upping sticks!
Discussion
jessica said:
anyone have experience of just leaving going to another country with children to live.
move and rent and find schools etc.
www.garyglitter.com
having just checked, that site does not exist..there is an opportunity there...
>> Edited by hedders on Wednesday 7th December 00:08
Apologies if I am stating the obvious, but I think that the language barrier could be an issue. If you and your children are fluent then I imagine that finding a job and performing well at school would be less problematic. It sounds like a massive change, though it could be very fulfilling if it all works out for you. Best of luck! 
jessica said:
anyone have experience of just leaving going to another country with children to live.
move and rent and find schools etc.
is it hard easy and worth it .
country involved France and Portugal..
France should be alright and kids learn quicker than adults LINGUISTICALLY speaking , so no worries there.If you need help with translations to French (rude words included) drop me an email and I'll oblige.
Moved to NZ recently, no kids tho.
France would be way easier apart from the languaeg thing, depends on how you do with that, IMo to settle you'd have to imerse yourselfe in it and pick it up, the kids should be no problems, tears when they leave/get there, then a week later they'll have loads of mates and know stacks fo french.
France would be way easier apart from the languaeg thing, depends on how you do with that, IMo to settle you'd have to imerse yourselfe in it and pick it up, the kids should be no problems, tears when they leave/get there, then a week later they'll have loads of mates and know stacks fo french.
Jessica,
Yep, piece of cake. Locals made us welcome, great schools, fantastic lifestyle - we had a blast!
Boys were 6 and 8 when we went and 14 and 16 when we came back.
In our experience, children are surprising adaptable - better than the humans.
Mind you, all this happened in New Zealand (Godzone)
Yep, piece of cake. Locals made us welcome, great schools, fantastic lifestyle - we had a blast!
Boys were 6 and 8 when we went and 14 and 16 when we came back.
In our experience, children are surprising adaptable - better than the humans.
Mind you, all this happened in New Zealand (Godzone)
How many people who "up sticks" STAY abroad.
I would say (apart from retirees) many return - poorer but wiser.I personally know quite a few people who moved abroad only for them to move back again having lost quite a lot of money in the process and severely interrupted their career path (if they had one).
I would say (apart from retirees) many return - poorer but wiser.I personally know quite a few people who moved abroad only for them to move back again having lost quite a lot of money in the process and severely interrupted their career path (if they had one).
EmmaP said:
Apologies if I am stating the obvious, but I think that the language barrier could be an issue. If you and your children are fluent then I imagine that finding a job and performing well at school would be less problematic. It sounds like a massive change, though it could be very fulfilling if it all works out for you. Best of luck!
actually, the langauge isnt that much a problem. some friends have moved to france and you just chuck the kids in at the deep end. they have a rough couple of months and then they start picknig it up quite easily.
Eric Mc said:
How many people who "up sticks" STAY abroad.
I'd say less than 1 in 10. Purely a subjective guess.
Problems:
Language Barrier.
Cultural Differences.
Burocratic Hurdles.
Euphoria turning to feelings of isolation as the honeymoon period ends.
Difficulty in maintaining contact with family and friends.
Arcadian dreams of an idylic lifestyle destroyed by the realisation that the grass is not actually greener on the other side.
Homesickness.
The odds are stacked against most people unless they have very strong positive reasons for moving to the new destination combined with a personality that can take a few blows without giving in.
I would advise against it unless you are very determined.
We (family) moved from Australia to Switzerland when I was 13. I've not been south of the equator since. From Switzerland, my Mum's moved to London, I'm in Nottingham at Uni and Dad's stayed Zurich.
I will point out that we had one huge advantage: We moved over because my Mum was on International Assignment with her company. On the other hand, that only really helped with the settling-in process, after the first couple of months, we were pretty much on our own.
The problems have already been pointed out to you - language, culture, housing, jobs, etc - but if you put in the effort to find your place in the community, you end up reaping the rewards. Take into consideration friends and family that you've got around here, and accept that if you do move, you'll lose touch with a good number of your friends, and possibly distance yourself from your family.
From a kids point of view, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Sure, I had a nice life in Oz, good school, captain of a couple of sports teams, and I lost all that moving Zurich, but I gained so much. I cheated a little bit by going to an international school, and talking to an English family we knew who put their kids into a local school, they had a fair bit harder initially. But then, their kids learned the local lingo, made a good bunch of friends, and are really settled there, whereas my family ended up being "outsiders", part of the international community which, in a place like Zurich, is quite large, but in a smaller French or Portuguese town this might not be the case. On the other hand, if an international school is an option, I would highly recommend it - it's a relatively rare experience and I don't know anyone at my school that didn't find the experience a beneficial one.
If you've got a job lined up, then half the battle's won, but if you need to find one, I would suggest trying to find one before you move over, or at the very least getting your language up to an employable standard. If you have a highly transerable skill set that doesn't require much in the way of language, you're even better off. Or my favourite trick is to look at multinationals whose business language is English, since they're pretty flexible, especially if you've got skills they want.
In short, if you take the right attitude and put in the effort to learn the language, you'll feel comfortable there pretty quickly. But have an open mind, be prepared to ask question after question after question, and think seriously about jobs if you haven't alread, but ultimately, it's definintely worth the experience.
I will point out that we had one huge advantage: We moved over because my Mum was on International Assignment with her company. On the other hand, that only really helped with the settling-in process, after the first couple of months, we were pretty much on our own.
The problems have already been pointed out to you - language, culture, housing, jobs, etc - but if you put in the effort to find your place in the community, you end up reaping the rewards. Take into consideration friends and family that you've got around here, and accept that if you do move, you'll lose touch with a good number of your friends, and possibly distance yourself from your family.
From a kids point of view, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Sure, I had a nice life in Oz, good school, captain of a couple of sports teams, and I lost all that moving Zurich, but I gained so much. I cheated a little bit by going to an international school, and talking to an English family we knew who put their kids into a local school, they had a fair bit harder initially. But then, their kids learned the local lingo, made a good bunch of friends, and are really settled there, whereas my family ended up being "outsiders", part of the international community which, in a place like Zurich, is quite large, but in a smaller French or Portuguese town this might not be the case. On the other hand, if an international school is an option, I would highly recommend it - it's a relatively rare experience and I don't know anyone at my school that didn't find the experience a beneficial one.
If you've got a job lined up, then half the battle's won, but if you need to find one, I would suggest trying to find one before you move over, or at the very least getting your language up to an employable standard. If you have a highly transerable skill set that doesn't require much in the way of language, you're even better off. Or my favourite trick is to look at multinationals whose business language is English, since they're pretty flexible, especially if you've got skills they want.
In short, if you take the right attitude and put in the effort to learn the language, you'll feel comfortable there pretty quickly. But have an open mind, be prepared to ask question after question after question, and think seriously about jobs if you haven't alread, but ultimately, it's definintely worth the experience.
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