About

Me with skeptical “third culture kid” on my back.

Me: A civic-minded, but cynical, American lawyer. Since 2005 I have had the good fortune to live in Zhuhai, China; Cambridge, UK; Hong Kong; Utrecht, Netherlands and Hong Kong again. In 2017 I returned to Seattle.

Before moving overseas, I worked for a good-hearted international NGO, Landesa, based in Seattle and spent a decade traveling to India, Rwanda, Angola, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, China and Mexico.

I have been a columnists for the expat-support magazine, Global Connection. My work has also appeared in Imprint 13, Imprint 15, and Imprint 16 anthologies by the Hong Kong Women in Publishing Society.

Awards and recognition! I’m pleased to have been “Freshly Pressed” by WordPress and to be “highly recommended” by the very cool Hong Kong Blogs Review. One of my very popular Hong Kong posts, Hong Kong Warning Icons, was picked up by the Hong Kong Free Press. I have also given several community blogging awards. Have a peek here for the details.

The comics and other graphics: I use Strip Generator to make my comic strips. It’s pretty “drag and drop”-dead easy, although infuriatingly, you can’t edit after the fact. For most of my other visual parodies, mocked-up photographs and graphics, I simply use Google Document’s Drawing feature.

Curious about the older posts? To check out my older comics, missives and expat book recommendations have a browse through my Index.
Twitter @expatlingo.com
Facebook facebook.com/expatlingo


48 responses to “About”

    • Thank you very much Expat Alien! I also enjoyed being introduced to the other bloggers you nominated. So many interesting people out there; nice that we can all meet up on-line. Now I have to think about seven interesting things to share about myself…

    • Thanks! Glad you’ve enjoyed my language posts. I’ve had a rough week in an empty house in a new neighborhood, so a few nice boosts are exactly what I needed!

  4. Hi! I’ve just discovered your blog from another expat one and am so enthralled with all your writing / posts! We lived in Korea last year and will return at the end of this year to live the expat life. Your blog is so insightful and inspiring, thank you!!

    • Great to hear and glad you’re enjoying it! Where have you been an expat before? Sounds like you’re heading to Korea later this year? Exciting!

      • You guessed it! We (my husband and I) taught English in Korea last year and will go back to our jobs there again at the end of this year 🙂

    • Thanks! I was very interested to read about your son and his own conflicted feelings about where he is “from” and where he feels “at home.” My kids are very young right now, but it’s interesting to have some insight into the future…

  6. What is it they say… Little children, small problems. Big children, heartbreak!
    (I actually have nothing to complain about :))

    I loved what you wrote in your ‘chameleon post’ children learn to adapt, before we even find the post office… Oh, how true that is!

  7. Love your blog so much that I nominated you for the Beautiful Blogger Award. Stop by and see me for all the details!

  10. Just stopped by to say congrats for being featured on the daily post/ expat life blog feature! From your comment above, just wondering if you got to see the actual email. I can forward it to you if you like 🙂

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    • Ah the expat flip-side: reverse culture shock. One day I’ll have to face up to it… For the time being, I remain in denial.

      Nice to “meet” you and thanks for stopping by!

  16. Got started with your blog on the nunnery then explored and found myself here. Also a serial expat, I lived in Repulse Bay for 6 years – left in 2011 for Switzerland. If you’re interested in heritage issues, I would love to chat with you about Adventures in Preservation sometime.

    Jamie

    • I’ve also just gone over to the Adventures in Preservation blog and website and had a poke around. Very interesting to learn about your group and it’s preservation activities!

      Since you lived in Repulse Bay, any thoughts on future projects in greater China?

      As a lawyer by training, I’d also be interesting to know how (and whether) you get involved in the legal side of historic designation and preservation.

      Cheers,
      Jen

  17. Glad you finding us interesting! For every story I read about a preservation in China, I read one about the devastating loss of the country’s heritage, which is sad. There are some very interesting projects going on – do you know the Linden Centre, but then I think about the mass destruction of the hutongs in advance of the Olympics and it makes me want to cry!

    AiP doesn’t get involved with many of the legal aspects of preservation. We’ve helped with National Register listings, non-profit support, etc as follow-ons to projects, but at this point, when we get a project now, its status is generally already confirmed. We have had a couple fabulous potential projects fall through due to family squabbles and legal issues – but we steer clear and have our local project partners work though it since we are not lawyers.

    Out of curiosity, where are you living now? Feel free to em me – would love to keep chatting!

    Jamie

  18. Hello there!

    I was looking through the web about ‘Seattle vs. Hong Kong’ in terms of affordability, weather etc and I came across your blog! (lovely photos by the way, really shows the exciting and buzzing nature of Hong Kong) Anyways, my son is planning to study in Seattle in the next few years and I just want to ask if the weather’s similar? I’ve heard that Seattle rains a lot and pretty humid but the humidity does not feel the same in Hong Kong where it’s sticky and cloggy. Any help will be greatly

    • The weather is not really that similar. While it very rarely snows, it is generally much, much cooler than Hong Kong. Few people have air conditioning at home, but everyone has central heat. It does rain quite a bit, but doesn’t have the big, dramatic rainfall and thunderstorms like Hong Kong. It’s more of a constant drizzle. But August and September can be gloriously sunny and beautiful. I’d also say Seattle is nowhere near as humid as Hong Kong (for example I never ever had mold grow on my shoes like I have here). Hope that helps! Seattle is a really interesting, dynamic city and a great place to spend some time.

      • Hi again, I’ve heard alot about the ‘Seattle Freeze’, are people there really that unsociable? Also, do you have any tips to deal with the gloominess? My son really wants to study at Udub but I’m afraid he’ll get depressed because of the weather. Any help will be greatly appreciated !

      • Seattle-folks do tend to “keep to themselves” but if he’s in a graduate program, he should easily make friends through the university. I first moved to Seattle to attend law school at the UW and many of my friends are people I met through school.

        As for the gloominess, I never found it so terrible in Seattle. Yes, it’s rainy, but there are long stretches of rainy, grey days in Hong Kong as well (like right now…sigh). Also, it’s never too hot or too cold in Seattle, so you can almost always get outside for some fresh air. That’s what always helped me!

        Best of luck.

  21. I am glad I stumbled onto your blog. I have read a few of your very interesting posts already. Look forward to reading more… I am now living in SIngapore, and I miss Hong Kong. So enjoy! Cheers, Mom of Dragon Boy

    • Thanks so much for the kind words. I can understand why you’d miss Hong Kong; what a great city! Though Singapore has plenty of great things to offer as well, including all those wonderful outdoor food centres!

      • True, SIngapore has great “hawker” foods , and hygiene levels are quite high here. : )

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