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 Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Light Bulb Moments, tagged 2013, blogging, centering, change, community, contemplation, creativity, emotional resilience, gratitude, Happy New Year, New Year's Eve, reflection, resolutions, writing on January 1, 2013 | 24 Comments »
I know that everyone is either partying hard, out and about and thus not reading blog posts, or already in bed. I’m not one to judge, so whatever floats your boat… Or you’ve been busy and only now are finding your way to reading this. So I’m going to keep it short and sweet. When you […]
Posted in Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Emotional Resilience, Global Issues, Light Bulb Moments, Writing, tagged appreciation, conflict, Edna Lemle, emotional resilience, freedom of speech, grateful, gratitude, international strife, Martin Seligman, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, optimism, positive psychology, religious differences, research, Sri Chinmoy, thankful, UN Mediation Group, violence, World Gratitude Day, writing on September 21, 2012 | 8 Comments »
Glancing at headlines in the news yesterday, one in particular caught my eye. It seems today, September 21st, is World Gratitude Day. The seed of an idea planted in 1965 has grown and taken on a life of its own over the past five decades. It seemed rather fortuitous that the concept of gratitude was raised since I […]
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, Family & Friends, Food and Drink, Holidays, Writing, tagged appreciation, giving thanks, gratitude, Squidoo Thanksgiving Magazine, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Deconstructed, turkey, writing on November 22, 2011 | 3 Comments »
It’s always interesting trying to explain the important holidays of your culture to others. Some carry over easily, such as religious holidays like Christmas, Easter, Yom Kippur, Hanukkah and Ramadan, even if the specific ways in which they are personally celebrated differ a bit from country to country. Many countries recognize various aspects of society on […]
Posted in Doing What I Can to Help, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Global Issues, Life Balance, Netherlands, tagged Alice's Bucket List, gratitude, Make a Wish Foundation, National Marrow Donor Program Registry on June 22, 2011 | 7 Comments »
Okay, I’m trying not to cry while I type this, but it’s hard. My bottom lip is quivering, and tears are welling in my eyes. I can’t even talk to myself as I often do when I write because there’s a catch in my voice that will put me over the edge into a full-blown […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Expat Life, Writing, tagged 2011 blog award, expatarrivals.com, gratitude, thank you on February 1, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Seriously, I shouldn’t joke. That’s what you are required to say when you win an Academy Award in the American film industry. But what do you say when you are an expat blogger, out there in the blogosphere? When someone notices you, it’s a big deal. When a site like Expat Arrivals notices you? And taps you as […]
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, tagged appreciation, family, friends, gratitude, thankful on December 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Today’s prompt (from Victoria Klein) on the daily Reverb10 challenge: Appreciate. What’s the one thing you’ve come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it? This falls into the category of both too simple and too hard. I really try to cultivate appreciation and gratitude on a continual basis, […]
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