Born in Germany, Eva Melusine Thieme has lived in the United States, Southeast Asia, and Africa. After earning her undergraduate degree in Stuttgart and working for Mercedes-Benz, she moved to the United States to complete her MBA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Years of international moves as a trailing spouse inspired her passion for writing about the people and places she encountered along the way.
Now back in North Carolina, Eva co-manages a small business while continuing to pursue her freelance writing career. Her travel memoir, Kilimanjaro Diaries: Or How I Spent a Week Dreaming of Toilets, Drinking Crappy Water, and Making Bad Jokes While Having the Time of My Life, was published in 2014 and later translated into German. Both editions achieved Amazon bestseller status in African travel literature. Her work has also appeared in publications including the Wall Street Journal and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. She is the creator of the award-winning blog Joburg Expat, which chronicles her family’s adventures in South Africa, and she has received a Parenting Publications of America award for her contributions to Kansas City Parent Magazine.
Among her less conventional accomplishments are mastering the difference between “just now” and “now now” in South African English and having her water-fairy namesake featured on paper cups of a major coffee company. When she’s not writing, Eva enjoys pickleball, reading, and growing tomatoes.
Eva Melusine Thieme 
Congrats on your new book Sine! I will download it on my Kindle, can’t wait to read it!
Thanks! Would love to hear what you think:-)
Thanks for your recent article on entitled expat kids. You make some really good points. I would recommend that you also read our book entitled “How Much is too Much? Raising likable, responsible, respectful children from toddlers to teens – in an age of overindulgence” by Jean Illsley Clarke, Connie Dawson, and David Bredehoft. If is a research based look at the issue and also offers clear tools for parents to use.
Hi David – thank you SO Much for your comment about entitled kids. I’m thrilled to hear from you as I feel this is coming full-circle in a way. I had interviewed Jean Illsley Clarke for my 2010 article in Kansas City Parent Magazine entitled “Little Ways to Let Go” where I touched upon some of the issues and tools raised in “How Much is Enough.” Here is the link: http://www.kcparent.com/March-2010/Little-Ways-to-Let-Go/. I’m a big fan of Jean’s. In fact, it was she who immediately came to mind when I wrote this new article – from the expat perspective – for the Wall Street Journal. I’ll be sure to put a link to “How Much is too Much?” on my Facebook page as a follow-up for my readers! Here is the link to that page if you’re interested in joining the discussion: https://www.facebook.com/JoburgExpat
2 Sept
Hi thank you for your blog i enjoyed reading the expat article about the entitlement kids/spouse ha ha ha… I am a South African, born & bread in Durban and then moved to Joburg before we moved out to Cambodia 7’n half years ago. From there we moved to Philippines 2 years ago. I really enjoyed your article and would like to follow more of what you write, and even to catch-up with you to have a chat about expat live, Joburg… etc… if you are interested… Kind Regards Liesl .
Hi Liesl, thanks for the kind words! And absolutely, you are welcome to follow me here on my author website. You can sign up to get email alerts every time I post something, or sign up for the newsletter (which I have to yet compose and send out the first time:-). Or if you wish, follow me on http://www.joburgexpat.com, where I write about a number of expat issues. I also have a Facebook page called Joburg Expat. You seem like you’ve had a very interesting expat life yourself!
Hi Liesl. I have very fond memories of reading your Kilaminjaro book out loud to my husband with both of us crying with laughter. Thank you for a lovely book. We are South African expat s living in Sacramento and grew up in Johannesburg. Lara.
Hi Lara – thank you so much for your nice comment!I especially like hearing from my South African readers as I am so fond of anything South African. I do hope you’ve been able to go back to visit Johannesburg. And maybe divert to Kilimanjaro for a quick climb while you’re there:)