The sarcastic journey of a diplomat's wife, mom of 2, who used to be an economist
Hi folks, I know it’s been forever… Sorry I haven’t written, I’ve been busy-scared-lost-sad-overwhelmed-happy-sick. I’m on a merry-go-round, but a very destabilizing one, like Alice’s teacups or so. Worst is, I chose to go on it. Probably masochistic, but I feel pleasure in this overwhelmed state. Someone in my cercle said it was an addiction, […]
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 MoreWhen you’re in lockdown and can’t go outside, your house becomes your seemingly eternal safe haven. You’re making it comfy and cozy, so you feel secure. But I’ve learned that in quarantine, everyday can bring a surprise. Yesterday morning, I woke up and went downstairs to get my breakfast. While my kids were having Honey pops […]
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 MoreOne day my PhD mentor told me one of the most important things in my life. I was a bit lost and had no idea how I got there (into an empirical economic PhD program to be precise) and where I wanted to go next. He said: “Cécile, you have to decide if you want […]
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 MoreI’m not going to lie. I came here with some misconceptions of Islam. Like a lot of Europeans, I think, the face of Islam that I usually saw [and was presented with] in my country wasn’t always lovely. Walking to work I was sometimes confronted with Islamic men and women that made remarks for the […]
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Desperate Diplo Wife 