Adventures of an Expat in South Africa
Getting a copy of Michelle Obama's "Becoming" this Christmas put me in a reflective mood. There is much in it to make you think about life, our roles in society, and our roles in our families. What does it mean to be a woman, a corporate lawyer, a mother, and in her case, black? Why do some of us have the need to try so dang hard to prove that we are good enough, that we belong?
Trailing spouse. You can’t be an expat and not have an intimate relationship with those two words. In fact, being or having a trailing spouse is not just relegated to expat territory. Rather, it’s a universal issue of humankind that bores deep into the essence of a relationship. Read on to find out why you should watch Grey's Anatomy to learn more about the trailing spouse dilemma.
A few weeks ago, my daughter and I were sitting in the counselor's office at the high school to sign up for her freshman classes. When the form was completed, the counselor took the form, did a little flip and a tug, and voila - there was a yellow copy of the form for Sunshine to take home, all the classes neatly filled in. "How did you do that?" my daughter asked incredulously.
The following is an attempt to make sense of the world we woke up to on November 9, 2016, and then again on January 20, 2017. It is about the United States of America, but in a way it is also about South Africa. The right of free speech, as exercised by a country's free press, has been under attack in South Africa just as much, if not more, as it is now in the U.S.
Moving abroad can be a gift to our children, no matter how much it may temporarily disrupt their lives. From encouraging them to go our of their comfort zones to getting overachieving parents off their backs and live a more relaxed childhood, moving overseas has many benefits for children that may not be immediately obvious.
I've written many posts about South African Schools. But the worry about the transition back into the U.S. system deserves its own writeup. The reasons expat fret so much over the choice of school is not only a desire to secure the best education for their children during the next several years, but how they fit back into life at home once the expat assignment is over.
Aaaah, Mother's Day. It's such a great idea, but it always has the potential to break your heart. In theory, this is the day of paying tribute to all that we've done for our offspring over the course of an entire year. In truth, we should all know not to expect all that much from Mother's Day. You can't have your expectations disappointed if there were none.
It was in December of 2002. At that time we were living in Raleigh, North Carolina, and an ice storm had struck overnight. I woke up in the morning to a scenery of destruction with trees across my driveway and no way to get out. What ensued over the next three days and how it ended in a McDonald's bathroom is the story of this blog post.
What screams privilege louder than indulging your three teenagers with not one but TWO entire cars at their disposal? If you live in America, that is exactly the kind of situation your typical suburban mother will wring her hands over. In her defense, she's kicked those three teenagers in their collective butt to go and be responsible and find jobs, and now they need to have transport to and fro.
I have made a sad progression. I went from being an employer of paid (and therefore professional) domestic help to hiring the new free (and slightly less professional as well as reluctant) domestic help. And now, the final stage: I AM the domestic help. Remember the Zits cartoons? I feel an affinity to Jeremy's dad. He, too, is the domestic help.