Me clueless? Never!

When I first moved to Germany, I was nineteen, young, naive and well a bit clueless at times. I remember one of my first arguments with my husband and his friends was at a student party. They were all German and started talking about the evils of the Vietnam war and how bad America was. I felt like they were attacking my country and well ..... they were. I began arguing with them, defending America and saying ridiculous things (I honestly am embarrassed thinking back). They laughed and kept mentioning we lost the war. I kept saying we didn't and I wasn't listening to them.

History books were dusted off, and I read different versions of my countries history, and I felt stupid and uninformed. It took a long time for me to back down and admit that I was wrong and being silly and overly defensive.

I think this was one of my first big arguments with my husband and it was a big learning moment for me. I have gotten used to re-thinking my opinions and views. Just yesterday, someone accused me of being one sided, not seeing the full picture. Maybe I fall into that trap sometimes, we all do.

One of the beauties of expat life is that you can step back and look at your country and find things out you didn't realize before. I wish everyone could have these experiences and live abroad once in their lives. As hard as it is at times, it is an eye-opening experience, and it reminds me that there is still so much to learn. Yes, I still have my clueless moments and my teenage kids make sure I remember this.

—Allison Ochs Social Worker M.S.W. , Coach, Expat, Mother of three, Wife