The Expat Dilemma

While we've been here, we've met some really nice expats. For one reason or another, we've all found ourselves living in Paris. Some through HRC, some are friends of friends, others through expat groups. There are over 100,000 native English speakers living in Paris.

Saturday we went to an expat picnic in the park, we had a good time, even with the weather turned chilly. About 75 people turned out. I guess that's why this is on my mind...

The dilemma is this. While we cherish our French friends, the conversation comes with a tax. If we are speaking in French, I have the vocabulary of a three year old. If we speak in English, I'm monitoring myself to not use weird American lingo, and to use more periods than commas in my speech.

We have friends that made a decision to move over here, not just for a few years. They moved with the mindset of blending in, and not having the dreadful end-date that creeps up on you. They haven't gone the expat route because they wanted exclusively French friends. In fact, we are their only native English speaking friends.

But what French experience are we missing out on when we hang out with the expat crowd? I'm not sure, but I think we'd socialize less if we didn't have our expat friends. There is something interesting about the expats here. And since we started over here with no social network, going the expat route was fairly easy.

I guess after writing this it's not so much a dilemma. Just something I was thinking about.