<p>Had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch and Costco outing with binx today! No one told me that were were all young and glamorous! :)</p>
<p>I arrived at the restaurant, saw the mini cooper parked out front, and KNEW she was there!! She also totally convinced me that I was right in not wanting to live the life of an expat (ie living with spouse working overseas). I bow to all of you who have done this successfully. Fun to chat about our kids, our lives, and past CC threads!</p>
<p>Cool, Jym! </p>
<p>Do you live near each other or did you set this up while one of you was away?</p>
<p>It was fun, corranged!
We live in the same Metro area (now that she is back on terra firma in the US) but on opposite sides of town (I am NW, she is NE). So, we met in the middle. Probably about a 1/2 hr drive for each of us.</p>
<p>
which reminds me, mathmom, momof3sons and NYmomof2-- I am coming back up to NY to take care of things for my dad in late Feb. Lets plan ahead for that cup of coffee!!</p>
<p>Son and I will be meeting Shennie and Mr. Shennie on Sunday. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin – S and I are going to visit UW, and she was kind enough to meet with us for coffee and give us the scoop on life in Madison.</p>
<p>wish I was there for the Costco run – you go!</p>
<p>Y Ivoryk-
I managed to get out without spending a ton of $$$. Thats a rarity!</p>
<p>And – somebody remind me-- having a senior moment–who is the dad teching at UW Madison who lives in Lynchburg VA?? Oregonianmom might want to meet up with him too. He’s a regular here.</p>
<p>You mean…all you people are…are…real???</p>
<p>PS jym…the expat years were hands down the most exciting, fun and mind-expanding time in my family’s lives. But I know for others it was pure torture. I’m glad you’re happy with your choice.</p>
<p>woody- made me laugh…</p>
<p>jym- I am having an uncontrollable urge to convince you that you should become an expat… it’s working for us.</p>
<p>Glad it is working for you, Karen. I’ll stick to visiting, not living, overseas.</p>
<p>My stepmom had a great 15 years living in Saudi Arabia (in the Aramco compound) while my dad worked there, but there were plenty of would-be expats who didn’t even make it out of the airport. YMMV.</p>
<p>If y’all are planning a NYC meet ‘n’ greet, count me in…if you take junior members, that is.</p>
<p>Having experienced the expat life peripherally, I wanted to raise my kids in that way. Instead, they’re midwest born and bred…but are creating their own expat lives. I have to fight my strong urge to join them overseas! </p>
<p>tsdad lives in Madison. Barrons went to school here, lives elsewhere, though is certainly still enamored of the place!</p>
<p>Please keep me posted about your NYC visit - maybe I can join you.</p>
<p>I had lunch with Golfingmom when I went to the frozen tundra on a business trip in December. We are planning to go to a half marathon together in June if we can get a lottery entry!</p>
<p>Jym was supposed to tell everybody that I look 10 years younger and 10 pounds thinner than I really am. But I’ll take “young and glamorous.” It was something she and I had in common! 
It was a lot of fun and I can’t wait for next time. We didn’t have any trouble finding things to talk about.</p>
<p>Re: being an ex-pat - In 20/20 hindsight, there are a lot of things that should have been done differently. I do believe that being an ex-pat in a larger city, where there are more English-speakers, and perhaps other Americans, would be a different situation than being in a small, “blue collar” town where foreigners are viewed with suspicion, no one speaks English, and you are the only ex-pat for miles around. It is also very different if you are with the government and have access to US doctors, dentists, schools, churches, stores, etc. Even some “minor” things like working for a company that provides orientation, cultural training, or translation assistance would have helped. </p>
<p>I don’t regret it - It was a wonderful opportunity for my H and kids. And I learned a lot, had my world-vision re-shaped, and eventually made some extremely close friends for life. We also eventually were able to do some wonderful traveling. But I went through some times of extreme loneliness and desperation and have no desire to repeat it any time soon.</p>
<p>And NYC’ers - we’re headed that way on Thursday!</p>
<p>You mean y’all went and had a real lunch instead of a hot dog and coke at Costco? Where else can you have lunch for $1.60? Clark Howard would not be happy with you!!</p>
<p>We went to Sweet Tomatoes. All in all, Clark wouldn’t be too upset. For the amount we ate, we probably came out even! (Actually, probably not true - we talked a lot more than we ate. But the ambience was worth the price difference.)</p>
<p>I hope you used a coupon at Sweet Tomatoes, then Clark would be happy. Now I know which Costco you were at! I was there after lunchtime; maybe I past the two of you in the aisles.</p>
<p>^^^^ Hahaha snowball! You are right about that. But, we did go to an “all you can eat” salad/pasta/soup/potato/bakery/dessert bar place. Is that close enough? Maybe Clark Howard won’t yell too loud. </p>
<p>And I am glad binx gve more details about her expat experience. It sounded quite interesting, but also challenging. I have great respect for her for making it through what she did. There was a time my h. was possibly going to be sent overseas, possibly to Brussels. That would have been interesting (I visited there with him and thoroughly enjoyed the visit and the chocolate!!) and at that time his co. did do a lot more for their expats then I think they do now. For me, it would have meant giving up my current career as I know it, and has I had built my referral base here over many years, it would likely have been impossible to recoup when we returned. To go from a self-employed professional person to “expat spouse” would have been a tough adjustment for me. I supposed I could have gone through the hassle of studying, taking an exam and getting a professional license over there (not sure what that would hane entailed, as here in the US it is done state by state) and working with the expat families, but it wasn’t what I was looking forward to doing. And while I speak some rusty, broken, limited French, my Flemish is, shall we say, nonesistent.</p>
<p>And binx, but of COURSE you looked 10 lbs thinner and 10 yrs younger than you are (how old are you?? ). I figured young and glamorous covered it all!!</p>
<p>Ahh-- crosspost!!! Yes, I’ve tried having a conversation in the food court at Costco. Not an easy feat! Too loud! I agree with Binx-- much nicer ambiance in Sweet Tomatoes. And, fwiw, I did look for a coupon before we went!! (no luck on a current one). Remind me , snowball, are you here in town too???</p>