When summertime beckons, many of us find ourselves pondering the annual question: home or away? Whether it’s a long-planned holiday far afield, camping in a field (aka caravaning), day trips in the general vicinity, a picnic in a bucolic setting, or simply a barbeque in the backyard, it’s the season we want to be doing something different. So […]
Posts Tagged ‘culture’
Home or Away?
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Life Balance, Travel, Work, Writing, tagged adventures, ATCK, blogging, creativity, cross-cultural, culture, expat, extended holidays, family, formative years, friendship, global, gratitude, high school reunion, international, international high school, Italy, rejuvenation, repatriate, Rome, TCK, travel, wanderlust, writing on July 17, 2014 | 1 Comment »
Refocusing Resolutions
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Holidays, Identity, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Repatriation, Writing, tagged 2013, 2014, being in the moment, bigger picture, blogging, building a life, change, creativity, cross-cultural, culture, daily resolutions, expat, global nomad, identity, larger view, mindfulness, New Year's Resolutions, reflection, reflective interlude, repat, Repatriation, resolution, TCK, transitions, writing on January 12, 2014 | 2 Comments »
In my latest blog post, Intermezzo, I wrote of taking stock of 2013, a year which for several reasons I’m glad to see in my rear view mirror. That’s not to say that many wonderful things didn’t happen last year, they did. But there were some unexpected challenges on top of some tough moments, and […]
Why Here?
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Identity, Re-entry Reality, 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 share a series of ‘snapshot’ blog posts about the particulars of building a new life from scratch, filed under the post category Re-entry Reality. I’ll look at everything from making a home, engaging […]
Autumn = Change
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Catarina Chronicles, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Netherlands, United States, Writing, tagged Americans, autumn, Autumn Equals Change, blogging, Catarina, change, costumes, creativity, culture, decisions, different, dressed up, Dutchies, Expat Focus, expat life, faces painted, fairies, favorite season, fresh, ghost, ghouls, goblins, Halloween, holidays, internationals, Little Red Riding Hood, magical, makeup, Nederland, Netherlands, new, seasons, The Hague, trick-or-treaters, United States, witches, writing, zombies on November 1, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Yesterday was Halloween, and it was a smashing one indeed. It began dry and sunny (two big pluses during autumn here) and remained so throughout the day; Halloween night was, well, amazing. Halloween is HUGE in the United States, and every year, more and more Dutchies and other internationals join Americans in celebrating this fun-filled holiday. Cross-culturalism at its […]
She’s Baaack
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Catarina Chronicles, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Learning Dutch or Other Foreign Languages, Netherlands, tagged a plan, Albert Heijn, animal cards, blogging, collecting and trading, collection, creativity, culture, dierenkaarten, don't leave money on the table, Dutch neighbor, entrepreneur, entrepreneurial, fear, freebie, intimidating, junkie, loyal lieutenant, obsession, possessed, pressure, promotional giveaway, speaking Dutch, stress, trading cards, writing on October 3, 2012 | 12 Comments »
When the doorbell rang late Sunday afternoon, it took a moment to register in my brain. Lounging lazily in the family room with my feet propped up on the coffee table and the Sunday Times Culture magazine section spread across my lap, I suddenly felt my shoulders tense and the hair on the back of my neck stand […]
K is for Kaleidoscope
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expats A to Z, tagged colors, crosscultural, culture, diamonds, different, expat life, hues, intercultural, kaleidoscope, patterns, perspective, same, sense of wonder, shapes, travel on June 21, 2012 | 12 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 […]
This Little Straat of Mine
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Catarina Chronicles, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Netherlands, tagged 100 years, backpacks, bicycles, brick brownstones, celebration, centennial, culture, Dutch, Dutch flag, flagpoles, French doors, graduation, greenery, high school exams finished, home, neighborhood, Netherlands, outdoor living space, ritjeshuis, ritjeshuizen, sidewalks, street party, Ten Hovestraat, tree-lined street, vines on June 17, 2012 | 18 Comments »
Walking home the other day I happened to look up, as I am wont to do, and realized that they were back. I saw what has now become an annual sight, worthy of mention: the graduation backpacks are up the flagpoles again. […]
House of Culture
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, United States, Writing, tagged California, cultural, culture, Intercultural House, international, international affairs, international NGO, Jamaica, Masters Degree, NGO, Pittsburgh, punk, Romeo Void, roommate, Saudi, semesters, steelworker, writing on June 8, 2012 | 8 Comments »
It was a week before my last semester when I packed my bags and moved into the university’s Intercultural House. I was studying for a Masters Degree in International Affairs, and events had conspired to bring me to the stone steps of the ‘IC House’ as it was affectionally called. I’d spent the three previous semesters of the […]