EXPAT LIFE IN AMERICA: It has been a while since my last post. However, with Covid-19 happening in between it feels like far more time has passed than what the calendar really shows. In this relatively short period, an enormous amount has changed. High School Life in the Last Semester of 2019/2020 One thing that […] Continue reading → 
EXPAT LIFE IN AMERICA: Right now, it is summer, and one of the busiest times of the year for town celebrations and events in New Jersey, and elsewhere in the US. As this is being written, it is just one week after the American monster party of the year for the July 4th holiday (Independence […] Continue reading → 
THINGS TO DO IN NEW JERSEY: Just as Australia Day is close to many Australians’ hearts, Independence Day on the Fourth of July is a huge day on the American calendar. It is a national holiday around the USA and marked by a wide array of patriotic displays. If you have been living in a […] Continue reading → 
LIVING IN NEW JERSEY: When you think of American High school, there are lots of images that are conjured up from TV shows, movies and news stories that have been shown around the world including in Australia. Shows such as ‘Mean Girls’, ‘High School Musical’, ‘Heathers’ and ‘Clueless’, help to develop biases and pre-conceptions about […] Continue reading → 
BEING AN EXPAT: As we come to the year’s end, I am thinking of my expat life in NJ over the last eight years, at a height of many thousand feet, in a plane on my way to Australia. It has been a long while since my last blog post, and much has happened in […] Continue reading → 
EXPAT LIFE IN AMERICA: As much as I have tried to avoid sounding American in my own parochial way, it’s almost impossible. After seven years, there are many routine words from the local’s vocabulary that have crept into my everyday speech. Here are a few examples of common American expressions that I say frequently: Candy A very […] Continue reading → 
EXPAT LIFE IN AMERICA: After six years here, I can say that life as an expat in NJ has been pretty good overall. Once you are settled in, not feeling homesick any more, and your kids adapt to their schools, then life gets a lot easier. In fact, most of the time, it is quite enjoyable. But even living […] Continue reading → 
EXPAT LIFE: Shopping in America has always meant for me as an Australian, going to ‘the mall’. Outside these iconic centers of convenient high fashion and merchandise, I knew there were other big-store retailers like Walmart, Costco and Toys’R’Us but didn’t think much beyond these. Well it turns out that these big-box (large) retailers are so numerous in America that it […] Continue reading → 
EXPAT LIFE: My teenage son has just turned 15. This is a major milestone in his life. Sure, you could think it’s because he would be starting Year 10 at school if he was in Australia or for several other reasons. But these are not the real reasons why turning 15 is a milestone. This […] Continue reading → 
EXPAT LIFE: We’ve just returned from another home visit to Australia. It was short but still very enjoyable. As with other visits, we saw our friends and family and looked at our house in Sydney’s Inner West. Nothing seems to have changed much except for one big exception. Somewhere, somehow between this year and last […] Continue reading →