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Expat Life Quotes

Browse 24 quotes about Expat Life.

Expat Life Quotes

“De aici incolo incepe un alt capitol. Transparenta insa e inca prezenta. Ce inveti, ca imigrant, e sa traiesti cu ea. Bucati din tine traiesc inca acolo de unde ai plecat. Niciun job, nicio relatie, nicio poezie in cafenea nu te va reumple destul cat sa fii plin. Iar asta nu e deloc rau. Mereu trebuie sa lasi loc de necunoscut, sa ai un grad de fragilitate care sa te faca real, puternic, prezent. Un cub cu un colt sfaramat, cum zicea Nichita. Dar s-a scris vreodata o poezie despre un cub perfect? Imperfectiunea, lipsa, nevoia e necesara sa te impinga mereu, singur, mai departe, in vreme ce te bucuri de necunoscut ca un copil pe-un balansoar scartaind.”

Inspirational AttitudeExpat LifeImigration
Book:Barem identitar. Prejudecăți colective, realități personale
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“Life down here is kind of a permanent Halloween where you choose a costume more fitting for your self-image than reality could ever offer. Do you want to be a captain or a cowboy? No problem. People will call you by whatever title or name you choose. You say you’re a reincarnated pirate queen or the abandoned love child of a famous entertainer? That’s fine with me. We believe each other’s stories about who we were and who we are. Being an expat means you can have a whole new life. It’s a little like being in the Witness Relocation Program only with flip flops and margaritas.”

AdventureTravelLife And LivingMexicoTravel QuotesTravel WritingCaribbeanAdventure TravelExpat LifeExpatriate
Book:Driftwood: Stories from the Margarita Road
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“Oh sure, there was a gringo gulch where the sunbirds lived in the winter months. But if you avoided them, you might hook up with the small community of Margarita Road refugees: a group of wanderers from up north; a crazy Irish sailor; a few Italians; some young, fast-living kids from Mexico City; and one beautiful girl from Brazil. All in all, it was a nice place to stay—or hide, if that’s what you needed.”

AdventureTravelLife And LivingMexicoTravel QuotesTravel WritingCaribbeanAdventure TravelExpat LifeExpatriate
Book:Driftwood: Stories from the Margarita Road
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“He kept ordering beers and making what he thought were humorous jokes about how Mexicans sleep all day, all the while telling me how great my life was without a ‘real job.’ After an hour or so of this, I was ready to pour the next drink over his head.”

AdventureTravelLife And LivingMexicoTravel QuotesTravel WritingCaribbeanAdventure TravelExpat LifeExpatriate
Book:Driftwood: Stories from the Margarita Road
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“I recognised just how different Alexander was from children raised in Britain. The most obvious distinctions were his maturity and broadness of view. He hadn't lost his innocence or childish ability to play, but he enjoyed conversations with adults, and he saw no problem in playing with any child of any age. He was wonderfully gentle with the little ones. He was never fazed by differences, and cultural diversity was of interest rather than a reason for prejudice, though, - like our Nepali friends - he liked to classify people.”

Growing UpCultural DiversityCultural DifferencesNepalAgeismPlayingExpat LifeExpatriateExpatsAgeist Society
Book:A Glimpse of Eternal Snows: A Journey of Love and Loss in the Himalayas
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“Those who have lived abroad know exactly what I mean. Our status as Americans creates an instantaneous, rarified friendship. You are in a fast food restaurant where they have odd things on the menu, makluba, zaatar, soojouk, and you are scrambling for something you recognize, pizza, or even pita, and then you hear that perfect Hello or How you doing? You gravitate toward that table of strangers, desperate, dear God, speak to me, fellow outsiders in in appropriate revealing clothing, seak to me American sweet nothings of sports and reality T.V. It’s the same anywhere. You reach for the known in an unknown place. You become friends with someone you wouldn’t be able to stand if you actually had options. Our history of Super Bowl commercials and expectations of flushable toilet paper seal us together.”

FriendshipFictionNovelMiddle EastTravel WritingExpat LifeTravel LiteratureEmbassy Life
Book:The Confusion of Languages
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“Still he considered playing Pachinko the best investment of his free time, soaking in the local stench and bad breathe of other lonely Japanese people as an alternative way of blending into the colorful local scenes which he yearned to be a part of.”

InvestmentImmigrationJapanGamblingWasting TimeTravelerIntegrationCity LifeTokyoImmigrantExpat LifeExpatsWasting MoneyForeignerGamblersTravelling To A Foreign CountryPachinkoWhite Man And The Pachinko GirlIntegrating Into A New CountryJapanese GamblingPlaying PachinkoWatching People
Book:The White Man and the Pachinko Girl
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“We depend on this give-and-take when living abroad. You can’t exile yourself from your homeland and not always feel that tidal pull of return. Those minor details, the commercial jingles and pop songs, the chain restaurants and decade-defining shades of our blue jeans, are details you don’t even think about until you are face-to-face with a society that has very little to do with your own. Suddenly those one-hit wonders become a secret language, the very vestige of American culture.”

AmericaCultureTravelMiddle EastTravel WritingExpat LifeExpatsTravel Literature
Book:The Confusion of Languages
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