Thu 9 Feb 2006
As you can see I’m still thinking about the whole expat thing and Michael and I were starting to wonder how the term ‘immigrant’ fits into the whole argument.
Well the blonde librarian put it very nicely in an email. I thought I should really put this on my blog as it adds a whole new perspective to the discussion (and I hope it might encourage us to take our thoughts a little further ’round a different bend)
According to one definition I found, as opposed to an immigrant who comes to a country to live, an expat is one who always intends to return to their home country, so that made me wonder if I should call myself an immigrant instead.
I guess all in all it doesn’t really matter what I am, but I have found that by labeling myself as an expat I have encountered lots of people going through the same types of experiences as I am and that makes for a great sense of community.
I totally agree with that and think that the label ‘immigrant’ might fit my situation a lot better but so why don’t we adopt the label ‘immigrant’? Is one more favourable than the other? Maybe going with what the blonde librarian said, going by ‘expat’ just allows us to whine and complain a little better (doesn’t it just make you feel so much better to complain a bit when things aren’t quite the way we like them, it certainly always works for me), whereas ‘immigrants’ might be more prone to loving their host country rather unconditionally, cause they have chosen to leave their country of origin (presumably cause it wasn’t as good as the new place). Hmmm ….. it is all rather confusing.
So I guess as Christina also pointed out in her comment after all they’re just labels that might make it easier to find people in similar situations (it’s certainly what it’s been for me) and I do agree with that but being German with a need for exactness I can’t help feeling that those different words do mean very distinctly different things … but that somehow brings me back to the beginning, so I might just have to contend that the label ‘expat’ is a perfectly well functioning one that seems to unite us all no matter what the specifics of our situation.
February 12th, 2006 at 6:57 am
Ahem…(and this is not at all German bashing - I have a German husband and an Austrian father so I’ve had first hand experience) I think Germans as a whole do tend to want to categorize everything and have it all organized. They like to know where they’re at and where people fit in. Maybe that’s the need you’re feeling to figure out exactly what ‘expat’ or ‘immigrant’ might mean.
I agree with Renée’s idea that expat sort of implies someone who is planning to go back after a certain amount of time. To me it also sometimes has the implication of moving to a country for work or being the “trailing spouse” and moving with a partner.
A long time ago I ‘met’ an American woman in the Netherlands who referred to people who married someone of a different nationality and moved to be with him or her ‘love immigrants’. I sort of like that, but don’t use it that often. Nor do I tell people I’m an immigrant, although technically I am. As you mentioned, Franzie, immigrant also sounds to me like someone who moves for political or economic reasons rather than for personal ones.
That’s why I don’t like to put labels on anything because it IS so confusing.
I think on the internet ‘expat’ is just a collective term we use to find others in the same boat.
P.S.(and off topic) Have you been keeping up with the German government’s efforts to improve pre-schools and prepare children better for elementary school? Maybe by the time you move, the school system will have finally made some progress. One of the many reasons we’d like to move back to Canada are the poor schools here and Germany’s low ranking in international comparisons. How does Australia measure up school-wise?
February 12th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
Hi Christina,
yes, I’m sooooo German when it comes to organising things into categories, might be a gross generalisation but I think most Germans would identify with the need for systems and organisation.
Sound’s like we’ve pretty much worked this whole expat/immigrant things out but the expat-label seems to be a well funcioning one. Why not!
It’s interesting that you brought up the topic of schooling. I think I’d like to turn that into a whole new post as I’ve been thinking a lot about that. So once I’ve done a bit of research into that to be writing something ‘readworthy’ I’ll put my fingers to the keyboard. And I’ll be looking forward to discussing that next
February 15th, 2006 at 4:19 am
Hi Franzie, I have to say I don’t really have any idea what I am classed as. I know I won’t be moving back to England, probably ever, so am I an immigrant? Possibly. I also use the term expat to identify with others in the same position as me. I had never used the term until I came here, weird. At the moment I kind of feel that I don’t really belong anywhere so.. I guess I am in no mans land at the moment.
February 16th, 2006 at 9:02 am
Hi Lydia,
does it sound scary to you to say that you’ll never (ever) be going back to Enland? I’d find it horrifying to say that without having experimented with all my options thoroughly.
We were never this commited to one place or the other. At the moment we’re in Australia, cause it was the best thing for us at the time to move here. But in a few years time things might look totally different and it might be more suitable to our family and stage of life to be living in Germany. Also before we came to Australia my husband was always saying, if I was finding it too hard and getting unbearably homesick, we’d always move back to Germany. I guess, we like to keep our options open.
How are you coping in no-mans-land?? Unfortunately it gets a bit like that when you move between countries, doesn’t it? You don’t feel like you belong in the new place yet, but can’t be where you do belong. So there’s that incredibly hard phase in between where you just don’t have a ‘home’ at all. Hope you get out of that grey zone quickly!!