It’s been a funny old week. How many blog and social media posts this week have started with those words? Coronavirus has us all captivated. In the expat world, just as in the ordinary world, expat coronavirus is all-consuming. And no, we don’t mean funny haha. But isn’t that the most British way of describing […] Read more…
Expat Life
Since starting Wanderlust and Wet Wipes, people have shown an interest in the person behind the words and my life I am living. I started including posts in my plan all about expat life and some of the things we get up to. My most popular posts are in this category. I wrote one after an encounter with someone who thought I was a “Lady of Leisure“. The other I wrote sometime later after meeting many new expat women and having flashbacks to how it felt when I was the new girl.
Expat life: not as easy as it looks
When you live in a country where you’ve always lived, you take things for granted. You take for granted the things that you just know. You know which news programmes suit your socio-political beliefs. You understand the in-jokes from shared childhood experiences. Learning to drive is second nature – you already know many rules just […] Read more…
The expat bubble
We just never know what’s around the corner. I’m channelling all my inner zen today, Wanderlusters. It’s the 8th of January and I’ve successfully managed to not write anything yet this year. I thought this year might be different. Maybe I’d be more organised and have written something in advance (yeah, RIGHT). I’ve been determined […] Read more…
Expat life – going back
Last Thursday I boarded a flight to Doha. 5 weeks after we left, feeling a bit sick with anxiety I returned to collect the last piece of our expat jigsaw puzzle. The last member of our family – the dog (aka the Original Thing) – had been patiently waiting at a friend’s house for a […] Read more…
Back from a break!
I’ve been meaning to write for weeks. Maybe even months. I’d love to say that I’ve had an intentional detox as most people assumed. That I purposefully elected to stay away from social media and from writing. That I made the positive choice to focus on our family and our international move. And that I […] Read more…
The mental overwhelm of moving country
I’m sat at my computer. I’m looking for songs to use for a slideshow of my favourite Doha photos. The movers arrive in less than 2 weeks. My house is a tip. I haven’t eaten lunch. I have a writing deadline. So obviously sitting at my computer going through songs and photos is the absolute […] Read more…
Our new home!
Today we leave on a recce trip. For the uninitiated, that’s a reconnaissance mission. No, we’re not military but as expats is still kind of important. It’s a trip to find out the lay of the land. We’re heading to the country that we will be our new home for the next 2-4 years. Research […] Read more…