Many people are impressed by the idea to live and work abroad according your specialization for a fixed period of time. Going abroad you get both: cultural and professional (work) experience. The only one question is how relevant this experience will be in your future..? If you are lucky - after internship you will find job with similar product or in the same business sector (field). If not - well, at least you will have nice stories to tell to your future grand children.
But... lets talk about present and lets analyze why it is not easy being an intern in Pakistan (some cases might apply and for other countries as well).
First of all each foreigner faces with language barrier. Coming to Pakistan I didn't even know that Urdu language exist as such. Having such obstacle to communicate with local people you have two options: a) ignore the fact that you need to learn local language and require that everyone around would respect you and speak in English (or any other language you know), or b) start learning and speaking local language and in this way show your appreciation to the country, culture and etc.
In my case, I chose option A. I find Urdu language not that difficult to learn (in terms of pronunciations), but I feel being "fun object" each time I try to demonstrate my achievements in learning new words. People accept my efforts with loud laugh. I still don't understand that; why they laugh at me? That's what demodivates me. I know Urdu just to survive: communicate with Taxi or Rickshaw drivers, prices and etc.
Not knowing language really makes your life poor (sometimes). The hardest moments are during the lunch, for example. When I'm going to have lunch with local friends from my company, I know I can't force them to speak English (even topic is not relevant to me) as they are not that fluent in English language. So sometimes I have 30-45 min of silence surrounded of loud Urdu speaking people.
But it is not the worst thing to be silent all the time. The most annoying thing comes when someone sitting at the table with you suddenly realize that I'm speechless and all over the sudden approach me with following questions: "so, how do you like food (4 to 6 times per week); so, how do you like Pakistan (less and less I receive such question - progress); so, how do you like your job?". Well, being a polite person and trying to stay politically correct I swallow my angriness and start building conversation around the question I received (again!). In that moment I feel pathetic because someone decided to talk to me...
However, I have to be thankful to them for taking care of me and keeping company for me while eating as I would not feel totally comfortable in 'desi' (local) food coffee surrounded of strangers.
Another thing is to live with other foreigners. From the first view it looks fine as all current interns in Karachi are from different countries and we all speak English. But being all the time together (living, eating, going out, partying and etc.) we become like a family. I don't really like that concept and trying to balance between. Naturally, living in big group after some time sub-groups starts appearing. It means that each person is trying to find another person with the same interests, hobbies or mindset. So here starts fun part. Each sub-group is gossiping about another group. The fact that other people not interacting with you in the way you would like to, gives even more spark to strengthen your micro group. As you know, people are coming for a fixed period of time. So as the people are changing, the migration from one group to another keep rolling. Here I'm trying to keep balance (again). Let happen what meant to happen : )
Seriously, I don't support such idea. Before coming to Pakistan my goal was to change my life style dramatically. But if I would judge people according my previous values - it wouldn't be fair as I came here to learn new things, to appreciate differences (especially in people) because I don't have such things back at home. Of course I used to interact with interns, but as in all AIESEC, interns are usually entertainment for local people (if I have time and nothing to do - why not to hang out with interns, as they attached to their living place anyway). Well, maybe it is not that bad as I expressed myself, but still - you got my point.
Living in Pakistan is paradoxical thing... All Pakistanis are proud of their country. The worst thing what you can say to them is: India is better then Pakistan! After this phrase most probably you would become enemy No. 1. Quite often I receive questions: how do you find Pakistan? Is it the same what you used to read in news papers back at home? Do we look like terrorist? Well, politically correct answer would be "No". Luckily, I haven't experienced anything bad, never have been in dangerous situation or so... But the fact that some riots are keep happening somewhere in Pakistan doesn't change my mind. Obviously, being in Pakistan my understanding about the culture and society enhanced dramatically, but I can't deny fact that government is not doing its best to protect people. I don't care if attacks were organized by Pakistanis, Afghans, Indians or NATO! As long as it is happening in territory of Pakistan - doesn't make me feel better. But who am I to judge them.
There are places where we (foreigners) feel absolutely fine, but there are many places where is not recommended to show up (recommended by Pakistanis). So far I'm following advices, but my curiosity keeps growing. One day! Inshallah...
