Planning to settle abroad? Things you must know

Watching those pictures of your friends or relatives, roaming around in different parts of the world, may appear exciting on social media. But to settle abroad, there are a lot of struggles that the social media is unaware of. I am an Indian and experienced different struggles while settling in USA and then Germany. There are certain things that I would like to share with you if you are also leaving your home country to settle abroad or interested in knowing what it is like living abroad.

Cheer yourself for having courage

For those who have already left their country or who have made a decision to live abroad. It is not easy for a lot of people to leave their family and their home country. It was not easy for me either. But now you have accomplished this, and you deserve a cheer for yourself. I remember how difficult it was for me to live in the hostel initially after leaving my home. Coming out of our comfort zone is a lesson, you will see a lot of changes in you.

Daily Chores to settle abroad

Cooking

You must have heard that there are no maids outside India. It is not like there are none but there are less and those available charge high. Let’s suppose that you can afford a maid, but will she be able to adjust in an Indian household? In my experience I have not heard about anyone hiring one. So, prepare yourself mentally for a lot of daily chores. I will start from cooking. It may be the case that you already know cooking as a lot of Indians do. But I was not a kind of person who was interested in cooking. No doubt I am that person now because I have understood its importance. When you love a particular type of food and it is not available nearby. If it is available, then it is not the exact taste then you have to use your hands to create that magic.

But I would like to add one thing here that a lot of people outside India eat their food on a regular basis from outside instead of cooking at home. Food abroad has to go under a lot of quality checks so it will not effect your stomach like in India. If you cannot cook, you can find good quality food available near you. Also like my husband used to cook by himself before marriage, a lot of men cook food here by themselves. It is good to know cooking but not must to settle abroad.

Cleaning

So cooking is a well known task for women in India. But there are more. Let’s talk about cleaning. In most of the Indian households, cleaning is done by maids. There is a little probability that you have done some amount of cleaning by yourself. Here people clean their houses by themselves or in some cases they do not bother.

In Phoenix (USA) as well as in Germany, there were wooden floors in our home so wet cleaning can deteriorate them. You can use a broom to clean and occasionally use wet clothes to wipe the dirt. While vacuum cleaners are best in such houses. In Indiana (USA), there were carpets on the floor so vacuum cleaners can help. But there are always some areas like kitchen and washroom which are not cleaned without using wet clothes.

After this let me talk about toilet area and washbasins, you have to clean them by yourself only. The bathtub area or the bathing area also become dirty after some days, so you have to spray multipurpose-cleaners and clean them using brushes by yourself. But the washbasins and bath area can be cleaned once a week depending on you. The cooking oven/gas also needs cleaning occasionally. If they are induction, then there are special cleaners in the market for cleaning them. You learn a lot of things to settle abroad.

Driving

In a lot of areas like Phoenix and Germany, I have found public transport very useful and accessible. So, whenever you want to take a ride by yourself, it is possible. But in most of the areas of US, there is no good public transport. It will come handy if you start driving. Otherwise you have to depend on your partner. If you have an Indian driving license, then you just need to give a written paper. Otherwise, you would have to undergo through the training to get one.

But I somehow avoided driving car in US ,I do not know why. I actually used to hire cabs whenever I needed to go somewhere. It depends on person to person. I was not going anywhere on a daily basis ,so using a cab was affordable in my case.

Repairing

It is expensive to hire service of any kind. Most of the foreigners know how to repair basic things in homes. To have a toolbox at home is very common. Tasks can be related to assembling your furniture. So, you can learn a new thing however luckily in US, we were living in apartments. The society of those apartments usually cover those repairs ,sending their own workers. Here in Germany, there are no societies, our apartment is owned by our landlord, and we need to ask him in case we need a repair or a service. But they generally avoid hiring someone for repairs. You can get people to repair though, it is possible.

If you have read these please don’t get scared as these things are essential in building your house anyhow. Although some are already taken care by mother and father in our owned houses in India. I always think like if I get stuck in an alone island, how will I survive? Just think like that.

Grooming

In US, they charge good to get an eyebrow done or having a body wax. No doubt the Indian style eyebrow is available everywhere nowadays due to more immigration. But believe me getting it done frequently is difficult for an Indian mindset here. I used epilators more often and used to go to salons occasionally.

Although I believe that every service need time and skill. So it is good that they are rewarded nice.

Threadwork

If you know a little bit of stitching, it can come handy here. Services of any kind are very expensive for an Indian. We are usually habitual of getting these done at cheaper rates in home country. But you will not need this service frequently.

See the positive

Imagine yourself? It may happen that you will find yourself worrying about a lot of things which did not matter to you earlier. It may happen that you were working in India, and now you are studying or taking time to get a job. There are scenarios when you cannot do a job legally like what happened to me in US. There are no family and friends around. You were busy earlier and now will have a lot of time with you.

It can lead you to think negative like why I am doing this and that. Believe me it will take you to nowhere, instead start thinking about the positive. For me to settle abroad , it was like “there are so many places around me that I can explore”. So why not start traveling frequently? Start thinking like you have all the time in your life now that you were craving for years. Start reading books if you like. Learn some music if you love. Everything is available on internet nowadays. For countries where language is a barrier, you can learn the language. Start making friends if you like communicating, there are a lot of Facebook groups where you can find people with common interests.

Settling in a different country

To find an apartment in USA , networking greatly helps. Otherwise you can go to the apartments website near your office before traveling and apply for the apartment in advance. You can find the apartment somewhere if not nearby. But in Germany, there are a lot of things to consider. Please read these articles for more :-https://www.theexplorerdiary.com/how-to-settle-in-germany/

https://www.theexplorerdiary.com/complete-guide-to-build-a-initial-home-in-germany/

https://www.theexplorerdiary.com/a-guide-on-grocery-shopping-in-usa-for-indian-buyers/

Opening a bank account, getting internet need appointments. You can search “Indians in *” in Facebook and you will find various groups. Join these groups to know a lot of information. To settle in abroad, you need research and patience only.

Effect on Relationships

It may happen that your relationships are not the same as they were earlier. You can keep in touch through phones, but it is difficult to maintain long distance for a larger amount of time. Relationships fade with time. There are no people around that you can hate. There are no family functions to attend. You will miss going home on holidays, miss your parents. You have to hear complaints from relatives as it is difficult to call everybody in your day.

But you can adjust these according to you. I usually call my parents daily to know their whereabouts. I am also in touch with some friends from India. And I have made some friends in US as well. We call each other occasionally because I believe there should not be a formality to call. It should come from the heart. If somebody is not calling and you are interested in talking to him/her, then call yourself. You should not lose good relations in life. Relations take time and energy.

Study the behavior to settle abroad

Nature of the people vary from country to country. In USA, I have observed people are very gentle on face. You can see them greeting you where-ever you going. People are happy doing their jobs no matter the nature of the job. You cannot throw your garbage anywhere like in India. There can charge you fine for that. Roads are maintained properly. They will hold the door for you. It is good if you study the behavior of the people of that country where you are planning to settle.

We also kind of develop this habit and sometimes when you go to India, people will take advantage of you. We have become so habitual like if there is a line then we used to wait in the line but that has created problems for us in India. People in India do not like to follow rules generally . Even I was also not conscious about a lot of things. Again I am talking about general situations , please do not take it on you. Even before going abroad, I used to collect my garbage in my bag when roaming around.

Events

There are always some events happening around related to different interests. Search your facebook for Events near me and you will find various events related to music, country festivals ,movies, stand-ups etc. If you are looking for an Indian festival celebration , search in facebook groups related to Indians. You will observe a mood refreshment immediately meeting your community and people to talk in the same language.You can check this page for Indians in Arizona https://www.azindia.com/ for any events info or jobs. For Berlin in Germany, we refer to this group https://www.facebook.com/groups/IndianinBerlin/ for Indian events.

To be continued…