30

Why do you not want to be judged being Dutch ? I consider the Netherlands a guide in anything, most of it politics (exception lately). Combines the rules of the north with bending them from the south...

31

I am from Traverse City, Michigan, USA. I live in the Cherry Captial. This is a beautiful part of the world on the shores of Lake Michigan (unsalted).

Got ya beat Tony, 68¾.

I also complain about posters not telling us what country they are from. It should be a requirement when you register. Many times it help to write a reply when you know where they are coming from.

32

cgbleak - let's have a drink together

Regards, will you be attending the International Jewel Thieves Convention too? Or are you just in the area? I'm afraid that unless you're an attendee, I'll have to take a rain check. Based on the literature provided by the organizers, this will be the best convention ever, chock-full of exciting new products and stimulating seminars! I will personally be presenting a paper tentatively titled "Transgressing the Eternal Feminine: A Mapping of Postmodern Methods for Attracting the Elderly Female Target." A bit unwieldy, but the selection committee likes those long titles with lots of jargon. Look for it, you could learn a lot!

Italian, aged 75, of course

I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of making your acquaintance. And what a lovely emerald brooch. Pre-war, I’d venture to guess. Did your mother leave it to you? Grandmother, maybe? It certainly brings out the green in your eyes....

33

I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of making your acquaintance.

You're right. (A) few people would maintain that making my acquaintance has not been a pleasure.

Inter-war, not pre-war. Unfortunately the emerald was lost years ago, but as it was a former fiancé's present, I was not that annoyed. And I can still use the brooch to hold me together.

34

Great thread idea, MTL.

Born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, moved to Colombia with my family when I was nine, moved back to Fort Lauderdale two years ago at 17 and just returned to Colombia to live here for six months while I wait for my first year of college to begin. My dream is to live as in expat in France, but we all know how hard that is...

35

#34 It's interesting how many USAnians dream of living in France.

Ansh, nope, I'm not a "native" Canadian. It's simply the easiest way for me to identify myself on internet forums (fora, for you pedants out there) and I have a Canadian accent in English, not in French.

Cgbleak, I think you should stick to having a drink with Regards. Any "elderly female target" will wipe you all over the floor the moment you start transgressing anything.

36

cgbleak - No, I have nothing to do with any event or congress in MC but I am between two and three times per week there. So if you have the time (I have without problems) we can drink one (or two) on the top of the oceanographic museum for example - or in the underground of the train station, or somewhere between. If Tony is in the aerea with pleasure we can split a bottle between us as he like very much this country and he's the 'major key cut age'

37

What a nice thread!

Well as most of you already know i'm Belgian. I was born and raised in Antwerp where i still live and have lived most of my time in this country, sometimes labeled as surrealistic.
My experience of living abroad is limited to one year living in Sweden, but that was back in 1980-81 and i was 4 years older than Ansh when i left. So now you should know my age ;-)

My most cherished travel memory is a 3 months backpacking trip in Central America in 1994. Oh how i loved it. There was no internet and there were no cell phones. I only knew where i'd start and where i would fly back from. No rushing, no planned itineraries, no schedules and no bookings of course. Only total freedom and i never knew how long i would stay somewhere, it could be a day or a week or more.

This thread confirms what i have suspected since a very long time, this branch is full of expats. Just a few days ago i was thinking how few French people for example are here (i know of one half-French and maybe two French who come once in a while) but several expats living in France.

38

Artemis -- I think many French are not so confident in their use of English, so they probably stick to French-language forums.

Actually, I don't consider myself an expat. To me, that implies someone who is living/working abroad for a certain length of time but who intends to return to their home. France is my home, although over the years I have become convinced that you cannot become French if you haven't gone to school here. I did attend French university classes when I first arrived, but wasn't impressed. I believe it has improved since.

39

I would'nt say France is my home. I would say Europe (EU) is my country, my home is in the french part.

40

Thanks for the explanation, bjd.

41

Born and lived most of my life, so far, in southern Finland (Porvoo/Borgå and Helsinki/Helsingfors), two years in Denmark (Århus), currently on my second year in Spain (Girona). Best trip by far, so far, a camping safari in Botswana.

42

Yes sir! Great thread!

Nice to know who your neighbors are.

"Great minds think alike."

43

Stomping cockroaches ? But I learned the hard way in Guatemala a decade ago their friends come to the funeral ! (and it s not a myth !)

44

MTL, interesting post and you've even managed to humanise some of the previously inscrutable contributors here...))

I'm Irish by birth but have lived in England and Paris (briefly) so possibly a little Anglo by contamination...

Commenced my love affair with Europe while inter-railing and busking/singing my way around the continent in another lifetime when Inter-Rail covered most of the landmass and not just separate zones...

Have worked or done business in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy and Czech Republic...still travel whenever possible, sometimes in conjunction with work and mostly in Central and Eastern Europe...speak some German and mediocre Irish, French and Russian...and, erm, currently "romancing" in Austria and Czech Republic, apparently...

grew up here, still live here. Never lived more than 35 km away.

Anita, I hope by that you mean Munich and not TT...))

I also complain about posters not telling us what country they are from. It should be a requirement when you register.

Louis, If I'm not wrong this was a requirement in the late lamented TT3?...I think the opt-out was to enter ThornTreeWorld or something like that...ring any bells?...

I will personally be presenting a paper tentatively titled "Transgressing the Eternal Feminine: A Mapping of Postmodern Methods for Attracting the Elderly Female Target."

Craig, best of luck with your presentation but I wouldn't take the acquiescence of those "little old ladies" for granted...I was in town earlier today and noticed that the "Golden Girls" from the local retirement home were having their annual day-out...however, it would appear that they consumed a little too much sherry on the bus while listening to some old Vera Lynn tapes as having commandeered a water-cannon from an adjacent military barracks they had corraled a detachment of police and army into a cul-de-sac and were giving them an almighty broadside augmented by canisters of tear-gas and the occasional Molotov Cocktail...even more shocking was that some of the accompanying language was of a rather robust nature...

I'd tread softly if I were you, old boy...