Happy Christmas to one an all, especially to all you expat readers who are either scattering across the globe for the Christmas holiday, welcoming family to your far flung location or, for any of you reading this in 2020, feeling utterly homesick and peed off.
Here’s a little Expat Christmas Carol to get you into the Christmas spirit. It’s set to the tune of We Three Kings with Lagos, Istanbul, Johannesburg and Hong Kong inspired verses.
We four Expats travel afar
Metro, funicular, airplane, car
Veldt and fountain, desert and mountain
Always seeking the next bright star
Chorus
Glo-bal nomads we wander, eyes alight
Life of adventure and cultured delight
Potholes and roadblocks
Snakes and electric shocks
Running to catch the next flight
Lagos
First we lived in The Centre of Excellence
Lagos is chaos, frustration immense
Monsoon, Harmattan, FourOneNine, golden sand
Dashing’s a constant expense
Istanbul
Then we moved to famed Istanbul
History and food all part of the pull
Mosque and minaret, Bosphorus very wet
Of baklava we were full
Johannesburg
Then our family moved to S.A.
They say Jo’burg’s dodgy, it’s really okay
City of Gold, vibrant and bold
Sunny almost every day
Hong Kong
Now we live in humid Hong Kong
It’s hot and it’s sweaty, you’re armpits might pong
Dim sum and typhoon, mid day gun fired at noon
may your noodles always be long
Merry Christmas to one and all
Our travels are far and our tales are tall
Expat life, is larger than life
Explore the world, have a ball
2020
2020 arrived with a bang
we partied hard, rejoiced and sang
then came Covid, a year most horrid
We remember 2019 with a pang.
Chorus Oo-oh nomads we wander, eyes alight
our home countries far out of sight
Potholes and roadblocks
Snakes and electric shocks
It’s a rollercoaster, hold tight
Don’t know the tune of We Three Kings? Listen to the famous King’s College Choir, Cambridge singing it here. Alternatively, check out our 12 Days of South African Christmas here or discover our theory on Santa’s Secret Hideaway here.
Where are you living and what verse would you add?
Expatorama 