Tips – Expat American

Great advice for renewing your driver’s license while living abroad

February 4, 2012 By Carl

I need to renew my driver’s license, and so I’ve been trying to figure out what the laws and regulations are. As usual, despite the high number of American’s living abroad, the laws and regulations assume that all American citizens only live in the US, always. Unless they’re part of the military.

While doing research, I came across this funny blog post from an American living in Spain, entitled How Not To Renew Your Driver License In Your Home Country If You Are An Expat. He has the best and most practical advice. It’s all you can do, as far as I can tell.

So I get to the DMV office and there is no one there, but they still give me a number and forward me immediately to a certain agent with my newly printed number displayed above his desk. It’s an asian gentleman named, unfortunately, Hang. He looked at my expired license and asked if I still lived at that address in Raleigh, to which I stupidly replied….

Erik: “No, actually I’m living in Spain.”
Hang: “So you’re not living in North Carolina?”
Erik: “No. Spain. In Europe.”
Hang: “You’re in the [military] service?”
Erik: “No, I just live there.”
Hang [looking belligerent]: “We can’t issued drivers licenses to people that are not residents of North Carolina. We get people coming down from New York City who lose their ID, and come in here wanting us to issue them a new one. We can’t do that.”
Erik: “Well, the truth is that I work in North Carolina, pay NC taxes, and visit often.”
Hang: “You work in NC? How?”
Erik: “The internet.”
Hang: “What do they speak in Spain? Spanish?”
Erik: “Yes.”
Hang: “I bet it’s a different accent than around here, though, huh…”
Erik: “Yep.”
Hang: “Hmm… Well, your situation is certainly unique. Let me talk to my supervisor.”

About this time, I glance at Marga and she’s got her, “Good God, my husband is an idiot!” look on her face. (She gets a lot of practice with that look.) I begin contemplating where the next town’s DMV office is so we can go there to renew my license with an easy falsehood.

Finally, Hang returns and has concluded that my situation is enough like a military employee (working for the US, living abroad, and needing to renew paperwork locally) that I should be treated as such. He gives me my eye test and issues me my new license. By complete chance, I happened to be wearing the same t-shirt as I had been in my previous drivers license photo eight years ago. I love that shirt. And all is well. Just barely.

So, to all other expats that are renewing their documents in their home countries: LIE!

Tip: Take probiotics for digestive health overseas

August 9, 2010 By Carl

Delhi belly and Montezuma’s revenge are bad enough when you’re on vacation. But if you’re an expat living in a developing country, concern about food safety becomes a daily worry. If you get sick, you might miss work and important meetings. And you’re not going “back home” in a week or two, where the food is generally safer — you’re staying, and might get sick again. Plus, when you’re on vacation, you’re often more prepared: When you go travel in a poorer country, you take your medicines with you. Live there, and you get more lackadaisical, or the medicine runs out. Or you lose it somewhere in your apartment.

As an expat, you need to be on guard all the time. But it’s impossible to know if your food is safe, and even “common sense” is not much help. The worst food poisoning of my life came after eating at a 5-star hotel, and I’ve often found that I get sick after eating at “nice” hotels. On the other hand, I eat street food in China all the time. I love the chuanr, the middle-eastern style lamb skewers sold during the summer time, the baozi (steamed buns with meat), the liangpi (a cold noodle dish similar to phad thai), and the mala tang (a spicy/numbing soup with vegetables and meat that you have chosen yourself).

And I never get sick from the street food. Not much, at least.

My secret for digestive health is probiotics. I hear they’re all the rage in the US now, but I’ve been taking them for years. My brand of choice is the Whole Foods 360 brand, which provides a massive dose, is economical, and comes in 250-count bottles. I bring a few bottles back to China every time I return from the US. What I’ve discovered is that if I run out, I will start having lots of digestive problems after a few weeks.

If you’re overseas and have digestive problems, I highly recommend you get some Acidophilus pills. At the very least, yogurt should help: Just be sure to buy a brand with live cultures. You should start feeling more “solid” inside and have to worry a lot less about what you eat. As someone who gets intestinal problems fairly easily, I can tell you that it’s a big relief.

Photo credit: Average Jane

Great advice for renewing your driver’s license while living abroad

Tip: Take probiotics for digestive health overseas

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