In this video, Nick Kemp dives into the emotional and cultural challenges of moving, whether it’s to a new country or just a new town. Nick shares his experiences of relocating to Japan, from the excitement to the tough realities of language barriers and not fully belonging to the local ibasho.
Dealing with cultural differences as an expat
Nick: Even when a move is exciting, for me moving to Japan, it was so exciting, but you kind of almost have this honeymoon phase, and then things get suddenly harder and you become conscious of, am I feeling lonely, or I'm just not excited as much as I was in the first two or three months.
So I can relate to that idea, even when you're learning a language, when you just can't have a normal conversation with someone, that's tough. And then even when you live in a country for 5, 6, 7 years, there are times you just can't communicate with people because you're not part of their ibasho, you don't know the history of the...
For me, it was this town I lived in, everyone knew me, I knew most of the people there, and we got on very well. But I just didn't know the history of the town. And often they'll be talking about other people I didn't know. And there were just these occasional points or cues that would remind me that I don't really belong here in some ways.
So it can be can be tough living overseas, even once you get settled. But it leads to all these incredible experiences.
Karly: I think it's important there, just to note, that it doesn't even need to be in a different country to have those experiences and to move to a new town where even in your own country where you're trying to recreate and you don't know the history and you don't have your ibasho there.
I think it gets a little bit extra complicated in the expat experience is that you are dealing with negotiating different cultures, different ways of seeing and knowing and doing, and then the language component if that exists where you are.