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Meeting Virtual Friends in the Flesh
September 9, 2010 – 16:06 | 9 Comments
Meeting Virtual Friends in the Flesh

“So how did you meet this woman?” It was a common refrain, when I mentioned someone would be house-sitting for us, while we were on our North American Adventure.
“Well, I’ve been following her blog for …

When English Rules | Flashback
August 4, 2010 – 09:50 | 6 Comments
When English Rules | Flashback

This second post in my Flashback series looks at the pitfalls of being an English speaker in Belgium. When I first wrote it, we were living in Flanders and struggling to learn Flemish. Five …

The 7 Link Challenge
July 22, 2010 – 10:43 | 4 Comments
The 7 Link Challenge

Darren Rowse over at Problogger has presented his readers with an interesting challenge – Establish 7 links to your blog to posts in the following categories:

Your first post
A post you enjoyed writing the most
A post …

Singing the Expat Blues | Flashback
July 15, 2010 – 09:20 | 27 Comments
Singing the Expat Blues | Flashback

Recently I’ve been getting quite a few comments and emails from new expats in Belgium who are struggling with adjusting to life here. Expats in Belgium tend to be pretty transient; with …

Expat Life in Belgium: An Interview with Alison
July 12, 2010 – 12:13 | 11 Comments
Expat Life in Belgium: An Interview with Alison

If you’ve been following the expat roommate interview series, you’ve already met four inspiring expat women that I had the honour of living with, in university. Now they’ve turned the tables and thrown some of …

Expat Life in New Zealand: An Interview with LeeAnn
July 5, 2010 – 09:10 | 10 Comments
Expat Life in New Zealand: An Interview with LeeAnn

Today we meet the final subject of my university roommate expat interview series.  We head back to New Zealand, Wellington this time, to chat with LeeAnn who has been an expat on two continents.
LeeAnn was the …

Expat Life in England: An Interview with Marilla
June 21, 2010 – 10:18 | 8 Comments
Expat Life in England: An Interview with Marilla

For the third installment of my former roommate expat interviews, we meet Marilla in Newfoundland, Canada. Marilla is the only one of us who has repatriated back to her home country with her new expat husband. …

Expat Life in New Zealand: An Interview with Tez
June 21, 2010 – 10:10 | 12 Comments
Expat Life in New Zealand: An Interview with Tez

Last week, I started profiling my former university room-mates, who co-incidentally have all ended up as expats. Continuing the interview series, we head to New Zealand to talk to Tez.
Tez was one of the very …

Expat Life in Northern Canada: An Interview with Megan
June 14, 2010 – 11:56 | 11 Comments
Expat Life in Northern Canada: An Interview with Megan

I love talking to other expats. I’m fascinated by the many reasons people decide to pack it up and move abroad. I’m even more fascinated by their experiences living in a new culture. Over the next few weeks, I’ll …

Internet Service Providers in Belgium
June 8, 2010 – 12:31 | 11 Comments
Internet Service Providers in Belgium

Our ‘Web Guy’ takes a look at how to choose an internet service provider in Belgium.
Most expats wouldn’t dream of living without internet access. We’re becoming more and more connected with our iPhones, Blackberries, netbooks …

Top 20 Signs You’ve Been an Expat in Brussels Too Long
June 1, 2010 – 13:19 | 36 Comments
Top 20 Signs You’ve Been an Expat in Brussels Too Long

Belgium is a quirky little country. After five years of living here I’ve come to love, or at least accept, its eccentricities.
Lately I’ve noticed I now take for granted many things I found strange when I …

Expatriating with Pets
April 30, 2010 – 12:52 | 23 Comments
Expatriating with Pets

People are always surprised when we tell them our cats are Canadian.
“You brought three cats to Belgium, all the way from Canada,” they exclaim. Well, actually it was four cats and our Saint Bernard joined …