I think that maybe it is necessary to explain expat humour for the benefit of those who don't understand. Every expat will have their bad days, bad weeks in some cases and those who have survivor personalities often use humour to deal with this. The worse it gets the more 'gallows' the humour. Other expats particularly long term ones (or burnt out old fogies!) recognise this in other people and respond accordingly. Thus it is possible to recognise when newer expats are having adjustment difficulties simply by looking at how they write and the expressions they use. This is possible because we have all been there so we know what it is like.
By and large, the 'survivor' expat personality is a doer rather than a talker, thus they will most likely be engaged in a whole lot of helpful community or business action but they don't need to tell the world about it, so they don't. They don't need to tell the world because overcoming the inevitable challenges which expat life brings gives them a sense of inner security and peace which means they don't have to prove themselves to anyone. Least of all on a notice board.
Almost everybody pays back to the country which has graciously accepted us as residents in their own different way: some make massive investments, some offer themselves as voluntary teachers or community workers, some try to improve the lives of some of the native population by writing about the inequities, some challenge injustice or exploitation on a daily basis, some set up foundations, some look after the poor in their local community. What I think unites us is the sense that most of us are doing what we can. And because time is short (for us older ones at any rate ) and there is so much to do, we tend not to waste energy explaining ourselves or being overly critical of another expat whose heart we can see is in the right place. Including those who would never admit in a hundred years how generous they are.
Of course, there will always be the expats who have not identified the DR as home nor do they feel part of it. And a few of those might be exploitative; most successful expats don't have time for them and thus choose to ignore them.
So if all of this humour and off the wall way of handling situations appears a little odd to tourists and non-residents you will just have to bear with us, because we probably are not going to change! Most successful expats think outside the box; that is what makes them successful! Above all else we are opinionated. It is our way of masking the humility we feel when we see the huge inequalities which face us every day here in the DR. You won't get most of us to admit that, so take it as a once and only opportunity. :laugh:
By and large, the 'survivor' expat personality is a doer rather than a talker, thus they will most likely be engaged in a whole lot of helpful community or business action but they don't need to tell the world about it, so they don't. They don't need to tell the world because overcoming the inevitable challenges which expat life brings gives them a sense of inner security and peace which means they don't have to prove themselves to anyone. Least of all on a notice board.
Almost everybody pays back to the country which has graciously accepted us as residents in their own different way: some make massive investments, some offer themselves as voluntary teachers or community workers, some try to improve the lives of some of the native population by writing about the inequities, some challenge injustice or exploitation on a daily basis, some set up foundations, some look after the poor in their local community. What I think unites us is the sense that most of us are doing what we can. And because time is short (for us older ones at any rate ) and there is so much to do, we tend not to waste energy explaining ourselves or being overly critical of another expat whose heart we can see is in the right place. Including those who would never admit in a hundred years how generous they are.
Of course, there will always be the expats who have not identified the DR as home nor do they feel part of it. And a few of those might be exploitative; most successful expats don't have time for them and thus choose to ignore them.
So if all of this humour and off the wall way of handling situations appears a little odd to tourists and non-residents you will just have to bear with us, because we probably are not going to change! Most successful expats think outside the box; that is what makes them successful! Above all else we are opinionated. It is our way of masking the humility we feel when we see the huge inequalities which face us every day here in the DR. You won't get most of us to admit that, so take it as a once and only opportunity. :laugh: