Firstly, blogging can be very time-consuming and I was just busy doing other things. Settling in to my new life in Germany. But secondly I was concerned about privacy issues... How much of my private thoughts and photographs did I want floating around on the world wide web?! My boyfriend also pointed out that I need to be very careful what I say about my job - his view is I shouldn't mention my job at all. I can understand that... But it left me thinking, well what CAN I write about? And what sort of pictures CAN I put up? And in the end I just thought it was easier not to blog at all.
And thirdly I wasn't sure what my blogging voice should be and I thought that writing about day to day life could be a bit boring for readers. But after reading other expat blogs I was reminded how interesting the expat life is and there is actually a lot to write about. And us expats need to help each other out. If we learn something the hard way, why not write about it to stop someone else making the same mistake?
Anyway so I'm restarting my blog!
I've been living in Germany just over one year now. And I feel settled and happy here now. I still have moments of homesicknesses but they are getting less frequent.
I love German festivals- there always seems to something on- summer festivals, spring festivals, wine festivals, octoberfests, Christmas markets etc.
And I love the lakes. It was nice to have a proper Summer this year. Germany is a great place for cycling and I enjoy cycling trips here and the outdoorsey lifestyle. I love that I have met loads of new interesting people this year, and I feel proud of myself for surviving with a foreign language and doing so well.
I only ended up being unemployed for a month before I found a great IT job not too far from where we live. So now my commute is a dream! It only takes less than a half hour to get to work and when the weather is nice I cycle. I'm also really enjoying my new job! The work is interesting and my colleagues are very friendly.
Hi, I just saw you were following me and I thought I'd come visit you (so to speak). It's a funny thing, blogging. Most of my friends (actually, pretty much all of my friends) at home can't understand why I would want to do it. I started of doing it because I knew we were going to have a completely different experience as expats for however long it lasts, and I really wanted something to look back on and remember all the things we had done.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really think about the privacy aspect AT ALL, because I didn't reckon on anyone reading it. So I didn't change our names and I have put up photos of us all, and even mentioned S's place of work. Sometimes I regret that, but mostly it doesn't bother me.
But expat life is really interesting to other people. Mostly from what I can tell from my stats it's of interest to other expats. Everyone is in the same boat and everyone can learn from the experiences of others. And we all seem interested in each others stories. I have made some really good friends through blogging, and have even met other bloggers. I therefore think it's great that you have decided to restart your blog and I am sure you will be glad that you have. Good luck!
Fiona
hi Fiona,
DeleteThanks for your message! Yeah I definitely think the blog will be great to read back on in the future when I've forgotten everything. My memory seems to get worse and worse as I get older. And maybe nice for friends back home to read to learn a bit more about the expat life. You are great at updating your blog really often I notice! I am going to have to work on that.
I also noticed that the expat blogging world is like a little community and I would love to meet up with others sometime in the 'real world'!
Anyway, thanks for following! :-)
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