Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Authors & Others, Expat Life, Life Balance, Repatriation, Work, tagged advice, aligned values and objectives, blogging, Career Choice and the Accompanying Partner, challenges, Evelyn Simpson, expat business partners, expats, family issues, lessons learned, Louise Wiles, opportunity, Repatriation, starting up a joint business, team, Thriving Abroad on May 21, 2014 | 2 Comments »
Welcome back to what I hope you’ll agree is a fascinating story of professional transition amid cross-cultural life. This is the second part in a three-part series of how two expat business women — Evelyn Simpson (previously The Smart Expat) and Louise Wiles (previously Success Abroad Coaching) — living in different countries met, collaborated on a joint survey project, […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Global Issues, Identity, Repatriation, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Travel, tagged 'unexpected angels', Beijing, comings and goings, connections, crisis, emergencies, expatriate life, expats, Families in Global Transition, FIGT conference, grief, helping each other, identity, intercultural transitions, Kuala Lumpur, leaving, loss, Malaysia Airlines flight #370, mobility, sanctuary, saying goodbye, turmoil on March 26, 2014 | Leave a Comment »
In the early days of missing Malaysian Airlines Flight #370, I had no intention of writing about it. The tale of how 239 people boarded an airplane in Kuala Lumpur but never made it to Beijing is a sad, troubling one. The last thing I want to do is add to the grief, frustration and […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Repatriation, Travel, Writing, tagged 'in the moment', 2013, Adapt and Thrive Across Cultures, being present, change, Christmas, continuous intentional observation without judgment, deaths, emotional resilience, expats, expectations, family, grieving, holidays, illusion of perfection, intermezzo, Jane Dean, Jo Parfitt, Lisa Hall, loss, mindfulness, mourning, New Year's, reflection, Repatriation, solitude, Summertime Publishing, The Emotionally Resilient Expat: Engage, transitions, travel, turbulence, turmoil, wanderlust, writing on January 6, 2014 | 6 Comments »
Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been taking it easy. Really easy. As in not doing much of anything other than what absolutely, positively needed to get done. For example, that time spent pulling together receipts, filling out reimbursement claims for our international health care provider, making photocopies of the entire stack and then standing […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Re-entry Reality, 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 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 socially, staying healthy, […]
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 […]
Posted in Blogging, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors & Others, Expat Life, Writing, tagged Adapt and Thrive Across Cultures, Amazon, Americans in Britain, blogging, book reviews, CCKs, cross-culturals, Expat Arrivals, Expat Authors & Others, expat book reviews, expat books, Expat Focus, expat genre, expat life, expat websites, Expatica, expatriate, expats, ExpatWoman, ExpatWomen, global living, global nomads, IAmExpat, Jo Parfitt, Julia Simens, living abroad, living overseas, magazines, memoirs, novels, repats, Riveting Expat Reads, short stories, Summertime Publishing, TCKs, Telegraph, The American Hour, The Emotionally Resilient Expat: Engage, writing, Xpat on October 1, 2013 | 13 Comments »
At the risk of sounding entirely self-serving, I am going to share with you a development I hope expats*, cross-culturals, current and adult TCKs/CCKs, global nomads and repatriates alike will find heartening: the rise of books chronicling all and sundry aspects of expatriate life. I know my mentor, Jo Parfitt, will find this gratifying as […]
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, Blogging, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Travel, tagged Alan Ruck, American expats, Bill Paxton, blogging, China, cinema, culture shock, Dan Hsia, Daniel Henney, Eliza Coupe, expat adventures, expat stories, expat story contest, expats, film, Geng Le, global nomads, independent film, indie film, international film festivals, living abroad, movie, relocation specialist, Shanghai, Shanghai Calling, studying abroad, TCKs, traveling abroad, West meets East, YouTube, Zhu Zhu on June 9, 2012 | 13 Comments »
Do you hear it? That siren song, mystically seeping into your conscious mind, drawing you closer with each lilting syllable. That’s Shanghai’s calling. Shanghai wants you. Yes, you. Actually, Shanghai Calling wants lots of us. They’re conducting an expat story contest, and the winner gets to travel to an upcoming international film festival. Recently I was […]
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Identity, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Sandwich Generation, tagged collective memory, culture, existence, expat life, Expatriate Archive Centre, expats, family, friends, hospital, illness, leave your footprint, legacy, love, making the world a better place, memories, mortality, Mother's Day, parents, remembrance, rootlessness on May 13, 2012 | 14 Comments »
Everyone wants to know, deep within, that their time on earth meant something to others. That their being here mattered. They mattered. It is human nature to want to leave your footprint on the world for others that come after you to see. For some, it is through their betterment of the immediate world around them. Think Mother […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Emotional Resilience, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Food and Drink, Life Balance, Sandwich Generation, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Writing, tagged children, college visits, competing demands, emotional resilience, exercise, expats, fitness, health, parents, sandwich generation, sleep, TCKs, Telegraph, university search, writing on April 20, 2012 | 16 Comments »
A few days ago I wrote of the challenges many of us face being sandwiched between generations. Just like everyone else, we expats do our best to care for, raise and guide our TCK children to adulthood(and beyond) while also staying connected to and supporting our aging parents. We just sometimes have a few wrenches thrown in due to our lack […]
Posted in Blogging, Change, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Sandwich Generation, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Travel, tagged children, elderly, expats, needs, parenting from afar, parents, sandwich generation on April 14, 2012 | 6 Comments »
Recently I caught up with a couple expat friends, enjoying koffie while sharing the latest on comings and goings. Spring is in the air, along with blooming trees, blossoming flowers and plants, and the necessary but dreaded pollen. Students are getting antsy, ready to break free of their daily grind (oh, if they only knew!) of classes, course […]
Posted in Blogging, Change, Doing What I Can to Help, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Repatriation, United States, Writing, tagged 2011 Global Relocation Trends Survey, anxiety, BringChange2Mind, celebrities, Chestnut Global Partners, Deborah Serani, depression, Expat Info Desk, Expatlogue, expats, mental health, mental illness, Michele Rubin, pain, PRWeb, Psychology Today, risk of mental illness, stigma, stress, suffering, The Truman Group, vulnerable on April 3, 2012 | 11 Comments »
In support of an effort by the group Bring Change 2 Mind to erase the stigma faced by those dealing with mental illness, my fellow expat blogger Aisha launched an ongoing series of posts on her site Expatlogue earlier this year entitled ‘Breaking the Code of Silence’. Bravely sharing her own disturbing memories from younger days, the pain and suffering […]
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Netherlands, tagged expats, international community, The Hague, The Underground, Toneelgroep Amsterdam on December 12, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Recently I wrote about the start up of a new, English language monthly newspaper here in The Hague called The Underground. The reason I became involved was to do my part to help build a newspaper that not only includes interesting, intriguing and informative articles about life in The Hague and surrounding area, but that also bridges the international […]
Posted in Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors & Others, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Riveting Expat Reads, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Writing, tagged child psychology, Doug Ota, Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child, emotions, expats, Gordon Neufeld, Julia Simens, rituals, six stages of attachment on June 13, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Today I’m interviewing Julia Simens, newly published author of the outstanding book Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child: Practical Tips and Storytelling Techniques That Will Strengthen the Global Family.* I’m going to come right out and tell you that I think highly of this book. I believe Julia has written a very important work that will […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors & Others, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Life Balance, Riveting Expat Reads, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, tagged Barbara Schaetti, David Pollock, emotional resilience, expats, identity, Robin Pascoe, Ruth Van Reken, Tina Quick on May 31, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Well here we go. As mentioned briefly in an earlier post, I’ve been busy working on a five-part series entitled ‘Emotional Resilience in Expat Life.’ The first article, ‘Identity and the Expat’ debuted today on I Am Expat. I’m sharing it with you here on my blog because I believe that emotional resilience is important to […]
Posted in Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Holidays, Light Bulb Moments, tagged celebration, expats, holidays, meaning on March 25, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Every once and awhile, you hear something that seems to stick in your mind. It might have been something said in earnest, or merely in passing. Perhaps you overheard it. But it lodges in the back of your mind and stays. Tumbles around and around like a load of clothes in the washer. You know it […]
Posted in Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, United States, tagged American football, commercials, expats, Super Bowl, voetbal on February 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Last night was Super Bowl XLV, that annual pillar of American football majesty. The Super Bowl is the one night each year when America comes together as a nation to watch the world championship between the American Football League and National Football League conference winners. (This year it was the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Green Bay […]
my read shelf:
