Here’s my 10 Questions:
1. Current address:
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
2. Previous address(es):
Washington State, USA
3. I landed here because…
jobs for new teachers were becoming all too scarce in my area. When my district announced a plan to lay off 144 teachers, I decided to stop waiting around for a position that might never come. I began looking for jobs in other parts of the world. A friend found an opportunity in Abu Dhabi and even though I didn’t know much about the place, I decided to take a chance.
4. The best part of living abroad is…
meeting new friends from all over and getting a better perspective on the world and my home country. It also opens up so many new travel opportunities. I never thought a trip to Oman would be as simple as a two hour drive.
5. The most difficult part of living abroad is…
struggling to express yourself in delicate situations. For example, when working out issues with parents or administrators who speak minimal English when you speak zero Arabic.
6. Before living here (abroad), I never realized…
that driving on the shoulder at high speeds with your baby on your lap was perfectly normal.
7. An addition to my day to day vocabulary is…
”inshallah”, meaning “if God wills it”, a term used anytime the future tense is even hinted at.
8. Three words to describe my host country are…
new, faux, generous
9. If I could live anywhere (hometown excluded) I’d choose…
a sunny little valley that I hope to discover this summer in Slovenia. [and I did…just outside Bled]
10. A traveler or expat I admire is…
Freya Stark. In the late 1920s and early 1930s she taught her self Arabic and Farsi and set out to explore parts of Arabia and Iran that were little known to the West.
And so there you have my 10 Questions!
xo, jill
Freya Stark! Definitely an inspiring woman….I keep hoping to find a copy of her diaries but it rarely seems to be stocked in bookstores!
This is so awesome, I’m glad that I’ found your blog.
She’s amazing, isn’t she? Stuff You Missed in History class did a podcast on her a few months ago and I was so excited. I read her “Southern Gates of Arabia” when I first moved to Abu Dhabi and sadly discovered that I’m not actually a big fan of her writing… just her life!