Guides for prospective expat wives!

If you to become an expat wife in Africa you gotta be more social than usual, that's the key! If you were born to be a natural social butterfly you obviously will be just fine. But if you are like me somehow reserved and observative, to be social is a task!!!! Trust me, this is where experience talks:)

So first place to start socializing is the school! Do not waste anytime, start making friends, next day you would definitely be invited over a coffee or drinks! It is not only you who is in that situation there are more expat wives out there who are also in your shoes:) Do not be shy, just go for it! If there is a Parent Association, do not waste anytime volunteer and be a member!

Second place would be the gym; if you are a gym bunny like me, find a gym or studio where you get to meet lots of people like you. After the class people all go to have a coffee break. Actually, I believe this is behind the scene reason, with few exceptions, people join these classes, seriously:) If you move to Karen area just go through my old postings you will find gym names:)

Go shopping especially grocery! Quite a number of my friends told me they met at Nakumat (grocery chain). Ok, I am never the one who like to chat at the lane, but sometimes you do whatever it takes to talk! You cannot imagine, how quickly you will make friends, there are people who just wait to talk to you:)

This one is going to be tricky, but if yo can afford (country clubs are ridiculously expensive here!), become a country club member. There are plenty of them in town, Karen Country Club, Muthaiga Country Club and Windsor Country Club. Clubs offer lots of entertainments and charity events, perfect place to meet and greet, just little costly though:)

Of course if you are lucky enough to find a job, it will be much easier, job environments tend to be social naturally, after long waiting hours in traffic you may not want to be more social anyway!

Do card game nights, this is fun and social. As far as I know, people are loving this idea.Only problem is people rather do not drive at night, so you gotta to know people close to your place.

If you can, make sure to search for your new home and ask around. If you have kids and want them to play outside, compounds are good choices. I have lots of friends who first lived in a single home than just becase of that reason they moved into a compound where there are other houses with children. Happy kids happy mom. And by the way one of the best thing in living here, is children get to play outside freely and they are loving it:)