Living Abroad: What It’s Like to be Back in the US

Edd:  I’m noticing something.

Cynthia:  What?

E:  We’ve been in North Carolina for a week.

C:  You just realized that??

E:  Stop it. Already we’re starting to establish a routine. After about that amount of time the same thing happened during the first half of our trip in New Jersey.

C:  And…

E:  That when we go somewhere different we flounder around for a bit, but once we get our bearings we unconsciously create a version of our “normal life.”

C:  I hadn’t thought about that but OK. There’s more, right?

E:  You know me well, my love. It made me think about when we first moved to Ecuador and how much we struggled in the beginning.

C:  Boy, did we! Knowing no one. Jumping into a Latin American culture with pitiful Spanish skills. There were days when we thought, “What have we gotten ourselves into?”

E:  It was overwhelming for sure but also fun and exciting. We were like, “We’re really doing this!” (Our Books tell the whole story!)

C:  You were talking about having a routine. That wasn’t even an option for a while. There was so much going on that basically every day was a new adventure.

E:  But you know what? That was kind of a relief after so many years on the treadmill of having a j-o-b. Waking up whenever we liked. Doing whatever we wanted. It was wonderful!

C:  Ha! We still do all that when we’re home, but at some point we started to create structure in our daily life. And now in many ways it’s probably not that much different from everyone else’s.

E:  Yep. There’s all the food stuff—shopping, cooking, cleaning up. You do laundry. Thank goodness our low cost of living allows us to have a housekeeper. We eat out, watch a little TV or an occasional movie. Basically, we have a normal life in a cool and interesting place.

C:  I think it’s great we’re talking about this, because that “fear of the unknown” keeps so many people from having an interesting retirement in another country. Even when they know on many levels it would be the best decision to make. It’s easy to “what if” yourself into staying stuck right where you are even when it doesn’t make sense.

E:  It’s not like we were totally confident when we got on the plane.

C:  No, but we were committed to making our new life work at the highest level possible. We moved forward despite the uncertainties.

E:  Let’s be honest. Living in a foreign country isn’t always paradise or perfection. There are initial hurdles to clear like we’ve talked about. And sometimes the—how should I say it—”shortcomings” of less developed countries can be frustrating. But overall it’s pretty fantastic!

C:  Absolutely. I really enjoy it when things we discuss help take the “foreign” out of living in a foreign country for our followers. What you said about us having a normal life in a cool and interesting place was a great way to put it.

E:  Well, thanks. Outside our walls could be Cuenca, the ocean, or the North Carolina woods we’re looking at right now. But our daily life is pretty much the same wherever we find ourselves.

C:  You’re right. Here we sit drinking our morning coffee, eating our usual breakfast, and having this conversation.

E:  Exactly. Let’s go see what the grandchildren are up to this morning!