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The Beginnings - An Expat Continues Her Journey: School Week, Finding Office Space, Meeting Other Expat Women and Sharing Our Experiences
I guess we have officially settled down. Life takes on a pattern and we are slowly getting into the routine of the school week. The kids are in school, with the bus driving up to and within the gates of the apartment complex. There are about 10 children in the building who attend the same school and we are optimistic about future playmates. The first day of school shows us that most families there are in the same boat as us, expats and recently returned NRIs and it is heartening to see that except for the bewildered newbies, all the kids have smiling faces. The teachers are warm and reassuring about making the kids feel at home, and I leave nervously but hopefully. An anxious day at home as I wonder how the kids are doing and relief at the end of the day, to see the kids, brave and a bit confused, but cheerful and having had a good day. My husband, meanwhile, sets about trying to get office spaces for a small company. He finds that most commercial complexes that have plug and play offices have a minimum requirement that far exceeds what he will need. None of the smaller places seem to offer the professionalism and the services that would make running a small operation easier, like shared conference spaces, on demand secretarial services and pre-wired work spaces. He is frustrated too, by his inability to reach the concerned people and leaves message after message until he decides to hit the road. This has some immediate results as he is able to narrow down not one but two potential locations. The Whitefield area with its multitude of tech companies looks like most likely, and we realize the difficulties faced by those who come without the infrastructure and support a large multi-national company offers its employees. Meanwhile I realize that with the kids' long day at school, and the luxury of domestic help, I have a lot more time on my hands and it is time to figure out what I am going to do. Since we have no immediate family in Bangalore and I know only a handful of people in the city, I decide to visit the Overseas Women's Club aka OWC and see what others in my position do. Meetings are held every week at the Leela Hotel, and along with a couple of recent arrivals, I head out to the Leela. The room is filled with the hubbub of about 40 women, and I wander through feeling a bit lost. But soon I see that there are tables staffed with smiling faces. I meet a long time resident of Bangalore whose kind face and sensible, matter of fact attitude has me confiding the homesick blues and frustrations that I have so far barely admitted to myself. She sends me on to other tables where I fill forms and answer questions. Anxious to fill my now empty days, I offer my services and am taken up immediately with some editing options. As I chat with the other women, I realize there are clearly categories we fall into. There are the most transient ones, here for 3 to 6 months, and looking mostly for shopping and sight seeing advice. There are the ones who have been here a while and learnt to love India, warts and all, and are genuinely eager to help others make the most of their stay here. The last category was the most unsettling, the here-and-hating-it, needing a place to vent and tell one's frustrations to an audience that has been through what you are going through. One of the laments I heard was the very one that had brought me there. How do you fill your days when you cannot work, do not have as many household tasks as you did, miss the friends and family that you left behind and are still making sense of the city? Most of the expat wives I have spoken to are here as dependants on their spouses visa, and are hence unable to work legally. I had struggled with this almost 20 years earlier as a young student and wife in the US, and had little thought I would deal with it on returning to India. One of the women told me that she found it was actually easier to make friends as an expat than in her home country. Thanks to expat organizations, housing communities and even the awareness of the need to include newcomers at work, there are plenty of social activities for the determined to participate in. But she added, a little sadly, "I sometimes feel that everyone is aware that the relationships we build are all temporary, and just something to tide us over till we return." It was a wistful commentary on the transient nature of being an expat, of a sense of being uprooted. And yet that evening, my children come home from school that day, filled with tales of new friends made, and asking for play-dates and sleepovers. I smile, reach for the phone and whisper yet another expat mantra," Carpe Diem". Continue the journey with KC, read all her articles.
read another expat experience: Banking in India
A few good books you should purchase upon arrivalClick here for a Complete Book List for Bangalore Expats.
>> Read more articles written by Chillibreeze writers:1. Articles related to Content and Outsourcing
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