Somehow, when you’re an expat, you become a representative for your home country. Willing or unwilling, you are seen by many as an unofficial representative of the Department of State. Any bad decisions your country makes, you are held responsible for. Whether you agree with those decisions, or not, no matter the stance on the issues. Unfortunately, when your country does good things, you don’t get any credit. Not that I want credit for all the wonderful things my government and my people do, but I don’t think I deserve the blame for the bad stuff, either. There have been [View Full Entry]

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If you are a foreign service officer for the State Department, you're pretty much guaranteed to move every two to three years. I'm sure there are many reasons for this, but one of them is that the good 'ol DOS doesn't want you to go native on 'em. You know what I mean... to identify too much with the natives of the foreign country in which they're living. To become one of "them". Because how can you look after the best interests of the United States if you identify too closely with the foreigners? The reality of it is that lots [View Full Entry]

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Hair as Art The morning of our wedding, I woke up early with my mother, and we were driven by my sister-in-law’s friend from our hotel at Pamukkale to a hairdresser in the center of Denizli. My future mother-in-law had organized the appointment, and this was to be the first time I had seen the hairdresser or the salon. No test run, no discussion of how my hair would be. No trying out ten different hairstyles to see which one worked best. Brides may do this in Turkey, but our special situation of arriving from abroad and cramming months’ worth of [View Full Entry]

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Hoop 1 - Statement of Single Status Levent and I went to Turkey in August 2004 to get married. We arrived a few weeks early to organize everything. I’m not talking about flowers here. There were quite a few bureaucratic hoops to jump through. The first stop was at the US Consulate in Ankara. I really like Ankara, mostly because Levent’s sister and her family lives there and every time we stay there, I have a great time. It’s a very modern city without being too congested or crowded. There’s lots of open space, and there are plenty of trees. Ankara [View Full Entry]

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I haven't posted anything for over a year because I've been spending most of my free time writing a book. It's about a seventeen-year-old American girl who travels to Turkey for a month. It has been a lot of fun to write, and now I'm editing it and getting it ready for any agent who requests to see it. Hopefully, they'll like it. We'll see! I miss my blog, though. The instant gratification of seeing it up there on my screen, the rapid feedback from my readers... So I'll be back with some new entries very soon, maybe as early as [View Full Entry]

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For just 22,200 Euros (wonder where that extra 200 Euros comes in? If this were the US, it would be 21,999 Euros, for obvious marketing purposes...) you could have yourself a little wood cabin in a cul-de-sac of little wood cabins, in a field. Running water and electricity are available to you, and there is even a public restroom. There are seven cabin styles to choose from, each of which is 24 square meters (around 250 square feet) including the porch. And I'm pretty sure that includes the yard, too. Ok, so 22,200 Euros. At today's exchange rate, that is a [View Full Entry]

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I have now had two babies in Germany, which explains why I haven't posted in a while! Before you read this blog, I need to make two disclaimers: 1. Both of my children were born in the same hospital, in Munich. My experiences are entirely a reflection of that limited viewpoint. 2. I haven't given birth in the US, though I was pregnant with my first son while still in the US. I also used to work as a medical interpreter in the States, and I have many friends having children there so I do have some perspective with regards to [View Full Entry]

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No matter who you are or where you live, there are certain things you take for granted. Sure, you know that every country doesn't have Safeway open 24 hours a day, but there are also things that you take for granted that you likely have no idea that you take for granted. Here are some of the things we now realize that we took for granted while living in the United States... Pillow Size In Germany, they use huge square pillows instead of small rectangular ones, it's as simple as that. In Turkey, France, Spain, and probably other countries they [View Full Entry]

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The headlines overwhelm you with warnings of global warming, gas prices, and other reasons not to drive an SUV, or any car for that matter. Walk! Take the bus! Get a moped! Ride your bike! Those are all "greener" alternatives. I know that. They're not the reasons we gave up our cars when we moved here, though. For one thing, my husband's company paid for our move and wasn't willing to pay to have our 2 cars moved. Or even one car, for that matter. We could have paid to have a car shipped over ourselves, but that would have [View Full Entry]

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(sorry - no pictures for this entry. Not really a photogenic subject...) Being sick stinks anywhere you are. But some places stink more than others at taking care of you when you’re sick, and so far Germany has been incredibly un-stinky in this regard. The past week has seen two illnesses in our little family here in Germany, and so far we are really pleased with the way the system has treated us. Last Thursday, Levent came home from work with a case of what we thought was stomach flu (gastroenteritis). After a feverish, painful (for him) night, he went [View Full Entry]

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