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The Expat Almanac

The Expat Almanac

Category Archives: Sentiments

Chill

09 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by Tom in Accommodations, Sentiments

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Chill, heart attack, moving

Our old apartment the morning before we moved

Our previous apartment on the morning before we moved

I never looked upon moving as a stressful situation. In the seven years we’ve lived together, Louise and I have moved six times, not counting the mini-moves we made during our year of travel. Excepting one, all those moves were exciting and optimistic, untroubled and confident. Excepting one. And that one put me in the hospital.

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My Tenth Trip to Paris

04 Wednesday Feb 2015

Posted by Louise in Sentiments

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Galeries Lafayette, Paris, Place de la République

Louvre_Museum_Wikimedia_Commons-r

“How IS the country?” asked my friend Patricia after opening the door to her teeny tiny tony Paris flat.

I allowed how it was just fine.

“Je DETESTE la campagne!” she announced firmly, indicating that she was not about to come to Martizay to return my visit anytime soon.

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Je Suis Charlie

11 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by Louise in Accommodations, Gallery, Sentiments

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

Je Suis Charlie, Martizay

Look carefully and you'll see the crowd outside the church

Look carefully and you’ll see the crowd outside the church

As I write this, sympathizers all over the Western world are holding gatherings in honor of the seventeen victims of last week’s terrorist attacks on the French magazine Charlie Hebdo and the ensuing carnage.

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The Trip to the Zoo

07 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by Tom in Sentiments

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

bicycling, forest, Oregon Zoo, trails

Buzz pauses on the trail to the zoo.

Buzz pauses on the trail to the zoo.

Sometime after my second heart attack I decided to sell my beloved red bike and buy Buzz, the bike I ride today. Unlike my red bike, Buzz is electric. He monitors the effort that I put into pedaling and, when he decides I’m working too hard, offers to help out. Riding Buzz is like being twelve years old again.

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The Obsessive and the Serene

30 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by Tom in Sentiments, Travel

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

la Plaza de San Marco, obsessive travel, Venice

St. Mark's Square in Venice by Jan Ciągliński. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

St. Mark’s Square in Venice by Jan Ciągliński. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Without judgment and certainly without malice, I consider Louise to be an obsessive traveler. Consider this quote from the blog: “I live in fear that somebody back home will ask: ‘You were in Barcelona? Didn’t you love La Sagrada Familia?’ No, we actually never got there. And it would be my fault, wouldn’t it?”

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Nomad or Settler?

26 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by Louise in Sentiments

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

nomads, wanderers

 

WORLD_MAP w text

We’ve been back in Portland for two months now. Despite a flurry of resettling in a new apartment, reuniting with old friends, and pestering the children, we’ve been ruminating on the meaning of it all, the things learned on our year abroad, and the answers to the questions that people ask us all the time.

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We Don’t Need a Pet Washing Station

08 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by Louise in Sentiments

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

apartment hunting, Portland, travel

streetcar

Portland in the spring: streetcars and cherry blossoms

We thought this blog was over, but there’s been a great outpouring of “Now what?” Maybe two or three people, even! So here we are, back in Portland after our Senior Year Abroad. I love the cooler air, the gentler sun, and even the refreshing drizzle. I love that everybody speaks the same language. When we walk into a grocery store, we can identify everything in it. We have new phone numbers and we make calls like real people. If we haven’t called you yet, here’s why: Continue reading →

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Use Your Feeling Words

02 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Tom in Sentiments, Travel

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Dr. Melfi, feelings, Home, homesickness

.ht_hbo_bracco_070606_mn
The therapist’s mantra: “How do you feel about…”

Lord help me. I’m a guy. We talk about horsepower and RBIs; we don’t talk about feelings. How do I feel about leaving the expat lifestyle? How do I feel about moving back to Portland? How do I feel about having a home again?

Could I just have a list of feeling words and I’ll pick a few?

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I Am So Glad We Did This

31 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by Louise in Sentiments, Travel

≈ 24 Comments

Tags

going home, lessons learned, travel

what_I_have_learned

What have I learned in a year away from home? Here are the top ten things:

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And Then There’s a Party

03 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by Louise in Sentiments, Travel

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Los Tules, Mexico, Puerto Vallarta

allyouneedtoparty.co.uk

allyouneedtoparty.co.uk

As I sit here I am surrounded by happy Mexican extended families  and their kids and dogs. Los Tules is crowded because of the holidays. And though these are well-bred, peaceful folks by day, they don’t seem to have a fixed bedtime, and neither do their children. The party rages on, late into the night.

Mexicans, we have decided, love to party. It is one of their most endearing traits. And as an excuse to party, they have a wickedly long holiday season. We are only halfway through.

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