I would like to pose the following question. “Do British Expats need the support of other UK expatriates when it comes to living abroad?”
If I was asked the question I would probably reply along the following lines.
Firstly a little background, since in my case I came to Thailand to live for a number of reasons, which include, the weather, the level of crime in the UK, British yobs and to escape the rat race of work work work.
Now in all honesty I didn’t really think to much about support from other British expats since I was quite familiar with the country already. Familiar enough to know that I didn’t fancy living in the large established British expat communities.
This was mostly because I had no desire to frequent the bars and clubs of this beautiful country in the company other single Western males some of whom I would definitely avoid in my own country anyway. Lets face it I could have settled much nearer home, in Spain for example, if that’s what I had wanted.
Don’t get me wrong I am not anti-social but part of the attraction of living in a new country for me was integrating with the locals and not living a pluralist lifestyle in one of the large expat communities of Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket.
However that does not mean that I do not value what others, with far a greater knowledge than me, can contribute its just that I don’t fancy living next door to someone flying the Union flag and berating all things negative about the country they have chosen to live in.
To summarise, I do not actively seek out other British expats nor do I socialise with them. OK it was hard at first because I didn’t speak the local language but I got through. Did I need their support. No, save for sometimes wishing that I could ask a question in my native language and fully understand the answer.
So for me the answer to the question I posed is no.
But what about you, do you think British expats need the support of other UK expatriates when it comes to living abroad?
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