Hi. I’m Edna Expat, new correspondent from Across the Seas.I’m a native squeaker of Hamster, fluent squeaker of Gerbil, with a humanities degree in Gerbil Studies. During my graduate work I met and married Dr. Hubs, a foreigner and STEM fielder who landed a T/T job in his native country. While ABD I joined Dr. Hubs Across the Seas, and since my defense I have been teaching Rodent Communications, in Hamster, to native squeakers of Capybara.
For Dr. Hubs this place has proven a pretty good fit, but for me it has been a twisted and bumpy ride that has left me at quite a remove from the Gerbil Studies generalist position in which I envisioned myself as a gradflake.
The Crampicle et. al occasionally tout a stint abroad as a way to keep the shitstorm of the North American job market at bay while girding one’s loins in preparation for another shot at the Big Time. In my revolving circle of expat friends, I have seen this strategy work, and I have also seen it fail, sometimes very badly.
Certainly Dr. Hubs and I are lucky to be employed, reasonably happily, at the same institution, wherever in the world it happens to be. We don’t have immediate plans to pull anchor and sail to parts unknown. But still, many miseries known to CM readers remain constant here Across the Seas. Others, too, are unique, or at least more common, among expat proffies.
What I aim to offer to the intrepid readers of CM is a candid take on expat misery from my post at the frontier of global academe. I’m excited and honored to join you.
Can't wait to hear more! Welcome.
ReplyDeleteDarla
welcome aboard!
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Edna! I'm looking forward to hearing more of the perspective from across the seas.
ReplyDeleteawesome to have you here!
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Edna, to the Thunderdoooooooome. Or something.
ReplyDeleteWelcome. We like to keep things infernal here.
ReplyDeleteClose readers of my posts in the past may have managed to gather that I too, am an expat. I've got stuff to tell from various angles from various institutions in various countries. Most of my bitching here is about my American online job, but I wear other hats as well. Let's compare notes. Looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the CM world. I, too, am an expat TO America. :o) It'll be fun to see how your experiences turn out. Hopefully, this also gives you a sense of community while away.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the warm welcome! Looking forward to getting to know you all through common misery.
ReplyDeleteFound this when I was working on my own site ("Expat Edna") - just wanted to say hi because I love meeting another American Edna abroad! (so far this makes three of us.)
ReplyDelete