Expat or Impat

Impatrié: Newish French word for those persons who decide to come back home after a few (or many) years away from their country.

Well this impat thing is no fun as so many have discovered before me.

See amongst other things the article from Le Monde on 30^th November 2012: “L’amère patrie” (the sour homeland):
http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2012/11/30/impatries-l-amere-patrie_1797400_3224.html.

I am not too sure how it is for many expats from other countries, but as a French expat, coming back home is a real nightmare! I do know some pretty horrid stories about English expats who returned to the UK after many years abroad who also faced some serious problems to fit back into a system where they have basically not existed for too long. But I cannot say if this is the case for any other nationalities, even if I suspect it is not easy at all.

I have the same problems as the Brits returning home: I am French, but I don’t fit in the French box and I don’t fit in the foreigner’s box either!

I would go even further: As far as France is concerned I could even be seen by some as a traitor… Well, if you leave the country, you become suspicious. Why did you really leave?...

Actually, I was like all the others who left. I was looking for a job, any job; a job my own country could not give me!
The mistake was in coming back.

You are French living abroad. You represent the good country; you show the rest of the world that French are the bees’ knees…

Hmm, am I being too cynical?

There are many foreigners, French or otherwise who go abroad singing their own anthem, saying how wonderful they are and how they are there to teach the people of the country they landed in, the real values of life. But not all expats are like that, fortunately. Many love to learn about their new home and its customs.

I have brought back my love of the UK with me, not just by bringing my husband with me. I defend my adopted country all the time and I actually really miss it.

But I still have a French passport and as a French person I should understand and accept the rules of my birth country. Right?

What is wrong with me?!

Sorry guys, but I do know that there is at least another way, and I simply cannot deny it.

Not everything has to be so complicated and written in triplicate. Every single government of my country adds its own layer of laws on top of the others. More bits of paper to fill up, more photocopies to provide, more laws to apply, and more pen pushers to file all this paper…

I suppose I should not have come back, or I should simply pack up and leave again. Yes - but I didn’t come back just because I was a bit tired of good old England. Nope. I came back because my dad is sick and alone and I could not really abandon him.

So here we are stuck in a place I cannot call home anymore.

And I now dream of watching Brucie presenting Strictly Come Dancing, while eating some fish and chips, or maybe a good curry…

Forget “La Marseillaise” I just prefer “God Save The Queen”!