Happy (belated) New Year Expaters! What a year it’s been. 2018 was certainly an eventful year for me. We moved to Chile, starting our new lives in its beautiful bustling capital, Santiago. I got pregnant and suffered pretty much every day of those nine months. Whoever invented the term ‘morning sickness’ is wrong – it’s all day, all night sickness.…
Expaters, have you ever felt lonely? Chances are you have. Loneliness is a big issue and countries around the world are waking up to the fact. Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairwoman of Britain’s Royal College of GPs, has warned that loneliness can be as bad for our health as chronic diseases. The UK government recently announced that it is putting £11.5m…
Do you know about the most stupid Christmas tradition for kids? If you’re living in South America or Spain, I reckon you do. Let me enlighten you… Spanish O’Clock The first time I actually experienced it was in Spain. We were staying at a hotel with my Spanish in-laws and staff asked if our one year old would like to see…
Expaters, did you buy your kid’s teacher a present this year? What did you give? I scanned the web for teacher gifts and look what I found in The Independent, a major British newspaper: ‘A candle might be a bit of a teacher present cliché, but make it a luxury number with Jo Malone and you can’t go far wrong’. …
I’m really getting into Chilean life. My Spanish is improving, my kids are settled in their nursery and I feel at home. In fact, my kid has his nursery graduation show tonight – a Ghostbusters themed extravaganza. We’ve been making his costume for a couple of weeks now. Yesterday I even headed to the busiest market in town to get…
Been an expat for a long time? I’ve been living abroad one and off since I was 18 and it’s made me a little odd I guess. How about you, Expaters? You know when you’ve been away from ‘home’ for a long, long time when… Someone asks you where you got an item of clothing and you reply with a…
Why did you move abroad? For love, for work, or just for the hell of it? Internations, a network and guide for expats in 420 cities worldwide has published results from a massive survey, summarizing why we choose to move abroad. I reckon I fall (or have fallen) into just about every category. What’s your expat type? The Go-Getter You…
It’s been a tough week. My son suffered a severe anaphylactic attack and we suspect he’ll now have lifelong allergies, my newborn has bronchitis and I’m getting over pneumonia. Oof. But I’m positive that we’ll get a grip on my son’s allergies. I’m thrilled my blog seems to be taking off. I’ve met many wonderful people here in Chile that…
I’ve moved countries about nine times in my life. I say ‘about’ because to be honest I can’t really remember. You think I’d get better at it, but each time moving countries throws up new challenges. For anyone else going through the move, I thought to share a few tips from some of my favourite travel bloggers, expat community founders…
We’ve been in Chile seven months now and we love it. As a Brit I find Chile sunny, friendly, fun… and at times rather weird. Here’s a top ten of things I find funny, unusual or downright hilarious: When born, babies often have their heads shaved. I’ve asked why… some have told me it makes the hair grow back differently,…
