Before completing this blog, I re-read my post on my first walk in Honduras. In between postings, we spent three years walking and biking around our neighbourhood in Gatineau, Quebec (COVID restrictions notwithstanding.) In Canada, there were no armed guards or tall security walls. Our house was at the far end of a cul-de-sac and the children roamed free; our eldest son learnt scooter tricks from the neighbours and picked up new street hockey skills. Skip ahead to Barbados where there are no longer red zones or security maps to consider. It is sunny all year round and we can see azure blue sea ..read more

It has been over three weeks and I am still pinching myself. We live in Barbados. We have a lovely house. We can swim in the pool in our backyard or walk to the beach and swim in the sea every day. Roosters and monkeys roam free on the side streets in our neighbourhood. The weather is pleasantly hot and the local people are generally nice and polite. What more could you ask for? It feels like the opposite of our first impressions when we landed in Honduras. Security On the house, the windows and doors do have bars and grills but this appears to be more for show than to actually ward off any gu ..read more

So, how do you feel about moving to the Bahamas, Botswana, Belize, Bermuda (triangle)…  that island in the Caribbean… Down south, the Caribbean, West Indies, The Lesser Antilles… where are you going again? I got all of these and more after our latest posting announcement to Barbados. We all have an image in our head: that lucky person sitting on a lounge chair under a palm tree looking at the azur blue of the ocean waves while sipping the frosty rum punch in the coconut turned bowl in their hand. It’s hard to imagine but we are going to live where people go to escape for their once in a ..read more

Drumroll, please! After a two year stint in Honduras, three years at home in Canada (during COVID), a thwarted departure for Mozambique, we are now posted to…  Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies, The Caribbean. A new chapter begins. Adventure awaits. . Bridgetown: Ten years ago, my boyfriend and I took a one week cruise tour around several islands in the Caribbean with his parents (now my in-laws.) On the cruise, we ate too much at the 24 hour buffet, swam in the outdoor pool atop of the boat and saw a sliver of tropical island beach paradise. The last stop of the cruise was Bridgetown, Ba ..read more

Ssh! I have a secret to tell, but I don’t want it to taint our relationship. Argh!! I might as well blurt it out: We applied to go on another posting! I have very mixed feelings about all of this. The pain and disappointed of not going to Mozambique is still raw. At the same time, we are very happy and feel content with our home routine here in Gatineau. The kids like their school and we hang out with old friends regularly (Covid restrictions notwithstanding) and have also made new connections with people in our neighbourhood. But the travel bug is in our blood and there is the possibility tha ..read more

Introduction In June of 2019, I travelled to Havana, Cuba with a group of young adults who were participating on a school exchange from Montreal, Canada. I was a volunteer for ARO International, a non-profit organization which organizes cultural experiences for high school students in Cuba, Costa Rica and Peru. The goal of the project is that teenagers participate in daily life in the host country and practice speaking Spanish through full immersion. Instead of staying in an all inclusive hotel, the participants slept in a dorm room with basic bunk beds, cold showers and no-flush toilet. We at ..read more

There are so many different ways of getting around. The most recent frontier is Space Tourism with the likes of Jeff Besos with Amazon and Branson with Virgin Atlantic. I prefer a much slower mode of transportation; the bicycle. This fuel efficient method of transportation has accompanied me in various ways over the years. I have fond childhood memories of riding on the back of the tandem bicycle with my mother. My engineer father handily modified the two seated bicycle so that I could reach the pedals whilst sitting behind my mum. As a family, we explored Quebec, Vermont, and Maine during org ..read more

Let’s go to Delmi’s house! The kids were excited at the prospect of a ride in the car and I was curious to see where and how our housekeeper lived- in an upstairs/downstairs Downton Abby kind of way. The drive was just over 30 minutes by car. Usually, Delmi travels by bus to work at our home, this can take her up to two hours depending on connections and traffic. Steep hike Once we arrive at the rustic village on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Delmi instructs us to park our car on the side of the dusty dirt road. Together, we hiked the rest of the way by foot since the cobblestone path is too s ..read more

April 2021 In late April 2021, we received news of a new adventure: my husband would be posted Maputo, Mozambique, in Southeastern Africa. We were so excited! At night, I dreamed of family safaris where we would spot lions and wild elephants. In the day, I imagined an African Quinta Bella, a nice house with many bedrooms, a pool, a nanny, and the luxury of help in the home.  We would be living by the beach. Discovering a new country. Tasting new foods. Learning a new language… At the same time, there was so much to do. Having learnt from past experience from our posting in Honduras with a ..read more

I have the privilege to be included amongst the authors who contributed to this compilation of stories which narrate the different ups and downs of life as a diplomatic spouse. If you like what you have read so far on the blog, please encourage us by purchasing the book Spouses of the World: Bullets Dodging Behind Diplomatic Glamour, available worldwide through Amazon. Click here  The post Hot off the Press appeared first on A Diplomat's Wife ..read more