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A review by lolabrigita
Vodka and Apple Juice: Travels of an Undiplomatic Wife in Poland by Jay Martin
4.0
Jay Martin and her husband Tom give up their comfortable public servant life in Canberra to pack up and move to Warsaw for three years, so Tom can live out his dream of being an Australian diplomat. The hours are long for him, the experience isolating for them both and it puts a strain on their marriage.
However, Jay is the ideal expat. She’s gone from working full-time in a senior role to becoming a ‘diplomat’s wife’. Rather than lamenting her lack of work, she sees the opportunity of this time abroad as a career break and instead throws herself headfirst into her new life – learning the extraordinarily difficult Polish language, making Polish friends, travelling around to spots not often visited by tourists and eventually writing about this new country that becomes her temporary home.
It’s not all sunshine and puppy dogs tails (what life is?) but her ability to pull herself out of the ruts she finds herself in is commendable (although sometimes she assisted with the help of well meaning, yet frank close friends).
Told with good humour, this is a really interesting insight into both the expat experience, the life of a diplomat and Polish culture as a whole.
Read more here https://www.birdgehls.com/australian-books-2018/
However, Jay is the ideal expat. She’s gone from working full-time in a senior role to becoming a ‘diplomat’s wife’. Rather than lamenting her lack of work, she sees the opportunity of this time abroad as a career break and instead throws herself headfirst into her new life – learning the extraordinarily difficult Polish language, making Polish friends, travelling around to spots not often visited by tourists and eventually writing about this new country that becomes her temporary home.
It’s not all sunshine and puppy dogs tails (what life is?) but her ability to pull herself out of the ruts she finds herself in is commendable (although sometimes she assisted with the help of well meaning, yet frank close friends).
Told with good humour, this is a really interesting insight into both the expat experience, the life of a diplomat and Polish culture as a whole.
Read more here https://www.birdgehls.com/australian-books-2018/