ExpatExchange Blog

It’s been a while since we’ve added a post about The Expat Life, Alan Paul’s blog on WSJ.com.

Should it now be called “The Repat Life?” That would be just fine with me, if it meant that WSJ.com will continue the column. Paul and his family are now home from China and on a mission to get settled into their old (new?) home in Maplewood, NJ. In this first post-China entry, he describes the long journey from Asia and, most interestingly, what his kids think of being “home.”

In this second post-China column, Alan describes what it’s like to receive his stored belongings after being abroad on his assignment.

His sense that his desk is a nice “anchor” sounds like many of the stories expats share with us both when they receive their shipments abroad and when they return home and claim their stored belongings.

Imagine how it must feel to come to the upheaval in the U.S. from the other side of the world? The following excerpt, I thought, was the most interesting.

“As if leaving China wasn’t shakeup enough, this has been a strange time to land back in the U.S. There is a powerful contradictory undercurrent: fear, uncertainty and nervousness over the economy but also hope and excitement over Barack Obama’s presidency.”

So far it seems like all is well for the Pauls. Hopefully, WSJ.com will provide everyone with the opportunity to follow their readjustment to life in the U.S.

So go ahead, pour yourself a cup of coffee, kick back and treat yourself to a little bit of The Repat Life, err, Expat Life, that is. I just did.

As a counselor and psychotherapist, I have witnessed first hand the impact technology can have on an individual or family when indiscreet material is posted online by someone that fails to appreciate the implications of such a decision.

An American lawyer that works for a British firm in Russia may have made the same type of mistake. She has posted a novel online and claims that it is purely fictional. People that claim they can identify individuals and specific incidents disagree. We urge everyone to remember that nobody has proven that the writer’s claims are false. Read More and be careful of what you and your loved ones put online!

Finding or building a new home in a new country can be a daunting task rife with challenges. Imagine having the building permit revoked and that home bulldozed after completion. That is exactly what happened to a British couple in Spain, and dozens more Britains in Spain face the same possibility. Read More.