Tag Archives: guest blogs

Sharing the Repatriation Experience

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(For some reason, the entry below did not post on schedule. So, I’m back now! More soon on that. In the meantime, please read below!)

As you read this, I am on a plane back to Dulles International (I scheduled the entry to go live at 10:25AM, the time our plane takes off). Jock and I land in Newark, NJ for two hours layover before heading to DC for my mom to pick us up at the height of rush hour traffic at 5PM. She must really love me because anyone who knows DC traffic, knows that it is the worst!

To kick off the re-pat experience, Alisha wrote an entry for me. Finding Alisha’s blog, Seattleite Imagery, has been serendipitous – definitely for me. I’ll let her do most of the explaining, but I feel so lucky to have someone going through the same things I will be going through in the next couple of months. I especially like her entry, “Bird by Bird, Brick by Brick” – that sums up what I know from experience moving and repatriating can be like, but we often forget after it’s gone and done with.

Please welcome Alisha:

When I heard that the Lady who Lunches was coming back to the States I was delighted, partially for the selfish reason that I also just moved back after eight years abroad and will have someone to share the repatriate experience with.

My British husband Dan and I decided last June that four years in England was enough and began to embark on our year-long exit strategy. We took the unorthodox but luxurious route home to Seattle via 6 months in New Zealand (January in the Southern Hemisphere – highly recommend it) to visit his parents and just touched down in the Emerald City in June.

It’s hard to believe it’s only been a month; part of me feels like I’ve been back forever, which is only a good thing. I’d been warned about reverse culture shock, how difficult it can be for the expat to return and find they no longer fit in anywhere. I was concerned my rose-tinted glasses would be ripped from my face, people would be uninterested in my experiences and all the things I’d learned as a foreigner (and holy crap I’d learned a lot!) would be null and void, forcing me to squeeze back into the life I’d left as a high schooler. Yikes.

I am happy to report however that re-entry has been relatively painless. I feel bad saying this, but I’ll go so far as to say it’s been easy. I mean, easy is relative – moving across the world without a job never compares to a week in Bali. But with a track record of cold-moving to a new city or country every two years for almost the last decade, I’m embracing the smooth landing.

A huge reason the only reverse culture shock has been positive is that the US is engineered for comfort, convenience and consumerism (sorry for the alliteration), a reality I consider it’s best and worst feature. It’s something I took for granted growing up and always enjoy rediscovering. In the US I have the opposite challenge I had in the UK: not getting too comfortable. I have a love/ hate relationship with consumerism, but gotta tell you I LOVE walking into Trader Joes, grabbing my free coffee and samples, cheap food and being fawned over by the sales staff. This all helps.

I’ve met quite a few Seattle transplants (usually from the mid-West) who comment about the Seattle freeze. Apparently Seattleites just aren’t as friendly as the rest of the country. Walking into coffee shops and dodging smiles and invitations to casual conversation, I always think this supposed freeze is hilarious. Three times in a row while asking directions to coffee shops on Capitol Hill (Seattle, not D.C.), perfect strangers have said, “I’m not sure, but I can look it up for you,” and have preceded to bust out their iphones. So I tell those mid-Westerners, “Honey, you ain’t seen nothin’,” and that Seattle is perfectly tropical compared to the London tundra of inter-stranger interaction. Basking in smiles, if not sun, is a great way to transition.

Another reason this supposed reverse culture shock has been MIA is the generosity of friends and family. It makes a huge difference to move somewhere you know people, specifically people related to you. I’m so used to starting from complete scratch when I move that I feel kind of like I’m cheating. But instead of feeling guilty I’m just feeling fortunate to be able to housesit for friends with beautiful houses, borrow parents cars and be taken care of.

The most important reason why moving back to the US has been minimally traumatic is larger than good friends, coffee and smiles. The main reason is that we were ready. When I fled the US straight after snatching my degree I had to get out. Back then the thought of staying Stateside suffocated me. But now, after doing what I needed to do in Japan then England then New Zealand, I’m ready to come home. I appreciate my imperfect nation now and, focused on the pros I have more patience with the cons.

I’m all about blooming where I’m planted but right now I feel so fortunate to be redeployed to the familiar turf of the Evergreen state. People always ask us if we’re back for good, which is a difficult question for nomads. For us, being somewhere for good isn’t comforting but scary. But I will say being here is good and I have no plans to leave.

I’m really looking forward to hearing how our lunching lady gets on in America and hope everything goes as well for her and Jock as it’s gone for us. In the meantime I’ll be perched up here in the Pacific Northwest warming the country up for her and enjoying being home.

Meet Tiffany – the American in Holland

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I’m doing a small series of blog swaps.

First up is Tiffany. She does crazy things like me and sign up for things that push her to her limit – like write 31 blog entries in 31 days (except since she has three blogs, she ended up writing 79 entries in a month) and she freelances for Demand Studios just like I do. More specifically:

Tiffany is an American who moved to the Netherlands for love in December 2008. She lives in Utrecht with her husband and their dog. In addition to chronicling her adventures on her blog Clogs and Tulips: An American in Holland, she also works as a freelance writer and runs her own company, Little Broadway.

Please enjoy her post below:

Sesame Street and Bicultural Relationships

“What did you say about Big Bird?” My husband asks as we walk through the train station.

“I said ‘I love Douwe Egbert’s coffee’” I giggle. “I just saw an ad poster for it. I didn’t say anything about Big Bird!”

Funny that Big Bird should randomly come up – I had just had a conversation revolving around the same topic with a friend via Facebook. She declared that she would be starting her work day at the daycare center where she volunteers with a Sesame Street marathon. We’ve both found ourselves transplanted in the Netherlands in the past year-and-a-half due to being swept off our feet (and our home countries) by Dutch studs, so technically it was a Sesamstraat marathon.

I bring this up in my conversation with my husband.

“She can’t get over the fact that your Big Bird is blue and named Pino” I confess on behalf of my friend.

My husband laughs. We’ve had this conversation before. While the TV show exists both in the United States and the Netherlands with the same concepts and purpose, it’s not the same street.

“And the mouse,” I continue.

“You mean Iniemenie?”

“That’s right!” I exclaim. “That’s his name.” (See, I’ve watched the Dutch version – I’m totally with it.)

“You don’t have Iniemenie?!?” He asks incredulously, as though I’d just told him the world was about to end and we had just a few moments left to live.

“Nope.”

American Sesame Street

“But, you have Tommy, right?” He presses.

“Tommy, the dog,” escapes both our mouths simultaneously.

“Nope,” I say.” “No Tommy.”

“Oh.” My husband’s totally dejected by this. “Well, who do you have?”

“Well, there’s Cookie Monster and Elmo…” (The Dutch have those too, of course, including Bert and Ernie).

“And the purple guy,” he interrupts.

“Grover? I think he’s blue.”

“Whatever,” he shrugs. “Yeah, Grover. We have him too.”

There’s a pause. I’m forgetting someone. Then it hits me:

“And Oscar the Grouch!” explodes from my lips.

I’m met with silence as my husband stares straight ahead, walking to our bicycles parked outside the train station.

“Oscar?” I press. “You know, the green guy who lives in a trash can and is grumpy all the time.”

Nothing.

“Well, I think you’d like him,” I conclude. “He’s funny. Maybe next time I’m back in the States I can grab a Sesame Street DVD so we can watch it.”

“No thanks.”

Dutch Sesamstraat

Pursuit of Happiness – Blog Styley

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Since beginning this blogging world, I’ve been amazed at the people I’ve met through it and because of it. I’ve also been amazed at how comforting it is to have an outlet to express myself. Melissa at Smitten By Britain named me as one of the blogs that makes her happiest. I am honored because surely that’s the whole point of this darned thing.

First off, rules 101 of Happy 101 is to list the top ten things that make me happy. Here goes:

  1. Jock (especially when he laughs)
  2. My Mom (especially when she laughs – it’s the most infectious laugh I’ve ever heard)
  3. My Sister and her son
  4. Talking about anything and everything with my two best friends – Courtney and Jessica –
  5. Writing,
  6. Traveling with friends and family (so excited to have Charlie and Eileen come in a few weeks)
  7. Working Hard
  8. Sunday Roasts
  9. Speaking French
  10. Dancing

The next step is to name ten other bloggers that make me happy. These are the people whose blogs I always look forward to reading, and check to see when their new posts will be up.

  1. The O’Shea’s Blog
  2. Smitten by Britain
  3. A Literal Girl
  4. American Crumpet
  5. She’s Not From Yorkshire
  6. Pond Parleys
  7. A Mid Atlantic English
  8. The Cotton Monster (I just love her monsters!)

And, a few new ones I have recently come across that I’m super excited about:

8. Bristolian Moments
9.  Seattleite Imagery
10. Clash and Contradiction

(Oops, I cheated and added an extra. May as well just keep the love spreading!)

The Big Blog Swap – 20 Something Mum Takes Over

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Last week, Littlemummy.com thought up the idea to get everyone to swap blog posts. After nearly 80 other bloggers signed up, I got to swap with Claire from The Life of the 20 Something Mum. (I’m starting to realize how big parenting blogs are-wondering if I signed up to the wrong blogging community…never mind. We’re all bloggers, after all!)

We both agreed to swap posts about why we got into blogging in the first place. You can read my entry on Claire’s blog.

I’ll let the fantastic Claire take it away!

A Blog for Blogs Sake?

As part of the Great Blog Swap, I am writing this for the lovely Meagan.

For those of you who have never met me or my blog, I am better known as the Mouthy One(!), or Twenty Something Mum.

So why do I blog, what made me blog in the first place?

I have always written in some capacity, with varying success, mostly poetry, but for my school magazine as a teenager, or short stories for kids. I loved writing and was the kid most likely to be seen with a notebook and pen at the ready in case of inspiration springing itself on me!

I first started blogging though as a hobby, to stop my brain turning to mush when I was pregnant with my daughter, affectionately known as Mini, who is now nearly 3. I wrote this via My Space, but never really took it seriously, dipping in it and out when I could be bothered.

Then I had her, got completely sidetracked, with breastfeeding, moving from Kent to Berkshire, and being pregnant with another child 11 months after the first, and that was that.

Which brings us to Twitter.

When something pops up on TV, I have to try it- I read all the Harry Potters due to the hype, watched countless must see films and TV shows, and Twitter was no different. I loved the instant buzz of it, the noisiness of reading in on others conversations wherever they were talking from, so was immediately hooked.

I then saw that alot of the Mums who had added me had joined up to British Mummy Bloggers- I think the tweet which got me interested was one about a competition, so, off I went to that website. I saw that there were loads of Mum’s (and the odd Dad!), all of whom had no qualms blogging about the stuff that the “Proper” parenting guide books would never mention. I felt at ease there, and soon started looking in on Blogs regularly.

It got my writing juices flowing, and soon, I had decided to resurrect the blog, and so set up an account with Blogger, and so at the end of June last year, The Life of the Twenty Something Mum was born. It didnt take long to get followers, and comments, and even the odd blog award. At the same time, the curiosity of others blogs who had commented on mine meant I built up quite a good network.

So why Blog? Why not just read others?

A few reasons, but the biggest is the desire to be able to show Mini and her little brother Littlest (who is 18 months) to have a good record of what they got up to. That they will be able to see in years to come that people internationally used to read in on their sheninigans is even better. That they will probably cringe and shout “Mummmmmmm” at me is something I slyly can’t wait for!

An excellent example was Littler’s first birthday, when I blogged about his first 4 months being spent in a Neo Natal unit. I didn’t make it into a made for guide book fairy story- I told the truth, even the really awful bits. However, the comment’s we received as a family on that post brought me to tears, they were so kind.

Thats one thing I always do, I always tell the truth, elsewise what is the point? I am not Bree Van Der Kamp, nor am I Annabel Karmel (the fact I burn water will vouch for that small point) I am very much a slummy rather than yummy mummy, and proud! I can spot a blog which is written to sound like a Good House Keeping guide, and those go on the list of blogs I think are pap. I write about everything, from potty training my child and her reluctance to actually go along with sitting on the potty, to my partners nephew leaving his pants in my hallway (now thats made you want to read!), not very many topics are off topic for discussion, and I hope this honesty is why people read my blog regularly.

Yes honesty has sometimes got me and big gob in trouble, but again, unless I am proved wrong, which happens(!) and I apologise, I generally stand by what I write, and if I happen to upset people in the blogsphere by doing that, then thats unfortunate, but I shrug, keep calm and carry on. See told you I was the Mouthy One.

I love that others can come to me when they feel down, or left out, or that they can read my account of a not so perfect parent and think, “hmm, you know what, I’m glad I’m not the only one”.

As someone who suffered from Post Natal Depression, purely because I thought I had to be like the Mum’s in a parenting guide, so much so that I would plot weekly whether my first child was meeting the pre-set in stone milestones, and get depressed to the point of abjact misery if she didn’t, this makes my day.

I always say this-

“Rejoice that you have given the world a gift of a child, now stand tall, shoulders back, and watch them grow”.

That and the only good thing for (smug) Parenting Guides? Well, with heating bills going up, they make good kindling for an open fire…….

If you like this, and want to read more about Mini, Littlest, Elder and, well, me, you’re very welcome at the blog.

New Writing Up!

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I’ve been writing a lot (not to mention still tweaking the ending to my novel), and as I write this my eyes are still blurry from sleep.

If you’re interested in reading some of my latest guest posts and interviews, see below:

  • Expatica.co.uk – ‘Expat Voices Interview’ – Anna, the editor, writes:

“American Meagan moved to the UK for love and finds the Brits “the most lovely people on Earth”, if you can put up with a little passive aggressiveness.”  Click here to read full interview.

  • Anglotopia.net – “The Best of the South West” (according to moi). Jonathan, the creator, writes:

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from Meagan Lopez from the fabulous blog The Lady Who Lunches. Meagan has kindly done a write up of the must see’s in Southwest England, where she recently moved to with her British boyfriend. Click here to read the full article.

I’ll have an fashion article up on ANDMAGAZINE.com by the end of the week as well, and should have some stuff up on one of Demand Studios Partners website’s (as that’s where I started a new freelancing job).