In this episode, Clare is in conversation with Grant, who is an international secondary school teacher. He is a serial mover from the UK who got his masters in Poland. He left the UK in 2007 and has lived in France, Saudi Arabia, China and now lives in Malaysia.

Grant comes from Newcastle in the north of England. After London University and the now defunct Webber Douglas drama school, he spent the first ten years of his career as a jobbing actor. Grant then took himself off to film school and did a masters at the Polish National Film School in Lodz. He always wanted to do something with film studies, so after an introduction to international school teaching in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he found a job teaching film studies at a school in Chengdu in western China. He has been teaching English and film studies in China and more recently in Malaysia for the last 15 years.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• International schools provide students with an extraordinary outlook on life.
• Malaysia´s national identity is being a melting pot, which means that outsiders are quickly embraced.
• Malaysia has strong religious groups, but people are still strongly integrated with each other.
• Grant lived in different parts of China and enjoyed some places more than others. He talks about the pros and cons of each area.
• Grant travelled to some remote places in China, which is now far more difficult, and had some interesting, in some cases, dangerous experiences. He shares a few in the episode.
• Bear in mind that the immigration rules change regularly. This is especially the case in Malaysia.
• When moving abroad you have to be realistic about your chances of being able to stay there when you are older and can no longer work or fall sick.
• Learning a bit of the language gets you a long way.
• Spending most of your free time with ex-pats is a bit of a cul de sac. It is easy to completely miss out on enjoying the local culture.

BEST MOMENTS

‘People have their gripes and grumbles in Malaysia, but … people are quite happy to be here. ´

‘They do a bilingual international diploma.’

‘You weren´t really sure what you had got yourself into.’

ABOUT THE HOST

Clare Kay is a seasoned global mover – with an international career in sales, customer service, personal development, and as a flight attendant. She has sold books and TV programs globally, taught English as a foreign language, and supported non-native speakers through proofreading. Her own global moves – from the UK to Zambia, China, Taiwan, Nigeria, and the USA – bring direct experience, and her global outlook has given her the growth and connections to support others in creating a life abroad. Through her podcast Moving Countries 101, she inspires listeners with the confidence and courage to make their own move – and deepens the cultural conversation in her Facebook Group – Moving Countries 101 with Clare Kay

CONTACT

https://www.facebook.com/groups/movingcountries101withclarekay/

https://www.tiktok.com/@movingcountries101

www.linkedin.com/in/clarekay 

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