understanding of my confusion when they finally believe that I’m American.

And I thought this was great in terms of how families function in China. Not unlike some families in the U.S., though still uncommon for most:

What are some things you appreciate most about the new culture?

The Chinese had a great desire to care for their family. The parents retire at about 55 (women) and 60 (men). They care for the grandchild and live with their children. They feel a sense of duty to care for their parents and the grandparents feel that it is their job to care for the grandchildren. It is also a law that the children care for the parents. The government can garner part of the childrens’ wage to care for the parents if the children are negligent in their care for the parents.

Can anyone imagine if the government in the United States tried to take money from someone for not taking care of their elderly parents? That would go over like a lead balloon.

If you would like to share your culture shock experiences, expats (and soon-to-be expats) all over the world will read your thoughts. Many expats will follow in your footsteps and need all the feedback they can get! Read more reports in our Expat Reports section.

A recent survey indicates British expats are pleased that they moved abroad and that they are coping well financially despite “recessionary pressures.”

I thought it would be interesting to juxtapose a few recent expat culture reports – one by someone who is coping well with their culture adjustment, and one had a slightly more difficult time making the transition.

Here’s a La Redorte, France Culture Shock Report:

What are some things you appreciate most about the new culture?

Being a small village, everyone, yes everyone acknowledges us when out walking in the village whether we know them or not. There is an old-world, gentle courtesy which is wonderful to experience again.

What are the most challenging aspects of the new culture?

It is learning the language so that we can converse more easily with people we meet. This is something we are making some progress with, but accept it will take a while.

Did you “commit” any embarrassing or humorous cultural blunders? If you did and you’d like to share them, please do tell!

We are very blessed with our neighbours who try to ensure we do not commit any blunders. What I am finding difficult is having had it drummed into me at school that one never uses ‘tu’ always ‘vous’, to now start using this with our neighbours is taking a little while for it to roll off the tongue.

And from the “more difficult cultural adjustment” category, here’s a San Salvador, El Salvador Culture Shock Report. It’s interesting that this expat reported that they experienced very little culture shock, yet the emotions they describe in the report sound a little more intense:

Did you “commit” any embarrassing or humorous cultural blunders? If you did and you’d like to share them, please do tell!

Many, when I got angry or stressed out I often became rude to locals and hurt their feelings, also even though I speak spanish well made many mistakes in pronunciation at first resulting in many misunderstandings, my mentors then told me never to show anger in public.

Expats often talk about going through the “stages of culture shock.” Do you feel like you went through any stages as you settled into the new culture?

Mostly irritation to anger phase, but soon came out of it as I gained more patience.

What, if any, were some of the changes you noticed in yourself that might have been caused by culture shock?

Frustration, things get done much more slowly here.

So there you go. Even though it seems like these two expats adjusted differently to their respective countries, they both have settled into their host cultures. It takes time, but most people get there – at least according to the survey linked above – just in their own way.

Share your culture shock experiences! Remember that there will be others that follow in your footsteps and need all the help and feedback they can get! Read more reports in our Expat Reports section.

Reverse Culture Shock is one of the more interesting aspects of the expat experience, at least from my perspective. As someone who had studied psychology extensively, I’m always fascinated with the factors that come into play, and how they interact with one another. So, a while ago I started a thread on Reverse Culture Shock on Expat Exchange’s Global Forum.

A few expats revived the thread and there have been a few great insights. For those unfamiliar with the concept of Reverse Culture Shock, it involves problems that arise while one readjusts to their home culture following time spent abroad.

Here are some of the most recent thoughts added to the thread:

From 3party:

I had been living in Sri Lanka — a part of the world where nothing was wasted, back then at least — for six months, when I flew back to the U.S. and went straight to a law professors’ annual conference in the Hilton, San Francisco. Not a bunch of fat-cats, not lawyers, but academics. And the S.F. Hilton was a dingy box near to skid row. Even so, the culture shock was enormous — the carpet was three times as thick as any I had seen even in fancy hotels in Sri Lanka; at the reception, discarded food was everywhere, along with hundreds of paper napkins, plastic wine glasses, etc. Wow!

From expatana:

It starts out with small things: socializing or trying to socialize, driving, dealing with family and old friends, politics, even taking out the garbage (in my neighborhood there’s no recycling program) … you just find your true seed is planted elsewhere. I know mine is. You’ve just got to do one of two things: go through the adjustment or leave again. I choose the second.

We’d love to here more thoughts about Reverse Culture Shock, so please share any that you may have. I think it’s great for soon-to-be expats to read about how they might be affected the expat experience. There’s nothing better than getting the straight scoop from expats that are out there living it right now!

Expat finance is always an important aspect of managing life abroad. But it can be quite complicated and there are several elements that need to be taken into consideration. David Kuenzi, of Thun Financial Advisors, provides some insight into why managing currencies is important, and how to go about getting the job done.

In Part 1, Managing Currency Risk: As an American Abroad, In What Currency Should I Save and Invest?, he explains currency risk and why it’s important to manage it.

The good news is that understanding how to properly incorporate currency considerations into a sound, long-term investment strategy is much easier than commonly understood. In this note we pull back the opaque veil of “currency risk” that clouds investment and financial planning decisions for Americans abroad. We sketch a few, easy to understand principles that all investors can use to guide choices around currency denomination of savings and investment. What is “currency risk” in investing and financial planning?

In Part 2, Managing Currency Risk: Practical Guide to Building a Globally Diversified, Multi-currency Investment Portfolio, Kuenzi provides “a practical guide on how and where investors can go to construct a globally diversified, multi-currency investment portfolio.” Here are a few of the questions answered in the article:

Are not multi-currency portfolios the exclusive realm of the ultra-wealthy who have accounts all around the globe?

Do we have to open up investment accounts in the U.S. AND Europe or buy complicated currency hedging products, such as futures or swaps? Or do we need to employ the help of an expensive Swiss investment bank which can buy securities on any global exchange and in any currency, do all the required currency conversions and simultaneously report in three or more different currencies?

Read both of the articles linked above and you’ll begin to develop a sense of what you need to know – and do – to use currency to your advantage while living abroad! David Kuenzi also has several other articles in our Expat Finance section.

Rome is one of the international cities that so many people romanticize as the perfect place to start an expat journey. In any situation where someone might be getting carried away as to how an international relocation might change their life, it’s always great to get a healthy dose of first-hand experience – the good and the bad need to be taken into consideration! There’s a little of both in our latest Rome, Italy Culture Shock Report:

Expats often talk about going through the “stages of culture shock.” Examples include the honeymoon phase, the irritation-to-anger stage, the rejection of the culture stage, and the cultural adjustment phase. Do you feel like you went through these or any other stages as you settled into the new culture?

I went through all of these phases. My biggest mistake was not embracing the culture fully – [I tried] to compare and contrast everything with my American culture and seeking out English speaking friends. If I had thrown myself into the Italian culture and languge from the beginning, I would have had an easier transition and would have been happier.

What, if any, were some of the changes you noticed in yourself that might have been caused by culture shock? These might include things such as anger, depression, anxiety, increased eating or drinking, frustration, homesickness, etc.

I had increased anger and anxiety. I also felt guilty for being away from my family in the States – taking my parents’ two granddaughters away from them was hard.

What are some things you appreciate most about the new culture?

I absolutely love the simple, fun, passionate lifestyle that the Italians embrace. I have been lkiving in Venice for the last 4 years and love the lifestyle there too – very family oriented.

What are the most challenging aspects of the new culture?

The language continues to be a struggle now that my children attend the local Italian school and all the meetings and paperwork are in Italian. I also long for meaningful friendships with the Italians, but my vocabulary is still too limited to have in depth conversations. My kids are fluent and I so envy them!

If you would like to share your culture shock experiences, thanks in advance for your insights. Remember that there will be others that follow in your footsteps and need all the feedback they can get! Read more reports in our Expat Reports section.