toots

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 10 March 2013 - 10:31

Hi Tim Tam! We just finished a stint in India/ Mumbai a year ago so my experience is fairly recent. You are so right in saying that not everyone has the luxury of having dream jobs in dream locations, in the real world, we go where the work is and this is also what took us very reluctantly to India. I have great memories of our time there, made lifelong friends and loved India. India is initially very hard work though. Most everything the other posters said about it is very true. Every expat I knew there, found it hard. Some stayed some gave up and went home but MOSt after the first year found it doable. With a few planned short holidays to take you out for a quick breath of fresh air, and there are plenty of nearby holiday destinations, a good group of friends to occupy your days whilst the kids are away. Personally, we as a family decided to accept life in India as it was and not compare it to what we were used to. We had a great house, maids, driver, cook and most importantly, a job! What really did we have to complain about? After the initial few months of the shock to all your senses, we were all quite used to it all. Kids and I were complaining less and less with each passing month :) Expat communities are very tight and keep you busy especially if you belong to the ASB community. My 3 kids had been in the British system all their life and found ASB (US system) fantastic. If I'm not mistaken, ASB is also one of the few schools in all India that offer IB. And YES, its VERY very expensive. Cost of living is very high there overall. Shopping is great!! Also, Yes, its very dirty and extreme poverty is everywhere but poverty is a very real fact of life. Just because we are shielded from it in Dubai and most of the western world, doesn't mean its not there! I would not go back for another stint but I am very glad that my children and I had that amazing 2 years to experience India, the bad and good. Opened their rose tinted eyes up to the real world and made us all appreciative of the little things in life. So if the offer is really good, do it. India is truly incredible, wish I had had more time to have seen more of it. <em>edited by toots on 10/03/2013</em>

RATE IT