Foreign Cultures and Customs

As an expat in Africa, I observe the culture shock of a charming high-maintenance beauty just arrived from sterile Singapore. Will a little Zen help?

The world is a wonderful place! When you travel around with an open mind, how can you not be gobsmacked by all the spectacular sights and weird stuff everywhere?

Cultural confusion: Beautiful Dutch girl gets complimented by sincere African man and disaster strikes.

An ordinary day in the mysterious Caucasian land called Armenia (where I expatted for six years) — a day I toiled away at writing a romance novel. An ordinary day without a world crisis but featuring a dead body and a bit of dancing and drinking in the end.

After years of living as an expat in the US, I still have trouble subduing my inner Dutch girl with her opinions and judgments and directness. So if you’re an American, you’ll want to stop reading, because here’s my list of 7 American things I don’t do . . .