Op-Expat

It’s interesting to observe the different relationship an American and Austrian employee has to his/her company.

Americans are very involved in their career. Moving around to different companies or even moving to different cities to further their career is very acceptable. Americans are loyal to their career, not to their company or co-workers. I can understand this mentality because American companies are not loyal to their employees at all. It’s just understood that if your company needs to cut your throat to get ahead, your company will not hesitate.

Austrians on the other hand are very loyal to the people that make up their company. They build strong friendships within the company.

An Austrian will say something like, “I don’t want to disappoint my co-workers.” An American will say something like, “I can’t underperform or I’ll lose my job.” Co-workers are not thought about because in the end, a co-worker is a competitor.

The Austrian way makes the days-to-day job easier. I like coming into work and interacting with my co-workers. It’s not so cut-throat.

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Going green has never been more popular. The Austrians are especially good about utilizing nature in its rawest form to stay healthy, beautiful, and eco-conscious.

Through a friend, www.sourcenaturelle.eu came to my attention. A woman who is currently living in Vienna started it. What the company does is sell organic and natural cosmetics from Austria and Germany. All beauty products in their shop consist of 100% natural ingredients.

Hey, I see your eye-roll of doubt. Believe me, when I was told 100% natural ingredients I thought, “Yeah right. This is just another scam.”

I actually spoke with the founder of Source Naturelle. She’s a medical doctor who carefully screens all products before she accepts them for her company. As she said in her own words, she understands what the ingredients mean when she reads them. At least someone does, because I sure don’t!

The founder of Source Naturelle started out because she herself wanted to use products that only had 100% natural ingredients. Friends and family would ask her for advice and she knew she was on to a business idea.
If you are interested in beauty products that use only 100% natural ingredients, this is the place to trust. You’re actually getting exactly what is being promised to you.

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So what do we expats get out of being expats? Why do we torture ourselves by leaving all that we know and all that we have worked to build in our lives to go live somewhere else? Well here’s a short list of the benefits.

Fresh start
Though a fresh start is tough because you start at ground zero, there are benefits to it. It allows you to try out stuff that people from your hometown might have said, “Impossible!” or “That’s just not you.” No one knows in your new destination what “you” means so no one really labels you. Yeah, I get labeled “the American” but no one here knows me well enough to say, “You’d just never do something like that.” Example. I was invited to a hockey game last week. When I told my LA friends what I did, there was stunned silence, then, “I can’t image you ever going to a hockey game.” See, no one from LA would have invited me!

Toughen up
You toughen up when you leave your comfort zone and live in a different country. You are assaulted with one challenge after the other and you just have to take care of it. Wanna complain about calling the cable company or going to the DMV? Hard day at work? Do all that in another language with different cultural rule that you might not be aware of. Once you defeat the challenges that an expat life throws your way, a lot of stuff just got ridiculously easier to handle.

Lifted to a higher level
When you are forced to learn a new language and a new way of life while still defending your cultural roots, you’re lifted to a higher level. You realize that there is no 1 way to do something. Isn’t that a revelation? That means when a challenge comes your way, you’ve got a ton of different options on how to handle it. You realize problems are a jigsaw puzzle with pieces you just have to move around until you get the right fit. Never again can something cage you in. Never again can someone say, “You can’t do that.” Your response is “I might not be able to do it like this, but let’s see what the options are.”

Mellow
You become a lot mellower when you are an expat. There is so much that you just have to roll with. Something happens and you blink in surprise for a moment. Then if you have enough practice you realize that you just have to shrug your shoulders sometimes and say “Whatever, I can roll with that.”

Yes, you CAN live without that
Brace yourselves people. I have no clothes dryer at home. I don’t have a bathtub (only shower). I only drive my car once a week (big words being from Los Angeles).  There is no ocean nearby. And yet I manage to be happy with life here. Who would have thought that?

Being an expat comes with a lot of challenges, but the benefits are far greater.

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Even though I have been in Vienna for three years now, this is my first true autumn.

The first year it rained like hell. I was so caught off guard that I actually went out and bought a pair of rubber boots. Needless to say, I no longer own those boots.

The second year was a really long summer that extended into October. Then it went from 22C down to 0C in three days.

But this year things seem to be going exactly like how I’ve seen in the movies. The days are sunny. The air is cool and crisp. The leaves are changing a gorgeous red, yellow and orange.

Oh by the way. Happy Halloween. No matter where you are in the world, go carve a pumpkin just for fun. I did.

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