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 »
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 […]
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 Albert Heijn, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Netherlands, Travel, United States, Writing, tagged attention, chatting, conversation, despair, dinner, expat, expat life, family, family crises, focus, friends, friendship, grief, loneliness, marriage, medical problems, missed signals, neighborhood, neighbors, newly arrived, pain, promise of friendship, separation, Southeast Asia, The Hague, The Netherlands, time, travelling, trips, welcome on February 7, 2013 | 14 Comments »
I first met Tamara 14 months ago on the sidewalk in front of our neighbor’s house. It was a cold, late Sunday afternoon in December, the air heavy with moisture off the frigid North Sea. The weak sun had managed to emerge briefly from behind large swaths of gun metal gray clouds. Husband and I had just left the house to […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Travel, Writing, tagged adventures, blogging, both sides of the coin, candor, connections, cultures, expat, expat blogs, expat life, expatriate life, experience, extrovert, friendship, honesty, In Search of a Life Less Ordinary, learning, London, perspective, positives and negatives, pros and cons, Queen Elizabeth, reality, relationships, Russell Ward, upside and downside, Westminster Abbey on November 23, 2012 | 33 Comments »
It happened again. A little more than a week ago I was over at a friend’s blog, reading a post that got me thinking. The good ones always do. They intrigue and inspire, prod and provoke, query and occasionally even quarrel. A sign of a good post? For me, it’s the ones that stay on […]
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Emotional Resilience, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Travel, Writing, tagged adultery, cancer, culture, death, Dutch elections, dying, embarrassment, emotional resilience, expat, friendship, global nomad, gratitude, headlines, humiliation, improprieties, infidelity, karmic bitch slap, living interculturally, pain, sadness, scandal, under investigation, vulnerability, workplace wrongdoing, writing on September 13, 2012 | 16 Comments »
I swear, I wasn’t going to write today. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s how I started my last post, written two days ago. I’ve got several posts lined up in my mind, generally upbeat topics and interesting things I’d like to share with you, and I thought I’d get to one of them […]
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 Adventures Big & Small, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Netherlands, United States, Writing, tagged brain surgery, brain tumor, Carolina pines, chemotherapy, Christmas, family, friendship, loved ones, planting a seed, radiation, writing on December 24, 2011 | 21 Comments »
It’s Christmas Eve day. The aroma of my Jamie Oliver-inspired gravy wafts gently throughout rooms regaled in ornaments, decorations, pine boughs and tiny lights. Another half hour and I’ll start lighting some candles. Carols are playing softly in the background while Daughter and Husband work diligently on a holiday puzzle. But this is not the […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Travel, tagged becoming an expat, crosscultural, cultural, friendship, intercultural, marriage, moving away, moving overseas on May 11, 2011 | 8 Comments »
It’s another sunny day in The Hague. Oli and I are outside the building where Katja works, waiting for her to join us. Ever since we met fourteen months ago, on the corner of the busy intersection nearby, Katja and I have become good friends. I’ve written about Katja before, in this post on vriendscap (friendship). I’ve even […]
Posted in Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Learning Dutch or Other Foreign Languages, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Netherlands, Writing, tagged 5k race, friendship, insights, jogging, speaking Dutch, writing on December 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
You’ll notice I’m a little behind. The Day 16 prompt (from Martha Mihalick) for the Reverb10 daily challenge reads: Friendship. How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual or a sudden burst? This post is coming two days late, in large part because I really had […]
Posted in Dutch Life, Exercise & Sports, Family & Friends, Learning Dutch or Other Foreign Languages, Our Animals, tagged Dutch, friendship, learning Dutch, running, serendipity on November 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Earlier in the week I received a message from my Dutch friend Katja. She’s currently in Washington, DC attending a seminar for work. She wanted to thank me again for the info about DC that I’d shared with her before she left. The weather was nice and she was enjoying her visit. ‘I love DC and can […]
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