Ex-pat, what is that?

Here's a view from the end of a trail we hike near our house. Amazing isn't it?

Well, its taken me forever to get back here. I've been swamped in work and family stuff: house-hunting, loan securing, birthday party planning. Anyway, I've been wanting to write about this topic for a while.

We're renting this great old house in a wonderful neighborhood. The previous tenants had to move out because there just wasn't enough room for themselves and their 4(!) kids. We still keep in touch with them and just the other day one of them refered to us (and themselves) as ex-pats. It really struck me because I've never considered myself an ex-pat. Maybe its because I wasn't born in the US so I've never considered myself a "pat" to begin with, though I did get my US citizenship in 2000. That was just so I could vote, what little good it did me. Also, Canada doesn't seem different enough or far enough away from the US for us to qualify as ex-pats.

I remember visiting Prague in the early 90's and meeting some ex-pats there in a bookshop. They are what I would consider real ex-pats. Living far away from the US in a different culture where they speak a different language. And living in a really cool city to boot. I guess technically we did this, my husband and I, when we lived in Copenhagen, Denmark for a year. That visit was temporary though and to me being an ex-pat means moving somewhere permanently. I was also not a US citizen when we lived in Denmark which was fortutitous. My husband was on a student visa and would not have been able to bring a US wife, but since I am an EC citizen they let me stay (and work). The immigration people said we had a "mixed marriage"??? Both WASPs, but DH's family emmigrated to the US before mine did.

Anyway, I'm getting used to the label of ex-pat. Its growing on me.