I was and am a expat aswell. I lived in Indonesia for 6 years and I now live in Angola. I loved it and congratz! I hope this book inspires others to go further than the next town or city. It  was truly interesting and it made me realize that I should quit moaning and enjoy the ride.

congratz and best of luck to u

congratz ^ ^, wish best of luck to you

Well done!

Congrats!
Should've joined this project...Ugh!
But anyways, YAY!

congrats:)

Just want to say congratulations!!!

OH WOW!! WE WON!!! YAY =]=] my dream is fullfilled. at 15!!! WOOOOO!!!! lmao

congratulations!  the best of luck to you!

Congrats!!!!

Congratulations! I hope that this is one of many successful books.

SUPER

I think the concept for the book is super!

Well written.  The format on the entry I am reading is a bit hard on the eyes...but I really like the idea behind this work, and the conversational style it is written in.

you got my vote!

this is a great project. thumbs up!

i hope this goes out there. saint helena needs the tourism.

I hope this very interesting and well written book is submitted for voting this cycle.  It did well last time.  Don't give up!

WHERE ON EARTH IS SAINT HELENA is posted now. i thought you guys might be intrested to see this from a 15 year olds point of view.

where on earth is saint helena? is coming soon. i wonder if anyone can tell me where it is before i post it?

Hey gang, wondering if we are forging ahead?! Feed back please!

its not bad but needs work but
keep it up.... n read n rate mine pleaz

I never really got the picture, either. I can see Revel's point about not paying attention to people who actually "settle", but that's splitting a fine hair between "ex-pat" and "immigrant". You're basically saying that if you spend two years working in a foreign country, you're not an "ex-pat". Granted, your point about why people leave their contries might be interesting, and there is a bit too much of whining (guilty), but if you want pretty pictures and glowing reports, there's tourist books. I think each author should go back to their submission and reassess for themselves if it is a detailed accurate picture of what they experienced. If it is, even whining should be allowed. If every author wrote their whole experience and reasons for having it, the book would be WAY too long!!

Good Luck, Hon!!
           Joyce

Well writtten. This piece on the bus system in Tanzania really brought out the atmosphere of the African day to day culture.

I love to travel and all of the stories are interesting.  I think if you had a better title for your book you would do a lot better, also next time use a travel picture on the front.  Anyway just a thought.  I wanted to add a couple stories here myself.  Maybe next time.  I think this book is really good!

Having lived in Asia and elsewhere-- I think it is a much deserved investigation.

Revel did submit an article. It was rejected. It is still in the "limbo" of "rejected" where even Revel can not erase it.

I think it's great.  Revel's points are valid -- this doesn't really cover the viewpoint of people who have chosen to settle outside of their home countries permanently.  (Though I don't think there's any need to be disdainful of people who spend a year or a handful of years working and living abroad!)  It's too bad Revel didn't submit an article to this collection!  As it is, I think it's a great exploration of living abroad, and a more in-depth look at what it means to adopt another country as your own permanently could be done in another book.

It's amazing that we travel at all!

Disagreements about the title aside, I think the collection is engaging.

Interesting project.  Good Luck!

Brilliant idea for a book!

Nice work on this project everyone.

It's fun. I lived in Korea forever. This is right up my alley.

Onward.

revel-arroway's first comment say it for me.  i having trouble with ex-pat journal vs. tales from abroad.  This is nothing against the writing, because there are some beautiful pieces, but they read more like stories or clips for extended travel experiences more than the life of an ex-pat.

Thanks.

Not complete.

peace,
revel.

Ooops, forgot to add....

It's just my point of view, but I firmly believe that copy editing should be thorougly done before a project is offered up for evaluation for publication. Some things might slip by, but copy editing is basic, not something that should be overlooked when asking readers to opine on the value of a work for being printed up. That's all!

peace,
revel.

Hey!

Tahrasep makes a good point in her last paragraph, something I was trying to get across as well. I mentioned one contribution that was so generalized as to be nearly false. I don't mean that the writer was making up his/her story, but rather was only sharing one small slice of life experience that might lead people to the wrong impression. Although there are still bullfights in Spain, going to see one, presenting it as a universal cultural aspect of the country, this might be an interesting anecdote but will not take into account that there are many many people who regularly demonstrate against bull fighting in Spain.

I think other points of view should be taken into account, within and in contrast to those offered in the personal essays grouped together in this project. Though the stories may be entertaining I don't think they contribute to a general understanding about why some of us do not live in the country where we were born, nor why some take a break from their homeland (unless they like self torture, which seems to be a general theme among the essays....)

peace,
revel.

I'm sure copy-editing will be done if it's chosen for publication.

It seems to be around 42,000 words, with at 300 appx a page will be about 140 pages. Is this long enough? I really do hesitate at the idea of it being under 200, depending on how much will be charged for the book.

As I do not have any expat experience, I cannot reflect the same way Revel does, but I've read a few of the pieces, and those that I remember were very thought-provoking.

However, if Revel feels that these do not properly reflect the expat experience, I do wonder if in the effort to submit projects for publication we will sacrifice quality that would have improved with more time for new submissions and editing.

Hey all!

I will first admit that I have not read all of the pieces that make up this project. Most probably because reading on the computer screen is not the same as reading on paper. In many cases because the essay in question did not pique my interest. In general because I didn’t care for the overall direction that most of the essays took: anecdotes about how hard it is to live somewhere else, some with a twist of warning the unwary, others seemingly just detailed whining sessions.

The entire work needs to be copy edited. There are too many typos and verb tense shifts to get past even a high school composition teacher’s green pen. I can’t blame the 1st person singular use since most of the essays were meant to share personal experiences, nor can I blame its use just because I personally don’t care for it, but it became tiring.

The general structure of the collection is limiting. Though some of the essays were contributed by people who have actually left their lands of origin behind in favor of their new land, most of the essays seemed to focus on little knee scrapes that, thank the gods, became amusing dinner table stories once the writer got back “home”. Perhaps it’s my own personal definition of an expat that gets in the way here, but I can’t consider a month or a year away from “home” as actually being an expat but rather as a kind of sabbatical which makes the title of the collection a misnomer. There is so much more to relocating your life than just getting used to the transportation, getting what you want across to the natives, fitting into their culture, though those are, indeed, aspects of the experience. I also strongly disliked generalizations that began with “Everyone….” or “We all….” as if the personal anecdotes represent universal truths on the theme. I, myself, found that each of these generalizations were untrue in my own personal experience, but an unsuspecting reader would not always be able to identify such.

It is unclear if these essays were brought together to represent a kind of travel journal, a how to guide or just a “In my country….” listing of pet peeve contrasts. I didn’t find a real through line among the essays. Naturally, each essay came from the experiences of each writer but it seems that what ties them together is to let the reader know just how difficult it is to be an expat. Some readers might be discouraged from taking on the challenge despite the advice or the forewarnings included. Another bind that ties is that every writer went through his/her own “culture shock” but that concept is already well known and documented, nothing new there.

This collection needs to be expanded to include more than just the obvious. It needs to get beyond the initial moments of moving across the sea or the continent. It needs contributions from more writers who have chosen to change their environment for reasons that go beyond a temporary work opportunity or an accidental forced landing. There is one submission that simplifies and generalizes to the point of almost being untrue. There is too much frustration and not enough emotional satisfaction in having made the move. It lacks experience, leans too heavily on hindsight, tries too hard to be world weary and wise. I don’t mean to say that it’s not full of moments and feelings that can move the reader; I do mean to say that it has a long way to go before reaching a destination called “Expat Journal”.

peace,
revel.