Writer, EFL teacher, trainer, and translator, I was born in Tanzania, have lived in a dozen countries over three continents, and describe myself as an ‘expatriate sin patria’. Wherever I go I make it my business to learn the language, get to know the local people and customs, and discover the country’s remotest corners. I became interested in writing in mid-2006, did a short Open University creative writing course and a Writers’ Bureau course, and began getting articles published in 2007.

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Our youngest was two when we arrived in Barbados. We spent five weeks in a hotel, house-hunting. She was like a Labrador pup: on three occasions in our first couple of days we happened to be walking past the hotel pool and she just leapt in – and I leapt in after her. The third time her hat was floating on the surface and she was at the bottom of the deep end. After that her armbands became a part of her daily attire – she was not allowed to leave the hotel room without them on. My priority became swimming lessons, and she swam well before she was three.

We found a house called Xanadu.

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This unpacking is revealing some amazing stuff. Just found my university finals question papers from 1977 - typewritten. Now tell me how this question (which I circled and so presumably answered successfully, but which reads about as clearly as Mandarin to me now) has helped me in my life over the last thirty-one years:

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You can see my 'move in the snow' photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86103&l=0c19d&id=664241054

Tomorrow our boxes arrive from Uruguay! All 125 of them! And what am I looking forward to having?

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So, how come Paola's blogging has practically ground to a halt? See here for the answer: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76348&l=4086c&id=664241054

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takataka (Swahili): rubbish

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Trámites is a wonderful Spanish word, one of the first I learnt when I moved to Uruguay. It means stuff that needs to be done – boring paperwork, red-tape procedures, that sort of thing. And I can’t find a precise translation in English, or, more to the point, in French. My life seems to be one big trámite at the moment.

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Goodbye, friends, from Montevideo. I somehow doubt that I will be able to produce anything interesting from my next home, but I promise I shall try! Thank you all for your support and friendship during all this first stage of blogging. xx

A truly moving moment today. My circle dance people organised a party and asked me to invite my closest friends.

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