tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1374269644093476975.post7431792414984521625..comments2023-10-26T15:34:56.807+01:00Comments on Pond Parleys: How I Became an ExpatPond Parleyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03127142379706540812noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1374269644093476975.post-76638235894570859782010-10-19T16:16:44.473+01:002010-10-19T16:16:44.473+01:00I love the proposal story...!
My expat tale is fa...I love the proposal story...!<br /><br />My expat tale is fairly simple - at first glance. Husband had the opportunity to work in a hopsital in the US for 3 years - he just had to secure funding for his research. After a lot of to-ing and froing it all came together and here we are.<br /><br />But the backstory is a lot more complicated: I had been bending his ear since before we had kids that we should go and live abroad and both work abroad. I was probably keener than him and it never happened - instead we did a 4 month sabbatical and went round the world. Then we had kids, and he was advised by his boss to get some experience abroad for his CV. He met an American doctor at a conference, contacted him afterwards, and two years after that finally it happened. So I came out here as a work at home Mum living in the suburbs, and not the ambitious young journo living in Manhattan that I had once imagined. Still, it was worth it!nappy valley girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10788949037047084412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1374269644093476975.post-81640075334792112382010-10-19T11:54:59.473+01:002010-10-19T11:54:59.473+01:00I'm an expat for a different reason...and it c...I'm an expat for a different reason...and it can be summed up in 3 words...my husband's job.<br /><br />However, I am the least likely candidate to ever become an Expat, ever. I grew up poor in the US, and other than a school related trip to DC when I was 14, never even left New England until I was 20. Which is when I did a one month term abroad. Which was the first time I'd ever been on a plane (were my advisors taking bets on whether or not I'd even get on the plane? Why, yes...yes, they were).<br /><br />Did I mention that I have strong aversions to trying new foods?<br /><br />Or that my only other language besides English is French (which, as it turns out, is not that useful a second language in most parts of the world outside France and parts of Asia and Africa...but not large ones)?<br /><br />Or that I'm introverted and don't get out and meet new people easily?<br /><br />And yet I live in Singapore now...unlikeliest match ever.<br /><br />As for proposals...my husband had a nightmare and I woke him up. His response to being woken up was MARRY ME. Um, yes?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1374269644093476975.post-59390112035750349962010-10-18T18:04:30.179+01:002010-10-18T18:04:30.179+01:00Never a truer word spoken. It definitely set the b...Never a truer word spoken. It definitely set the bar for our relationship, I tell you.Expat mumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17798190669591053390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1374269644093476975.post-84364747305891072552010-10-18T17:21:45.286+01:002010-10-18T17:21:45.286+01:00"Poor chap had been about to propose and I th..."Poor chap had been about to propose and I thought we were about to become history. Bloody typical." I love that! Sometimes it's impossible to know, in these international relationships, whether it's the culture gap or the planet gap (men are from Mars and women from Venus) that's creating these miscommunications?!ML Awanoharahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16238451984653386278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1374269644093476975.post-18048683700314605912010-10-18T16:16:44.301+01:002010-10-18T16:16:44.301+01:00She means well - I did that same ferry journey bac...She means well - I did that same ferry journey back in '81, and Samos was the most beautiful of all the islands I went to.Expat mumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17798190669591053390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1374269644093476975.post-10135551505062494102010-10-18T13:33:37.488+01:002010-10-18T13:33:37.488+01:00Loved your stories. I'm an American, I went t...Loved your stories. I'm an American, I went to Wales, and met an Englishman. Good thing I didn't have to learn the language before immigrating to England or it might never have happened:) However almost every day I think, I can't believe I live here, but I love it.Midwest to Midlandshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05251533810918077310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1374269644093476975.post-73065711950919792902010-10-18T09:16:41.304+01:002010-10-18T09:16:41.304+01:00I was born on a drizzly evening in early December ...I was born on a drizzly evening in early December 1964, in deepest suburban Surrey, and soon set about growing up in a warm and loving (though occasionally caotic) family.<br /><br />My childhood was pretty standard for the time and place, include my years as a pretentious teen, spending hours shut up in my room drawing, reading anything I could get my hands on, trying to act intellectual and writing awful, self-indulgent poetry.<br /><br />At 18, I started work as a trainee reporter with a local paper in Croydon. Later I joined the staff of regional daily covering Sussex, before selling out and joined the local electricity board as a Press and Public Relations Officer.<br /><br />But something was missing. I had married (at 19!), only to sepoarate less than three years later. And by the time 1988 came around I was restless and thoroughly sick of men to boot. I also decided that if I didn't travel now, I never would. <br /><br />I had been enchanted by Greece on a solo holiday that year, so I started making plans for a six-month working holiday to experience more of the country. I sold my flat in Hove (barely breaking even, thanks to property bubble bursting), started learning Greek at night school, quit my job (and had a quiet word with the editor who told me to call him when I returned) and set about getting a summer job with a UK tour company.<br /><br />In April 1989, I stepped off the boat at Samos harbour after a gruelling 13-hour sea trip from Athens (no flights thanks to a strike by Olympic Airlines) to start work as a Rep for Thomson Holidays.<br /><br />And that was what brought a twist to my carefully-mapped plan. At one of the hotels I was responsible for, I met Nikos behind the bar - fresh out of the army and brimming over with ready smiles, easy humour, helpful advice and free iced coffees. <br /><br />I wasn't interest in anything more than friendship, but he had other plans. Apparently, within a week of meeting me he had told his mother I was the woman he was going to marry! Nonetheless, at first I was a little confused about what exactly our growing reationship was - casual friendship? The seeds of something bigger? But even after our first clumsy smooch after her turned to me one night, looked me in the eye and asked "A keess?", I never imagined that it was the start of something that would change my life.<br /><br />However, by the end of the season, Nikos had persuaded me to stay and to return to Athens with him for the winter. 21 years on, we been through our share of good and bad times but we're still happily married and have a 13-year-old son. <br /><br />I still make my living by waffling - writing stuff to make other people look good (no-one pays me for stuff that makes ME look good!).<br /><br />That's the story of my Life Bilingual so far. Who knows what the future holds?She Means Well...https://www.blogger.com/profile/11606884423689767178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1374269644093476975.post-48148771135783481332010-10-17T23:07:19.820+01:002010-10-17T23:07:19.820+01:00I enjoyed reading these two accounts of the beginn...I enjoyed reading these two accounts of the beginning of married bliss from over the pond.<br />It must have been a big step to take but you both came across as slipping into it easily.<br />Maggie X<br /><br /><a href="http://granniemay.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">Nuts in May</a>Maggie Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06183886005936250976noreply@blogger.com