Moving abroad - your number one want...?

I have just moved home from London to New Zealand, and it's pretty awesome being reminded how lucky I am to have a place where a) I know so many people and b) life is so easy. I don't have to think about anything and everything works just as I expect it to. Plus, my mum is super excited to have me over for dinner every Sunday night.
This is the polar opposite of when I moved to London, when all I wanted was to figure out how to get out of the house and meet new people. Someone in London even said to me… “When you're over 30, it's ten times harder to make new friends”. Talk about a disappointment! That one comment made it seem so much harder to break through invisible “friend” barriers… especially until I got up the courage to join new groups and make new friends (about six months in).

So that got me thinking – as expats, what got you stuck in a rut moving to a new country? Was it making new friends, culture shock, language barriers? And what was the one thing you wanted when you moved? My number one thing – someone to tell me to change my mind set, and just do it.

Is this a shared issue we have all faced? What got you stuck?

As I have done a lot of traveling and working in many different countries over the last 45+ years, I always take the time to learn as much as I can about the country, culture,customs, language, do's and dont's before heading over.
This has helped to get over any mindset or preconceived ideas. The thing is to approach everything with an open mind.

I always try to converse in the language and have found that, even if you do botch it up, the locals do appreciate the attempt. 

Working in remote areas and dangerous conflict zones bought up the only problem which was the ability to communicate with family back home on a regular basis.

Its my wish you enjoy your work. Can I get a job in your company. I believe that country has a lot of workforce demand can I?

For info :

Thread now on New Zealand forum :top: