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Do not expect the same sense of urgency or availability of conveniences
In the heat of a strong and intense culture shock moment in your host country, it is very, very easy to slip a bit. Slipping up is what culture shock is all about. There are moments when you take a step back and ask yourself, “Did I just do that?!” Not the best moments in your attempt to have meaningful cultural experiences and intercultural exchanges. Many of these moments are things you are actually trying to avoid or think you are above them, but then your “sense of urgency” just shows its face at the most inopportune times.
So, what are these conveniences of our home country that we instinctively want to cling to? They aren’t necessarily things you can explain in specifics, but there are general topics we could discuss.
“Where is the bathroom? Is that the only bathroom in this place? Am I going to have to use that? Do I really have to actually pay money to use this restroom?”
There are times when you are in search of a bathroom in a non-western country; probably the most important thing you need while traveling. In the United States and in some other westernized countries, the general idea that restaurants, stores, grocery stores, etc. in a community will provide you with a restroom free of charge, and most of the time you don’t even need to buy something there. We expect that the bathrooms are going to be there for us that we indeed start taking that convenience for granted. Then you find yourself in another country and that convenience is now gone. Many places do not even have a bathroom for their customers to use. The quest for where you are going to find a bathroom to use is indeed a real one when walking around a city in a foreign country. Not everyone will let you into their bathrooms!
“It is taking so long for the internet to get set up in my apartment! Why don’t they offer an English option when I called the phone company’s customer support line? Why is the internet so slow in this country?”
How important is having internet in your home nowadays? Most people cannot live without it. Now throw in your inability to communicate in the host country’s language to actually get internet set up in your home, and it can feel like your sense of urgency about getting internet into your life is not shared with the local phone company…not one bit.
Some international schools provide support to their new teachers to help get things set up in their apartment or to even have them set up before they get there, but other international schools leave you on your own. That means you are the one going to the telephone store and trying to figure everything out yourself. Now the tricky part is when you finally get to the date of the installation, you get the phone call from the technician who is literally minutes away from your house. You are so close to getting the internet set up, yet the technician is speaking to you in the host country’s language and doesn’t speak one word of English. Luckily though, many times the technician does arrive and is able to install everything successfully, but in that one stressful moment, you would have given anything to be able to speak their language.
“Could this line be going any slower? How can there be so many people here? Where exactly is the ‘line’ anyways??!”
Waiting in line in more western countries is sometimes quite different from waiting in lines in countries in Asia. What are the hidden rules about getting in a line in China for example? What are the hidden rules about getting in line in India? In some countries pushing and shoving is just part of the game when in a line waiting to get to the cashier. The locals have a “sense of urgency,” the correct sense of urgency, and they get to the front of the line faster. You just need to carefully observe and figure out what their rules are first so that you can also get to the cashier in less time.
The convenience in a more western country is that you can assume that nobody will be touching you or pushing you in a line, the line will most likely be a straight one, and there will be someone who can speak English more or less at the register. Once you are living in a foreign country though, you soon may realize that you have possibly taken for granted all of those conveniences from your home country.
If there is one lesson to be learned…it is that you actually do (usually) end up getting the conveniences that you look for in your host country, it just comes to you a bit slower than or in a different way maybe to what you are used to. It all comes down to communication (or your lack of communication) doesn’t it? Maybe your sense of urgency for all the conveniences you expect will be lessened a bit if you are able to explain yourself better.
What has been your experience living in your host country?
This article was submitted anonymously by an ISC member.
International School employers often promote overseas postings with the promise of ‘tax-free’ income. For U.S. teachers working abroad, this can be a bit deceptive. U.S. international school teachers are required to file a tax return reporting all income from all sources if the taxpayer’s income exceeds the filing threshold. However, the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and the Foreign Tax Credit help to avoid double taxation and in many cases may result in no tax being due when filing your U.S. tax return.
The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion or FEIE
allows the taxpayer to exclude up to a given amount of earned income from
income taxes; however, there are a few items to keep in mind. First, this only
applies to earned income – the income you earn from your job as an employee or
the income you generate from self-employment while living abroad. Second, this
only applies to income tax. If you owe Social Security taxes on self-employment
income, you must still pay that. Social Security or self-employment tax cannot
be excluded using either the FEIE or form 1116 the Foreign Tax Credit.
To claim the FEIE you must first qualify as an overseas resident. This means that either you were in the United States for no more than 35 days during any 365-day period or qualify as a bona fide overseas resident. Assuming you meet one of these requirements, you must then calculate the portion of the exclusion for which you qualify. If you were an overseas resident or a bona fide resident for the entire tax year, you qualify for the entire amount. If you moved overseas during the tax year or moved back to the United States during the tax year then you qualify for a percentage based on your qualifying days of overseas residency. Form 2555 accurately completed and included with a timely filed tax return allows the taxpayer to claim the FEIE.
The Foreign Tax Credit provides another
means of avoiding double taxation. This credit allows you to apply income taxes
paid to your host country against the income tax owed to the United States on
the same income. This requires the filing of form 1116 with your annual tax
return. Again, this only applies to income tax and this credit can only be
applied to income earned while you were physically present overseas. If you
work for a foreign company while residing in the United States, the Foreign Tax
Credit is not permitted.
If your income exceeds the FEIE and you pay income tax to your host country, you may be able to apply any taxes allocable to the difference to your US tax bill by using Form 1116 in addition to the FEIE. For example, if you earned $150K with an FEIE allowance of 108,700 that would leave $30,700 of taxable income. The income tax paid to your host country on that $30,700.00 could be applied to your US tax obligations on a pro-rata basis.
While at first glance it may seem better to utilize the FEIE, especially if your income falls below the exclusion limit, there are times when the FTC may prove more advantageous. Using the FEIE automatically excludes you from certain child tax credits. Also, by exempting all of your earned income you become ineligible for IRA/Roth contributions. There may be state considerations as well with one method or the other so a holistic view is needed.
The important thing to remember is that
once you stop using the FEIE you must wait 5 tax years before you are eligible
to use it again. You cannot switch back and forth each year. Working with a tax
preparer who is experienced in helping US expats will enable you to make the
decision that is best for you right now and help you to determine if and when a
change may be beneficial.
