Foreign Cultures and Customs

An ordinary day in the mysterious Caucasian land called Armenia (where I expatted for six years) — a day I toiled away at writing a romance novel. An ordinary day without a world crisis but featuring a dead body and a bit of dancing and drinking in the end.

After years of living as an expat in the US, I still have trouble subduing my inner Dutch girl with her opinions and judgments and directness. So if you’re an American, you’ll want to stop reading, because here’s my list of 7 American things I don’t do . . .

A loud barrage of furious words slammed me in the back. It was shocking! The language being unknown to me, I did not understand what precisely was being hurled at me. However, since the vitriol originated from the toilet lady’s oral cavity, the message was clear.

How to have a cheek-kissing orgy? Move to France, invite the neighbors. But be warned: hugging is taboo.

As an expat, have you ever come back to your familiar hometown and seen it with foreign eyes? Living abroad changes how you see even the familiar. So here I am, back in Sneek, my hometown in the Netherlands