After more than 50 entries, This ExPat Life comes to an end. Read the rest of this entry »
This Ex-Pat Life
This Expat Life– The End is Near
February 7, 2011
This Expat Life– You Humans Have It Easy
January 31, 2011
Guest Blog by Boris the Cat (Translated by Doris Gallan)
For two months now I’ve been reading over the shoulder of this writer as she’s been yammering about her time caring for we five cats and a dog in Guanajuato, Mexico. Well, I can understand her complaining about Boa—who wouldn’t be bothered having to walk a dog? Why can’t they just walk themselves? I’m always asking.
I’m Boris. You heard about me. There was the Shrimp Incident. That’s the one when the writer was so busy watching the dog watching the cats watching the shrimp, that she tripped over her writing box and it came crashing down on the hard tile floor. Apparently it ruined the picture part of it but she just hooked it up to another picture part and kept writing. That woman just won’t stop. Read the rest of this entry »
This Expat Life– It’s A Noisy World
January 24, 2011
I’ve often wondered what makes some people early-morning risers while others can’t function until later in the day. My mother tells me I’ve always been of the early-bird variety, waking chipper and ready to go at the crack of dawn.
Living abroad has made rising early to work a necessity as the noise level in the Mexican, Costa Rican and Chinese cities I lived in made it impossible to write after midmorning. The first couple of hours are pretty quiet with just the roosters crowing in the background and the occasional dog barking. Doves coo, birds chirp and the only constant sound is the melodic tapping on my keyboard.
Read the rest of this entry »
This Expat Life– It’s A Noisy World
January 24, 2011
I’ve often wondered what makes some people early-morning risers while others can’t function until later in the day. My mother tells me I’ve always been of the early-bird variety, waking chipper and ready to go at the crack of dawn.
Living abroad has made rising early to work a necessity as the noise level in the Mexican, Costa Rican and Chinese cities I lived in made it impossible to write after midmorning. The first couple of hours are pretty quiet with just the roosters crowing in the background and the occasional dog barking. Doves coo, birds chirp and the only constant sound is the melodic tapping on my keyboard.
Read the rest of this entry »
This Expat Life– Looking For Heat in All the Wrong Places
January 17, 2011
When most people think of Mexico, they imagine a hot sun shining down on cacti-strewn deserts or sandy beaches. Few can guess at the cold nights mountains towns shiver through during the winter months.
Having spent a winter in Guanajuato several years earlier, I knew to bring my flannel pajamas and wooly socks. Thankfully, housemate Katie had also put flannel sheets, a down comforter, and several thick blankets on my bed before my arrival.
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This Expat Life: The Ups and Downs of Volunteering Abroad
January 10, 2011
There are many great reasons for volunteering when you’re living abroad, not the least of which is that it’s pretty hard to do nothing when you see people struggling so much just to survive day to day. You feel good for helping out even just a little bit, you get to meet lots of people in the community, and maybe you get to make a difference in someone’s life. Read the rest of this entry »
This ExPat Life: Housesitter Housebroken by 5 Cats & 1 Dog
January 3, 2011
This is the first time, after writing 500 or so blogs, where I’ve used pen and paper to compose my posting. It’s not because I’m living, for two months, in a 500 year-old-city known for its preservation of historical buildings, traditional ways and conservative thinking. Guanajuato, Mexico is a lovely city but I didn’t think I´d be going back to doing things the old way just because I was living here.
My taking up this quaint way of getting ideas down can be blamed on shrimp, a housefull of cats, a dog and my distracted mind: but we’ve all decided to lay most of the blame on the shrimp. Read the rest of this entry »