Expat revival

After 10 years in Germany, I like to think that my husband and I are fairly well integrated into German society. We both started off in Germany with a large circle of expat friends from our respective countries. Slowly but surely, however, as is the temporary world of expats, they moved on and left us behind. Nowadays, we both still have our token British or Spanish expat friend, but also a lot of German friends and acquaintances.  

Over the last few weeks though, we have experienced an expat revival.  This all started when my husband met another woman (from Spain) in his pilates class and invited her over – along with her French husband and two kids. We got along well, so have since been invited over to their place for two parties, full of expats our age.

According to statistics, in December 2011, there were a total of 6.9 million expats living in Germany – and the figure is rising. Not surprisingly the biggest group is from Turkey (1.6m) closely followed by Italians and Polish. In Baden Württemberg, foreign expats make up 1.21m of the 10.74m population.  Germany at the moment is particularly attractive (if you are willing to put up with the somewhat formal and rigid lifestyle that is). The economy is powerful, unemployment rate is low, the country is interesting and affordable, the standard of schooling is high, public infrastructure is excellent; all of which allows us expats to enjoy a high quality of life.

The expats we met at the parties were all well- qualified, highly-educated middle to upper middle class people who left their countries not out of economic necessity, but rather because of fantastic job offers with high incomes and attractive relocation packages (school tuition fees paid, etc.) They were all typical expats in the sense that several personal traits united them; they were all very open-minded, welcoming, and genuinely interested in meeting new people and making new friends.

We thought we were international. Suddenly, we were plunged into an environment where mixed marriages were the norm, speaking two languages a necessity, speaking three or more languages, well, pretty ordinary really. We thought our trilingual daughter was unique - until we met a 13 year old Mexican girl, who speaks Spanish, English, German, Chinese and French fluently, because her father’s company relocates them every four years.  I lost count of the number of countries she has already lived in. Next time I meet her, I must ask her where she calls home – everywhere?  

It was fun to be back in a truly international environment.  I don’t think it matters how long you have lived in a foreign country and how integrated you feel; it’s always refreshing to meet people in similar situations and share your similar experiences.