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Expat Experience Gone Bad: A Passage to India

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EM Forster’s classic novel of India under the British Raj examines the dark side of the expatriate experience. Although not absolutely necessary, it helps to understand a little of the history of England’s presence in India, because, central to the novel’s core, is the oppressor’s fascination with and repugnance of the oppressed – and vice versa. Cast of Characters Forster introduces his characters in order of importance, beginning with the Marabar Hills, 20 miles away from the city of …

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Special: One Heaping Portion of Regret

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Two days ago, my almost-85-year-old father died. It happened peacefully at home before breakfast on Monday morning. It was not unexpected -- on the contrary, he'd been battling MRSA for several years, and undergoing thrice-weekly kidney dialysis for over two years. He'd had a pretty full life: he served in the Army in Germany during WWII, got married, had 4 children, 14 grandchildren and 1 great-granddaughter (so far). He won photography awards year after year. Professionally, he was a …

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Which Countries Have the Best Health Care?

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In the Expat Web group on LinkedIn, a member asked recently, “As an Expat, which countries do you think have the best and worst health care systems?” Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, Malta and France all received positive comments. One poster said Japan’s was “the worst I ever experienced.” The US was mentioned favorably, but “only if you have good insurance. Prices are about 5 to 10 times the costs of France or Belgium.” This kind of anecdotal information is interesting, but not all that …

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Two Big Fat Greek Movies

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My Life in Ruins, starring Nia Vardalos, looked like the perfect choice for an expat movie review: American-Greek classical scholar takes a job at Athens University, gets downsized, does a stint as a tour guide. Perfect! Well, not so much. Great idea, good cast which includes Richard Dreyfuss, one of my all-time favorite actors, but not so well executed. The writing is schmaltzy and heavy handed, the plot is predictable, and outside of a few gorgeous shots of Greek ruins, the movie pretty much …

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Learning from Art: Expat Books and Movies

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I've been posting reviews of books and movies with an expat theme every month for the past six months or so, and I really enjoy this feature of the Future Expats Forum. It forces me to think about books and films in a new way, and to exercise all those writing skills I learned as an English Lit major back in the dark ages when I attended college. I intend to offer one book and one movie review monthly throughout 2010 as well. I still have some favorites to discuss, and I've been making a list …

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Finance Your Life Overseas with a French B&B

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I've written previously about ways to finance your new life abroad if you're not ready or able to retire yet. Here's a delightful discussion of running a B&B, or gite, in France. Guest Post by Steenie Harvey, International Living There’s more to sunny southern France than Provence and the Cote d’Azur. One of its most beautiful, historic and unspoiled regions is the Midi-Pyrenees—and it’s here that American David Hatfield and his English wife Linda have made their home for the past six …

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