exnat

Our researchers in the field have been hard at work collecting data and entering it into large banks of computers where is thouroughly stereotyped, analyzed and restereotyped before being printed here. This is the permentant list. If you see something that is not on the list please help me make it complete by commenting on the original post over here.

Escaping the past

Drugs, heartbreaks, failures, deaths? Leave it all behind and don’t look back. If you’re in a rut, a hole, a mire, join this group of expats who escape the black hole that was into the future of never ending possibilities. Careful though, some of those things you thought you were leaving behind just might be you.

Escaping the future

Running from the rat race, fleeing responsibility, and putting tough decisions on hold in a world of sleeping beauty they enter timeless expat-dom, the kingdom of eternal youth and no cares. Here your language skills that everyone had back home guarantee you a living wage. A little extra effort gives you a career. Sure you get paid in “monopoly money” but what this expat really wants is some space to “figure it all out.”

Working on a project

These expats save up enough to live in the former colonies without working so they can use their time to finally write that book, that masterpiece, that itch that they’ve been meaning to scratch.

Globalization

Everyone needs English. And you don’t need a degree to teach English in a foreign country you only need, well, English. Also someone has to be managers to all those American companies that are moving down South in the giant sucking sound that is the global market. Moving to another (read: 3rd world) gives a lot oppurtunities that you could never get back home. Are you making lots of money in local currency or next to nothing in dollars? No need to bother thinking about it when you’re so busy filling up your CV (international talk for resume) with goodies.

Corporate Transfer

As far as this guy is concerned he’s still in the states. Small things have changed for him like Cokes come in 1.5 liters or 2.5 liters instead of 2 liters but the rest is the same. After a year he has found no need to expand his 100 word vocabulary, the accent of which makes you cringe. Important note: This is a pure stereotype of mine. I know no one like this.

Learn the dance/music/culture/etc.

Definitely the most fun, interesting, and knowledgeable, this expat generally hangs out with the “locals” and pays local prices too. They have a huge advantage over other expats in this because they immediately make local friends through their interests without trying. Other expats have to wrack their brains wondering if they like chess enough to join the chess club just to break into local culture. The Learner, who only came here for the chess club, spends all their time there knocking elbow with the “authentic locals.”

Those who are humble that not everyone has their oppurtunity are the best to hang out with because they know where all the cool places are. But, working full time since a week after I got here, I identify with Alan:

They say things like “I can’t believe your Spanish isn’t better yet!” (when their’s is almost fluent) and “what, you haven’t been to *insert cool place* already?”. (Like wow, I must be some kind of idiot.) To which I for some reason shrug, although really I would like to say “yes, but you spend all your time here having fun/learning the language/going cool places (and quite often using daddy’s money to do so) and some of us actually live here, and struggle to get by in the process, so don’t have as much time to do these things.”

Have pity, Alan, this they are not judgmental, only ignorant of the oppurtunities of others. If you get too sick of one of them you can put them in their place by locking them in a room with a Save the Worlder. This expat type rarely sticks around too long before moving onto the next chapter in the jetsetting story of their life.

NOTE: Learning Spanish does NOT qualify you into this group. If you’re only learning Spanish (unless you go from country to country learning languages) you join the “kicking around” folks.

Retired

This isn’t so much a type of expat as an attribute of any of the above groups. If this is the only attribute you have then I certainly not met you yet. Most retired expats have at least church meetings to go to. They generally hang out with 100% expats. But usually they’re taking classes, doing self exploration, or working on a project of some kind. Only back home do people just retire and do nothing.

Kicking Around

These are backpackers with fear of the road, they travel without moving. Were they travelling too long and just got tired and/or lonely? Did they really want to hit the road but never had the guts to start? Whether they’re living on their parents wallet and just jolling around, they’re close cousins of the future escapists. The big difference is that instead of escaping, they’re living in the present, without a care in the world except which party to go to next and where to find peanut butter.

Save The World (originally posted by Jen)

You’ve seen the ads on the internet where you pay a few thousand dollars for the oppurtunity to volunteer and do some good in the world. Well, these are the guys who put their money where their big mouth is. Hungry for attention and honors, who come with the agenda of fixing things. They generally bring little of substance to their destination, and serve themselves more than the people they so amateurishly and publicly help.

They try to exculpate their white guilt by trying to save the locals from themselves. Unlike the Learners they’re not so interested in the locals except so far as they need help. Similar to their socially superior cousins the Learners, the Save the Worlders rely on moral superiority to differentiate themselves from other expats who aren’t volunteering or “contributing”. I don’t know a lot about this group here in Buenos Aires.
I think this group excludes Peace Corps volunteers and professionals.

The Ghost

We’ve all seen them. They’ve been moving around every few years and have never had time to put down roots. The longer they’ve been away the harder it is to find a “home”. This expat is 40 and still teaches English. The little that they do own can can be easily sold or disposed of. They are weightless: ghosts.

The Lover

Ah, we save the best category for last: the romantics who do not allow the vast oceans of the world to devide them from their heart’s delight. Perhaps they met they were traveling and met a special someone and could never quite leave. Perhaps they went home only to realize that their homes were where their hearts were and they came back to make their hearts complete. They have distinct advantages of expat opportunities that make even the Learners pale in comparison, but they are hardly expats: they’re really immigrants in a land called love. Good luck Lovers out there, you’re beautiful!

Is your favorite expat missing or misstereotyped? Become part of our rigorous social scientific peer review process by adding your thoughts in the comments section of the original post.