"It's very easy to make friends with foreigners," Villalon says.
"It's a little different with the locals. Because I have very Asian
features, at first they do not think I am an American. Until I
start to speak and they hear my accent."
"No matter how long I have been here, I will still appear to others
as a foreigner," says Susan Chopra, a software usability engineer
from
Michigan. "Some days, the endless stares get particularly
frustrating, and I wonder if I will ever feel like I truly belong.
I am optimistic, though, that having a job and networking with
people in my field will change this."
Chopra meets many locals through her husband, who is Indian. To
connect with other expats, she attends weekly meetings of the
Overseas Women's Club
Bangalore, which gathers for coffee every
Thursday at The Leela Palace hotel.
"Most of the Americans I've met have been through the OWC," she
says. "This group has close to 400 members from all over the world.
It's a really great source for networking with others from
overseas."
Another frustrating adjustment is the local concept of time. In
Bangalore, hours are fluid. "There is a completely different pace
here," says Vanderwerf. "When someone says they'll meet you at 1
p.m., for example, they might show [up] anywhere between 1 and 3
p.m."
Setting up one's house is another shock to the system. Things taken
for granted in the U.S. require more effort in Bangalore. When an
apartment is advertised as "unfurnished," that means no
refrigerator, stove, or washing machine. Expats must either
purchase or lease appliances, along with basics like chairs and
beds. Preparing meals at home means that all
food and dishes must
be rinsed in bottled water. And despite the city's reputation as a
high-tech hub,
Internet access is alarmingly slow.