March 21, 2012

10 Questions: Molly

My dear friend Molly is no stranger to adventure and travel, or my blog. Today she’s sharing her experiences living abroad.

Here’s Molly’s 10 Questions:

1. Current address:
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

2. Previous address(es):
Washington State, USA; Angers, France; Buea, Cameroon; Schladming, Austria; Carnforth, England

3. I landed here because…
There were layoffs in my school district and doors kept opening. I found this teaching job online and thought, “Hmm this sounds interesting.” The interview was an hour away on a day I could make it. It just all worked out. I never thought I’d come here. I saw Abu Dhabi and thought it was Addis Ababa in Ethiopia!

Ready to visit the mosque in abaya and shaila / Molly – left

4. The best part of living abroad is…
meeting people from all over the world. Abu Dhabi has so many expats that you always have the opportunity to meet people from new and diverse places.

Modern day camel caravan.

5. The most difficult part of living abroad is…
Missing my family and that things you think are going to be simple…are not. It always requires ten extra steps to get whatever you are trying to do accomplished. You want to make one recipe, you have to go to five different grocery stores! And don’t even get me started on all the ridiculous stamps you have to get… [referring to doing anything official in UAE]

At the top, a view of Dubai from the Burj Khalifa.

6. Before living here (abroad), I never realized…
how kind and welcoming the Arab culture is. I have had the opportunity to get to know a very kind Emirati family who has taken me in and been a great support. I’ve also realized that the stuff you hear about on the news means so much more when there’s a face to go with it. For example, the uprisings in Egypt mean so much more when your Egyptian co-workers are talking about relatives back home. In addition, I never realized how thankful I am for what I had on a systemic level. For example, how much collective bargaining has done for my profession. Lastly, I’ve realized that when you are far away from home your friends become your family.

A lovely evening with genuine Arab hospitality.

7. An addition to my day to day vocabulary is…
“Too much” – to mean a lot or so much, “Wallah” – to mean, “really!” or “really?”, “Same-same” to mean the same, “Keen” – from Canadian friends, “Washroom” instead of bathroom or restroom.

8. Three words to describe my host country are…
patriotic, up and coming, eclectic

Ishi Biladi – UAE National Anthem

9. If I could live anywhere (hometown excluded) I’d choose…
For the long term -Bellingham, Washington or Missoula, Montana –
For the short term – A little mountain town in the Alps

10. A traveler or expat (famous or not) I admire is…
Colin Angus, the first person to circumnavigate the world using only manpower. What he did was so incredible! I read his book, Beyond the Horizon, over a year ago and I’m still thinking about the challenges he faced and his perseverance.

Thanks for sharing with us! You can visit Molly at her blog, My Suitcase Heart.

xo, jill

[All photos via Molly]
posted by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: 10 Questions
March 18, 2012

10 Questions: Em

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in Saudi Arabia? Em, from Ice Cream Cone Life, is doing it! She answered 10 Questions for me (+you) about her life as an expat living in a place that very few travelers get to see.

Here’s Em’s 10 Questions:

1. Current address:
Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

2. Previous address(es):
St. George’s, Bermuda; Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, Costa Rica; Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennessee; Carmel and Syracuse, Indiana

3. I landed here because…
I love science and I can’t sit still! I left the beautiful but unforgiving job of a farmer when offered a position at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. I knew I was being given a very rare opportunity to not only experience life in the world’s most guarded country, but also, I was being given the opportunity to pursue scientific research in the mostly untouched Red Sea.

Having a good time hanging out with dromedaries (not camels!) and scientific diving in the Red Sea.

4. The best part of living abroad is…
Viewing life through the eyes of others. Learning how other people live, learning what is important to them and what isn’t. Trying their foods, speaking their words, exploring their nature. This constant stimulation and education makes it easier to see every day, every person, and every thing as special.

Street concert in Al Balad, the old city of Jeddah.

5. The most difficult part of living abroad is…
Saying goodbye to the people you love. Over and over again. That last look you get from your dad when he drops you off at the airport, those friends that you know you might never see again, not being around for your little sister’s graduation, or your big sister’s break- up. Missing mother’s day, and father’s day, and always Thanksgiving Day.

This photo was actually taken on a vacation in Oman at the Sultan Qaboos grand mosque. The abaya (scandalously short!) and hijab are required dress in all mosques and abayas are mandatory dress for all women in Saudi Arabia.

6. Before living here (abroad), I never realized…
How truly skewed our (United Statesians… or at least those I have met) vision of the Middle East is. We know hardly anything about this region and we fear it. When we see women covered head to toe in black with only their eyes showing, we immediately think negative thoughts. Repression, Terrorism, religious extremism. We, thanks a lot to our media, think Arabs or Muslims, or the guys in robes are the bad guys. And maybe some of them are, 9/11 did happen and was an atrocity, but when you group an entire people into one box you do an injustice to humanity. While living in Saudi Arabia, I have realized love and friendship for my abaya- wearing sisters, I have realized that the Quran mostly advocates love and compassion for your brother, and I have realized that most importantly, education should be gained before judgments are made.

Typical view of the Middle East, actual photo taken on a stretch of road in the middle of nowhere Saudi Arabia.

7. An addition to my day to day vocabulary is…
شكراً جزيلاً (shokran jazeelan)- thank you very much; يلا نحش دحين (yalla n’hosh dheen)- let’s gossip now

My oh so formal Arabic lessons. I learn a word/ phrase a day by asking my Saudi friends to write little notes to me on post-its. These post- its cover my desk. I have been told that my Arabic dialect is “Spoiled Jeddaoui Slang”

8. Three words to describe my host country are…
unique, traditional, sandy

9. If I could live anywhere (hometown excluded) I’d choose…
Pandora (the planet of James Cameron’s Avatar 2009)

10. A traveler or expat (famous or not) I admire is…
First, my friends Maiken and Brenda. These two ladies amaze me in their ability to make friends wherever they go and to stay connected with them long after they’ve moved on to the next adventure. Also, people like Greg Mortenson and Paul Farmer who go out and see the world and do something to make it better. And lastly, the true exploratory scientists, Jacques Cousteau, E. O. Wilson, and Jane Goodall.

And now we all know a teeny tiny bit what life inside the kingdom is like! Thanks for sharing, Em.

xo, jill

[All photos via Em]

 

posted by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: 10 Questions
August 26, 2011

10 Questions: Kylie

[To keep the blog active while I’m traveling I’ve asked 3 of my favorite expat bloggers to answer 10 questions about their experience abroad. I’ve enjoyed reading their answers and am excited to share them with you!]

The third expat in this mini-series is Kylie of Spencer and Kylie. Kylie and her husband are expert travelers and are currently living and working in Ecuador (previously, Peru). The photographs they’ve taken while in South America are stunning. Kylie is also one third of the Traveling Triplets, a travel blog offering tips to inspire you to get out and see the world.

Here’s Kylie’s 10 Questions:

1. Current address:
Cusco, Peru

2. Pervious address(es):
Laie, Hawaii3. I landed here because…
I am doing an international internship filming and photographing the projects of a humanitarian organization. We work primarily in rural communities helping to create sustainable solutions to ascend out of poverty.

Aguas Calientes, Peru – my sweetheart and me at the incredible Machu Picchu.

4. The best part of living abroad is…
learning a new language, continual immersion in a new culture, observing lifestyles very different than my own, learning new ways of doing things, and building meaningful and lasting relationships with people in places throughout the world. It not only opens your eyes but it also changes you for the better – it builds character, confidence, and humbles you.
Amaru, Peru – A small village in the Sacred Valley performed dances, skits, and music for us when we arrived to their community. There were children everywhere dressed in colorful garb that was breathtaking.
5. The most difficult part of living abroad is…
managing living and travel expenses when you do not have an income, cultural differences that can create misunderstandings, missing my family, learning a new language, expressing yourself, and getting sick.

6. Before living here (abroad) I never realized…
how little we really need to live happily.

Amaru, Peru – When we work in the villages we teach classes on health and business as well as build a school and plant trees to help sustain the villages.

7. An addition to my day to day vocabulary is…
cuanto cuesta [host much?], ciao [bye]
Amaru, Peru – when we filmed in Amaru, a rural community outside of Cusco, we stayed in the home of Gregorio and his family. It was a humble room, made of mud. The weather was deathly cold most of the time and Gregorio was extremely hospitable and always bringing us tea to stay warm.
8. Three words to describe my host country are…
colorful, humble, and beautiful.
Amaru, Peru – this couple was hilarious. They kept asking for photos and only spoke Quechua (the language of the Incas) so we couldn’t communicate Spanish to understand what they were saying. We snapped this photo right before we realized they were asking for food and gave them a candy bar.
9. If I could live anywhere (hometown excluded) I’d choose…
Southern France where my family roots are, or an Oceanside town in Greece.
10. A traveler or expat (famous or not) I admire is…
National Geographic photographers – the load they carry is immense, not to mention expensive. They get to see incredible parts of the world and document it all – which can be a daunting task to keep thousands of dollars worth of camera gear safe and protected when you’re hiking around crazy places in all kinds of elements.
Make sure you visit Kylie’s blog to see more of her fantastic photography. There are videos too! And for even more travel inspiration, find her at Traveling Triplets.
xo, jill
[All photos by Kylie and Spencer Turley]
posted by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: 10 Questions
August 23, 2011

10 Questions: Anne

[To keep the blog active while I’m traveling I’ve asked 3 of my favorite expat bloggers to answer 10 questions about their experience abroad. I’ve enjoyed reading their answers and am excited to share them with you!]

The next 10 Questions is with Anne, a travel writer from The Matador Network. Two of my favorite articles written by Anne are on the easiest and most difficult languages for English speakers to learn. She also writes a personal blog about living and teaching in South Korea. I was especially happy to see that Anne also likes to novelty snack!

Here’s Anne’s 10 Questions:

1. Current address:
Ulsan, South Korea.
2. Previous address(es):
Ottawa, Canada (the motherland), Thailand and Turkey (TESL jobs and general wanderlust).
3. I landed here because…
apparently, I couldn’t get enough.
I taught in Korea 3 years ago and met my boyfriend here. We left in search of other adventures, but Korea stayed on our minds. I was so excited to come back.
Catching up on new K-pop groups was a real party. The boyfriend didn’t love that part.
My talented students pretending to enjoy the theatre portion of their winter English camp. We put on “Alex in Wonderland.” At their request, there were K-pop dance intervals.
4. The best part of living abroad is…
finding novelty and wonder in day-to-day stuff.
Just going to the corner shop or post office is a new process, and you can glean so much about the culture in those small events. How honorific speech is used with customers, or how no one minds that the 7-Eleven clerk’s baby is napping behind the counter.
A tourist rests in Gyeongbokgung, a palace complex in Seoul.
5. The most difficult part of living abroad is…
feeling deracinated from the culture you’re in.
I’m Canadian, urban born and raised, and multiculturalism is all I’ve ever known. It’s jarring to go into a homogenous culture where I’m so starkly classed as a foreigner.
In any country, I think it can be tough for an outsider to define their role. It’s hard to delve into the culture and make local friends. It’s easy to wear the tourist hat, hang out in expat bars, mock the bad English on shop signs.
I think most expats want to be involved in the local community, but meet a lot of hurtles with language, culture, social expectations. Is there a happy medium? I don’t know. I’ve been teaching ESL abroad for five years and I still haven’t figured out the “role” of the expat.
Initials carved into bamboo stalks in Damyang Bamboo forest.
6. Before living here (abroad), I never realized…
how much people love pale skin!
In the west, we love our tans and bronzer. I’m Celtic-pink and burn like bacon, and used to get teased for being so pasty.
My first teaching job was in Thailand, where local friends would hold their arms next to mine and point out how pale I was. Thinking they were teasing me, I would join in. “Jeez, could I be paler? I’m like a ghost!” They were actually complimenting me, and I sounded like a jackass rubbing it in. Yipes.
7. An addition to my day to day vocabulary is…
갑시다(gapshida) means “let’s go!” I hear it constantly. “Let’s go eat.” “Let’s go home.” “Let’s cross the street quickly.”
This is Geoje island, which has beautiful beaches and mountains, as well as an immense shipbuilding industry.
8. Three words to describe my host country are…
Proud, reverential, mountainous.
A family feeds the pushy seagulls at Sonjeong beach, north of Busan.
9. If I could live anywhere (hometown excluded) I’d choose…
Portugal. It’s beautiful, and the people are heaven. The revelation that teaching is my career path came while working at a summer school, teaching the most thoughtful, creative, lovely group of Portuguese teens. They absolutely inspired me. It was Dead Poet’s Society in reverse.
10. A traveler or expat (famous or not) I admire is…
Sarah Menkedick. Her essays about travel and expat life are smart and poetic. Every time I read her writing, I find myself nodding. She can take a tiny detail, like a mango vendor on the sidewalk, and make beautiful narratives that give you a vivid sense of culture, and how she interacts with what’s around her as an expat. She’s very bright and opinionated and self-aware.
For many interesting articles about culture and travel visit Anne at Matador. For more on her life in Korea, check out her blog.
Thanks for sharing, Anne!
xo, jill
[All photos by Anne Merritt]

 

posted by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: 10 Questions
August 21, 2011

10 Questions: Flora

[To keep the blog active while I’m traveling I’ve asked 3 of my favorite expat bloggers to answer 10 questions about their experience abroad. I’ve enjoyed reading their answers and am excited to share them with you!]First up is Flora from Jeffrey and Flora: Living in Singapore. Flora’s blog is full of valuable information on moving to and living in Singapore. She was even a finalist in the Singapore Blog Awards for the Best Travel Blog category, so you know it’s good! Thanks to Flora, I’m confident that if I ever visit Singapore I’ll know just where to go and what to do.

Here’s Flora’s 10 Questions:

1. Current address:
Singapore

2. Previous address(es):
San Jose, California, USA

At Pulau Ubin, a small island just a short ferry ride from Singapore. You can rent bicycles and ride around the entire island. It is green, peaceful, mostly undeveloped and completely unlike Singapore.
3. I landed here because…
My husband Jeff had an opportunity to move to Singapore for his work. We were ready for something new and the chance to move abroad came at the right time.
4. The best part of living abroad is…
All the new places we travel to. Singapore is a great jumping off point for travel in Asia. We’ve been to Vietnam (twice), Indonesia, China, Malaysia (several times), Australia and Thailand in the past year. We are trying to plan a few more trips in the near future, too.
5. The most difficult part of living abroad is…
How expensive everything is. Shopping used to be fun for me, but now it hurts! I don’t shop the way I used to. Singapore “sales” aren’t that great and things are marked up ridiculously. Even going to the grocery store can be really painful at times.
The building in the forefront is government housing called an HDB flat. This type of building can be found all over the island.
6. Before living here (abroad), I never realized…
How bad durian smells. I catch a whiff of the stinky fruit at least once a day and I’m still not used to it. It also has a funky aftertaste that I can’t get used to.
7. An addition to my day to day vocabulary is…
Lines are queues (as in “line forms here”). Plastic bags are carriers. Garbage cans are bins. Trucks are lorries. Sometimes I use the Singlish terms “can” instead of yes and “cannot” instead of no.
Satay and chili crab for dinner from a hawker center. Chili crab is a famous dish in Singapore.
8. Three words to describe my host country are…
Vainglorious, modern, competitive.
The Singapore skyline is beautiful at night.
9. If I could live anywhere (hometown excluded) I’d choose…
This is a tough question to answer. I would probably choose a big city though, like New York, Santiago or London. I love city life!
10. A traveler or expat (famous or not) I admire is…
Agnes Newton Keith. I first learned about her when I was reading about the world’s largest flower. I saw the Rafflesia Keithii, the species named after her husband, in person when I was in Borneo. She lived in Borneo in the late 1930s and 1940s with her husband and wrote a few books about her time there. She was also imprisoned at a Japanese internment camp for a few years during World War II with her family and wrote about it after their liberation. She makes living abroad as an expat today in a country as modern as Singapore look incredibly easy!
To see more of what it’s like to be an expat in Singapore, visit Flora’s blog.
Thanks for sharing, Flora!
xo, jill
[All photos by Flora Moreno de Thompson]
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
posted by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: 10 Questions
« Newer Entries