Two Fat Expats

Where have you lived that you’ve been truly scared. What makes us scared? And why do we still agree to live there? Are our fears warranted and do we get over them? Where’s the scariest place you’ve lived and why? We spoke to Emma who has lived in London, Moscow, Jakarta and Houston. The scariest place she’s lived may just surprise you. We also heard from Teresa who said Haiti was.. Read More

In this episode of Two Fat Expats, we discuss what happens when your expat child heads off to University. Have you ever considered that your expat child may repatriate without you? What’s different about going to university for an expat child compared to a child who has stayed in their home country their whole life? We were very lucky to speak to Daniel an expat kid who moved to the.. Read More

Everyone suffers from the settling in blues, but what happens when they just never seem to fade? That feeling of arrival at the school gates with no definite person to stand next to. A blank space on the emergency contact list and yet another Saturday night when you’ve joined together with a bunch of people who seem so vastly different than you. We often talk of living the fat expat.. Read More

If you’ve lived in multiple locations the question invariably arises. “So which one was your favourite?” It’s a question so many expats have trouble answering. Being asked to choose your favourite location is a little like being asked to choose your favourite child. Often there is no one clear favourite, they were all good for different reasons. Maybe you were financially better off in the Middle East while your lifestyle.. Read More

Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Fat Expats. Today we discuss the subject of expat divorce and why an expat divorce is vastly different from an ordinary divorce in your home country. We heard from two women, both who have gone through divorce on what they learned, and what they would have done differently. We wanted to say thank you to Vanessa and Nicky, their stories showed what.. Read More

On today’s episode Kirsty and I discuss the thought of repatriation. Something neither of us has had to do but something that is always in the back of our mind. Why is going home such a scary thing to so many expats? What happens when we get home? What does it look like? Is it harder to make friends? Can we start again or do we just pick up where we.. Read More

In this episode of Two Fat Expats we chat about living inside an expat bubble. This article written by Alyssa Abkowitz from the Wall Street Journal focuses on expats need to live in an expat bubble. Kirsty talked about her recent trip to Dubai and being in the expat bubble because she was really just living her every day life. There is a huge difference between travelling through a country and.. Read More

In this episode we cover the sometimes taboo subject of sex. We have some hilarious stories to share this episode, so if you like a good laugh this is the one for you. In the Middle East, many websites are quickly blocked whenever you search anything sex related. Now though with VPNs and technology, finding sex online is much easier. That sexy book you’ve always wanted to read? You can now.. Read More

In this episode Kirsty and Sarah discuss the expat empty nest. What happens when your children go off to boarding school or university. Kirsty shared her personal story of getting ready to send her eldest daughter to boarding school in Australia. You can read more of Kirsty’s story on her blog. A lot of the discussion centered around other people’s reactions and perhaps the best way to deal with negative.. Read More

In this episode Kirsty and Sarah discuss stereotypes from different countries and what we as expats and travellers both love and hate about stereotypes in equal measure. This time last week in Australia, the Australian team won the world cup in cricket. The media focussed on two particular events in the press. Apart from the obvious win, and the ticker tape parade. During the game, the Australian wicket keeper put.. Read More

In this episode Kirsty and Sarah discuss all the things they miss from home. The longer you spend away from home the less material things you miss and you start to miss things like the smell of rain, the sunset in the country or the cicadas making a racket on a summer’s evening. It goes without saying that we miss the 3 Fs the most (family, friends and food). Kirsty.. Read More

In this episode, Kirsty and Sarah discuss the all important topic of international schooling and how to choose the right school for your child. Sarah’s daughter has only been at one school and they felt the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) was the right fit for them. Kirsty’s children have been through the British, Canadian and American curriculum. We covered it all this episode: curriculum, location, after school activities, school communication,.. Read More

Hello and welcome to Two Fat Expats. Episode 9 and Kirsty and Sarah are discussing the ugly expat…and we don’t mean looks! Once again the Mawuna Koutonin article made an appearance, this time in The Guardian. Kirsty and Sarah believe that everyone who lives and works overseas as a non-permanent resident should be called an expatriate regardless of race, colour or socioeconomic status. What are the bad stereotypes of an ugly.. Read More

In this episode Kirsty and Sarah discuss having babies and infertility in the expat world. Sarah and Kirsty come from different ends of the spectrum with Kirsty giving birth to 4 babies in different countries while Sarah has struggled with infertility issues and miscarriages. The first article we discussed was this one from the Wall Street Journal. A common theme among many expats giving birth and undergoing fertility treatment is.. Read More