How Blogging (and Books) Saved my Expat Life
I just have two quick bits of news for you this morning.
First of all, I am very honoured to have a guest post on one of my favourite blogs, Almost Fearless. I’ve been following Christine’s blog since my initial foray into the world of Twitter. She is a very prominent travel writer and has travelled extensively. Almost Fearless is all about giving up your day job to become a Digital Nomad. ‘What the heck is a Digital Nomad?’ I hear you wondering. Well, it’s someone who has a portable career and works on-line while they travel the world. Sound interesting?
My guest post came to me one morning, as I thought about how far I’ve come in this strange land of Belgium over the past five years. My life now seems light-years away from that big, empty house in Everberg. So take a look at my post, How Blogging Saved my Expat Life, and while you’re over there, wander through Almost Fearless and maybe you’ll want to pack it all in and live the Digital Nomad life too!
My second bit of news actually happened last week but I haven’t had time to mention it yet. You may have noticed, up there on the black menu bar, a store icon has appeared. This link will take you to my new Amazon store. In it you will find my favourite expat books – both fiction and non-fiction as well as my favourite cookbooks. About 90% or more of what you see there, I actually own. The rest are books that are on my wish-list. Blogging did save my expat life, but there are some books I couldn’t have lived without either.
If you are interested in photography, I am starting a similar store over on ACM Photography as well.
I’ve decided to set these book stores up through the UK Amazon, as that’s where the majority of expats in Belgium order from, so I apologize to my North American readers. In the interests of full disclosure, if you do click through and buy something, I will receive a teeny tiny bit of money. When I can retire to the Bahamas on it, you’ll be the first to know.
If you have any expat book recommendations, I’d love to hear them in the comments below. Also, I’ve been thinking of adding some other sections to the shop, now that Amazon UK will deliver just about everything to Belgium (Yay!). I thought maybe a cookware shop would be fun, if there is any interest. What would you like to see in the shop?
Related posts:
Bookmark & Promote
My Life as an explorer,Sven Hedin/Shadow of the Silk Road, Colin Thurbron/The Many Lives and Sorrows of Josehpine B,Sandra Gulland/The Last Dance on Earth, Sandra Gulland/ Tales of Two Passions,Sandra Gulland
Thanks for the recommendations! I’ll add them to my (ever growing) list
Alison, I read the title of your post and thought, how so much me! Blogging did save my life and so did the books. I don’t know what I could have done without the internet when I moved back in 2002..
Now off to read your post and probably comment again…
Blogging still to this day is the thing that makes me happy, keeps up hope and helps me be positive when I’m feeling excessively down…
More and more I’m hearing the same thing. It’s funny when you move, you feel like you are in a bubble and all alone. Then you come to find out there are women all over the world (including the city you’re in) who are going through the same thing. I wonder if it is still the same now that blogging is so much more prevalent. Maybe people do more research before they leave home?
I was happy that I had so much to fall back on in 2001 when I quit my corporate job. I printed maps and hotels just in case something went wrong, contacted people via newsgroups (sounds a bit like facebook and other like sites now) and tried to reach out and get to know people that I could meet in a new town. What I do know is that I knew I was in a good enough situation to just go with it all. In the end, it works out. And if it doesn’t, we learn from our mistakes and move onward!
It’s funny, I don’t search for local expats here in Canada in real life. I’m more interested in finding people who have the same interests, whomever they are. I guess it’s a shift back into society perhaps?
I didn’t really set out to network specifically with other expats when I arrived here either. It just happened that we had the most in common in the beginning. The language situation didn’t help much either and Belgian society is notoriously difficult to break into. Now I’d say my friends here are a nice mix of expats from all over and some Belgians. They are people that I have interests in common with other than just being expats.
No doubt about it that blogging, books, and the Internet in general helps keep this expat sane…of course, they same *could* be true if I still lived in my home country, but for different reasons. Who knows? Thanks for all the great book recommendations!
Agreed – I would still read and be addicted to the internet although I don’t know if I would have ended up blogging if I stayed in Canada. Possibly I guess. Hope you enjoy some of the books!