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Pata Pata - what’s that about?

Julien
Julien

Back in 2006, I became fascinated with blogging and started sharing my experiences as an exchange student in an eastern European country. I was 22, fresh out of my sheltered provincial life and had just flown an airplane for the first time. I could not put two words of English together, yet somehow had this urge to tell the whole world about my life. I kept at it, diligently, for a good three or four years afterwards. Fast-forward to 2020, I have lived in half a dozen countries, traveled to a couple dozen more, I’m raising a third culture kid and I’ve stopped writing entirely. Life got in the way and I grew tired of this frenetic quest to share more, always more, online. For a time, privacy on the internet felt like an afterthought. It was overlooked, even frowned upon. The social media landscape then changed and I realized, albeit too late, how precious leading a private life can be.

Pata Pata is my new blog. It's the place where I will try to make sense of thoughts I didn't take time to process. The place where I can write about memorable moments, intriguing realizations and interesting finds. And it's also my attempt at rebuilding my old writing habits, but this time without compromising my privacy as much. Mostly it will just be a dad mumbling about all sort of things, regularly but not frequently. As a cliché Millennial, my passions and interests are broad, I can't help it, I constantly jump from one topic to another. However on this blog, I will try narrow my focus for clarity's sake. Here is what you can expect to read about here in the coming months:

Lifestyle: Living abroad (global nomadism, remote working), parenting (third culture kids, multilingualism), travelling (flashpacking), food discoveries and cultural experiences.

Professional interests: Environment, climate crisis, international development, science communication.

Personal interests: Photography, social media apps, saving and investing, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, language learning.

パタパタ ー Pata Pata


For those of you wondering, pata pata (パタパタ) is a Japanese onomatoepia used to describe the gentle sound of air or light footspets. Somehow it was one of my daughter's first words. She uses it when food is too hot and wants me to flip a piece of paper or a book over it to cool it down. A good metaphor for what I want to achieve with this blog, cooling and slowing things down and take the time needed to enjoy them.

MumblerWandererTreehuggerDaddologyFoodology

Julien

Daddy apprentice, global wanderer, chronic hugger. Hungry Frenchie living in Beirut.