I've never been an ex-pat before. Living in another country is an odd experience. It's been awesome, but I feel like we live with one foot in the US and one in Germany.
Many of our decisions are made assuming a somewhat transient situation. If I were to lose my job here, I'd almost certainly have to leave the country, and pay to move everything I own back to the states. Here are some decisions we've made based on being an ex-pat:
1) We rented a house. We've owned a house for 26 years until now, but the risk of owning here and having to leave suddenly is just too high.
2) We bought one used car and used savings to buy it. We've bought new cars for 30 years, and haven't bought used until now. Getting rid of a car in the case I have to leave might be difficult. I'm really not sure, so we've been careful.
3) I've made very sure of all of the contracts I sign. I know when they're done, which auto-renew, and which I'll have to continue to pay even if I leave the country.
4) We only signed a 1 year lease on the house. The owner wanted more like a 3-5 year, but frankly that is too much. Not wanting to sign a long term lease meant that finding a house was much more difficult. If we have to leave the country, I'm only ''on the hook'' for 3 months of rent.
5) We haven't unpacked everything and that's OK.
6) I still have my US cell numbers. I ported them to google voice and that forwards them to a skype number that I pay $3/month for with 60 minutes of free calling to/from the US.
7) We keep a mailing address in the US where we get mail and is my ''official'' US address. And yes, we've already voted.
8) We keep our US bank accounts, and credit cards. But we have German ones as well. Being a US citizen and tax payer, all of my income, transactions, etc. are reported back to the US government anyway.
9) We carry NO debt. The cash economy here has been very healthy for us, frankly and we don't want to find ourselves owing money in Germany in case we have to leave.
It's an odd existence, but it's been remarkably freeing.
Not having a house and a mortgage means I'm far less stressed about it. I didn't realize how much stress I was carrying by owning our house.
Being so much healthier financially means I'm far less stressed about money. The "credit" economy of the US was very unhealthy.
On the minus side, it would cost us nearly $5k to fly back to see family, which makes it prohibitively expensive. However, we're spending about that amount to fly friends and family here to visit us.
Still, we really miss family, and my boy is still in Seattle and I miss him every day.
I miss the ease of everyday life. Not knowing German (yet) means that for an introvert like me, going out to do mundane things like go to the hardware store are far too stressful.
However, that ease of life meant that I spent far too much, though I did get out of the house more.
I miss sweet Chinese food. (General Tso Chicken!)
I miss spicy Chinese food (Schezwan style)
But you know, the sweet Chinese food is so physically unhealthy that my body doesn't miss it.
Nor does my digestive tract miss the very spicy chinese food.
All in all, Germany has been a really great experience, and healthy for us in so many ways. We are blessed to have this opportunity and living life a different way (frugally, healthily) has made a real, positive impact on us.
P.S. JagerSchnitzel is currently my favorite food.
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