Expat Matters
Learn the ins and outs of expat life from our experts.
And They Taste Just Like Chicken
Date: 06/29/2008 Author: Dan Prescher
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Merida, Mexico
Read more about living overseas in International Living Postcards—your daily escape
Suzan found our pet iguana this morning. I could tell by the way she screamed.
Iggy Pop was hiding behind the water softener in the pump room. He’d been in there a couple of days, apparently.
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Renovating My Old Colonial Home in Merida
Date: 05/06/2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Merida, Mexico
Read more about Mexico in International Living Postcards—your daily escape
As I mentioned before, we are in the process of renovating our colonial home in Merida.
The last few months, the house has been inhabited by a crew of Mayan workers from a small village a few hours from here. They spend the week working and living here. They cook on little makeshift fires on our terraces and sleep in hammocks hung in whichever room of the house suits them best. On Saturday afternoons, they go home to spend time with their families, and they return bright and early on Monday mornings to work.
Read OnThe 4 Cs
Date: 03/26/2008Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Get more expat advice in International Living Postcards—your daily escape
In almost eight years of living and working in Latin America, Suzan and I have developed a rating system for specific locations.
It’s called The Four Cs, and they are: Comfort, Convenience, Cost, and Culture.
Read OnThe Mexican Market That Rewards Gringos
Date: 02/24/2008Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008
Get more helpful expat advice in International Living Postcards—Sunday Edition
We all like having our biases affirmed…like when your doctor tells you that red wine is good for your heart.
Or when a local real estate expert tells you that you’re doing the right thing with your colonial-style home in Mexico.
Read OnGet Your Credit Card Provider to Pay YOU $25
Date: 02/18/2008Monday, Feb. 18, 2008
Get more expat advice in International Living Postcards—your daily escape
I hate the foreign transaction fees that banks charge when you use a credit card overseas, especially when the banks embed the fees in the exchange rate.
Like me, some lawyers and their clients decided these fees are abusive. They filed class action lawsuits against Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, and the banks that issue the cards. The court consolidated these class actions in 2001, and last year the lawyers cut a deal. In the settlement, the banks deny the claims and assert they did nothing wrong, improper, or unlawful. But they’ll pay up just to get rid of the lawsuit.
Read OnTechnology Helps Save Bad Son
Date: 01/30/2008
Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008
Waterford, Ireland
Get more expat advice from International Living Postcards—your daily escape
It’s hard to be a good son when you live abroad.
You can’t come over every Sunday for pot roast. You can’t shovel the sidewalk or offer to drive to the store when it’s snowing. Sometimes you can’t even get through on the telephone just to chat.
Read OnThe Best Place to Buy Plane Tickets (and Medicine…Wine…Cameras….)
Date: 01/27/2008Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008
Read more about retiring overseas in International Living Postcards—Sunday Edition
Buy your medicine in Argentina, glasses in Singapore, plane tickets in London, and cameras and computers in the United States. Buy French wine in France, Spanish wine in Spain, and Argentine wine in Argentina. Don't buy any wine at all in Thailand, where the government taxes the stuff at 400% or so.
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Why Panama Is Top of Our List
Date: 01/20/2008Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008
Read more about retiring overseas in International Living Postcards—Sunday Edition
After a couple of false starts (first, two years ago, when we came close to leaving Paris and Waterford for Panama…then again this past summer, when we nearly became full-time Dubliners), we’re on track again for relocation…to Panama. All indications are that this mission will launch, though I’ve learned from experience to remain open-minded and flexible.
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