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Patrick Hall is a former IT professional, one of the back office minions who designed new systems, and made sure they worked right. Since leaving the formal world of working for a company, Patrick has pursued consulting for small businesses, serving on boards of Milwaukee area nonprofits, staying actively involved in his parish, and writing.
His many hobbies include hiking, kayaking, bicycling, golf, photography, sketching, and traveling. Patrick is also a multi-instrument musician, performing regularly with a Lake Geneva-based band around southeastern Wisconsin. He looks forward to next summer, when his wife of thirty years retires, and he can do these things with her, his favorite person.
“Debut memoirist Hall recounts both the adventures and the quotidian details of his time living and working as an American in Belgium in the 1990s. As he moves through elements including professional life, the search for housing and settling into an English-language church, Hall convincingly describes the emotional journey of an expatriate. The book concludes with the couple’s return to Belgium more than a decade later, as they discover that visiting a place is a far cry from making it a home.
An insightful tale of life both in and outside the United States.”
– Kirkus Reviews
Debut memoirist Hall recounts both the adventures and the quotidian details of his time living and working as an American in Belgium in the 1990s.
Hall and his wife, Cathy, were comfortable as Midwesterners, working for the American division of a multinational health insurance company. Then Cathy was invited to work on a branding project at the company’s Belgian office. Hall overcame his misgivings and agreed to make the move, and the couple packed up their Milwaukee life and set off for Europe. Hall’s portrait of Belgium is neither snarky nor starry-eyed; he acknowledges the challenges the couple faced in learning new languages, navigating unfamiliar roadways and being unable to watch the Packers play in the Super Bowl, but far more attention is given to the ways in which they adapted to their new environment, from finding an open grocery store to becoming regulars at neighborhood restaurants. Nostalgic techies will appreciate many of Hall’s anecdotes from the IT department where he worked: Windows NT is state-of-the-art, 512KB Internet speeds are something to aspire to, and a year passes before Hall convinces the company to let him build an intranet. Though there are some missteps in the writing—Hall’s attempt to render the local accent phonetically (“Yezz, auf cawrz. Many people ride them thayer”) can be grating—there are also plenty of sentences to admire: “I wouldn’t complain if it worked hard to turn our sullied linens pristine, but it acted more like a laborer paid by the hour,” Hall says of a recalcitrant washing machine. As he moves through elements including professional life, the search for housing and settling into an English-language church, Hall convincingly describes the emotional journey of an expatriate. The book concludes with the couple’s return to Belgium more than a decade later, as they discover that visiting a place is a far cry from making it a home.
An insightful tale of life both in and outside the United States.
Pub Date:
Publisher: Patrick J. Hall & Associates, LLC
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2014
Favorite author
Wilkie Collins
Favorite line from a book
"One day you will meet a man who cares for none of these things [money, position, or glory]. Then you will know how poor you are." --Rudyard Kipling
Favorite word
Peace
Hometown
Oconomowoc, WI
Passion in life
Put life into the everyday.
Unexpected skill or talent
Uncanny ability to turn traffic lights red as I approach them in my car.
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