The Loneliness of the Long-Term Expat

There are expats who bounce around like global jumping beans, serial movers, making home sweet homes wherever they go. There are one-shot Wandas who live abroad for the turn of an Earthly axis or two before they replant themselves, a year or two of fond (or dismal) anecdotes and lots of  holiday photos to share…

Pardon Me, Can You Point Me to the Toilet?

Twenty something years ago I sat in an Italian restaurant in England with my then boyfriend’s family and asked where the bathroom was. My future in-laws looked at me with the kind of blank confusion I can only assume my face resembles when my children talk to me about FortNite, leaving me–cross-legged and full-bladdered–in a…

The 2nd Best Decision I’ve Ever Made

How many decisions do you make in the course of your life? Cereal or toast? (Neither) Coffee or tea? (Coffee) Open the bottle of wine or not? (Is it Friday? Then yes.). Life is chock-a-block with decisions, from the mundane to the momentous. Every now and then you’re whistling along happily enough, tearing through the…

Expat Speak

Pristine gym shoes and undented lunch boxes aren’t the only sign of a new school year. At an international school like the one my kids attend, there is also a sea of new faces, a phalanx of new germs, and, if you put in the effort, the opportunity to make new friends. Meet and greets…