Two Excellent Web-based Services for Expatriates

For the past five months, my husband Bill and I have been living in Germany. Living in Europe is a wonderful opportunity. It's a great way to see the world, learn about new cultures, and develop a greater understanding of how the world works. On the other hand, people who live overseas run the risk of developing that age old affliction... homesickness.

Phoning home...

This is not the first time I've lived overseas. As a child, I lived in England thanks to my dad's service in the Air Force. As a young adult, I lived in Armenia as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Both of those experiences occurred before the Internet became a typical household convenience. I can still remember the hideously expensive phone calls I used to make to the United States from Armenia. When I heard that Bill and I were moving to Germany, I remembered and dreaded those expensive calls. Unfortunately, my parents have not quite figured out how to use email.

Skype comes to the rescue!

Before we moved to Germany, I had only a slight knowledge of Voice over Internet Protocol, otherwise known as VoIP (pronounced voyp). I tried it out once a few years ago, when I was a broke graduate student. In fact, the first time I ever heard my husband's voice was over a VoIP connection. I remember it being scratchy and a bit awkward because it had a delay and I gave up on it. Several years later, VoIP has come a long way and now ordinary people can make cheap telephone calls over the Internet.