Find any expat blog where the expat has returned to their country of origin, and you'll find the same stories over and over.It's weird being here. My friends here don't understand my experience. This, that and the other thing here now drive me crazy. I miss my expat home and friends there. (So if this post is tl;dr for you, just look at those four lines and that's basically it.)To recap, I'm back in Canada for a few months getting ready to move to Japan in July as an assistant language ...
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Ten Truths About Being 30 & Living Abroad Solo
We're gonna get straight into the nitty-gritty here folks. I turned 30 this year after three years of living the expat life solo, and I've learned a thing or two (or 10). Sometimes it fucking sucks and sometimes it rocks my socks. So I made a list for you, because I'm a nice person. Or because I'm a bit snarky sometimes. Who knows.me turning 30 abroad solo credit: jackson photographyHere are five shitty truths about being 30 and living abroad solo:1) You will check Facebook daily, ...
On Being A Chameleon
I've been back on Roatan for a week now (a very busy week! more about this later!) and absence really does make the heart grow fonder. While I am already missing good sushi and fast internet, I am relishing every walk I take down the street that takes me 20 extra minutes because I have so many people to say hi to. Being back underwater has been immensely helpful in getting my stress levels in regular parameters, and I've been lucky to be diving with a shop this week that is...wait for it... AIR ...
How Taking a Walk at Night Was a Revelation
The other night I felt like taking a walk.I used to walk everywhere before I moved to Roatan. When I lived in Vancouver, one of the biggest cities in Canada, I regularly walked to/from work downtown to the neighborhood I lived in (Kitsilano). I walked home drunk by myself from downtown after going to the bar with friends. I walked to concerts, dinner dates and shopping. I never had a problem in 5 years of living there, and I never felt unsafe.When I first moved to Roatan it was a ...
What the Hell Happened?
"What the hell happened? Where are you?"I have heard this a bit over the last few weeks. After I went off on a tired and teary rant about how I just wasn't having any fun here anymore, I sort of disappeared, as I tend to do any time I get overwhelmed. I just shut down and watch Netflix or read books all night and check in on Facebook sometimes, and that's about it. I had a lot of long conversations with family, friends and even strangers about what my next move was going to ...
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
First off, you all are super cool for helping me cross the 100,000 view threshold this week! When I started this blog two years ago, I never thought it would be seen 100,000 times. Internet high fives for everyone!As I hinted to in the last roundup post, I am currently trying to make a decision about whether or not I am going to stay on Roatan. This is something that's been on my mind for the last few months, and I think something that every expat struggles with at some point. When do you ...
Hi from Canada, eh?
Bad news = my Canadian accent is back with a vengeance.I'm on day 14 of 25 of my great Canadian summer holiday. I'm still hanging out with my family in the vast prairie of Saskatchewan, where the sky is never-ending, the nights are chilly and the mosquitoes are giving Roatan's a run for their money.I only had 10 days here in Saskatchewan and I spent 3 of them in the neighboring province of Alberta at my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary, and another 2 to the 'big ...
So, Vancouver. We meet again. (On returning home a year later.)
Well, I'm in Vancouver. This has been the weirdest day. As soon as I flew out of Roatan this afternoon and arrived in Houston, I got completely overwhelmed and almost had a panic attack in the airport. There were SO MANY PEOPLE. And SO MANY STORES. And everything was SO CLEAN. And everything was moving SO FAST. And why is everything SO LOUD?? I can't believe how used to island life I had gotten. Culture shock!!Waiting in line for immigration was incredible for me... everyone around me was ...
I am not a tree. (On changing my house, and other things.)
If you don't like where you are,change it.You are not a tree.I read the above quote on my friend Amanda's blog and first I laughed. Then the absolute simplicity and truth of it exploded my brain. Think about it, and then really think about it. Unless you're actually a tree (in which case, kudos for getting online and being literate and all that), you have no reason that you cannot change it. Maybe you have reasons you won't change it, or don't change it. But don't ...
How Being an Expat Has Changed Me (or, I Never Knew I Could Drink This Much)
I'm almost coming up on a year in living on Roatan. Moving to this tiny island in the Caribbean has made me a different person. Slowly but surely, Roatan has pushed me, pulled me, stretched me and gotten under my skin and I'm changing. I think it's amazing how transplanting yourself into a foreign country can make you see yourself so differently.Since becoming an expat here...I've learned to cling less to others and rely on myself.People come and go, and come and go here. It's a ...