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Moving Brain
I just realized that I haven’t blogged in over a month. It’s a symptom! Every time we move, I suffer from a recurring syndrome called Moving Brain. I’ve written about it before, but it’s on my mind at...
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Government Housing Hack: Kitchen Decals
“Drexel hacks” are a thing now. You can see some good ones here. I actually tried one yesterday, without success: it turns out that Drexel sofas have measurements that somehow do not match the...
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Government Housing Hack: Patio to Catio
When I heard that we would be moving into an apartment in Warsaw, I immediately added “catproofing” to the list. Not because I am a crazy cat lady (though I am). Because cats can’t fly, and ask us how...
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Embassy Housing Hack: Weird Bench Coverup
After I dealt with that unattractive bathroom vanity, I got to thinking about this weird, built-in bench. It is Formica with plain metal legs. Like a cheap kitchen island got lost and ended up in our...
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Five Things That May Surprise You About Being An FS Spouse
This is sort of a postscript to my earlier post on being a “trailing spouse.” Once I wrote it, and started discussing it with others, a few annoying little things came to mind that I probably should...
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Of Silk Purses and Sows’ Ears
I posted recently about how hobbies keep a lot of expat spouses sane. Since one of my hobbies is this blog, and I’ve resolved to post once a week, a bit more about that. (Also, Warsaw in late winter?...
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I Just Have One of Those Faces
After living in eight foreign countries (and traveling to many more) I have developed several theories. Here’s one of my favorites. People and cultures can be characterized as open-faced or...
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Taking The Road Less Traveled
Or How My Mid-Life Crisis Is Turning Out to Be Super Boring In a couple of months, I will turn fifty. Not sure how that happened, exactly, but there it is. Fifty. Five-oh. Half a century. Good grief. I...
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It’s All Good
We got some big news this week. My husband’s curtailment request has been approved. We’ll be moving back to DC next summer, instead of in 2018 as originally scheduled. The Diplomat needs to go home...
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Bits and Pieces
The curtailment thing has actually been in the works for a while, of course. We didn’t just wake up one day and decide to go home early! Facts were acquired, discussions were had, decisions were made....
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Flashback to Lusaka
It’s been a couple of years since my last Flashback post. There are several reasons for that, one of which is that our third post, following Guatemala, was by far the most difficult of all—and...
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Five Wishes for the Foreign Service
With less than a year to go at our final overseas post, I’ve been reflecting a bit on the past 25+ years of this difficult complicated relationship we have with the State Department. And I wonder: what...
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Reclaiming My Name
When I first married the FSO—back when dinosaurs roamed!—I kept my own last name. I just didn’t see any pressing need to change it. My husband didn’t either, so we left things as they were: a Midura...
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Silver Linings
Early in the morning of Wednesday, November 9, my husband sent me a text from the embassy’s election night party. He had decided to retire from the Foreign Service. The FSO had already been planning...
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My Trailing Spouse Resumé
Overview After 29 years experience as a expatriate spouse, 17 of them overseas, I bring a unique perspective to any crazy venture. With 10 international moves under my belt to date, my vocabulary of...
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Short-Timing
Short-timing, that mental state that we enter before departing each post, is necessary, and probably healthy. After all, we all have to detach somehow. Departure happens, whether we like it or not. The...
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The One Thing You Absolutely, Positively Must Have in the Foreign Service
Is a sense of humor. That goes double if you are a spouse. Trust me. You have to be able to laugh at 1.) all the weird places we live, and 2.) the giant, impersonal, often-dysfunctional bureaucracy...
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Warsaw: Five Pros and Cons
“Five Pros and Cons” posts are something of a Foreign Service tradition. So, here’s my personal take on Warsaw for anyone who may be thinking of bidding on, or accepting an assignment here. Pro # 1:...
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I went to Zambia for that peanut butter
Once upon a time, shortly after our arrival in Prague, a first-time corporate expatriate spouse came over for coffee. Now, on top of being totally new to overseas life, she was really wasn’t the...
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