Expat Women Bloggers & Expat Women Book - Tatiana von Tauber's Review & Confession

Hi Everyone, We were so impressed this week with a heartfelt blog post by expat blogger Tatiana von Tauber, which mixes a review of our new book, Expat Women: Confessions - 50 Answers to Your Real-Life Questions about Living Abroad, with a real honesty about Tatiana's personal experiences, that we asked Tatiana if we could republish it on our blog, and she kindly agreed, so here it is!

Expat Blogger: Tatiana von Tauber

Blog: United We Stand: Dreams of a Passionate Expat

Blog Description: It's about the journey of an American expat and artist in Germany, who has come to the conclusion that no country deserves her total loyalty and freedom is much more complicated than is conventionally taught.

Blog post: Everyone Loves a Little Confession and a Sports Car

Date: May 7, 2011

I was very honored to have ExpatWomen.com approach me to review their new book Expat Women: Confessions.  Little did I realize that reading it would provide food for thought even though I considered myself a seasoned expat. Seems I may need a few dashes of salt to round out the seasoned aspect!

My transition back to Germany hasn’t been easy. It’s only been three months or so since I’ve been here and it feels like a year has passed with little but uggs following me and I’m not talking the shoes. While reading Expat Women: Confessions I was (embarrassingly) surprised at how much I empathized with the many questions and answers presented. In fact, I think the book actually helped me see that some of what I’m going through is quite normal and it helped to read other expats have similar feelings especially with reintegration. One would think everything would be just fine now that I’m finally back but truth is I’m not. It’s not the same.

I’m in a completely new city which creates new dynamics. My family structure, once in rhythm, is now majorly off and it affects everything negatively. I went from feeling like a superwoman just 6 months ago to feeling like a crazy maniac. I didn’t expect this much confusion. Worse, I miss America? What is that all about? Who is this woman?! According to Expat Women: Confessions I’m not feeling anything different than other women who have had it all only to give it up for new opportunity. It’s really comforting to know my feelings are common.

In the expat world, I’m not exactly the social bug. As an artist and writer I’m bound to a lot of alone time. I have my few expat friends and we all began about the same time. We consider ourselves relatively seasoned, though some have had their dash of salt already. Often when a newbie approaches us with the “I’m moving abroad” enthusiasm we kinda – though respectfully – roll our eyes. “Oh honey, living overseas is sooooo not the fairy tale you think” we say to ourselves. Of course, we were once in those shoes so we understand the excitement and the naivety. What Expat Women: Confessions does is it presents the reality with viable solutions and heart-felt realism without killing the fantasy and that’s worth gold.

Expat Women: Confessions is a must have for all female expats, novice, in between or seasoned because no matter what we sometimes forget being an expat makes us different than the rest and our problems just aren’t understood by the “norm”. Full of antidotes and “chicken soup” advice I feel better about my blues already. Yes readjustment is tough. Yes my 5 y/o is killing my appreciation for motherhood because she’s not adjusting or understanding why we’re here and not “home”. Yes we miss our house, my large kitchen and our family is currently undergoing an enormous rift. Yes I’ve hit episodes of depression, gained over 10 lbs (!!!) since the move but more than that yes, I DO want to be here damn it so I’m going to take some of the advice offered in the book and simply get over it and find solutions. It’s that or crawl into a hole.

Living abroad is the best adventure I’ve ever been on and if I wanted to discuss the blandness of life I’d have stayed put in suburbia. I thank this book for reminding me about that and about the natural process of grieving what once was. While suburbia may be a calmer life that has moderate enjoyment, it’s otherwise boring. Plus, my family back home just doesn’t get me anymore, another common expat detail we often forget to mention. Once positive relationships have soured and in many ways I feel other expat women are more my family than my own. Perhaps I needed a little slap into reality to refocus and discover again WHY I’m an expat. Adventure isn’t easy and that’s why most people only dream of doing what few of us are actually living.

Thanks Andrea Martins and Victoria Hepworth for putting Expat Women: Confessions together (and for ExpatWomen.com!). I didn’t think I needed the advice. I was just reading for a review but now I feel as though I’ve had a wonderful girlfriend therapy session. The allergy meds are working, the sun is out AND I’ve decided to pursue an adaptation of The Art Cure here in Wiesbaden (more on that later).

To other expats struggling to adjust, since it takes time, use it wisely: grab a cup of coffee at your local cafe and sit down with a copy of Expat Women: Confessions. It’s the best start to a fresh and positive perspective. It’s all about sticking your head out your comfort zone and seeing what’s out there.

Tatiana

***Important: If you are a female expat blogger who would also like a review e-copy of our book (so if you like it, you can write about it on your blog), please get in touch here (and remember to tell us your blog's URL). Thanks so much! Andrea***

Expat Women's Happy 3rd Birthday Blog Shout-Out Competition Winner

Hello and big congratulations to Shanie Matthews for winning our Expat Women Happy 3rd Birthday Blog Shout-Out Competition!

Last month, we wrote to the 1,100+ women who have listed their blog on our Expat Women Blog Directory and invited them to give us a shout-out for our 3rd birthday (16 January 2010) to enter our Amazon voucher competition.

Well, this week, the entries were collated and our friend Expat Expert Robin Pascoe randomly chose the winning number. So, congratulations Shanie, you will receive a US$100 Amazon.com voucher... plus we'll give you a big, unexpected shout-out for your blog(s) here:

The Era of Collaboration: A Blog Celebrating A New Era In Global Cooperation

"Shanie Matthews is a United States-born and raised freelance wordsmith, photographer and professional snow skier. After living in multiple countries, she now considers herself a citizen of the world. From a childhood in Bellingham, Washington to adolescence in Bavaria, Germany to over a decade of young adulthood in Lake Tahoe, California, her experiences led her to wanting to explore outside the box.

She relocated to Mendoza, Argentina in 2005 with her husband, Jamie, first owning a wine vineyard. They currently live in awe-inspiring Bariloche, Patagonia where they appreciate the impressive views, soaring condors and undiscovered outdoor paradise. She and Jamie share their daily craziness of living abroad in their blog, LivingInPatagonia.com. She also writes a blog on her personal journey with consciously practicing happiness.

Despite the occasional group exercise in high school and college growing up, the power of collaboration didn’t truly occur to Shanie until her research into creating a ski area cooperative. As hours of research accumulated, she discovered over and over again how communities are moving forward in what experts are calling the “Era of Collaboration”. This blog is to share what she has learned, interview experts and to be a real-time information source about the era of collaboration."

Honorary mention must also go to Tiffany Jansen of Clogs and Tulips: An American in Holland for the most comprehensive shout-out. Thanks Tiffany!

Thanks go to everyone who supported us for this competition and we hope to run the same again next year! Andrea

Expats: Will Your Kindle Work Abroad?

Hi Everyone, I visited Mary Mimouna's Expat Abroad blog last week and read her interesting post about which countries support Amazon's Kindle.

Now, I could go to Amazon and find the link with this information as well, but I always think that if a blogger is clever enough to construct a useful blog post, they should get a shout-out about it.

So if you are thinking of buying a Kindle, drop by Mary's site to see if an Amazon Kindle will work in your expat location. :-)

Julie & Julia: The Movie For Expat Women

Hi Everyone, If ever there was a movie that expat women could relate to, I think Julie & Julia might just be it. Aside from it being a delightful way to spend your afternoon, this movie has just the right ingredients (pardon the pun) for anyone who has ever:

* Trailled their partner abroad

* Come up with crazy ideas to keep active/fulfilled abroad

* Been in a boring day job

* Started a project that seemed impossible

* Considered themselves a wannabe-chef

* Started a blog and hoped people would read it

* Struggled to figure out their place and passion(s) in life

For those of you unfamiliar with the story, here's the background from Wikipedia:

"Julie & Julia is a drama comedy film written and directed by Nora Ephron. The film depicts events in the life of chef Julia Child in the early years in her culinary career, contrasting her life with Julie Powell, who aspires to cook all 524 recipes from Child's cookbook during a single year.

Ephron's screenplay is adapted from two books: My Life in France, Child's autobiography, written with Alex Prud'homme, and a memoir by Julie Powell. In August 2002, Powell started documenting online her daily experiences cooking each of the 524 recipes in Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she later began reworking that blog, The Julie/Julia Project.[2] Both of these books were written and published in the same time frame of 2004 to 2006. The film is the first major motion picture based on a blog.[3]

Ephron began filming Julie & Julia in March 2008. Meryl Streep portrays Julia Child, and Amy Adams appears as Julie Powell. The film officially premiered on July 30, 2009 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City and opened throughout North America on August 7, 2009.[4]"

Click here to watch the Julie & Julia trailer and/or click here to read Julie Powell's blog. I highly recommend it.

Enjoy the movie and enjoy your week! Andrea