Page 46 - IFAFA ebook v4

We then moved to Slovenia and being a freelancer there was the only way

to work, as it is not easy for foreigners to enter the local job market.

Our two daughters followed us everywhere. Many people from our

generation would send their kids to boarding school. This is not common

in Poland, so they stayed with us. I think overall, the postings had a

positive impact on them. We never asked them to participate in embassy

events; they had their own life. Still, they both felt they would never
enter a diplomatic service themselves. They think that the diplomatic

lifestyle is in many ways artificial. As a working mother, I wanted to set

an example for my daughters. They both want to and do work full time.

One daughter lives in Poland and the other in Paris. Neither lives with us

in Ireland, but then, with the world shrinking and communication

becoming easier, we have friends who never lived abroad who now have

their children living at a longer distance from them than our daughters

are from us. We see our daughters regularly and we have our Polish

grandchildren over in Dublin for their holidays so that they get
acquainted with Ireland and practice their English.

I think the diplomatic lifestyle worked for me quite well. I enjoy

travelling and I am interested in other cultures. Living for several years

in a foreign country allows one to be somehow less of a tourist and more

of a local. Yes, I know that it is only coming closer to a certain distance. I

was always interested in politics and I studied international economics.

Some of my former fellow students later became diplomats. I learned

several languages which made living in different countries much easier.
And we usually had staff helping at home which made it easier for me to

pursue my career and at the same time support my husband in his official

duties.

I was a member of IFAFA for many years, but never on the Committee.

We were for most of the time abroad so I was not much involved, other

than dutifully filling all questionnaires which came my way, hoping this

may be helpful to somebody else. But I joined because I see IFAFA as a

lobbying group. The fact that in 1986 the Secretary General said I was
free to work if I wanted, was, I think, the result of IFAFA lobbying

efforts, as was a possibility for spouses to learn foreign languages while

on posting or going there, and for our children to be able to have a

reasonable choice of schools in the country of their father’s posting.

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