Two nights ago I watched the movie Sicko. You know, the movie by Micheal Moore about how Americas health insurance and medical industry is one of the worst in the world because no one seems to be able to get the help they need. Now I am not going to go into a debate about whether or not Sicko tells the whole truth or on whether a private health system is better than a government run one. Living in Japan I have had the chance to be under social health care and it does have a few problems (though I had no health care at all in the states). What I do want to talk about is the ability to find something better.

While I was watching that movie I was thinking two things. One was how sad America has become when the value of lives are plainly put in dollars. The second however, was the excitement seeing  all the options available. Do you want more time off, to work fewer hours, better health care, or maybe just a change in culture? The world has gotten smaller than ever and  there are a lot of options out there. We consider a lot of factors when we choose our jobs, so  why do so many of us continue to live where we are just cause it’s where we were born?

With the economic crisis eliminating jobs in the US, now is the perfect time to look elsewhere. It is possible that you may not find something to your liking (though that probably depends on how much you are willing to accept change), but you may find something better. A better way of life than you had previously thought possible. I have been living in Japan all together now for about four years. One year as a student and three after graduation. I can’t say that everything is perfect about Japan, but there are parts that are better than the US in my opinion. The ability to get affordable health care is just one of them.

I have listed some sites below that help people find jobs and have information about moving abroad. Another good place to look are the embassy pages of the countries you might be interested in.

• Expat Forum
• Transitions Abroad
• Overseas digest
• Job Monkey
• Living Abroad

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