Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Identity, Repatriation, United States, tagged all over the world, around the globe, art, change, cultures, decorating, drawings, expat life, experiences, family, growing old together, home, icons, lifetime, marriage, memories, paintings, parenthood, pictures, prints, Repatriation, sculpture, statues, travel, values on November 7, 2013 | 8 Comments »
It’s been almost four months into our rather sudden repatriation from The Hague, and Husband and I hit a milestone this week. No, it wasn’t our anniversary – that was back in October. We finally got around to hanging up our artwork. Before you roll your eyes and think ‘why on earth should it take […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Repatriation, tagged bit by bit, blogging, constructing a life, exercise, expat life, expats, family, first three months, fitness, friends, friendship, gratitude, health, making friends, meditation, physical fitness, re-entry stage, Repatriation, repats, self-care, simplification, simplify, small steps, transitions, well being, writing on October 23, 2013 | 10 Comments »
As mentioned in Under Construction, I hope you’ll join me as I navigate the re-entry stage in our repatriation journey. Every three months I’ll be sharing a series of ‘snapshot’ blog posts about the particulars of building a new life from scratch. I’ll look at everything from making a home, engaging socially, staying healthy, and stretching creatively, to becoming […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Identity, Repatriation, United States, tagged arts, Chapel Hill, concerts, creativity, cross-culturals, culture, Durham, expat, expatriate life, expats, forests, global wayfarers, haven, high-tech corridor, home, identity, international business, NC, Netherlands, oasis, Raleigh, re-entry stage, Repatriation, repats, research, the Triangle, theater, transition, United States, university, writing on October 11, 2013 | 4 Comments »
As mentioned recently in Under Construction, I hope you’ll join me as I navigate the re-entry stage in our repatriation journey. Every three months I’ll be sharing a series of ‘snapshot’ blog posts about the particulars of building a new life from scratch. I’ll look at everything from making a home, engaging socially, staying healthy, and stretching […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Repatriation, Sandwich Generation, Writing, tagged Be one with the transition, blogging, building a life, career, career changes, community, construction, creativity, culture, emotional resilience, expat, expatriate life, family, friends, health, making a home, re-entry, Repatriation, social life, spirituality, transition, transition stages, wellbeing, writing on October 4, 2013 | 8 Comments »
It was nearly three months ago to the day when Daughter and I walked out of the airport following our flight from the Netherlands and into the blast furnace heat of a northern Virginia mid-afternoon in early July. We had a tough road ahead of us, literally and figuratively. Our immediate concern was the five […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Netherlands, Repatriation, Sandwich Generation, Travel, United States, Writing, tagged building a new life, dying, elderly parents, emotional resilience, entry, expat life, involvement, leaving, loss, Netherlands, re-involvement, Repatriation, solace, sorrow, terminal cancer, The Hague, transition, transition stages on September 28, 2013 | 2 Comments »
Glancing at the calendar this morning, I realized it’s been almost three months since leaving the Netherlands. Twelve weeks from when I strapped myself into my assigned airline seat, Daughter to my right, our pets Oli and Ava beneath us in the acclimatized pet cargo hold. Eighty nine days since I watched the plane rise […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Repatriation, tagged deciding when to leave, expat, expatriate life, grief, leaving friends, list of pros and cons, living across cultures, loss, Mattel's Magic 8 Ball, moving, Repatriation, saying goodbye, stay or go, taking leave on September 20, 2013 | 4 Comments »
Over the years, storytellers and screenwriters have been perpetuating a myth which many of us have bought into. The fallacy is that the hardest part of moving – be it across town, across country or across the world – lies in the decision itself. Hours spent wrestling with what ifs? and how abouts? followed by a sleepless night […]
Posted in Blogging, Change, Emotional Resilience, Expat Transitions & Change, September 11th, Writing, tagged bonds, change, colleagues, destruction, friends, healing, loss, moving, pain, people, reflection, remembrance, September 11th, terror, transitions, writing on September 11, 2013 | 2 Comments »
Behind the scenes I’ve been working on a number of posts about what’s been going on and what I’ve been up to these past weeks and months. It’s been a whirlwind of motion, a cacophony of change, some tough moments scattered among positive and uplifting ones, along with the more mundane. (Is there ever a […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Netherlands, Repatriation, Sandwich Generation, Writing, tagged blogging, book, change, cross-cultural, expat, expat life, family, Netherlands, publication, Repatriation, social media, transitions, US, writing on August 12, 2013 | 29 Comments »
Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in. Yours truly, sheepishly shrugging while simultaneously cringing at how pathetic this looks. When last I posted several weeks ages ago, I dropped the bombshell we were moving back to the US this summer. That news was indeed incendiary on a personal basis as we had fully expected […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Life Balance, Netherlands, Sandwich Generation, Travel, United States, Writing, tagged author, blog, blogging, book, building a new life, career change, editor, fiction, home base, Jane Dean, Jo Parfitt, layout design, leaving, Lemonberry, Lisa Hall, Netherlands, publication, Repatriation, Ruth Van Reken, Summertime Publishing, transitions, US, writing on June 18, 2013 | 42 Comments »
I’ve often wondered what I would say in a post like this. I’ve played it out in my mind before, I just never thought I’d be writing this now. You see, it’s time for that kind of post. Not the kind where you tell everyone you’re moving on to another expatriate experience, although there were a […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Authors (Other), Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Global Issues, Identity, Repatriation, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Writing, tagged Ann Baker Cottrell, Anne Copeland, Apple Gidley, call to action, Colleen Reichrath-Smith, creative, cross-cultural, Cultural Integration and the Illusion of Closeness, cultural intelligence, culture, culture shock, doers, Duncan Westwood, Elizabeth Vennekens-Kelly, emotional intelligence, emotional resilience, expat life, expatriate life, expatriation, experiences, Families in Global Transitions, FIGT, FIGT 2013, ideas, innovative, insight, intercultural, international, Janet Bennett, Jo Parfitt, Judy Rickatson, Julia Simens, Kathleen Gamble, Katia Vachlos, Kilian Kroll, Laura J. Stephens, Leila Buck, living abroad, Maria Foley, networking, Norm Viss, perspective, Pico Iyer, projects, Rachel Yates, Rebecca Grappo, Repatriation, research, Ruth Van Reken, social intelligence, TCKs, topics, transition process, Trisha Carter on March 30, 2013 | 4 Comments »
Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the annual Families in Global Transition conference (aka on Twitter as #FIGT2013). The theme this year was ‘Cultural Integration and the Illusion of Closeness.’ It was, in a word, exhilarating. Inspiring. Tremendous. Thought-provoking. Reassuring. Okay, it was many words, all those and more. Two thought-laden days dedicated to exchanging […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Repatriation, Riveting Expat Reads, Writing, tagged adrift, An Inconvenient Posting: An Expat Wife's Memoir of Lost Identity, anxiety, blogging, book, Brit in Texas, cross-cultural, culture shock, depression, depressive episode, downward spiral, emotional resilience, emotionally healthy, expat life, expat transitions, grieving loss, Houston, identity, journaling, Laura J. Stephens, loneliness, mental health, pain, positive mental health, recovery, recuperation, Repatriation, self-care, Summertime Publishing, therapist, therapy, writing on January 10, 2013 | 8 Comments »
We’re already into double digits (gasp!) in January, and fortunately my New Year’s resolutions for 2013 are going swimmingly. I say this because I want you to know that I have not neglected you, my Adventurer community. (See how neatly I just tied you back to one of my resolutions? Impressive, I know.) It’s just that I’m recently […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Expats A to Z, Repatriation, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Travel, tagged aware, caring, change, considerate, cross-cultural, culture shock, cultures, definitions, expat, expat transitions, expatriate, Expats A to Z, fits us to a T, global living, heedful, helping others along the way, intercultural, kind, living abroad, meanings, meditative, nomadic life, reasoned, reflective, Repatriation, TCKs, Third Culture Kids, thoughtful, traveling on December 4, 2012 | 12 Comments »
Earlier this year I introduced Expats A to Z, a new series of posts about the little things that can make a difference in how we approach some of the challenges and experiences of expat life. I’m talking about those qualities and traits that we can nurture within us not only to simply survive but thrive […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Repatriation, Riveting Expat Reads, Sandwich Generation, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Travel, Work, Writing, tagged Apple Gidley, blogging, continents, culture shock, cultures, expat books, expat life, Expat Life: Slice by Slice, expatriate life, expatriation, global living, globalization, languages, living abroad, living cross-culturally, living overseas, memoir, post-colonization, Repatriation, Riveting Expat Reads, TCKs, technology, Third Culture Kids, transition, travel, writing on November 29, 2012 | 8 Comments »
Time again for another Riveting Expat Read in which I shine the spotlight on a new (or new to me) book in this varied and rapidly growing niche. There has been a slow but steadily expanding upsurge in books written by and for expats/global nomads/TCKs which examine life lived cross-culturally, and we are all the richer […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Forced to Fly (2nd ed.) Book, Identity, Repatriation, Riveting Expat Reads, Travel, Writing, tagged Adventures in Expat Land, Apple Gidley, Bitten by Spain, creativity, culture clash, culture shock, Deborah Fletcher, emotional resilience, empathy, Expat Apple, expat life, expat transitions, Forced to Fly, Forced to Fly: An Anthology of Writing That Will Make You See the Funny Side of Living Abroad, funny stories, going abroad, humor, I Was an Expat Wife, identity, innovation, Jack Scott, Jo Parfitt, laughter, Linda A Janssen, living abroad, living overseas, Maria Foley, Niamh Ni Bhroin, Perking the Pansies, Repatriation, Riveting Expat Reads, Robin Pascoe, Summertime Publishing, The Singing Warrior, travel, wordgeyser on October 5, 2012 | 10 Comments »
It is an exciting day here in Expat Land: we’re madly flapping our wings for take-off, determined to catch the wind currents, achieve flight and soar. ‘What’s with the flight metaphors?’ you ask. ‘They’re flying left and right.’ Heh heh. Today marks the book launch of the second edition of Forced to Fly: An Anthology of Writings That Will Make […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Life Balance, Riveting Expat Reads, Work, Writing, tagged accompanying partner, accompanying spouse, AccompanyingPartner.com, career choices, creativity, cross-cultural coaching, culture, EMMA 2012 award, EMMA 2012 Shortlisted Nominee, Evelyn Simpson, expat, expat coaching, expat transitions, expatriate community, Forum for Expatriate Management, global nomad, global relocation specialist, international, Louise Wiles, mobility specialist, organizations, overseas assignment, relocation, report, survey, trailing spouse, transnational employee, work opportunities, working abroad on September 27, 2012 | 4 Comments »
You know the old adage ‘two heads are better than one’? Well, during the summer when I learned that Evelyn Simpson (aka The Smart Expat) and Louise Wiles (aka Success Abroad Coaching) were joining forces to conduct the Career Choice & Accompanying Partner Survey, I knew this dynamic duo would be a formidable combination. I’m a fan of […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Sandwich Generation, Travel, United States, tagged adolescents, babies, cancer, career, children, college, doing the best you can, economy, employment, expat life, expats, family, friends, generational sandwich, illness, jobs, parents, sandwich generation, saying goodbye, teens, travel, university, vacations, visits on July 9, 2012 | 22 Comments »
Almost three months ago I wrote about the challenges inherent in being a member of the Sandwich Generation, Expat Style. You know what I mean: being squeezed between children (of whatever age) and parents and elderly family members. Both groups may need you, albeit in very different ways. It happens to many most of us, and we […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Learning Dutch or Other Foreign Languages, Travel, United States, tagged America, different, driving, Dutch, English, expat, familiar, family, going 'home', going back, off kilter, Repatriation, sensory overload, travel, United States, university visits, visiting family on June 30, 2012 | 16 Comments »
I’ve been back in the United States for a week now, and I’m still adjusting. Daughter and I are here for an extended period visiting family, beginning to check out universities, attending a pre-college program (her) while I hole myself up to work on some writing projects, and so on. Oh, and eventually spending some […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Work, Writing, tagged blogging, culture, expat, Expat Focus, expatriate, family, foreign countries, foreign service, friends, In Search of a Life Less Ordinary, international organization, job opportunities, job transfer, jobs, military, non-profit organization, private sector, reassignment, Repatriation, Staying Put for Now, weak economy, writing on June 15, 2012 | 12 Comments »
Here in the northern hemisphere, when it gets to be February, March and April, the season begins. You would be forgiven for thinking that I’m referring to the blossoming springtime. Emerging from winter is certainly important, but there is another season beginning to bud: it’s what I referred to last year as a matter of The Clash […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Expats A to Z, tagged activities, adapability, adjust accordingly, children, expat life, family, flexibility, friendship, gut instinct, job, lie low, make friends, relationship, significant other, spouse, work on June 2, 2012 | 18 Comments »
Recently I introduced Expats A to Z, a new series of posts about the little things that can make a difference in how we approach some of the challenges and experiences of expat life. I’m talking about those qualities and traits that we can nurture within us to help not only survive, but thrive amid constant change. You […]
Posted in Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Expats A to Z, Writing, tagged acceptance, acknowledge differences, anger, Anne Lamott, bigger picture, Bird by Bird, change model, cross-cultural living, cultures, denial, depression, different isn't better or worse, expat transitions, Expats A to Z, mosaic, snapshots, writing, Writing a Book on May 22, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Lately I’ve been busy working on my book about the importance of emotional resilience in expat life. I won’t kid you: it’s been, well, challenging to try to cover the full range of issues I believe are important, and to address them in a fitting manner. Especially when real life continually intervenes. Sheesh, what’s up with that? Still, I’m […]
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