Monday, May 31, 2010

An experience in a new country

As I decided to move to another country, which I’ve done it two times for variety reasons, and that either time has been as stressful as the first time, I realized that my family and I had to face with some issues:
The first, settling in to new country which means; new sight, new people, strange accents or completely new language, moreover a mix of excitement and anxiety. In addition to that there are emotional aspects to deal with that come from saying goodbye to family and friends. Also, how I coped with such an subversion in my life. How I will adjust to live in a new land which varies greatly from person to person and from circumstance to circumstance.
Secondly, I learned about where I was going. One of the important things was to understand and know as much as I could about the place, which has been related to the local culture, customs, religion, moral, ideals and beliefs which are importantly and moreover what are not also.
Certainly, I learned about social rules being aware of what is acceptable and what is not. In some cultures, for example, spitting in the public is considered acceptable while in other countries it is intended extremely offensive behavior. Knowing the history of the country made me to understand some of those customs and behaviors and gave me an insight into the country.
The third, fill out the paperwork. Since at the beginning I made sure I had all the information which needed to obtain items like Social Security numbers, bank accounts and tax numbers, which would make me and my family feel like part of local populace.
Another, Choosing where to live had a dramatic effect to me. This has been related to some issues like public transport, travel time to work, the ambience of the neighborhood I and my family intended to live in, safety, shopping, and cost of living in that area. Also, I liked living into the area that already had a community of similar migrants or strong cultural connections to their homeland.
Another, learning the language was very important because it would help me to achieve new possibility and opportunity for finding a job and so on.

3 comments:

  1. Good job on this blog, Edmund. What are some of the things that you learned about American customs and culture before you came here?

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  3. Kristi
    Before I came in America I knew in generally some of those because at that time in our country we watch TV program from America. But I didn't know how to label those ones. Then reading article in school,books I dthink I'm clear what they mean. I can mention some of them: Individualism,equality, informality, punctuallity, materialism, etc.

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