An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence. The word comes from the Latin term expatriātus from ex ("out of") and patriā the ablative case of patria ("country, fatherland"), from Greek Exo (outside) and Patrida (Fatherland, Country).
In its broadest sense, an expatriate is any person living in a different country from where he or she is a citizen. In common usage, the term is often used in the context of professionals sent abroad by their companies, as opposed to locally hired staff (who can also be foreigners). The differentiation found in common usage usually comes down to socio-economic factors, so skilled professionals working in another country are described as expatriates, whereas a manual labourer who has moved to another country to earn more money might be labelled an 'immigrant'. There is no set definition and usage does vary depending on context and individual preferences and prejudices.
I have come to the conclusion that I must be one of those people who is prejudiced. At least in my mind an expat has always been someone working for a large business is a country other than his own. On the other hand, the writers and artists who lived in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s seemed to be called expatriates too. So who knows.
Today I went with one of the women whom I met at Church to join a group of moms whose children are enrolled in the International School here. We went to some Asian food markets. Small stores around the square by Hameentie. It happens to be just across the river or lake from us. Really convenient for me.
I am glad that I went although I only hung out with the people for an hour. I splurged and bought a couple of packages of ramen noodles. It is nice to know that there is a place close by that I can get them if Earl gets a craving for soup. And there were "subtitles" in English everywhere, including on the packaging. Ooooh. So nice.
The people were very nice. One woman's husband is at the US embassy. They had recently been in Manila. Another's husband is here to run an airline that is a subsidiary of Finn Air. Don't think any of them are hard up. But they all seemed to be into cooking. However, all of them said that they did not have an oven big enough to cook a turkey in. Nor do we.
Earl was told by someone that we are expected to host the Fulbrights for Thanksgiving. Groan. So not my thing. Which is crazy because before we left the US other people told us that we do not need to do that just because other people have done it in the past. One alum told us he cut a frozen turkey in half to get it in the oven. One of the women today said that a friend just kept everything warm by putting all of the food in her sauna. That I did think was funny. Oh BTW, she had cooked it first. She also calls the oven in her apartment an Easy-bake oven. Ours is just a little larger than the microwave oven. And we do not have a sauna in our apartment.
Earl is off to Grenoble. I think I might stay in bed and read for 4 days. I am washing the sheets so it should be a comfortable clean bed! :)
Next week the group of women I went shopping with this morning are going to the Arabia china factory. It costs 4 Euros to go but I understand that they give you a 20% off coupon to use the same day. I simply cannot even imagine buying anything. How would I get it home?
However, much to my grief today, I discovered that I won't be taking home my pink raincoat. The lining is tearing. I guess it has lasted me for more than 4 years. What more can I ask of it? It doesn't free up a lot of space in my suitcase. My new rubber boots for the rain and slush will more than take up the room it leaves.
Now where am I going to get those cute boots? And am I going to stop reading for awhile and go buy them while Earl is in France? :) I wish someone could come shopping with me.
The problem with the boots is that once you have seen the ones that are lined, it is really hard to even consider the ones that are not. And most of them will end up being $70 to $90. Ugh. Will I wear them in Utah? Probably not. I will need to go do the Washington seminar again or visit Chasity during Hurricane season.
Here Leanna and I are in the fall of 2007. The same pink rain coat/jacket that I am still wearing. On this occasion we are visiting the chateau at Fontainebleau, just outside of Paris. It has really been a good coat. It had better make it until next spring.
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