Expat blogs roundup: when Santa Claus (es) came to town I've always considered packing a suitcase a rather perfunctory task but not anymore. Not after my recent encounter with a sly little black scorpion that had rather presumptuously taken refuge in a small suitcase that I'd pulled down from the attic... This Saturday, I stepped out of my apartment in Hell's Kitchen to get to the library (as I mentioned last week, now final papers are due for most students here in the US, my life has been dominated by library trips)...