On not being original

We;ve been doing it for years...

On the news of a new Canadian In my extremely small village. I’ve been feeling a little sad.
 

When I left Britain for Poland, I genuinely felt like a pioneer. I was walking in remote parts of rural Poland thinking I must be the first Englishman to set foot here. That feeling was well and truly unique.

I mean, I have been very lucky and spent the entirety of my student loan travelling before I became an expat, I saw a large proportion of the globe but I was always a tourist, not far away from other tourists. Being an expat, travelling and working in unusually named places – I felt like an explorer.

Certainly, from the expressions and comments I received from old colleagues and friends before I left – Poland seemed to be a wild, unknown and mis-understood destination.

But now I’ve dawned on the realization that being an expat is maybe not that unusual and instead of being the first Englishman in parts of Poland, more than likely, I was at best, one of the first few. I read an article in the Telegraph, that almost 10% of Britain’s are expats.

1 in 10 – That’s the same ratio of people who are obese, being fat is not that unique, especially in parts of Britain I have lived in :p

I then Googled a few more pages and discovered that Britons are actually amongst the world leaders of producing expats. For example, Britain has around 6 million people living abroad which is the same as the number of Americans living abroad. When you consider the difference in population, Britons apparently don’t like to live in their home country or have very itchy feet.

But a few more Google searches and I realised that being a British expat is nothing new. Britain is an island nation and British imperialism required a huge number of expats to live abroad and keep the cogs of the British Empire turning. So perhaps pioneerism is simply in my blood along with the blood of other expats who went before me. Moreover, with Britain’s relationship with the E.U, location close to the Middle East and relationship with the commonwealth, it’s arguably easier for Britons to cure their restlessness than counterparts in America.

Another interesting fact is that according to HSBC, the majority of expats are very high income earners with second homes, hired help and a profession which is probably not, an English teaching like me.

According to HSBC, Poland fails find its way into the top 25 of expat destinations by enjoy-ability of experience. I could well agree with this when I see places like Bermuda, Hong Kong and Spain but Russia made the 23^rd position. It’s difficult to believe that Russia offers a better expat experience than Poland.

So, maybe I’m not that much of a pioneer but I can rest assured that it’s part of my culture. I can maybe differentiate myself from other expats on the basis that I’m poor as opposed to being rich. I can also say that being an Englishman in Wrocław – is something apparently rare. I know many Irish, Americans, Canadians and even an Australian but I’m the only Englishman I know or have heard of in Wrocław this year.

The last one went home at Christmas – maybe stayability in Poland will be something I can use to differentiate myself from other expats.