Guest Post by Catherine Perkins When I left the United States in February for a two month stay in France, I was very prepared. I had a bag loaded with French language resources (a dictionary, a phrase book, a traveler's guide), and some new cold-weather clothing. Living in Florida my entire life, I'd never had much need for a heavy coat before, but I purchased a lovely blue parka just before I left. I never once used the language books, and I ditched the parka my first week there (too …
The Sin of the Blogger
Well, I've done it. I've committed the unforgiveable blogging sin: I haven't kept up with my posting schedule. Normally I put up a new article every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But the past couple of weeks, I've only done two, and not on schedule. My bad. I've gotten distracted by another project. Shame on me. I should be superwoman and do it all regardless, right? Well, er. . . no. [ad#Google Adsense-1] You see, the other project I'm in the midst of deals with health and wellness, and I …
Is France Affordable?
Recently, the Live and Invest Overseas e-letter has been talking about France in the run-up to their upcoming conference about living and investing there. France is not one of the countries we've been considering as a retirement destination because of the expense. But with headlines like, "Your Second Home In France (Could Cost As Little As 45,000 Euro)," is it worth reconsidering, I wonder? Correspondent Lucy Culpepper writes with enthusiasm about the Languedoc and Bearn regions of the country …
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
I don't think the songwriter was referring to houses, but I'm finding that "breaking up" a home is also extremely hard to do. Gradually over the last year, we've been preparing to move. For a move to another country, this means getting rid of things. A lot of things. I've never really had to whittle down so much before. In previous moves, even cross-country, we've been able to move everything. Not the case this time. The first battle was emotional. Everything comes with memories attached. …
Are You Just Another Freelance Commodity?
A couple of weeks ago I posted a piece titled Dumb Suggestons for Finding Freelance Work Overseas. In it, I disagreed strongly with the author of an article who had suggested using Craigslist, Elance.com and Freelancer.com to come up with freelance gigs to support your overseas lifestyle. I won't re-hash my arguments here, you can go back to the original post and read them for yourself if you're interested. Instead, I'd like to expand on them. A few days after I posted that piece, I was …
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Hard Things Survive
A Review of The Samurai’s Daughter by Sujata Massey Christmas in San Francisco – what an exciting holiday! But not for Japanese-American Rei Shimura, who grew up there. Rei has lived in Japan for several years, the fruition of a lifelong dream. She eked out a living teaching English to business people when she first moved to Tokyo, but has since put her art history degree to work, becoming a dealer in Japanese antiques. A speaking engagement for a Washington, DC museum brought her back to the …