This time, our blog doesn’t talk about exploring the world through running, but rather about metaphorical crossroads and personal journeys. Guest blogger Joyce describes growing up as a Third Culture Kid (TCK) and searching for her own identity. For all the TCKs that I have met and known out there, it is never a journey [...]
Filed under: Adventures Abroad, Culture Shock, Guest Author, Intercultural Differences, Third Culture Kids on May 16th, 2013 | No Comments »
InterNations guestblogger Abu Muhammed, a US expatriate who is now living in Saudia Arabia, shares his impressions of his first trip to Indonesia. The first thing that I noticed about Jakarta was how domestic the airport seemed. It reminded me of my childhood neighbor’s front yard. Her name was Ms White, and she had a [...]
Filed under: Adventures Abroad, Culture Shock, Guest Author on March 22nd, 2013 | No Comments »
Our Activity Groups Manager Franziska reflects on the life of one of her historic role models, Sayyida Salima bint Said, born as a princess of Oman and Zanzibar and later known as Emily Ruete. In 2011, I stumbled upon the newest book by Nicole C. Vosseler, a German novelist. “Stars over Zanzibar” promised a good [...]
Filed under: Adventures Abroad, Culture Shock, Expat Women, Expats Past and Present, InterNations Recommends on March 14th, 2013 | No Comments »
Our guestblogger Abu Muhammed from Saudi Arabia muses upon stress caused by ongoing culture shock and, paradoxically, by the slow pace of life in his new home. I heard an acquaintance of a friend of mine was told to leave the KSA because at the age of 33, he had developed a heart condition. He’d [...]
Filed under: Adventures Abroad, Culture Shock, Guest Author on March 12th, 2013 | No Comments »
In this brief interview, Heiko Saeger, former expat and CEO of the recently launched NPO KOMUNIKI, tells us more about his project, the importance of intercultural competence, and the (pro bono) e-training modules that his organization provides. 1) What is the KOMUNIKI Project all about? The KOMUNIKI PROJECT is an international team of experts who [...]
Filed under: Culture Shock, Expat Interviews, Intercultural Differences, InterNations Recommends on February 21st, 2013 | No Comments »
Our new guest blogger Jessica from Adventures of the Repatriate opens her series on repatriation with some musings on how it felt to move to the US after seven years of living overseas, in Belgium, and how she gets over being “homesick” for Brussels. We also have an interview with Jessica on her (former) expat [...]
Filed under: Adventures Abroad, Culture Shock, Guest Author, Repatriation on January 22nd, 2013 | 5 Comments »
„Cultural agility“ – this expression seems to be the perfect buzzword for our increasingly globalized world at work. But how do you actually define such an apparently nebulous thing? What are common myths and misconceptions about cultural agility? And how can you leverage genuine cross-cultural skills in the corporate sphere, especially in managerial positions? These [...]
Filed under: Culture Shock, Intercultural Differences, International Workdays, InterNations Recommends on December 18th, 2012 | No Comments »
Our guestblogger Abu Muhammed from Saudi Arabia muses upon his disappointing first impressions of Jeddah, and remembers how he learned to appreciate the city after all. Living in Jeddah compared to the rest of Saudi Arabia is reminiscent at times of the “Bizarro Dimension” from the Superman comics. Being from a port city myself (Philadelphia), [...]
Filed under: Adventures Abroad, Culture Shock, Guest Author on November 21st, 2012 | No Comments »
No one ever said that moving abroad was easy, but one may be tempted to think that moving to Spain from another European country is slightly less intimidating than moving to somewhere on the other side of the world. Well, it is and it isn’t… InterNations member Mary-Kay recalls one experience from her time as [...]
Filed under: Adventures Abroad, Culture Shock, Intercultural Differences, Moving to Another Country on May 21st, 2012 | No Comments »
When Pirkko from Finland returns home after several months of working in Brazil, she is really looking forward to telling her friends all about her big adventure. However, things turn out somewhat differently: totally unexpectedly she feels isolated in her own home town and estranged from her old friends… Almost exactly one year ago, I [...]
Filed under: Culture Shock, Repatriation on May 16th, 2012 | 3 Comments »