Sunday, 31 May 2009

On being an expat

I've been an expat for the last 13 years. First in Europe and now in the Middle East and who knows where else I may end up.

Today I have been pondering on what being an expat means to me and here are a few thoughts.
  • I have friends from all corners of the world
  • tho my friends come and go all the time
  • I don't consider “going back home” a holiday
  • I have a very lose concept of what is home
  • I think in a different language than my own
  • my everyday language is not my native lingo
  • flying between continents feels just like jumping on a taxi, distances have become relative
  • every day is a new adventure
  • the internet is my lifeline (to keep in touch, to feel connected)

The emigrant's destiny: The foreign country has not become home, but home has become foreign (Alfred Polger)

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