Malaysian Weddings - Chinese and Kelabit Style

Malaysia is a country with a mixed bag of cultures and they all celebrate differently.  A few weeks ago we were invited to help celebrate the wedding of one of my husband’s colleagues – her husband to be is Chinese and she is half Chinese half Kelabit so they were having a fusion event. 

In Malaysia only Muslim marriages can combine official and cultural elements (not dissimilar to a Church wedding in the UK) so it is common for the cultural and official weddings to be held separately.  In this instance the couple had been legally married a few weeks before but the cultural wedding was the big event.

The wedding in Miri's Catholic Cathedral

The couple are both Catholic so, in the morning, we went to the Church wedding. This was a fairly standard Catholic wedding – no different to the many that I have been to for other friends with the exception that it was very large - the groom's family alone comprised more people than we invited to our wedding.  We then went home until the evening reception at a local hotel some hours later – this is when the differences really showed.

When we arrived at the event we handed over our Angpow – a little red envelope with the money for the wedding.  It is not traditional, here, to give gifts at a wedding unless you are very close to the family, instead you give a set amount of money per person attending sufficient to cover the costs of your meal.  One of our friends said that 90% of the cost of his wedding was covered by the contributions from the angpows.  A table is set up at the entrance to the event for guests to hand over the envelope and have their names (and contribution) ticked off a list. Again there were a lot of people - the tables filled the hotel's (large) grand ballroom, there were easily more than 400 people there but we were told that it was not an unusual size for a wedding.

A large family...

Sarawak is a fairly casual place and so it was not surprising to see guests in a range of dress from traditional to t-shirt and shorts to full wedding attire.  The formal event started with an introduction of the bridal party (who had changed to different clothes from earlier in the day) and then the first of a ten course meal was brought in.  The lights were dimmed, beat music started up and waiters carrying candlelit plates negotiated their way through the maze of tables to bring the food to the guests.  A friend mentioned that this is quite normal in Sarawak – hotels seem to choose techno music by default but guests can opt for a different track if they prefer.  Shortly after this the bridal party changed again  - a total of three different outfits!

Handing over Angpows

During the course of the meal there were video showing the couple’s courtships and events from earlier in the day.  These included the groom and his groomsmen coming to the bride’s house to take her to church.  They were met by the bridesmaids who set them several tasks to negotiate – from eating neat wasabi sauce to identifying the bride’s lipstick print on a piece of paper.  Angpows were handed over to the bridesmaids and the groom was finally allowed to enter.  The bride and groom shared tea with their family and then went to the church leaving the house under a red umbrella (for luck) while firecrackers sent out clouds of red confetti.

Back at the reception the bride’s relatives had arranged for some traditional Kelabit elements to be included in the celebration including a traditional wedding song and a traditional dance (although the music, by the Rivers of Babylon, was anything but traditional).  The bride’s family are from Bario in the highlands where the beadwork is particularly fine and very prized.  Gifts from her family to the grooms included a parang (a type of machete) for the groom and bead necklaces for both the men and women of his family.  The bride was also given a traditional beaded bridal skull cap, belt and necklace. 

Kelabit Bridal Song (you can just see the
women wearing beaded headbands)

Towards the end of the evening the guests stood to toast the happy couple with a Chinese toast of  ‘yah, se’ said as loud and as long as possible.  An equivalent to hip, hip hurray

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Ersatz Cooking - Kitchen Substitutes for the Expat Cook

The problem with moving from country to country is that ingredients for food you like to cook and your family like to eat can be hard to find.  Sometimes you have to use something else instead – some substitutions work remarkably well, others change the taste a little.

Many of the hints and tips on my Ersatz Kitchen page explain how to get around things like baking without baking powder etc but here is a collection of substitutions that, while handy, are not complex enough to merit their own blog post.

Fish Sauce:  Useful for a lot of Asian cooking.  Substitute a mix of soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce.

Palm Sugar:  Again popular in Asian dishes.  Muscovado sugar is a suitable alternative.

Ketchap Manis:  Necessary for Nasi Goreng and many Malaysian and Indonesian dishes. There is no real substitute but it is easy to make your own.  Heat Soy Sauce and Brown Sugar in a ratio of 1:1 until the sugar starts to dissolve.  Add water (.5 ratio) diced ginger a star anise and a cinnamon stick.  Continue on the heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Strain and store in the fridge.

Crème Fraiche: substitute high percentage sour cream for savoury and marscapone for sweet dishes.

Marscapone:  If you want to make Tiramisu but can't find Marscapone you can substitute a block of cream cheese mixed with sour cream and heavy cream - start the additions reasonably small and add more to get the taste and consistency you want. 

Lard: you can use butter, goose fat or strained bacon dripping depending on whether you need a savoury or sweet recipe.

Zaatar:  mix thyme, majoram, oregano, toasted sesame seeds, salt and sumac to taste.  Adds flavouring to dried tomatoes and is very tasty when mixed with olive oil and toasted on pitta. 

Koekkruiden:  Dutch mixed spice – a mix of Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, Ground Cloves, Ground Ginger, Ground Cardamom, Ground Star Anise and Ground Mace.  I use in a lot of baking recipes that call for mixed spice.   Also tasty in recipes such as Christmas Pudding and Mince Meat. 

Shortening:  substitute butter or lard. 

Buttermilk: you can make butter and buttermilk by agitating raw milk in a sterile jar until it separates out.  This is time-consuming but a great activity for a kid who wants to ‘help’!  Alternatively add a tbsp. of lemon juice to milk and leave on the counter for 15 minutes to curdle.

Galangal:  This is used to impart flavour in a lot of South East Asian cooking.  If you do not have any you can substitute ginger.

I have subsequently added this to Life With A Double Buggy's  Expat Linky- click for even more Expat treats.....

And to the Practical Mondays linky hosted by the Practical Mom

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Brunei and Bandar Seri Begawan

Brunei is a common weekend trip for Miri expats – many profess that the meat in Bruneian supermarkets is better quality than that available in Miri and families will often take a trip to buy food.  There is an alcohol shop in No Mans Land which sells wine and other alcohol at good prices. 

Omar Ali Saifudden Mosque with ceremonial (concrete) barge.

I have managed to find just about everything I need, bar the odd luxury, in the extremely well stocked supermarkets here in Miri and we rarely drink alcohol so the shopping aspects hold very little interest for us.  Indeed the prices in Brunei are high so it is not uncommon for families from there to come to Miri for their food shop – our supermarkets even accept Bruneian Dollars so it seems rather crazy to me to travel there to buy food.

Bandar Embankment Walk. 

There are good national parks in Temburong and now we have the big car we will probably take the children there for a long weekend once the girls’ passports are back.  We have, however, taken a few trips to the capital, Bandar.  It is an easy day trip from Miri and something different to do with visitors.  The roads are in good condition and not too busy so Bandar is only about 2-21/2  hours drive away although it can take longer if there are queues at the border. Sadly all our trips have been in the rainy season so the photographs we have are moody, overcast and a little dull.  

Bandar's central cemetery - surprisingly peaceful.

View of Kampung Ayer from the Omar Ali Saifudden Mosque

Bandar itself is a rather dry (in all senses of the word) capital.  It was destroyed in WW2 so is a new city.  The centre is compact and easy to navigate but rather dull.  The main sights are the Omar Ali Saifudden Mosque – the mosque itself I reasonably modern and not overwhelming but it sits on an island in a lagoon and is connected to a concrete replica of a traditional royal barge which is used for important religious occasions.  The Royal Regalia museum is also worth a visit – particularly if it is raining.  There are a few other museums but they are mostly not worth visiting, the exhibits are good but lack contextual information. The best bit of the city is, in my opinion, the rather pleasant embankment - you can walk along to get to the craft centre (which sells traditional cloth and silver work but is very overpriced) and take in views of the river and the rather beautiful and peaceful cemetery.

Kampung Ayer sits just across the river from Bandar - in the
background you can see some more modern, concrete,
 houses built by the government.

Most of the houses in the Kampung are more traditional and made
of wood.  

The main reasons to go to Bandar, however, are to see Kampung Ayer and proboscis monkeys.  Kampung Ayer is a water village that sits along the river.  It is a bustling metropolis in its own right with schools, police stations, mosques and even a fire station.  All buildings in the Kampung have piped clean water and electricity.  

The kampung is well organised with communal jettys for homes
that do not have their own steps to the water.

Kampung Ayer Fire Station

Kampung Ayer's Mosque with both water and land access

Just 20 minutes up the river it is also possible to put into the mangrove and see families of proboscis monkeys going about their business.  The monkeys live in small family groups and, if you are lucky, will come all the way down to the water near the boat.  When my husband took his mother to see them they got some very close up views.  A few weeks ago I drove over with some other visitors but a larger tour boat in the vicinity at the same time meant that the monkeys kept to the tops of the trees.  Nevertheless it was quite amazing to see the monkeys playing in the treetops – even mothers with their young.

A loud tour near us meant the monkeys did not get too close.
We still had a good view - the photos do not do it justice.

This large gentleman sat munching his mangrove for sometime and
allowed us to take several pictures.  He is wise to visitors, however
as he always stayed behind branches!

Both the Kampung and the monkeys can be seen on a river tour.  It is possible to arrange this through a formal tour operator – you will get a beautiful boat, life jackets and a rehearsed commentary in English.  These tours cost a lot of money so rather than shell out more than we needed we picked up a water taxi – the driver was happy to take us up the river, was very knowledgeable about the monkeys and cost less than half an organised tour.  The smaller boat and reduced number of people also meant that we were quieter so that the monkeys came closer to us.  On the way up river he took us past the Istana, the gigantic 1800 room palace of the sultan.  On the way back we went around Kampung Ayer before being dropped off at the centre of town. 

Water taxis are a common way to get between Kampung Ayer and Bandar

They are easy to hire and better value than a tourist
boat - and you have it to yourselves!

There are a number of decent restaurants in central Bandar, some fast food chains and some cafes so there are plenty of options to choose from before getting back to the border in time to cross back home.  

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Expat Ennui

Expat life is wonderful – it gives us so many opportunities we might not otherwise get.  We have lived and grown to know other cultures, learned other languages.  Our children have made friends from more countries than we would have thought possible and the opportunities for travel are, quite simply, fantastic and, for the most part, I love it.

Who wouldn't want to live here....

The employed spouse gets to advance their career with high profile, challenging positions.  The children get an international education at excellent schools but what about the trailing spouse?  I have been thinking about this a lot in recent weeks.  We left the UK to pursue my husband’s career.  The opportunity was too good to pass up but it has meant a significant career sacrifice on my part.

This experience is by no means unusual.  Some trailing spouses relish the opportunities to relax, study, read or play sports that the expat lifestyle offers.  Some countries allow spouses to work – and indeed I did work successfully in Kazakhstan albeit that it was in a series of ‘jobs’ rather than in my established career.  The result being my CV, not unlike that of many trailing spouses, is eclectic and unusual. 

Most of the online resources for trailing spouses list a number of solutions.  Work from home (fine if you are a qualified transciptionist, programmer etc not so much if your field is not one that allows or can be adapted to telecommute).  Studying works if there is distance learning available in your chosen field.  Volunteer, again fine to fill in CV gaps and time in the day and it can be fulfilling but you are essentially paying to use your time not being paid for it.  Enjoy time with the kids – I love my time with my children and decided to stop commuting between the UK and Kazakhstan (which I did for over a year) as my absences were too hard on them.  I similarly declined an offer to stay in Kazakhstan for work and commute to Malaysia for holidays although I might have been tempted if the job had been in my professional field as I do want to work. 

Expat life means you get to live in some out of the way places...

This is an acknowledged problem for many large international companies – postings work better when the whole family is happy and some employers have spousal support networks or provide training/retraining.  This is a problem that will only increase as time goes on.  When my parents were expats my mother worked in some postings (she was a special needs and English teacher) but not others depending on whether she wanted to.  It was not common, however, for spouses to work and single income families were still the norm in most ‘home’ countries.  These days’ dual income families are the norm and even if two incomes are not required financially many trailing spouses, like me, invest a lot of their personal worth in their professional achievements. 

I noticed, as 2015 rolled over, that I have been feeling that sense of ennui that comes with the lack of a defined role in life.  This is probably also connected to the 2015 general election in the UK – had we remained there I would likely be fighting that election in a seat with a reasonable chance of success (I stood for a major party in the 2010 election).  Our baby is still very young and I love having time with her.  I don’t want to spend too much time away but I do want to do something with my days. 

And have some fascinating experiences...

Here in Miri I am a stay at home mother, my professional identity is gone.  A large part of my self worth is tied up in my professional and political persona – I studied and worked for years to become that person.  A part of me thinks that I should be running for parliament and instead I am baking brownies! (And having some down right wonderful adventures as well to be fair).

I don’t want to succumb to ennui, the reality is that Miri is not a good location for spousal employment opportunities. Rather than let this get to me too much I shall be looking, slowly but surely, for something to do with my time, hopefully something that ties in to my long term career plans or interests.  Just setting that goal made me feel a lot better I have something to search for and work towards while still enjoying my time with my family (and my very tasty brownies).  My first step has been to get copies of my old diving qualifications so that I can get my skills reviewed and start diving again.

That way I know I can truly enjoy all this wonderful life has to offer.  

This post is part of Seychelles Mama's monthly link up 'My Expat Family'.  It showcases some of the very best expat blogs on the web so do pop along and read some of the other brilliant blogs.....

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New Year

I have been looking over my posts for the last year – starting with my New Year’s reminiscences from 2013.  In that post I wrote about how much life can change as an expat in a short space of time.  2014 was certainly a busy and eventful year.  My husband and I both got new jobs (I left my new job behind in Astana, however), we moved country and had a new baby.  Our life now is about as different as it can be.

2014/15 playing on the shores of the South China Sea

2013/14 playing in the Astana Snow

We realised, as we celebrated the new year, that we have now been six months in our new home here in Sarawak.  We are settled, happy, have friends and know how life works here.  We have been planning trips to make in the car for long weekends and preparing our bucket list.  So instead of looking back I will look forward to what we would like to achieve in 2015.  I wonder if we will achieve it all….?

Best wishes to everyone for an adventurous, happy and prosperous 2015.

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How to find medical care in Astana

We may have left Astana a few months ago but finding (and coping with visits to) a doctor were such an important part of life there.  I meant to post this some time ago but  the demands of moving caught up with me.

Medical care in Astana ranges, in typical post soviet style, from the excellent to the dreadful.  You can find treatment for just about anything but you will not necessarily receive the comfort or care that you might expect back in your home country and the bedside manner is very different.  Doctors also subscribe to a holistic view of the person so expect to be given alternative and homeopathic remedies alongside your prescription.

Medical services in Astana can be confusing, particularly for expatriates as specialists transfer between hospitals so you may go to different hospitals on different days to be seen for one particular problem. Expatriates tend to have international standard health insurance managed through a local clinic, many of these claim to speak English.  Most of these claims are fanciful at best so be prepared to translate for yourself or bring a local friend along and give up all rights to medical privacy.  The standard of English at SOS is generally decent – they provide GP services and will arrange hospital appointments where necessary and attend with you to translate.  They have helped us with ophthalmologists, dentists, radiology etc.  OB/Gynae assistance was provided but was not as smooth as other services.    

Many of the clinic services will also claim to provide 24 hour responses but again not all of them do.  About one year in to our time there our daughter came to tell me that our son could not breathe.  I went to see him (of course this would happen when my husband was away on business and in the depths of winter), his lips were turning blue and he was rasping.  I was concerned that he was suffering from epiglottis (try working out how to explain that in a foreign language at 1 am) and called our clinic (who had promised a 24 hour emergency response) to hear that they worked only 8am-8pm.  I called our head of HR who was the emergency contact but she was travelling for the weekend and her ‘phone was out of signal.  As I did not know which hospital was providing services that evening I called our insurance international hotline and had my son assessed over the telephone.  They were mostly sure that he was ok but given his age and symptoms they wanted him checked by a doctor on the scene.  They were able to co-ordinate with one of the other clinics to make an appointment at the Mother and Child hospital and I then had to drive out in the middle of the night to find them.

Our employers changed clinics the following week and we found ourselves with SOS who do provide a guaranteed 24 hour response and ambulance services, in fact in the scenario we had experienced they would have sent a GP out for a home visit to decide whether or not hospital admission was warranted – a much better system.  A few weeks later I found myself using their services as I had suddenly become very unwell and needed an operation.  They arranged for pre-op  tests in Astana and then arranged for me to fly to Germany for the operation as they were not confident that the hospital providing those particular operative services that week was safe. 

Kazakh doctors tend to overmedicate. This collection
was for a simple case of tonsillitis.  

You can find yourself being given somewhat strange remedies – a visit to the dentist resulted in me being given super strength pain killers (phenol-barbitol!) and a herbal mouthwash.  When my daughter had tonsillitis we left the surgery with antibiotics, an antiseptic spray, painkillers, probiotics and a herbal remedy.  In the UK you just get the antibiotics and then only if you really push for them.  Conversely when I came down with tonsillitis a few weeks later I was given nothing at all except for instructions to have someone scrape my tonsils with a spoon dipped in hot antiseptic (they told me that I should ask my husband as I would bite the person who did it so it might ruin a friendship).  I was expecting our third child at the time and Kazakh doctors seem to take the precautionary principal very seriously with regard to medicines and pregnancy, the exception to this being herbal remedies – I was given prescriptions for all sorts of strange concoctions that I have to say went straight in the bin! 

Top tips:

• Make sure that your insurance registers you with a primary care clinic.  In my experience SOS provide the best service.  
• Download an app like google translate on your phone and enable a Cyrillic keyboard.  That way if you do not speak Russian or have an interpreter you and your doctor can communicate through google.
• Check dosage instructions, contraindications and potential negative interactions of medicines thoroughly with the Doctor.  Pharmacists will very rarely double check your prescription with you and will not happily answer questions.  Instructions on the packets will usually be in Russian or Kazakh.
• Following on from this if you are on regular medication bring it with you when seeing the doctor.  Sometimes your home doctor will have prescribed something that is not regularly used in Kazakhstan and it is helpful for them to be able to check the medicine and its interactions with any prescription they would typically write as they may need to amend their usual practice.
• While Dr Internet is a recipe for worry and disaster it can help to research your medical issues before you go to the doctor.  Medical paternalism is still rife in Astana and doctors will not volunteer information, particularly when there is a language barrier, you will need to be quite specific in your questions.
• Your insurance will probably have a 24 hour medical hotline in addition to the claims people.  Don’t be afraid to call them to check any questions you have with regard to your treatment or medication.
• Try to arrange for regular ‘well woman’ or ‘wellman’ tests to be done in your home country when you are back – it is just easier than wading through results in Russian and coping with different cultural norms of privacy.
• If you want your child to follow the immunisation schedule of your home country arrange for a letter from your home doctor outlining the schedule and provide this to your primary care clinic to arrange necessary injections.  You may have to give this to your child’s school and make it very clear that you do not give automatic consent to the Kazakh schedule.  We were quite happy for our children to sit on the Kazakh schedule but you may not wish to interrupt a part established regime.  
• Try not to worry – the doctors want what is best for you.  They might not explain in the same way that you are used to but if you are having a heart attack you want them to treat you not talk.  Methods of treatment may be different but at the very least they will be providing the best available care to you.  One of my husband’s colleagues had an emergency appendectomy at a local hospital and was well looked after – certainly better than having an appendix burst on a flight to Europe or Dubai. 

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Expat Memories

This week's post is a self indulgent memory. 

I have written before about the problems of bureaucracy that are created by expat life.  As we are sending a request for our newborn daughter’s first passport back to the UK we decided to renew our other daughter’s passport at the same time.  She has only about 8 months left to go so we may as well get it done now.  They should be processed together (or so we are told) and then we will minimise the amount of time we are without papers for the girls. 

Paddling in Lake Bohinj - Slovenia

I have been leafing through her passport and I realise it is a record of her life.  Of course, holding an EU passport means that many of her experiences are not tracked.  Her trips to Ireland to meet my father’s family or our holiday in Italy where she delighted us all with her ‘ballet’ shows.  Our four week driving holiday in Europe with our tenacious girl who at 18 months walked through Budapest with only the odd piggy back, paddled bravely in the icy cold Lake Bohinj in Slovenia and giggled away as we read George’s Marvellous Medicine to while away the motorway miles.  All of these are invisible - even her return trips to the UK to see her grandparents are tracked only in exit stamps from our host countries. 

Exploring Tuscan towns

But more experiences are documented than not.  The visas to Kazakhstan track her development from precocious 2 year old to sophisticated 5 almost 6.  Our tiny little toddler has grown into a confident child, quick to smile and laugh.  Our girl who could hardly dress herself now showers on her own and chooses her own clothes, makes her own packed snack for school and reminds her older brother to bring his sports or swimming kit on the right days.

Early days in Kazakhstan - learning to walk in the cold.

The stamps for Lebanon bring back to my mind our just three year old, meeting her Granddad, Step Grandmother and Auntie for the first time since leaving England.  I remember her expression when she saw my sister in the Airport – she ran straight to her and would not leave her side for two hours.  She was able to explore crusader castles, see the legendary Cypresses and the Jeita caves.  I remember her charming the military garrison at the Tripoli castle and the pair of us running dripping into the souk to get out of some truly nasty rain.  I think how lucky she was to go there before hell descended once again on that beautiful country.

Exploring Kazakhstan - Borovoye Lake

The visa for Russia brings back memories of her tramping down Arbat and through Red Square, frozen in the icy winds and snow that had unexpectedly descended on spring time Moscow – thank goodness we had our Kazakh winter gear with us.  Our brave girl walked for miles, undaunted by the weather but ever so grateful for a restorative hot chocolate from time to time.  I remember seeing the understanding dawn on her that Russian was  a world language –every bit as useful as English and not just for use in Astana and impressing the staff at museums and in restaurants as she chatted away confidently.

Playing in the Moscow Spring

Defrosting indoors.

The stamps for Turkey bring back memories of her first trip to Istanbul – exploring the Topkapi Palace, the cisterns and the Sulemaniye mosque – places I had explored as a teenager.  I remember her enjoying the Grand Bazaar – getting sweets, tea and cuddles from all the shop keepers we spoke with.  I loved watching her dance at the wedding of an old friend of mine and introducing her to people I had known and loved in my years living in Turkey.

Hagia Sophia (plus scenic scaffolding!)

They also bring back memories of our trip to the South West where I was able, finally, to fulfil a dream of 20 years and see Ephesus and Pamukkule and enjoy this with the children.  Our daughter discovered a love of carvings - one of my favourite photos shows her running her hands over some plinths in Aphrodisias (with the full permission of museum staff) – enjoying the tactile nature of the carving and then pointing out similar carvings as we went round the site.

Walking around Kaya Koyu

In my memories I see her spend her first day ever on a sandy warm beach  and play in the sea, my mind watches her learning to swim in the pool at our apartment, enjoying pancakes in a roadside café after roaming through the ruined village of Kaya Koyu and wondering through the famous Lycian towns that pepper this part of Turkey. 

Pamukkule

Her visa for Cambodia is redolent with memories of Angkor Wat, a place she professed (age 5) that she had wanted to see ‘since forever’.  She enjoyed her time there so much that one year on she talks happily of the beautiful apsara carvings and her friend Mr Theng, our Tuk Tuk driver.  When my husband and I married we honeymooned in South East Asia.  During the trip we went to Ayutthaya and I remember us saying that it was probably the closest we would ever get to visiting Angkor.  I am so pleased that this has changed and we were able to share it with our (older) children. 

Holiday in Cambodia.

Fascinated by carvings

When I look at her entry stamps for Kyrgyzstan I remember how she enjoyed the Burana Minaret and the trip along the Silk Road from Bishkek to Cholpan Alta on the shores of Lake Issykul.  She became very ill very quickly with a nasty bout of tonsillitis the day we were due to fly back to Astana.  It was not worth enduring a Kyrgyz hospital for antibiotics as we were due home in less than 18 hours and I remember how she bravely wondered from coffee shop to museum to coffee shop with a horrid temperature and a scratchy throat as we bought enough drinks to give her an excuse to sleep on a comfy sofa for an hour at a time before moving on to the next place.  I have never been so pleased to get back to our rather rickety healthcare provision in Astana!

On top of the world - sick but enjoying the old Kyrgyz Silk Road

Her final entries on the passport are her visa for Malaysia and stamps into and out of Brunei (trips to take Granny to see monkeys).  Every time I see her Malaysian visa I think about how well she has coped with this move (the first that she really understands), saying goodbye to her friends, teacher and school and launching herself into a new adventure.  The move has transformed her as well – there is less of the Central Asian sophistication and more of the South East Asian cute to complement her sunny, smiling personality. 

Six years on - playing by the South China Sea

So many of these experiences she has only had because she is an expat – we would not have flown to Cambodia from the UK, spent spring in Moscow, Christmas in Lebanon or Easter in Kyrgyzstan. She has packed more into her six years than many do in a lifetime and in the process she has learned to appreciate all the advantages that our life brings.  Whenever I am back at my father’s house I love to look through the pages of my old passports and the family photograph albums, marrying together photographs with stamps.  When our daughter’s old passport is returned to us I think I will scan the pages and put them, together with photographs and some memories, into a scrap book so that she can revisit them and share the memories with her own children in time.  

This blog is part of the My Expat Family Link Up hosted by Seychelles Mama - click on the link to read the other fascinating blogs on expat family life.

Click on the picture for more posts on the challenges of expat life.