{"id":1550,"date":"2012-12-27T20:20:41","date_gmt":"2012-12-27T20:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/?p=1550"},"modified":"2013-03-10T10:27:21","modified_gmt":"2013-03-10T10:27:21","slug":"staring-at-foreigners-the-expat-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/staring-at-foreigners-the-expat-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Staring at foreigners &#8211; the expat experience!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When we choose to live abroad we accept that things in our life situation will be different for us.\u00a0 There will be many things that will be good changes for us and for sure there will be some things that will not be so good and might make us feel <a href=\"http:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/27\/staring-at-foreigners-the-expat-experience\/img_7268\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3335 noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"border: 3px solid black; margin: 5px 9px;\" alt=\"IMG_7268\" src=\"http:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/img_7268.jpg?resize=286%2C171\" width=\"286\" height=\"171\" \/><\/a>uncomfortable.\u00a0 The amount of things that will be different for you depends on your personal background growing up and also where you end up living.\u00a0 Since we all grow up in different countries (and also from different parts of that country) and have different cultural backgrounds, our perspective on what happens to us when living in our host country is definitely going to be varied and different.<\/p>\n<p>One thing that might happen to you when living abroad is that you might find that the locals tend to stare at you a lot.\u00a0 Mostly because you look may look different to them, surely that is what they might stare.\u00a0 You would probably be staring at people that look different from yourself in your home country as well.\u00a0 We don&#8217;t necessarily like to admit it maybe, but some might say that it is human nature to stare at other who look characteristically different than you.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/27\/staring-at-foreigners-the-expat-experience\/dsc_8283\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3334 noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"border: 3px solid black; margin: 5px 9px;\" alt=\"DSC_8283\" src=\"http:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/dsc_8283.jpg?resize=257%2C171\" width=\"257\" height=\"171\" \/><\/a>But also, there might be a cultural norm difference that comes into play as well.\u00a0 In some cultures it might be commonplace and even accepted to stare at another person in public.\u00a0 Even if it is commonplace for <em>them<\/em>, it still might make <em>you<\/em> feel a bit uncomfortable&#8230;as it is not a culture norm for your home country.\u00a0 It can be especially uncomfortable if you are getting stared at every day during your life living abroad!<\/p>\n<p>You may start to miss being one of the crowd from you old life living in your home country, making you want to move back sooner than later.\u00a0 You might think twice about getting onto a public bus knowing that it will be jam packed with only locals that enjoy peering and leering at you.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, you may welcome the staring and find that you quite enjoy it&#8230;being the center of attention.\u00a0 No one stares at your in your home country when you go shopping at your grocery store.\u00a0 No staring might make those weekly visits more monotone and uneventful for you.<\/p>\n<p>But what typically happens most of the time, is that you get used to the staring and start to not notice it so much.\u00a0 It hard to ignore it though when the staring escalates into touching of your hair (if your hair is a radically different color to theirs) or them talking to their friends\/family about you in front of your face while pointing at you.\u00a0 The boundaries and cultural norms of how you can interact with strangers in public (that you may be used to) may not exist in your host country culture and it is something you should be aware of and be prepared to experience!<\/p>\n<p>Human being all very inquisitive people, just like many other animals on our planet.\u00a0 We like to figure out things and find out where we belong in a small group, a community, a city, a family, etc.\u00a0 Part of that figuring out where we are and how we fit in most likely involves the staring tactic!<\/p>\n<p>Feel free to leave a comment about your experience being an expat and living abroad in a foreign country.\u00a0 Do the locals tend to stare at you?\u00a0 If you currently live in another country, please take a moment to leave a comment about the host country locals on our website &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/home.php\" target=\"_blank\">www.internationalschoolcommunity.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When we choose to live abroad we accept that things in our life situation will be different for us.\u00a0 There will be many things that will be good changes for us and for sure there will be some things that will not be so good and might make us feel uncomfortable.\u00a0 The amount of things [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[1524,1525,40,482,421,29,30,187,186,915,60,1385],"class_list":["post-1550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discussion-topics","tag-cultural-norms","tag-culture-norms","tag-culture-shock","tag-expat","tag-experience","tag-international-school","tag-international-school-community","tag-international-school-educator","tag-international-school-teacher","tag-staring","tag-teaching-abroad","tag-working-overseas"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2flVT-p0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8800,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/going-home-for-the-summer-no-one-cares-about-your-international-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":1550,"position":0},"title":"Going home for the summer: No one cares about your international life!","author":"ISCommunity","date":"June 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I always hope that somebody will care every year I go home, but every year most of them don't.\u00a0(Ha ha!) It is not because they really don't care though, it is mostly because they just don't fully understand or connect to the international\/expat life you are living. \u00a0When visiting family\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Highlighted Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Highlighted Articles","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/highlighted-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/birds-gee72d321f_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/birds-gee72d321f_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/birds-gee72d321f_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/birds-gee72d321f_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/birds-gee72d321f_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8042,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/making-friends-outside-of-your-international-school-is\/","url_meta":{"origin":1550,"position":1},"title":"Making Friends Outside of Your International School is&#8230;","author":"ISCommunity","date":"August 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"...HARD! I don't know about you, but I think making friends outside of your school community can be one of your biggest challenges when you live abroad. If you are an outgoing person, maybe it is a bit easier. However, if you are on an introverted side and also don't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Highlighted Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Highlighted Articles","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/highlighted-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/tapas-bar-2741115_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C857&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/tapas-bar-2741115_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C857&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/tapas-bar-2741115_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C857&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/tapas-bar-2741115_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C857&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/tapas-bar-2741115_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C857&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2619,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/new-survey-percentage-staff-expat-hired\/","url_meta":{"origin":1550,"position":2},"title":"New Survey: What percentage of your staff is expat hired?","author":"ISCommunity","date":"January 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A new survey has arrived! 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