Before living in EG, I never had any particular desire to visit Africa, not even to satisfy the popular bucket list item of going on Safari. It was a place in the world that never had any real appeal for me. Coupled with the assumption that Africa was difficult for solo/unguided travel; attracting intrepid, hardcore […]
These are my stories
Chapter 4 – Best Christmas Markets in Europe
Celebrating Christmas in Australia can be tricky to navigate when you’re from a European family. For me, for instance, the lead up to Christmas would traditionally include baking cookies in a wood-fired stove, in 40 degree heat in a house with no air-conditioning, while Bing Crosby dreamed of how fantastic a white Christmas would be. […]
Chapter 3 – The Baltics
Australia is a country of immigrants. It’s therefore not uncommon for Australians to describe themselves as “part-Italian” or “part-Malaysian” or “part-Croatian.” Me, I’m “part-Lithuanian.” Only a very little part mind you – my grandfather was half-Lithuanian, half-Polish (and perhaps even a little Russian). My grandmother was German. In truth, my blood has been so watered […]
Chapter 2 – Mexico
When I was a child, I remember gazing up at a huge map of the world displayed on the wall in my parents’ study, and being drawn to Mexico. I didn’t really know anything about it. I think it was probably the name that attracted me initially – a 3 syllable country with an X […]
Chapter 1 – Chile
Chile was the first trip we took after taking up residence in EG some 4.5 years ago. It seemed to come out of left field when the husband first suggested it. I mean, I did want to go South America, but I had thought we would perhaps start our travels with a closer jaunt – […]
Shall We Travel the World?
Over the past 4 years, I have lost count of the number of countries the husband and I have been privileged to visit. What started out as a temporary assignment (1 year, maybe 2) has morphed into something almost semi-permanent. This – working 10 weeks, travelling for 3, community living on a gated compound, no […]
Community
A funny thing happened the other weekend. The husband and I were lolling around the apartment, doing nothing in particular – when the power went off. We looked at each other and waited for it to surge back on, but it didn’t happen. And although we didn’t really have any plans anyway, it unnerved us. […]
The Strangeness of being an Expat
It had been close to two years since we last set foot on Aussie soil when we landed in Sydney shortly before Christmas. Two years – our first Christmas off the island in 5 years. As we transferred terminals from international to domestic, Sydney’s humidity hit me not so much like a punch in the […]