Why Move Overseas?

There are three main themes of living overseas that make it so exciting and I must say, addicting to a certain degree, for me (and I imagine most others). These will be recurrent themes as I chronicle my time over here and hopefully offer you some insight.

(On the roof of our apartment building)

1) The challenge of living in a different culture without the safety net of friends, family and a way of life I know so well.
2) The adventure of experiencing things completely unique to a certain part of the world – seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling things I might never be able to in the NW.
3) The amazing people whose context for life is most often times radically different than mine.

(My friend Leonor from Bilbao, Spain [top], my roommate, Jose Luis, from San Sebastian, Spain [middle] and my other roommate Ashok, from Kerala, India - this is the highest point in Delhi)

Last week, I had a day that profoundly struck a chord of this third theme and reminded me exactly why I wanted to live overseas again. During the afternoon before a meeting in Delhi, a man named Popu offered to shine my shoes. I often feel awkward about accepting services like this, but I said okay. He originally offered to do it for 8 Rps., less than $.20 (I ended up paying him 25 Rps.), and you can see in the eyes of people like Popu that they sure have no shame doing their job. He’s making a living. As I was sitting next to him on the ground (he offered me his sandals while he shined my shoes) I learned he had been shining shoes on this corner for 15 years and supporting his wife, two sons and daughter.

(Our flat is on the second floor of the brick building behind this sweet five-story spiral staircase)

Then on my way home, I passed a little stand that was selling mattresses and pillows. I happened to need a pillow so I inquired inside. Beneath the tin room sat three men. The man in the middle, Abdullah, asked me where I was from (a common question) and I replied, ¨the United States.¨ Turns out Abdullah, a Sunni Muslim, left Baghdad, Iraq just 11 days ago and moved to Delhi to escape the war. Politely, but emphatically, he reminded me that nearly all Iraqis are ¨peace-loving people¨ and that they didn’t want this war. I told him that many Americans also don´t want this war and are upset that their government is supporting it. Obviously, Abdullah has seen a side of this war most of us can probably never imagine from what we read and watch on TV.

(Carla de Madrid, Spain, Pablo de Valencia, Spain y Josh de Everett, USA)

Finally, later in the evening, I was walking the maze of side streets and narrow pathways of our neighborhood, Safdarjung Enclave, where countless little shops, vegetable carts, barbershops and tailors reside. I stepped inside one to buy bread and butter and met Monesh, or ¨Roger¨ as he goes by when he works at Delhi Call Center (DCC). Monesh is a friend of the store owner and was just hanging out. He told me, in great English with a slight accent, that currently he was working the UK shift where he works from about 4 p.m. – 2 a.m. to coincide with UK day and evening hours. Working at a call center in India is an incredibly sought after job for its high pay (15-25K Rps./month) and good job benefits. For example, last year Infosys (India´s Microsoft) received 1.4 million job applications of which they hired 2%. I coincidentally ran into him again the other day and now he is on the Australia shift: 4 a.m. – 2 p.m.