Author: anoceanaway_ireland
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Travel tips for families: part 2
A few days ago I gave you my best travel tips, and now I want to share some thoughts on Asian holiday locations with kids. This list is, of course, totally subjective, and opinions change wildly depending on the age of your kids, who you’re traveling with (friends, ayis, grandparents, or just the core fam),…
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Travel tips for families: part 1
After three and a half years and over 60 flights(!) with kids, we’ve become efficient with our travel process. I wanted to share a few tips I find helpful when flying/traveling with little ones, as well as some places we loved with kids, and some I recommend avoiding until the kids are older. This is…
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Highlights from our travels in Asia
As our time as expats winds down, I can’t help but think of all our adventures throughout Asia during our three years here. Below are some of my favorite shots from some of the coolest sites we saw. I will have a “best of” post coming soon, with details of our favorites places to take…
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International Women’s Day 2019
This post originally appeared on Shanghai Mamas. Happy Women’s Day, Mamas! March 8th marks the 110th International Women’s Day, and countries like China are celebrating with lectures, lunches, and sometimes even work holidays for women. In the last decade, International Women’s Day has become a lot higher profile as we continue to fight for women’s…
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A snapshot of Shanghai
Shanghai is both brand new and incredibly old-world at the same time. These are images culled from our time here in this amazing Chinese city.
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Shanghai Mamas blog post: A time for reflection
Below is a piece I wrote for Shanghai Mamas. If you are a mama in Shanghai and haven’t yet joined the Shanghai Mamas tribe, now is your chance! Head on over to their site and check out all the great events they put on and the advice they have for expat moms. We are coming…
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Resolutions: the start of year three
Last week marked the two-year anniversary of our arrival in Shanghai. So much in our lives has changed since that first lonely week in our new home. We returned from a summer in the US and easily settled back into the school/ayi/work/activities life we had carved out for ourselves over the past two years. Everything…
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Abroad in Australia
I started this blog to talk to moms in Shanghai who are in a similar situation as me—away from family and friends, potentially for the first time, and trying to figure out how to make a life for themselves in a totally foreign land. After a year and a half meeting friends from all over…
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The holiday hurry-up
The end of the year always brings with it the anticipation of family holidays, the rush to see friends at holiday parties, and the excitement of opening presents with little ones. As an expat, I feel a need to hurry up and get into the holidays even more than I did when I lived at…
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Happy birthday, son
My son is 2 today. I simultaneously feel that he has been a part of my life forever and yet I am still overwhelmed every time I realize that the little boy calling me mommy is looking squarely at me. He looks to me for everything—from the moment he wakes up and wants to start…
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1 year in
Yesterday was our one-year anniversary of living in Shanghai. I thought it would feel more momentous somehow, and it ended up being just another day. But I think that’s good. I think it means I have finally stopped thinking of myself as someone who just moved here, and instead look at my life here as…
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Saving “mianzi”
When I first moved to Shanghai, I was so excited to be connected with a woman around my age and in my neighborhood who could introduce me to Shanghai. We’ll call her Alexa. Alexa was bubbly, always ready to offer tips on places to buy food, take the kids to play, and where to go…
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Abroad for the second time: what a repeat experience means for a Shanghai ex-pat.
When you live abroad, you encounter people at all different stages of life. This type of lifestyle lends itself to a more adventurous person, and many of people I meet are on their second, third, or even fifth ex-pat assignment. For those with multiple countries under their belt, the prior experiences can really shape what…
An Ocean Away 