Monthly Archives: November 2010

5 Ways My Expat Thanksgiving in Belize Was Different

Posted on by
5

Last week I celebrated my first major holiday in my new country, Belize.  Although I had a mini-meltdown that morning missing my family, I was grateful to have others nearby that wanted to celebrate as well.  I thought it would be interesting to share with you the differences I noticed between celebrating Thanksgiving in the United States versus Belize.

1.   The Weather – The most noticeable difference for me was the weather.  Typically by the time Thanksgiving has arrived, it is quite cold almost anywhere you live in the U.S.  In California, you will usually have frost in the mornings, and in Wisconsin, where my husband is from, it is snowing.  So being in a tropical climate felt very unusual to say the least.  It was almost hard to believe it really was Thanksgiving.  And cooking in a hot kitchen on a hot day is no fun, let me tell you!

2.  The Crowd – Because we are in a foreign country with a large Expat community, we had people from many different countries present at the celebration – Americans, Canadians, and Belizeans.  In fact, I would venture to say that there were more Canadians than Americans at the gathering, but in Belize, any excuse for a party!

3.  The Food – For the most part we had all the traditional fixings – turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.  However, some things were different than previous Thanksgiving dinners, like ham, macaroni and cheese, and a 10 layer chocolate cake!  All of the food was delicious, and it was fun because we made it a potluck dinner, so everyone contributed in one way or another, which makes it extra special.

4.  The Setting – Instead of being cooped up indoors all day as in Thanksgiving’s past (at least in my family), this celebration was entirely outside, except for the turkey cooks who were stuck inside most of the day until dinner was served.  We had about 25 people, and everyone gathered around beach lounge chairs and tables.  Words can’t even describe how cool it was to eat Thanksgiving dinner on the beach, with the waves crashing and the palm trees swaying – perhaps similar to how the pilgrims might have done it.

5.  The Entertainment – one drastic change for my husband and I was there was absolutely no t.v., which meant no football.  It also meant no annoying Christmas commercials on t.v. either!  For some people, no t.v. on Thanksgiving Day is a deal breaker, but frankly, we didn’t miss it at all.

I have to say I really enjoyed my Caribbean Turkey Day.  I don’t think it much matters where you celebrate it, as long as it with people you care about!

Living the Dream

Posted on by
11

Today I feel like writing about how lucky I feel to be Living the Dream – my dream!  The subtitle of this website is “Follow Your Dream Compass.” I named it that because I spent over 45 years of my life following others, following society norms, following orders, following along.  The whole time I was restless, which caused me to jump from one new thing to another, whether it was a job, a home, a business, or a hobby.  Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you I was an expert “Change Agent“.  Nothing wrong with change.  It’s healthy, necessary and under the right circumstances, highly advisable.

But I was constantly changing because deep down I was unfilled and unsatisfied with the life I had created for myself.  I used to joke that the only thing I’d ever stuck with longer than a few years was my husband (good thing for him, lol), who I’ve been with for over 16 years.  Looking back now, the reason I would get bored so easily or disenchanted so quickly was mostly because I hadn’t found what really made me happy yet.

Life is a journey.  I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.  I don’t regret anything I’ve done.  In fact, I think it was all a purposeful adventure to lead me to my next destination.  So when I really started soul searching to determine why it was I was always so unhappy, I just realized that mostly it was because I don’t do well with normal.  In fact, who defines normal?  I also absolutely love culture – sociology was my favorite course in college.  And nothing makes me happier than travel.

So for me to still be living in the same town where I was born, never having explored any other areas, and quite frankly completely disenfranchised with the American way of life, I had a light bulb moment several years ago that moving to a new country was just what the doctor (or in this case my soul) ordered!  Lucky for me, my husband was all in.  Moving to Belize didn’t happen over night, and our journey here was a long one.  But the most important thing was we listened to our hearts and followed our dreams, and now we’re living them, together!

Have you dug down deep lately and asked yourself if there’s anything in your life that you’re “settling” for? What’s your Dream Compass? And will you Follow it?

Traveling Like a Local, Not a Tourist, When Choosing A New Country

Posted on by
33

If you are one of the millions of people who are thinking about moving to another country and living the Expat life, then obviously deciding which country to move to is part of your decision making process.

Traveling like like a local, not a tourist, is my biggest piece of advice for you when you visit that country!  You’ll need to simulate what day-to-day life might be like in your new country as much as possible.

For instance, do not stay at a resort or all-inclusive hotel.  These are designed for people on vacation, which you are not!  They are getaways from your normal, everyday life.  So it stands to reason that if you want to understand what it would be like living somewhere else, you will not get a realistic idea by being surrounded with all the luxuries and amenities that you wouldn’t normally have once you move there.

Instead, rent a house, an apartment, or a villa in the areas you are contemplating.  You will get to know the local neighborhoods better, and all of the surrounding shops, banks, etc.

Another excellent thing to do is to try and cook your meals at the rental property.  Doing this requires going to a grocery store and shopping.  Depending on what country you live in, this in and of itself can be quite an experience, one you may or may not like.  Most countries that I’ve visited do not have grocery stores like I was accustomed to in the U.S.

There are not nearly as many products available; some are not lighted; some have produce that are days old and would never make it to the shelf in the U.S. and some lack basic refrigeration.  In the town of San Pedro where I live now, you have to go to several different stores, shops and stands to get all of your supplies.  You need to understand what you can and can’t tolerate.

And lastly, don’t sign up for a tour package. Once you move, fine, take as many tours as you want.   But if you are serious about moving to another country, this is the absolute wrong way to go about it since you will have no control over your schedule and you will be spending all your time sightseeing.

The point of doing all this is to be as realistic with yourself as possible about your ability to assimilate into that particular culture.  If you commit to doing these three things alone, you will be leaps and bounds ahead of others in understanding what your new life will look like. So, do you think you can do it?

Expat Experiencing Her First Hurricane in Belize

Posted on by
9

Whenever you begin to consider moving to a foreign country that is known to have Hurricanes, you should presumably be ready to experience one.  But when it finally does happen to you, you’d be surprised how scary and nerve-wracking it can actually be.

On October 4, 2010, my husband and I relocated to Belize in Central America.  As expats, we knew historically that hurricanes were common place, but it didn’t really bother us much.  After all, we were from California, land of the earthquakes.  If we can handle that, we can handle anything, right?

Yet, two weeks after arriving, our bluff was being called.  Hurricane Richard had reared its ugly head, and was heading straight for Belize.  So the locals who had been there, done that, started giving us a lot of advice. Here’s some of our Hurricane Supplies List:

  • Stock up on canned foods, 2-3 weeks worth
  • Stock up on water, at least three 5-gallon jugs person
  • Stock up on alcohol since if the hurricane is really bad, production will stop for a while afterwards
  • Get your hurricane shutters up or ready
  • Park your golf cart away from whichever side the hurricane will hit (lagoon or ocean)
  • Buy some candles in case you lose power, and some books to keep you entertained in case you do
  • Take a shower, it could be your last real one in a while

So we dutifully did what we were told.  Around midnight on October 25, 2010, Hurricane Richard came to visit Belize.  The local weather in our area was very windy and rainy, but we ended up not needing to put the shutters up and no power was lost, thank God.  Other areas of Belize weren’t so fortunate, and sustained massive damage and even a couple of deaths, unfortunately.

I think the biggest difference between an earthquake and a hurricane is that with an earthquake, you don’t get time to prepare.  It just happens and if you haven’t properly planned and it’s really bad, you could be in a lot of danger or trouble.  With a hurricane, I was nervous for sure, but I felt a sense of relief that we’d done everything we were supposed to, and what was going to happen was out of our control.

In the end, it was an experience of a lifetime, and one I’m sure I’ll have to repeat a few more times.  But your first one’s always the worst they say, so let’s hope it gets easier.  Have you ever experienced a hurricane?

Paralyzed By Fear-My Story of Leaving My Country

Posted on by
26

Recently my husband and I moved from Northern California to a small island in the country of Belize.  It was a goal we had set several years ago.  We had a plan, complete with action steps, so that the goal could be met.  But about three weeks before we were supposed to get on the plane and leave, I found myself paralyzed with fear!

Now for anyone who knows me, I don’t get scared by much.  I have always been a risk taker.  I can’t count how many times in my life I was told not to do something.  But I never listened, because I had done my research and was confident in both my abilities and choices.  I’m glad I didn’t listen either, because every single one of those decisions led me to the next, inevitable steps in my life.  And who knows what my life might have been like if I had waivered in my beliefs for even a moment.

So imagine my surprise at the feelings I was having.  My inner conversations were going something like this:

“This couldn’t be happening to me?  I’m the strong one, the sure and steady one.  People look to me to be confident and decisive.  What will they think?  And I can’t turn back now – they’ll all think I’m crazy.  Or maybe they’ll say I told you so.  And what about my husband?  He’s on this journey too.  If we didn’t follow through and leave the country, what on earth would we do in the States?  We have no backup plan!”

The voices were driving me crazy, so being the open and overt personality I am, I begin sharing my feelings with others.  Almost everyone told me the same thing:

“Sharon, if it was anyone else, I’d be worried, but not you.  You’ve never failed at anything you’ve tried, and this time will be no different.  Once you get there, everything will be fine.”

And so, with every fiber of courage I had in my body, with a firm belief in my ability to make good decisions, and my husband by my side, I boarded that plane one Monday morning in October, 2010.  And as soon as it touched down, I knew I was going to be ok.  I was home, and a whole new way of life was waiting for me.

Have you ever been so afraid of something you almost backed out? Aren’t you glad you didn’t?