Has living abroad helped you become a better person?

I once met an elderly Indian gentlemen in Japan, who said about the benefits of living abroad: "It makes you a better person!"
It can hardly be said in a more concise way. I believe narrow-mindedness is one of the biggest social problems of our times and widening your horizon is the surest cure for it.

Hi everyone.

I've lived and worked in many countries and with retirement looming, am now contemplating my final move back to the Netherlands.  Life it seems has always been about making sure that this happens, it's always been in the back of our mind.  I thought I'd go through some of the countries where I have been:

Greece - my first ever trip to work abroad; it was a nightmare, I landed in the middle of a military coup and it went downhill rapidly from there.

Denmark - I've worked there a few times; probably the most remarkable event was trying to offload a ship that had just gone through one of the worse weather experiences in known history of the North Sea; if you can picture a pile of cars, lorries, motorcycles that had been thrown up in the air repeatedly - nothing was on its wheels, petrol and diesel everywhere; it's where I learned that impact can cause 2 metals to weld together and that ship sprinkler systems can save lives.

Norway - I only worked there once, the only memorable event was getting banned from the Olympic ski slope in Lillehammer.

Germany - I spent 15 years living and working in Germany; I love the country.  So much happened in my time there.  The most special moment was, of course, it's where I met my wife.  I suppose the most spectacular was witnessing the arrival of an aircraft carrying Rudolf Hess's body, in Grafenwöhr prior to it's on move for final burial - it was one of those lottery moments, I had no plan to be there, I was travelling through and had pulled off the road for a break when an aircraft landed over my head into a totally dark airfield.  More personal for me because I had met Hess in Berlin; that in itself was not remarkable, I was looking for my boss in a hospital where Hess was also being treated, we both said hello and I was ushered away rather quickly.  Luckily, when we go back to the Netherlands, it will be to a border town with Germany.

USA - the land of my birth - the only remarkable thing was way back then I used to smoke cigarettes and was taking a smoke break on the side of the aircraft pan while they offloaded some freight.  I glanced up and saw the Loadmaster making some frantic gestures in my direction from the cockpit, I looked around to see the worlds biggest crocodile sat behind me - I don't think he/she was hungry.

Belize - a great place for a vacation, especially the Caye's; I couldn't have stayed longer.  The only thing I can recall was as they opened the door to the aircraft I broke out into a sweat and didn't stop sweating for the 6 months I worked there.

Canada - another great country; in different circumstances I would still be there, but it was not to be.

Australia - I remember being surprised to see wild budgerigars and parrots - amazing; the rest of it is all hidden behind an alcoholic haze.

So what does all this mean?  First thing, I've lived and worked in all these places (and many more); secondly, it doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, there are good, bad and indifferent everywhere and if you have something worth anything, there is always somebody who will take it from you.  I've never got the "better life" bit of being an Expat, surely if there is something wrong with your homeland, the best thing would be to try and fix that, not run away from it.  I can tell you that there is no pot of gold in any country I've worked in; my personal opinion is that "better life" really means "get rich", that people judge other peoples degree of success by how much money they have; many expats have made a massive success of their new journey, but some have crashed and burned on the way and dragged their loved ones down with them.

I haven't really mentioned The Netherlands; I've lived, been based from there for more than 30 years, only moving with my work; I speak the language, have family there - I guess language and family are the most important aspects I can think of in regards to being an Expat.

I hope this helps somebody.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hello beppi & Cynic,

Thank you sharing for your personal anecdotes of being expats in different countries 

Who else has any more interesting stories or thought-provoking views to tell us about their experience as expats?

Please feel free to do so 

Diksha

I always loved to travel, discover new countries, new cultures, learn about History, meet new people, taste different food...

Living in a foreign country is completely different from travelling.
Indeed, you also discover a new country, a new culture (sometimes multiple cultures), learn about History, meet new people etc... but more than a discovery, at some point, as an expat you become part of all this.

Expatriation brought me open-mindedness, curiosity, tolerance but also a great feeling to be part of something bigger.  Today, I feel no more French than Canadian. Moreover, I feel that I am able to do it all over again in another country. As challenging as expatriation can sometimes be, I know it's really worth it. 

I don't know if expatriation made me a better person. But it sure made my life awesome 

I lived abroad alone while my husband stayed behind in the States working toward his retirement and supporting me.  For 3.5 years, I lived in a country where I knew no one, or rather, I didn't know anyone who was close enough for me to share my real thoughts and emotions.

What did I learn from the experience?

- I can do everything I put my mind to it.  Yes, I know it's a cliché -- but not if you live it. 

I travelled by bus and by foot through Tuscany and Umbria looking at properties, worked with realtors, bought a 12th century stone house, supervised workers to bring it up to some resemblance of modern comforts, and furnished it from the ground up.  I dealt with bureaucracy for every piece of paperwork imagenable.  I dealt with an old cranky furnace in my very first -12°C  winter (wearing parka in the house, in bed, and out on the street).  I dealt with property taxes, municipality solid waste, residency, health care, banking, walking home alone at night from language classes, and crying quietly, also alone, while watching the horror of 9/11 on my laptop.

I never had to do any of those things before (except working with realtors, but they were in the States), still, when it's do or die, I learned that I could do them all, I could do them without leaning on anyone, and I could do them with only 1.5 years of Italian language in my brain.

- Being alone and being lonely are two very different things.  I resided alone in a town where there was only one other English speaker in 35 km radius.  She lived 30 minutes by car from me; I didn't own a car and the bus didn't go that direction; I only saw her whenever she came to town.  I didn't feel lonely because I knew I had people who loved me even if they lived 6300 air miles away and free calls didn't exist then.  I didn't feel lonely because I had goals and I was determined to make them happen: to be fluent in the language, to create a comfortable life for my husband and me, and to belong in the town I called home. 

- I can rise above just about anything.  Our town's population was 35,000 but there were between 3000 - 5000 people living inside the walls.  I was the only Asian-looking person in that large group.  A youngish Asian woman (I was 47 but looked near 35) who owned a house, lived alone, and didn't seem to have any means of subsistence.  In the eyes of the suspicious residents , there was only one way to explain my existence:  I was someone's mistress.  I was refused service point-blankly by a shoe store while a handful of other shops including a pizzeria reluctantly accepted my patronage.  It was upsetting at times, but whenever I talked to my husband on the phone, he helped me to stay true to my belief that my self-worth was not determined by my neighbours, but by how I saw myself. 

Thus I never walked with my head down the entire time we lived there.

- An expat is only an outsider by his/her own choice.  I had a rough year until my husband made his first visit and the town realised I wasn't a threat to their moral society.  After that, I inserted myself into the community and the result was the way I dreamt.  I was a volunteer at a homework centre, in the staff of the Catholic Women Club (I wasn't Catholic), a regular face at Mass, and an honorary member of the local Teachers Organisation (forget the correct name).  I attended community meetings and I was invited to people's homes.  I learned Italian cooking at the elbows of mothers and grandmothers.  I went on day trips with groups of old women I scarcely knew but talked to them at length about their grandchildren.  I was given lessons on Italian politic by the women and Italian sports by the men -- after they fed me tea and homemade sweets.  I prepared myself for the very long 3 minute walk to the market every morning, which took 20 minutes because one must talk to one's townsfolk when one saw them, even if one saw them twice a day and more on Saturday Market Day. 

Then my husband retired, joined me, and we became full members of the local society.  We were expats, but we were not outsiders.  We hiked with Club Alpino Italiano, harvested grapes, made wine, killed pig with the paesani, and attended every nightly outdoor concert in the summer with friends and neighbours.  We had our regular tables at a couple restaurants, and one year when I went to Vietnam with my sister, my husband was well taken care of by everyone in town for the 6 weeks I was away.

Those are a few of the things I learned in my first experience as an expat.  That was not the only time we lived abroad, but the only time I lived alone in another country. Did I become a better person?  You betcha.  After 7 years living there, I lost the need to prove myself.  I became much mellower and much more ready to accept people as they are.  I also slowly learned to accept myself, warts and all, and that's a big thumbs up for a woman who was very self-critical almost all her life.

With the exception of my country of birth, I've so far lived in 4 other countries over a 16 year period in different continents. 3 of those long enough to be permanent resident/citizen.  And travelled to 35+ countries, I can't remember it's a long list.   Living like a world gypsy has taught me:
- that being adaptable is the key to adjust, some places I've adjusted better than others (Right now I'm in the middle east, Lord knows how I ended up here, must've been life punishment from a previous life crime.)
- you learn a ton about yourself (Who knew I loved mountains that much?  Certainly not even me.)
- you learn that people are blissfully ignorant, no matter how "educated" they seem to be (Landlord in Norway told me they'll never visit Australia because of all the poisonous creatures, people in Australia will never visit the North because it's cold, etc. etc.).
- you learn to become more empathetic towards people, because well how can you not be, you have to be in order to fit in!
- lots of what you read in the newspapers is frankly an illusion, you don't know what a country is truly like until you live there.
- people complain everywhere no matter where they live
- neighbouring countries always seem to hate each other lol
- you become truly grateful for everything.  Life's too short, just take in things as they come.  Even the bad experiences.  I got pickpocketed in Norway, was literally homeless for a night.  But hey how many people can say they've lived in Norway?
- money doesn't make you happy.  A billion, a million, several thousand, I'm gonna live the same quality of life as I have.

My background has been medicine and psych, so my thinking is influenced by that background.

I have always liked to travel because I have always liked learning. I can say that none of the places I have visited have failed to teach me something new.

In the U.S. I was palpably becoming aware of increased stress and the tendency to not be able to tolerate and adapt to the most minor delays and inconveniences. Helping others with stress was a full-time job.

When I traveled I discovered that the stress was not something that was common in other places.
In Mexico, you learn quickly to not be upset about adjusting to different situations and evaluating the true importance of your concerns. you unwind. People here are quick to see you and greet you.  I have made Mexico my base country because although there are problems, I can just get someone to help me deal with them.

I could talk about other places but I'm not living in them, just visiting them.

I lived in a small area. Naturally I only could move along slowly in a compact area. I only saw as far as my simple eyes could see, that was really very smaller distance around me, basically all my life was a tiny narrow life. But I enjoyed very well because that was the life there back then and I thought I was having very good time and I did so too I moved from leaf to leaf.

Then I had a kind of naturally harsh time. I was stuck between two lives, stuck into the one I had and was trying to adjust to the one I have now, I was stuck in a cocoon I created for myself. It was hard, I became a lost wanderer in my mind while I was stuck inside my cocoon.

Then all of sudden from out nowhere literally from out of the blue I started to fly, I got wings! beautiful wings.

It took only few flappings to see 100s of times more than what I saw in my whole previous life. When I saw so much in such a short time I began to understand what I did, learned and experienced in my entire previous life, I begun to realise one mistake after another. I started to see the world, humanity and everything in a total different perspective. I got the helicopter view.     

I was a caterpillar who became a butterfly. It all happened naturally.

That was my answer to Dikshas question "In terms of self awareness, tolerance, growth, whether personal or spiritual, how have you matured?"

(For the record I was born in Sri Lanka, lived there for 25 years and then moved to Sweden and have lived here now for 23 years.)

In my opinion , "Has living abroad helped you become a better person?"
i think it doesn't matter where do you live to make you become a better person but what's matter is how is a person inside you ? If you are good from inside then you will be good and better no matter where you are.
but there are people whom living aboard and wish to have a better condition of living. and that's other topic.

It surely has, it has helped me become more independent and explore various cultures. Since I was in an unknown country, I have found my true self by being interactive.

B.B, I think you might want to think about that. No matter how good you may be or how much you have heard if you do not leave your house you do not know what a sunrise, a person or a city looks like in standard reality. If you never leave your comfort zone you greatly limit your potential in many ways

I have had more than one person tell me they read about something so they don't have to actually experience it.
From my observation and experience, there is nothing like actually being there. And from my observation and experience, it really does change you.
That is how building an understanding of other works. Without understanding it is just what you have been told or believe which tends to become them and us.
A classic example of this is of course war. But on a recent personal level, a friend told me that when he saw disabled people as a child he was afraid of them until someone introduced him to one. It was meeting and getting to know the person that made him understand.

I wouldn't trade standing in Machu Pichu at sunrise or riding a Peruvian Paso for all the videos and books on Peru in the world.

Living and working abroad over the last 45+ years has given me a great insight into life in other countries. I have learnt and am still learning tolerance, forbearance and the ability to get along with people of all races, colors and creeds.

Have considered myself to be a guest in whatever country I was working in at the time.
Respect for the traditions of others has,for me, been a positive.

Living abroad has definitely had a positive effect on me and my life.

I was born in Africa, of American parents, and lived in several countries before being raised in the US.  The early experience gave me an interest in travel, other cultures and people. I began traveling again in my 40's and 50's and retired early to do more of it.  On a loop through SE Asia five years ago I met my girlfriend, whom I now live with in the Philippines 6-9 months out of the year. She has two sons, one recently adopted.  We also take a trip every year to another country in the region, which is very accessible and it is always a new and different experience.

Yes, I believe living in a foreign country has made me a better person. More grateful, more patient, and probably less selfish.

Living in a developing country especially, has really opened my eyes to what people need to be happy - it turns out, very little!  In a place where life is so hard, there is so much more emphasis on living in the moment, on family and relationships - and less on future planning and accumulation of material things. Most people are kind, even if they have little.  When I cycle up the mountain the locals yell encouragement, haha.

I have had to learn patience - to deal with the climate, the traffic, the pollution, the bureaucracy, things being "out of stock", the "Filipino time" and more. Amazingly, I have never once experienced a case of road rage, even in pure gridlock.I don't believe they have the ego for that sort of western behavior.  And my girlfriend's boys are really great, and respectful, much better kids than many spoiled brats I see in my home country.

There have been sad times - seeing two of her brothers die of cancer due to lack of proper checkups and medical care. A great kid who climbed a palm tree to get a coconut, fell down and died, just a few months after I had taken a picture of him and his friend. And of course the corruption and poverty is heart wrenching.

And joyful times - teaching her son to read after he "failed" first grade and seeing him become an honors student in a good school. The first time he got the ball through the hoop, flew the drone, swam in the ocean.. and of course regular hiking, biking and snorkeling at innumerable pristine islands. It's been a non-stop adventure in so many ways. Even the way the locals always greet you politely is uplifting.

More happens in one month in this country than in a year back home it seems. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. I wish that more of my fellow Americans would travel and experience other peoples and cultures, maybe they would become more tolerant.

Yes, I believe living abroad makes you a better person. My 1st work is in Malaysia for almost 13years, I meet a lot of friends there which I threasure until now. They are on different race and belief. Eventhough Malaysia is a Muslim country but they are open minded people. I learned how to get along with them, know thier culture and belief. I feel so proud it. Its makes me feel complete on the other side me. Now I am in China district of keqiao, Hangzhou just landed last 24Aug. Its a little bit difficult coz only few people can speak in english, road sign and street are all in chines character, Bank transactions are strictly for locals. I am now standing here alone and willing to learn. Its an another journey of me and an additional treasure to my vault.

Malaysia is the best. I dream of working there

Me too

I agree, to the narrow mindedness of people. I have family members that are so afraid of travel. That they find it hard to leave the general area they live in.

I also noticed, that people who are greatly "patriotic" don't travel outside their own country. After talking with them. Yes, they are close minded in the sense they think they are better than people from other countries.

There is a great deal of all of it in the US. As a US citizen I can say that. But I still strongly suggest others visit for themselves. You will be surprised as to how welcoming the people of the US are. They are afraid to venture away from home. Current world situations cause this mind set.

People's of the US use to frequent Indonesia regularly. After 2001, that all changed. Due to Indonesia being a predominantly Muslim country. I love Indonesia! I want to retire there with my Muslim Indonesian Wife.

To close, world travel doesn't require an open mind as much as it does an open heart with great understanding. It is the love of people that makes it possible for people as us to enjoy international travel. And meeting people's of other countries.

It is always exciting to venture somewhere new and unknown. I look forward to bringing my wife here to stay with me. She shares the same spirit of adventure that I have. And we love to travel together. I miss my wife dearly..

I would have to say "yes" because it's been over 30 years now. I was inspired by the exchange students I met during high school, became one myself, joined the Peace Corps, then... I guess I'm not qualified to respond objectively since I've lived over half my life overseas. It's like I'll say "Oh, those Americans," as easily as someone might refer to Latinos.

I think living abroad has really affected me. Not only have I gotten the chance to see and experience new things, I've become more tolerant and broadened my horizons through meeting new people and experiencing new cultures.

Moreover, living in a new place really helps you learn about yourself and be independent, which I think really helps a person grow.

I guess what I'm saying is, living abroad is a great chance to improve and enrich yourself. At least in my experience.

Grateful? ABSOLUTELY!

Being in different places, different lifestyle, different pinnacle of living taught me lots of things, to appreciate, to stay humble and to be thankful for all the greatness that has come across in life, also to help lead others' life towards better journey.

Travel has inspire me to do more than just staying put, I'm pleased to say that thanks to the experiences I get to lead multiple teams in multiple countries with less conflict. Now I am learning to pay back to the society by uplifting their lives in return.

It is not up to me to decided if I am a better person. Everyone can think they are a good person, but history tells us that is not true.

I do not believe living in the United States has made me more tolerant or contributed to my spiritual growth. Americans consider their country a melting pot, but very many other countries are as well. I come from a place where I have seen every race and religion imaginable. I think moving from a large city with a variety of people to a different large city with a variety of people diminished my expat experience somehow. Perhaps I should have chose a small village somewhere.

My work experience is a different story. I work with Médecins Sans Frontières and have been sent to places far more remote and far less diverse. I have learned more about people from work than from living abroad. If I travelled for leisure to some of these locations, I might not have been welcome. The funny thing about people is that when they are sick and in pain, they never ask about your race or religion while you treat them. I have been to countries where the leaders chant "death to Israel" or "death to America" day and night, but the people are eternally grateful for any help I can provide.

Visiting remote villages in angry countries is very educational. No matter where you live, we all learn from newspapers and on TV that our country is the good guy and the people who hate us are the bad guys. But it is almost never the people who feel this way. Smile at someone and they will mostly smile back. Speak to them in their language and they are elated. Someone on this website recently told me that Egyptians and Israelis are supposed to hate each other, but I have never met an Israeli who hates Egyptians, and the few times I have been to Egypt no one openly hated me.

Working with patients around the world has taught me that it is not the people who hate each other. It is the leaders and governments who want the people to hate each other.

minimice wrote:

- you learn that people are blissfully ignorant, no matter how "educated" they seem to be (Landlord in Norway told me they'll never visit Australia because of all the poisonous creatures, people in Australia will never visit the North because it's cold, etc. etc.).
- lots of what you read in the newspapers is frankly an illusion, you don't know what a country is truly like until you live there.

These two points go together in many ways.

Khalida: I am impressed by your work and worldview. Please continue doing this and hopefully your example will lead others to follow!

beppi wrote:

Khalida: I am impressed by your work and worldview. Please continue doing this and hopefully your example will lead others to follow!

Thank you. While I have treated countless patients in many different countries, I have only been working for a short time. There are always nurses, doctors, and technicians with several decades more experience. The number of people they have treated is incalculable. They are truly inspirational. Being a volunteer in the beginning is easy. Volunteering for a lifetime is hard work.

Yes. Before moving to Asia, and even Vietnam specifically, I generally lived a very self-driven life. Coming to Vietnam changed me. I had to adapt. I learned to provide for others, and offer services that made people's lives benefit who were struggling to make it in this global economy.

It's not without its drawbacks, I think I have lost a lot personally, but what I lost was mostly material and what I gained could not be equated to what I had before. Living in Vietnam is not for the faint of heart or the weak-willed. But the rewards of committing to this burgeoning culture and society are great, and personally quite beneficial.

I would say my experiences have changed me a lot, mostly for the better.
As for acceptance of other cultures and all the stuff that goes with it, not really as I'd got that one worked out years before I moved to Indonesia, but my time here has allowed me an insight into poverty and all that goes with it and, most surprisingly, made friends with some members of the poorest groups in the country.
I'd far sooner have a chat with a local rubbish collector than hang with expats, many of whom act like they own the place and do nothing but discuss where the best beer and prostitutes are to be found. I joined a local expat group but one meeting was way too much for me as they slowly got smashed out of their skulls and shared stories of their paid for sexual fun. I finally blocked the WA group when I got sick of the porn and foul language. I'm not a prude (not by a long way), but my wife and daughter use that phone for the food delivery service and I couldn't risk them seeing that rubbish.
I'm just a Barnsley bloke, nothing special, but extremely rich by local standards and with the burden of being a white guy in a country where people of my skin colour are often treated as demi-gods, something I loath with a passion. I'm often invited to the front of a queue in a shop, a priviledge I always refuse because I'm just some dude, not a VIP.
Do I love the limelight, what extremely handsome sexy hunk of a man like me wouldn't? but that has to be tempered with humility and a dose of reality ..... and the realization I'm just a fat old flatulent git from Barnsley that's about as cool as a broken fridge, but happens to be unusual out here so attracts attention.

Definitely. It broadens your perspectives, makes you appreciate that the viewpoints you've grown accustomed to are not true for everyone else and for good reason. You also realize you are not that special, a humbling but necessary thing to go through.

Travel_n_Hustle wrote:

Definitely. It broadens your perspectives, makes you appreciate that the viewpoints you've grown accustomed to are not true for everyone else and for good reason. You also realize you are not that special, a humbling but necessary thing to go through.

I think if everyone spent at least some time in a nation completely foreign to them, more people would understand that they are not the centre of the universe and their homeland is not the only one that is always right.

Khalida.UNC wrote:

beppi wrote:

Khalida: I am impressed by your work and worldview. Please continue doing this and hopefully your example will lead others to follow!

Thank you. While I have treated countless patients in many different countries, I have only been working for a short time. There are always nurses, doctors, and technicians with several decades more experience. The number of people they have treated is incalculable. They are truly inspirational. Being a volunteer in the beginning is easy. Volunteering for a lifetime is hard work.

So just out of curiosity, You say you are not a doctor, nurse or tech, but you treat patients all over the world, what is your job title Khalida. All of the new titles being created interests me as a retired medical professional. What are you certified to do? Perhaps you already explained that, but I didn't see that.

It is interesting to see and learn about the shifts in medical practice. I spend a lot of time keeping current with the recent research and look forward to any positive advancements that lead to improved health outcomes.

travellight wrote:

Khalida.UNC wrote:

Thank you. While I have treated countless patients in many different countries, I have only been working for a short time. There are always nurses, doctors, and technicians with several decades more experience. The number of people they have treated is incalculable. They are truly inspirational. Being a volunteer in the beginning is easy. Volunteering for a lifetime is hard work.

So just out of curiosity, You say you are not a doctor, nurse or tech, but you treat patients all over the world, what is your job title Khalida. All of the new titles being created interests me as a retired medical professional. What are you certified to do? Perhaps you already explained that, but I didn't see that.

It is interesting to see and learn about the shifts in medical practice. I spend a lot of time keeping current with the recent research and look forward to any positive advancements that lead to improved health outcomes.

I am a nurse. Specifically, RN, MSN, MPH. In the post above I said there are nurses with more experience than what I have. On any assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières I will work with nurses who have been practicing longer than I have been alive.

Medical research is in constant motion. My research is in patient autonomy in disaster situations. In the course of my studies I have met people who are breaking barriers and advancing medical technology in ways that were unthinkable a generation ago. Yet we all know that what we do now will be seen as primitive a generation hence.

Thanks for filling in the question marks . With all the new categories like 'health coach," I was wondering what people are doing.  So you are a colleague with an interesting job. I thought about something like that when I was your age, but having a family kept me close to home. Good for you.

I still live in Canada, and won't be ready to relocate for a year or two.  Sorry I can't help.

Of course! You pull yourself out from the root and plant yourself again in a different soil, that's what basically living abroad is. Now the quality of your harvest or the outcome of you depends on what kind of soil you have chosen to plant yourself. Sometimes the soil you choose is better and sometimes not. And sometimes even harder the plant and the soil don't match which can lead to a very vulnerable plant.

Waooo! That's a great travel experience you have there. I'm sure you learnt a lot of languages in the line of duty right?

Not at all, I only can manage three languages and understand very lightly couple of other which are close to those three.
In my opinion traveling, working and living are there different things. I have travelled little bit but I have only lived in two countries. We are six siblings and each one of us have one full sibling and four half siblings and we all are spread around three continents and few close cousins in a fourth one and we all know how we all have it, some of us like our choices very much whilst some like it less. One of them left one of the best countries in the world for Sri Lanka after few years since he never was happy there. We humans are different we like different things.

Better person , i dont know but yes it makes us self dependent, helpful, flexible.

Sure, we humans are indeed different. Life vision varies.

Well, to be an expat is challenging. But yes, it made me a better person. Stronger, more open-minded, ready to accept or to face what I find in front of me.
This is my sixth country. Another way of life to learn.