My French village is not in the guidebooks. It’s not swarming with sweaty tourists in shabby shorts. So what’s so special?
Miss Footloose
Miss Footloose
I hail from the Netherlands and grew up eating lots of Gouda cheese, riding a bike to school, and not wearing wooden shoes. Having adventurous Dutch genes, I married an American Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya, East Africa, in an odd if humorous 10-minute ceremony that fortunately has stuck so far. My man is a development economist and I follow him around the world and watch him toil running projects that assist business and agricultural enterprises in developing countries. I have cooked, shopped, mothered, traveled and written stories in Africa, Asia, Europe, the US and the Middle East. I'm an expat writer not living in paradise (like Peter Mayle or Frances Mayes). I do not drink wine from my own grapes or tend my own olive groves. I have, however, visited my butcher's bedroom in Palestine, eaten fertility sausage in Kenya, and almost landed in prison in Uganda.
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The joys of expat housing can be many, but screechy concerts on the roof and crappy plumbing are not among them.
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Oh, the things you learn about the toilets of the world! Expat life offers you wonderful opportunities to try out all sorts. I’ll try and keep it clean.
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Making a fool of yourself abroad is easy, especially if you have to sexily swing your hips and twirl your hands.
- Adventures AbroadExpat HumorExpat TroubleLiving in Africa
Expat Adventure: Oh, the Things You Learn!
Here she was, a lapsed Lutheran female in a smelly animal market trying to buy a sheep from a long-robed male Muslim trader. Oh, the things you learn!