Expat Experience! Edition 1 – Blog Carnival

Welcome to the first edition of blog carnival Expat Experience!

Expat Experience is a collection of the web’s best blog posts about life as an expat around the world. What is it like to move abroad? What are the joys and difficulties of emerging yourself in a different culture? What about food, culture shock, language problems, or making friends abroad? How about maintaining contact and relationships with people back home? But let’s not forget the adventures one experiences as an expat… travelling in ones new home country, the social life, going from outsider to insider in a new environment.

Expat Experience is a reflection of all of this and more. We all have different homes and different destinations, but share one thing… We have made the move abroad. Whether you’re a long-term or short-term expat, serial expat or just someone that’s interested in the life of expats… Whether you’re interested in the lives of expats in your home country, an expat that wants to read about the experiences of fellow expats, or you just want to network with other expats and gain some attention for your own blog… Expat Experience offers a fascinating insight into the lives of expats globally.

I am very excited about this first edition of Expat Experience. Having lived in 3 different countries over the last year, and having been introduced to various expat communities, I’m fascinated by the broad implications of moving and living abroad. I set up the Expat Experience not only to network with other expat blogs, but to deliver a showcase to the world of our experiences. Living abroad can be more exciting than anything, but it can also create extreme frustration… Paradoxically, these feelings often occur simultaneously.

Since before I could stand or walk, I’ve never been able to sit still. As I grew up this habit didn’t change and as my age increased, so did the magnitude of my moves. Nowadays I can’t sit still geographically, just like I can’t sit still on a chair. Simply travelling doesn’t satisfy me much… I prefer to jump into the deep end and completely emerge myself in life in different countries. I’m originally from Holland (and half Irish) and currently live in Istanbul, Turkey after having lived in Sofia, Bulgaria before. When I first moved abroad I found myself in a state of euphoria for the first month, after a brief moment of culture shock and anxiety. This state of euphoria diminishes over time, but keeps popping back up from time to time and is always present in some degree when living abroad. It creates an inspiration inside you that makes you see the world in a different light.

Not only the world… You get to know yourself in a way you didn’t before. Life becomes a little bit more unpredictable and thus more exciting. When I see expat blogs, I notice that most articles reflect this inspiring unpredictable factor. Many of us have stopped taking our life situation for granted and want to make the best of our new lives; it is the rush of the unknown that drives us. I hope that this first edition of Expat Experience is able to let this shine through in the many interesting and moving (no pun intended) submissions we received this month!

I hope that this is the first of many editions and hope that with increasing participation, we can turn this from a monthly into a bi-weekly carnival. Enjoy the read, enjoy the adventure! Enjoy the Expat Experience!

Bas
Istanbul Expat

 

 

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Welcome to the October 16, 2008 edition of expat experience.

CzechFolks presents Czech Name Days are Special which talks about the local custom of ‘name days’ in the Czech Republic. Never heard of the phenomenom? Go read it now, I suggest! 🙂

Lily W from If only my English were better shares For English speakers who watch too many Almodovar movies… talking about the use of the word “follar”…

Christina Geyer from an american expat in deutschland wrote How to dress like a German, which is a very funny yet thorough comparison of the way Americans and Germans dress. Can you guess the nationality of the people in the picture below? See if you’re right… Clicking it takes you straight to the full article!

Joanna Clay presents bones festes, a funny interpretation of the local holidays in Spain and her encounters with them. 🙂

An Australian in New York shares two of the weirdest things he’s seen so far in a post titled You Never Know When You Might Need… And Emm presents a review of her Evening out: Gourmet Burger Kitchen in Greenwich posted at Emm in London. Look what a cute place!

Shaula presents Weird Foods posted at Your Mileage May Vary, saying, “As a Canadian from British Columbia traveling in New England, I have found some of the food just as strange and foreign as anywhere I’ve traveled in Europe or Asia.” Below, a picture of something called “scrapple”.

C K, A Singaporean in London, wrote a very funny post entitled Quirky London – 5 Quirks of London Underground. Don’t miss this one! An excerpt:

“The aircon has broken down and I imagine it to be quite warm back in there. But hey, the weekend’s here and I’m looking forward to the barbecue this Sunday!” ~ a driver tried to lighten up passengers’ spirits during a hot summer day this year.

The TEFL Don presents Learning to speak Thai. posted at My Thai Friend. It details his practical experience of learing Thai, whether he wants to or not. 😉

Richard Cummings presents Cabo Polonio, Uruguay: Serenity Now posted at Live Your Way, saying, “When I am asked, “What is your favorite place in Uruguay, the answer invariably is “Cabo Polonio.” It’s a little slice of Heaven on Earth.” 

Peter presents Where I live – Fregene (Italy) posted at The Road to the Horizon. As you will understand by looking at the picture below, it looks like I might have to visit Peter in Fregene some day. 😉

TheLifeLessTraveled presents Family Downsizes Life to a Camper, the Open Road and Adventures Rich in Simple Pleasures posted at The Life Less Traveled. saying, “Tired of the daily grind in the UK and in search of a better quality of family life, the family Smudge decided to embark on a drastic life-change in February 2008. They sold their UK house and left the UK altogether and set out on the road to France in search of a new and unknown destiny. Find out how the family Smudge embarked on their own life less traveled…and how you can, too!”

AdmirableIndia.com presents Trip to Wayanad: Day 2: Part 2: Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary or Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary with videos and pictures of elephants, monkeys and jungle!

Finally, An American living in Berlin tells us about her tiny kitchen and the way Germans like the interiors of their homes.

That concludes this edition. Special thanks to lala for creating the awesome banner! Hope you all enjoyed it! Submissions for the next edition open very soon. Stay tuned (through RSS maybe?).

Tips, comments, linkbacks, reposts, social bookmarking, or help in any other form very welcome!

Technorati tags: expat experience, expat, expatriate, blog carnival.