Living Abroad {Part 2} : Pros and Cons

As part of continuing my “Living Abroad” series, I thought I would share some of the pros and cons of living abroad. I am sure many of our families and friends back home just wonders or assumes of an amazing life we both are having here in the States. Well, sometimes is great. Other times, not so much.

Pros

• Freedom of speech. Where I hail from, this is a huge plus point.
• Introduction to new cultures and way of life. Western vs Asian.
• Varied climates and topography. Since landing in US, we’ve experienced full blown four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall & Winter.
• Foods, glorious foods!
• Opportunity to visit cities around the country. Mini vacation’s of sorts 😉
• I love New York City (and Florida, of course!).
• Making new friends!
• Factory outlets, whats not to love? 😀
• Great examples of infrastructures.
• NASA!

Of course there’s plenty of perk than what’s listed above such as Walt Disney World, Universal Studios etc but I wanted to list things that have some commonalities else where. Now, onto the difficult part:

Cons

• Missing our families, friends and life back home *cries*. Sigh, to the sacrifices we had to make.
• Language or slang barrier. This is painful, especially when our names are wrongly pronounced. Vice-versa.
• Reestablishing new friendships and trust. This one is huge and worries me from time to time.
• Expensive healthcare. Exorbitant. I was once hospitalized for one day and received a huge medical bill. Shocker.
• Public educations needs overhaul.
• Crime rate and nature of crimes, so grime, that I can’t bring myself to discuss it over here.
• Freedom of firearm. Not that we mind, but there’s more firearm than the population itself. Kinda scary.
• Economicalcrisis. China and India’s economy is thriving. Makes us ponder more about our future.
• Immigration inflexibility – spouse often has no right to work.
• Extreme weather conditions such as hurricane seasons etc.

Are you an expat? What are your “pros and cons” observations?