The sarcastic journey of a diplomat's wife, mom of 2, who used to be an economist
We thought this day would NEVER come. I mean yes, I knew she’d eventually go back to school before she turns 18, but I really didn’t think this would be in September of this year! When back in April they said they’ll close schools until January 2021, I had a meltdown so deep that I […]
Read MoreDear Belgium, Happy birthday! You are 190 today! To compare, the UAE is 48, I think you’re looking pretty good for an oldie. Let’s face it, Us, Belgian citizens aren’t used to celebrate you properly. We don’t plan a fancy reunion weekend for you. We don’t bake a black yellow and red cake. We don’t […]
Read MoreTomorrow, June 30th 2020 is the first birthday of DDW. One year since I’ve created this character. I can’t believe how it evolved into what it is today! Like pretty much anything that I attempt, I was sure it would be a failure. My husband said to me: “Give it 6 months, and then you will […]
Read MoreShould have been posted 10 days ago, but who is still counting the days now??? We have been staying inside for 3 months now, staying safe. Three months where we learned a lot about ourselves. We changed, like always when confronted to difficulties. I think we get better. We developed a new routine, a new […]
Read MoreLast week, I was answering an interview for a podcast and they asked me the funniest story of my expat life. Two stories came into my mind; the move (already told here: https://desperatediplowife.com/2019/07/26/sort-it-pack-it-load-it-ship-it-break-it-move-it-open-it-leave-it/) and the poo-poo story. I think now is a good time to make you smile and tell you about our second funniest experience […]
Read MoreIf there is one weird topic that only expats can understand, it’s the mixed feelings you get when you have visitors. Depending on where you expatriate, you will get more or less attraction of people to come and visit. We were doing pretty ok when we left. A vast majority of people hated the idea of traveling in […]
Read MoreIn my country, language is a touchy topic. We officially have 3: Dutch, French and German. But it’s not like in Luxembourg or Switzerland, we don’t have to learn them all. As a result, even if we are a super tiny country (30.000 sq meters, but diplomats will say “a country of modest size”), there […]
Read MoreToday, December 30th marks the 6 months of my blog. Why did I do it? I won’t lie to you, I did it mainly to justify myself. To explain to the people in my homeland what I was really going through. To open eyes on our position. To break some walls. I had no clue where […]
Read MoreSeeing my daughter write her letter to Santa made me think about who I would write and what I would ask if I had the chance. In my situation, very realistically speaking, Santa, is my husband’s employer. He’s the almighty. He decides WHEN we go, WHERE we go, if they approve our choice of house we’ll […]
Read MoreIn case you haven’t (over) heard about it, Christmas is coming. When you are an expat, this period can be tricky. In a warm climate country, even more. You are far from your family and all you can see in the (very fake) advertisements is a happy reunited family laughing in the snow. Then a […]
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