There are lots of reasons that people choose to live abroad. Many are sent abroad by their job or the military. Some are following a loved one. Some go for a short time and kind of just get stuck. And some that choose to move abroad go to escape something at home. I’m not talking […]
Whenever I meet someone, across all cultures that I have lived in, there is an amount of small talk that occurs right at the beginning. Sizing up the other person and trying to work out if there is enough in common to form a longer friendship. For expats talking to other expats, the conversation seems to go down other pathways than otherwise might.
The Eurovision song contest is so well known all over Europe and yet I had never heard of it until last year. This year we decided to have a bunch of friends over to just hang out and watch (and laugh at) it. I thought of it as just a good excuse to be with […]
This is how my best friend described walking through the local grocery store when he came to visit a few weeks ago. We got into a discussion of such things and it got me thinking. Is this perhaps actually a very clever pithy way of describing the expat life that we have decided to pursue as well as an explanation of why cultures is so overwhelming sometimes.
I am not a nomad, though I am a traveler. Simple and succinct, but also true. I crave peace in my own place too much to be on the move all of the time.
I write a lot about the culture of Germany from an expat perspective. The things that I have learned and absorbed. Being from another culture living here though, such cultural knowledge flows both ways. As much as I spend time learning the details of German-ness, I get to share some of the cool things about the U.S. as well.
I’ve gotten a lot of odd questions over the years of living here. It is interesting to see what people know or think based on their experiences. It shows to an extent that although the American culture is fairly well known in movies and TV shows, the details are not.
One of the aspects of living abroad is finding the things that help make you feel better, less out in the wilds. For us one of these things was fresh popcorn, so Ali and I bought a popcorn maker as a treat for ourselves. We have movie night fairly often and now make our own popcorn both as a date night and as a way to make things feel more like home. Thankfully it is pretty easy to buy the kernels, the problem has been melting the butter without a microwave.
I love travel and becoming an expat was one of the best decisions I think I have ever made. It is a wonderful experience that changes the mind and outlook on life a lot. Travel helps broaden horizons and shows you how other people live. As an expat you not only see how other people live, but you live that way too. And yet sometimes it just sucks.