Tag: Expat
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Going Dry in January.
Alcohol is integral to the lives of many Westerners. Northern Europeans especially love binge drinking and telling tales that start with “I was mortal…”. We use it to celebrate when we are happy and to drown our sorrows. People get paralytic at weddings. People get paralytic at funerals. Had a bad day? Have a beer.…
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Airports.
I (started to) write this while sitting in airport number 1 of the 4 I travel through before I get back to Newcastle. This first one is Brunei – then Kuala Lumpur – then Heathrow – then finally, Newcastle. It being Brunei there is no alcohol served in the airport so I’ve eaten a lasagne…
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How I ended up on a dot in the middle of the Pacific
I always had ambitions to travel. I remember being young and my parents (while they were still together) taking us to places while they tried to get visas for Australia. Aged 11, I remember my mam talking about nurses who’d emigrated to Saudi Arabia who earned a fortune working for people who had gold taps…
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The time I got more than I bargained for at the Malaysian border…
Kuala Lurah is an interesting place. It’s like the Asian version of the wild west. In Brunei it is illegal to gamble. To buy alcohol. To sell cigarettes 1km from a school. From where I live it is a 40 minute drive to the Malaysian border; to Kuala Lurah. The nearest town after the border…
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Can She Speak English?
Despite actually being English, I’ve finally come to the realisation, after many blank stares and “can you repeat that please?”s that English is in fact my second language. My first is Geordie. My first experience of this was when I bounded like a Labrador puppy into see all the young people I was going to…
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Virtual Jungle ‘Running’
This morning I was out walking – I’d love to say running but the only thing I’m running for in this heat is an ice cream van – cursing myself yet again that the only person I had to blame for this was myself. In a moment of “yay I’m gonna get fit” bullsh*t, I…
The Geordie Migrant 