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The Many and Varied Properties of Stuff
Our household effects (HHE) arrived last week. As anticipated, it was insane. As in: defying the laws of physics. No way was it all going to fit in this house! (No photos, as I’ve been told several...
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First Note From The Other Side
Several people have asked me what I intend to do with this blog now that we are out of the Foreign Service. The FSO’s last official day on the job was September 30, so now we really are out. I’m...
View ArticleIn Which I Unexpectedly Win an Award and Predictably Have Something to Say...
The speech I made in my head while receiving the Tragen award at the AAFSW Awards ceremony.
View ArticleWell Hello There, 2018
This blog has slowed down a lot lately. That may be a good thing! I started blogging almost ten years ago, just as we were gearing up to move back overseas after seven years in the States. I was plenty...
View ArticleLanguage Bubbles
When we got back to the States, I wanted to try something new. After all those years of struggling in foreign languages, I figured I had some perspective on learning English as a second language. And...
View ArticleDon’t Go Breaking My Heart
Scratch just about any American expatriate and you will find a (slightly homesick) patriot. For one thing, we are often put in the position of explaining our country to others. Doing that properly...
View ArticleMarie Kondo: a Foreign Service Perspective
The last 30 years of my life have involved a lot of dealing with Stuff. Nineteen moves, people. Nineteen! Capped off with moving into our “forever home” after retirement from the Foreign Service. This...
View ArticleDestination Unknown
I love my country. I was so excited to leave the Foreign Service and come home in 2017. Five years later, I still derive a lot of joy from being on my home turf, in my own house, listening to the birds...
View ArticleWhat if We Just Up and Went?
The ex-FSO and I have often discussed the idea of a “gap year” after he for-real retires. While we love our little house, we now understand (thanks in part to pandemic telecommuting) that we are going...
View ArticleMy Big Fat Costa Rican Vacation
Back to Central America for the first time in 25 years. An amazing trip!
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