Mia and
Barbara are two Italian ladies, currently living in China. They both
are living abroad since a couple of years.
For the
Christmas holidays, like most of the foreigners, they have come back
in Italy. Three or more weeks, to enjoy the warm atmosphere of their
homeland.
How are
these kind of Christmas holidays for expats? Very busy, of course:
visiting friends and relatives, having lunches and dinners, eating a
lot of delicious Italian dishes and drinking plenty of wine! And
enjoying the warmth of Italian family!
But
husband's work is calling: let's go back in China!
Mia is
preparing luggages with very sad hearth: she enjoyed very much to
stay with her family and every good-bye is more difficult than the
last one. She would like to stay a little more... she couldn't meet
all friends she wanted to, the time was too short.
When the
plane lands in Shanghai, she stares sadly at the gray foggy. How
she's missing her beautiful garden in Italy! She won't see her roses
blooming, even this year. She's fighting to hide the tears, she
doesn't want her husband to see her cry.
A driver is
waiting for them outside the arrivals. Like every time, the
misunderstandings start immediately. She's very tired about that,
really tired to deal every single day with the attitude of the
Chinese: so different from the Italians!
Barbara
instead, is very happy to go back to China! In Italy she found the
same, old family problems: the sister doesn't speak with her anymore
and every Christmas dinner is a drama. And then: forced to stay home
because every single relative wanted to visit them. It could be
pleasant, but not when you have to cook from morning to evening for
your never ending guests! And clean the house, and look after
children, and make a lot of phone calls... is this holiday?
Besides, the
general atmosphere in her place is not so nice: many in her town have
lost the job and people are very angry, disappointed, unhappy. The
economical crisis seems to be endless and the political situation is
not better.
For Barbara,
China means dynamism and activity! In China her children enjoy the
international school (a really good opportunity to learn English in a
proper way!) and she has a lot of time to spend to attend Mandarin
lessons, to discover new places, to socialize. She has known a lot of
new,interesting people!
Unlike
Barbara, Mia feels very lonely: her best friends are in Italy and
during her time abroad she couldn't forge deep relationships: expats
are coming and going and friendship is necessarily superficial.
Happy new
year, Mia and Barbara: your way to experience life abroad is totally
different and your challenge in the new year won't be the same. As
our, of course. Each of us lives expat life in a different way and I
hope that 2014 will bring us strength, energy and enthusiasm to cope
large and small difficulties!
