Expat Life: I'm Changed from the Inside Out

"Nothing is comparable to the new life…in a new country. Though I am still always myself, I am changed to the marrow of my bones" ~ Goethe

I don't think there is a quote that can more accurately sum up the effect expat life has had on me. Of course I am still me, but the person that left England in 2000 seems like a stranger now. I have the feeling that I wouldn't recognise that girl from pre-expat life if I bumped into her in the street. 

Of course I am still me, but my life has changed in more ways than I can count. Consequently who I am has changed too. In more ways than I can count. 

I speak a foreign language every day. I have been through culture shock and come out the other side unscathed but changed. Expat life offered me a new career on a silver platter. There are many things I see today as 'normal' that were completely alien to me a decade ago. I sometimes find it hard to remember I had a pre-expat life. It seems so long ago, so hazy. 

My new environment has changed me, changed how I see things, changed how I think and feel about things. It has changed my daily life. It has changed me from the inside out. To the marrow of my bones.

How has expat life changed you? Have you been changed to the "marrow of your bones" by moving abroad?

Fluorescent Tape & Jackets: Taking the Thinking Out of British Health & Safety

Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

I recently returned to England for a couple of days and for the first time in many years I actually flew over. I was flying to Southampton with FlyBe and instead of parking the plane in the vicinity of the airport terminal the plane was parked in Rotterdam so a bus took us from the Schiphol departure lounge to the plane. (For those not au fait with the British sense of humour, the plane was not actually parked in Rotterdam..... but it was a little bus ride from the terminal. You won't believe the blank looks I get from non-Brits when I'm being sarcastic.)

We piled off the bus onto the tarmac and formed a semi-orderly queue to go up the plane steps. The plane was a little one. Well, not like a two seater little one, but it certainly wasn't a jumbo jet. The little plane had propellors, which were turning slowly for a little while as we queued to get onto the plane.

Surprisingly no one leapt from the queue to put their head in the way of the propellors, just to see what would happen. In fact, no one moved out of line and instead continued to shuffle forward to get on the plane. No deaths, beheadings, or slight mutilations. Common sense and self-preservation prevailed.

My return flight from Southampton a few days later involved us walking a few meters from the gate to the airplane steps. Same type of airplane. Same propellors but this time no movement from the propellors. Even if they had been moving no passenger was in any danger because a fluorescent green band placed strategically around the side of the plane ensured that we could not get further than the steps leading up to the plane. No chance of a confused pensioner heading for the back of the plane, no possibility that a tall Dutchman should bang his noggin against the wing and certainly no room for a freak accident involving a propellor and a curious passenger.

Planes in Britain are more dangerous than in the
Netherlands.......
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

And if we hadn't seen the fluorescent green tape lining the plane perimeter there were strategically placed people in fluorescent green jackets to ensure that there was no straying. In short, the only way any passenger was getting anywhere near the plane was via the steps and inside.

I've heard lots of expats in Britain talking about health and safety gone mad. I've heard lots of things from family, particularly when they are over here in the Netherlands and pointing out situations that would NEVER be allowed in Britain. They comment that the British are no longer allowed to rely on common sense to keep themselves out of dangerous situations - it's all done for them with fluorescent tape and men in fluorescent jackets.

What do you think: has health and safety gone crazy in Britain? What are health and safety precautions like in the country you live in?

Bringing Up Brits Guest Post

Bringing Up Brits by
Meghan Fenn

Meghan Fenn, author of "Bringing Up Brits", a book about the cultural aspects of expats raising children in Britain, has a blog of the same name. She shares the cultural issues she faces as an American raising her British born children in Britain. Her husband is British, and she's finding that her children fail to identify with her American background and culture, seeing everything from a British perspective.


It's a fascinating topic. How, as an expat, do you share your own birth country and culture with your children when they were born elsewhere? It's an issue I've written about before on my blog Expat Life with a Double Buggy. It's not easy to instil a sense of foreign identity into children when they come into so little contact with the culture, people, language and traditions. She also gives a great insight into how the British come across to a foreigner. It's quite eye opening.....

So I was delighted when Meghan asked me to write a guest post for her blog. You can read "Standing Out From the Dutch Crowd, British Style" over on the Bringing Up Brits blog, and check out lots of other great posts and join in the discussion whilst you're there.

How do your children stand out from the crowd in the place that you now call home?

My "British" Olympics

The Olympic Park
(c) Sarah Rodrigues

I have to admit hearing about the London 2012 Olympics every day for so many years before the Olympics actually started just over two weeks ago was really getting on my nerves. What particularly bugged me was the negativity in the press in the lead up to the games. It seemed that from under every stone someone crawled out with their own opinion about how the games were being planned, budgeted for or  how the venues were being built. I even started writing a blog post way back when I had finally heard enough negativity. But then I decided the post was in itself negative albeit negative about the negativity. So it never went live.

And of course we most recently had a furore about tickets (or lack of). And then the games arrived. And then the tide turned. In spectacular fashion. For two weeks Brits were captivated. My Facebook was full of photos of friends and family that were lucky enough to get tickets for different events. And wow did they have a great time. Some saw the rowing, others saw women's football, some were lucky enough to see the men's football final, the women's pentathlon, hockey and basketball matches and the closing ceremony.

Whatever the sport, whatever the venue, it was clear that the atmosphere was amazing. The noise at the velodrome on TV was spectacular. The atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium could even be felt at home when Jessica Ennis brought home gold for Britain.

Jessica Ennis in the 100m hurdles
(c) Sarah Rodrigues

Every medal was celebrated. Every medal chance was seized by spectators and hopes were high across the board. And Team GB delivered. In style! Third in the medal table is no mean feat.

The Olympics following on from a holiday in Britain where I was surrounded with British flags and products lathered in the British flag has made me feel suddenly very British again! Don't get me wrong, I cheered on the Dutch athletes too (except for the little matter of a hockey victory by the men's team in the semi finals *cough*) but there was no confusion this time around about where my loyalties lay.

The Women's Heptathlon, including Dutch athlete Dafne Schippers
(c) Sarah Rodrigues

How did your country do in the 2012 Olympics? Were you cheering on your home or host country?

The Olympic Flame
(c) Sarah Rodrigues