Austria for 10 months!

Breast Cancer Awareness campaigns on Facebook asking women to make cryptic comments about bra colours and where you put your handbag have created hype and hyperbole in the press and the blogosphere in previous years.  However,  2012′s campaign has caused minor havoc to erupt in the expat community.  This year, women are asked to post  ”I’m [...]

To work or not to work?

Photo: istockphoto.com My own career took me from London to New York on my first expat assignment in 1989. Fast forward nine years and my soon-to-be husband and I managed (after a 15 month separation and a with the help of a sympathetic boss) to move to Hong Kong and keep both of our careers [...]

Comfort Zone – Part II

In March, I wrote about moving overseas and what makes those of us who do so step so far out of our comfort zones. As many of you who have moved overseas this summer have probably discovered, the decision to move to a new country is just the first of many times in your expat life [...]

The Girl Effect – What can you do?

Mea Culpa!!  I have committed the cardinal sin of blogging and have not posted content in quite some time.  So I have to thank Tara Sophia Mohr whose Girl Effect Blogging Campaign has blown away my summer inertia and inspired me to start writing again. Having started, I am committing to a more regular schedule (once [...]

FREE Expat Summer Seminar Series

I’m excited to tell you about a new project on which I’ve been collaborating with expat career coach, Jennifer Bradley.  Starting on July 15th, she and I will be hosting a series of four teleseminars for expats and accompnaying spouses.  Each seminar will cover an aspect of the experience of adjusting to a new life [...]

Volcanic Ash

Stranded in Scotland for an extra day as a result  of the volcanic ash being spewed into European airspace by Eyjafjallajoekull (whose pronounciation may never be mastered outside of Iceland), we were unable to pick our daughter up at the end of her first week-long school trip.  Although she handled the situation well, she was clearly [...]

Short-timer Syndrome

Now is the time of year when the chatter in expat communities turns to who is moving and to where.  It can be very unsettling for those who are leaving and those who are staying (more about the ones who are staying soon).  If you’re leaving, life becomes focused on the logistics of moving to [...]

Trailer Trash?

On her Facebook page, my friend Madeleine refers to herself as “Living in Shanghai, China, as trailer trash for my beloved [husband]“.   In doing so she is not-so-gently mocking the outdated term  ”trailing spouse”.  Though the term is slowly being abandoned, it remains in common use in HR departments and among relocation service providers [...]

Where do you come from?

It’s a simple question for most people, but for many Third Culture Kids (TCKs), the answer is not straightforward.  Our children are perfect examples.  Our daughter (10) was born in Hong Kong, our son (7) in Switzerland.  Neither is entitled to a birth country passport and both carry passports from two countries in which they [...]

Frustration, Tears and Achievement

This week I’ve been dealing with importing my husband’s car into Belgium. The experience has included both victory (getting the importation documents issued quickly) and defeat (being stopped by the Belgian police because the German dealer plates on the car are only legal in for driving in Germany). It reminded me that being in a [...]

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