August 2013 – Expat Blog Carnival
July’s Blog Carnival content was all about how expats leverage their Green Thumbs to put down roots.
This month we’re looking at all of the other things that expats do to make themselves feel at home. Sure, it seems like it takes ages to get unpacked and decide the best location for that ugly coffee table you picked up at a garage sale, but when you arse finally hits the couch… what’s on your “to do” list?
Maybe it’s applying a lick of paint to the inside of the kitchen cupboards where nobody but you will notice. Perhaps it’s buying some really expensive cushions, in just the right shade of blue, that you spend the next 5 years moving out of the way each time you need to sit down.
Let’s welcome this month’s Carnival Bloggers, and find out how they make themselves at home:
Painting mountains – cheap art, fun, no beret or belay required
Expat Blogger: KD is a South Australian living in California, who uses her blog to recount her experiences and observations of LA life, a long way away from the quiet coastal town with no traffic lights, she grew up in.
“My next rendezvous with acrylics will take place on a new canvas which will be easier to hang and lighter for the hooks to manage. I’ve got a few ideas jotted down and I’m looking forward to painting mountains again, maybe developing a bit of a personal style, improving each time, relaxing and enjoying myself immensely in the process. Now I think having something to hang on the wall is a bonus!“
Read the rest at Adbundant Adventure
Stuff wot I brought with me 1 – Snoopy Come Home
Expat Blogger: GLadley is an Old World Girl from Britain, living a New World life in the US and blogs about the cultural quirks of life in Philadelphia.
“I was in bits. I emailed Mark in a panic over what to do. I’d had the video since I was three, but VHS is entirely outdated, we don’t have a video player, and a UK VHS would never work in the USA anyway. This video is entirely obsolete, but I wanted to keep it. Makes total sense, right?
Mark replied: It is ok. I understand. Bring it. I insist..”
At home abroad: how your expat housing is tied to job success
Expat Blogger: Erin Russell Thiessen at Expatica (which publishes news and information for the international community), discusses a study which looked at the ways in which a home affects a family’s interaction patterns, giving special consideration to aspects of a home that change when moving to a new country.
“Did you ‘nest’ upon arrival? What do people who are happy on their expat assignments actually do when the first move into their homes? How does this differ from those who are unhappy?
It turns out that happy ones ‘nest’ and make connections with their neighbours. They display family photos and hang artwork on the walls.”
Expat Limbo
Expat Blogger: Aisha is a freelance writer, cultural chameleon and incidental expat, who is approaching the three-year mark of her Canadian expat experience.
“It’s frustrating – I understand the futility of attachment to material things, especially as an expat, but I have to admit that, as far as a living space is concerned, the need to put my stamp on my surroundings is a big part of who I am.
How do you balance the temporary expat existence with the need for permanence in your life? Did you have similar struggles? How did you come to terms with them?”
Things to do this summer: Paint something white
Expat Blogger: Mickey and Trevor who are building a EuroAmerican Home. They survived a long distance relationship (via Skype) and we are now happily living on the same continent.
“It took me a long time to find the right paint because I wanted something that was no VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds – the nauseating chemicals that give you a headache when you paint), low odor and no carcinogens. After careful research and cross referencing about 1000 sources, I decided to go with Yolo Colorhouse and buy their semigloss eggshell interior paint called Imagine .01”
Read the rest at Euro American Home
Your Expat Home is what you make of it
Expat Writer: Pamela was born in Perth Australia, and spent 25 years in Africa and the Caribbean as a diplomat’s wife. She’s the author of “Culture Shock and Canapés: Adventures of a Diplomatic Wife in Africa” which is published by Quartet Books, and available on Amazon.
“The strips of cloth were eventually replaced and a long-term expat gave one of the best pieces of advice I have ever been given in overseas home-making:
“Buy the biggest and plainest curtains you can.”
She was right. You can fold them, hem them and split them and they will last for your entire career. In a warehouse I managed to find a million yards of cream flecked wool-ish material. They have been curtains, bedspreads, tablecloths and stage sets, they have lasted for 20 years and I still have them, ready to hang in another tropical house with panoramic windows.”
Read the rest at The Telegraph
[important]Do you have an expat tale to share? Email submissions of no more than 1,000 words to weeklyt@telegraph.co.uk[/important]
Hey! Thanks for the mention! It was fascinating reading about everyone else’s experiences and Erin would definitely have me down as a nester. Also. Pamela’s tip about the curtains is right up my alley 😉
Aisha from expatlog recently posted..How I Discovered The Real Ramadan
Hi Aisha .. thanks for stopping by. Was really pleased I stumbled across your blog… thanks, Jay
Roving Jay recently posted..Down Memory Lane with Glam Rockers Slade
Thank you for including my project in your carnival!
Moving continents is definitely followed by a form of nesting. I came here with 2 suitcases full of stuff plus 1 that my husband carried back on his last trip to the US. Needles to say, the things I left behind were more than the ones I brought over. I am not a big lover of stuff, but I did feel that I missed “the state” of having some of my things.
The house belonged to my husband, and you could still see that a couple of months after my arrival. I still don’t feel it belongs to me, and I still don’t feel completely at home. It frustrating when I don’t know where some things are (where do we keep the pliers?) and what some sounds of the house are. But I’m trying to make it more “ours” every day.
Do follow along in our adventures of living as an intercultural couple.
Mickey@EuroAmerican Home recently posted..The Expat Dilemma
Thanks Mickey… I think it’s always good start over in a new location, and there’s always a period of trying to get settled… but we just have to walk that fine line between “being at home” and “surrounded by clutter”!
Jay
Roving Jay recently posted..Wherever I lay my hat