As an expat you're in a this kind of no man's land. The more you live abroad the more you find you can't relate with that of the past. I find I can only really connect with other expats, regardless of where they're from. My wife (a Croatian) and I were at a birthday party of my son's friend from school last weekend. It was thrown by our Singaporean/French expat friends. Almost everyone there was an expat. French, American, Croatian, Cameroonian - all expats living in Amsterdam. When us expats get together the conversation always revolves around a few themes - when and where are you moving, the weather and bitching about some element of life in Holland, from child care to hygiene, taxes to health care reform. This time was a discussion on how passive Dutch doctors are and how nonchalant they deal with patient concerns. I'm sure its the same no matter what expat group it is and no matter what country their in.

Most of my friends are expats and most of the Dutch friends I have have expat spouses. I have very few pure native friends. It's a weird thing. Things just don't click. Either we're too strange and different for them or their too strange and different for us. The Dutch friends I do have are the well traveled ones who have themselves have been expats at some point. I guess expats search out and appeal to other expats. When you meet an expat, you instantly connect. You share this common temporary mode of life you exsist in. You appreciate their openness and their experiences and they appreciate yours in return. An instant bond.