News From Our Members

We, Vivian Chiona, Expat Nest founder and Regina Reinhardt, cross-cultural consultant have teamed up for an exciting new project... and you can be a part of it!

What are we planning? All shall be revealed…

For now, we’ve come up with a survey that is quick, fun and guaranteed to get you thinking about your sense of place in the world.

By taking the survey, you will: 
 • Gain insight into your international profile

• Be the first to see the results of this global survey later this year
• Contribute to helping us and the people we love to help
• Receive an exclusive gift!

Answering the 20 questions and should take no more than 12 minutes to complete.

THE SURVEY IS NOW CLOSED

Thank you to everyone who participated. We appreciate your trust and support of our project. Your answers will play an essential role in helping us to better understand the highlights and challenges (as well as to find solutions) in the “international” life.

We hope from the bottom of our hearts that you enjoy this chance to reflect on your international lifestyle.

In an effort to support expats, TCKs, ATCKs and Globals  in their moves back home after living overseas, we need your help, your wisdom and your assistance.   Along with Cate Brubaker and Helen Watts, who also offer support and programs in the Re-entry space, we have created a short survey to gather information to pinpoint your greatest joys, your greatest challenges and lessons learned in the process of repatriating.  The survey can be accessed by clicking on the photo  above or here:  Repatriation Experience Survey

The results will be shared with all participants and you will receive a FREE GIFT when the results are tallied.  The survey is short, it will take you a few minutes and has the possibility of  benefitting many who have recently or who are about to return to their native countries all around the globe.   If you have returned and relaunched to a new passport country or old haunt – that counts J

We really do appreciate your participation and honor your experiences.  Please tell the truth, don’t hold back and continue to live in the spirit of adventure that your globalness has opened you up to.

Doreen Cumberford & John Palmer
#Life is Portable – Live it Fully Everywhere You Go
https://www.facebook.com/groups/RockYourReentry/
https://www.facebook.com/expathubus/

“I had grown up in Pakistan, was nurtured on her soil, took my first steps and said my first words there. Pakistan was a land that knew me before I had a recollection of ‘being;’ before I knew I was human.”

Memories of joy and pain, close friendships and loneliness interweave in this compelling portrait of an extraordinary childhood.  In Passages Through Pakistan, Marilyn Gardner traces a journey of growing faith and emerging identity in a small missionary community. From the close quarters of boarding school, to the strangeness of furloughs in her parents’ native Massachusetts, this honest portrayal of a young girl’s struggles with faith, friendship, and belonging will resonate deeply with a wide range of readers.

Marilyn Gardner spent her childhood and adolescence in Pakistan and raised her five children in Pakistan and Egypt. She now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she works as a public health nurse with underserved immigrant communities. Marilyn is the author of Between Worlds: Essays on Culture and Belonging and blogs at Communicating Across Boundaries and A Life Overseas.

Between Worlds - Essays on Culture and Belonging

"In the hall of an old Inn by the ocean is a sign that reads 'Home is Where Our Story Begins.' But if home is where our story begins, what happens when we can't go back?" Marilyn Gardner was raised in Pakistan and went on to raise her own five children in Pakistan and Egypt before moving to small town New England. Between Worlds will resonate with those who have lived outside of their passport country, as well as those who have not. These essays explore the rootlessness and grief as well as the unexpected moments of humor and joy that are a part of living between two worlds. Between Worlds charts a journey between the cultures of East and West, the comfort of being surrounded by loved ones and familiar places, and the loneliness of not belonging. "Every one of us has been at some point between two worlds, be they faith and loss of faith, joy and sorrow, birth and death. Between Worlds is a luminous guide for connecting---and healing---worlds." - Cathy Romeo, co-author, Ended Beginnings: Healing Childbearing Losses

I am collecting data about how an unhappy spouse can affect the success of an international posting.  It is a very brief, initial survey asking the Executives (rather than spouses) how their spouse being unhappy may have affected them, both at home and in the workplace, during an international posting or as a local hire in a foreign country.  Many companies only consider an Expat posting a failure if the executive chooses to leave the foreign role early or is terminated.  I am hoping to demonstrate that productivity and engagement at work can be adversely affected as well, and hence the “success” of the executive may be less than their true capabilities.

I would appreciate the FIGT community sharing this survey with anyone that it is relevant to.  It is totally anonymous.

Cheryl Fry
Support Coach for Expat Spouses
OneJourneyCoaching.com

Business Travel creates a cycle of frequent separation and re-connection for a couple. Some couples deal with it with more ease and acceptance than others.

What exactly do they do differently? What are the areas of your relationship that might be mostly affected by frequent business travel? How to thrive in your relationship despite frequent separation?

Please assist FIGT member, Oxana Holtmann, with her survey.

If you are a Home-Based Partner
https://oxana5.typeform.com/to/nNxR87

If you are the Traveler
https://oxana5.typeform.com/to/IgOSWD 

Oxana Holtmann is a Conscious Leadership and Relationship Coach. Learn more about her through her website OxanaHoltmann.com

FIGT friends will be meeting up in Sydney, Australia on Monday, February 6th from 11:00 - 2:00 pm AEDT (come whenever you can) at the Black Sugar Cafe, 400 George St, Sydney.  We are a small but very interesting group and would love anyone who will be in the area, with an interest in Families in Global Transitions, to join us.  If you want more info email Trisha Carter at Trisha@cicollective.com

FIGT member, Cate Brubaker, is pleased to announce . . . The RELAUNCH! Virtual Re-entry Retreat (January 23-27, 2017). This free week-long event is for global adventurers who don’t want the global adventure to end once they return “home” after being abroad. You’ll feel more confident and excited about your next steps (your “Re-entry Relaunch”) after hearing from and chatting with 20 expert speakers, who will share their re-entry experiences, insights, and tips in 15 (free!) sessions over 5 days. Get the event schedule and reserve your seat here: http://www.RelaunchRetreat.com 

FIGT friends will be meeting up in Sydney, Australia on November 22nd at 11:00am (AEDT) at the Black Sugar cafe, 400 George St, Sydney.  We are a small but very interesting group and would love anyone who will be in the area, with an interest in Families in Global Transitions, to join us.  If you want more info call Trisha Carter +61419219822 or email Trisha@cicollective.com

directed by FIGT member Amy Clare Tasker (Pollock Scholar 2016)

Home Is Where... is an innovative theatre performance weaving together the verbatim stories of Third Culture Kids with dynamic ensemble movement, original music, and multimedia design. 

“I just belong to this world, that’s my nationality. I’m global.”

A dystopian future. Everyone Not-From-Here has been Sent Back Where They Came From. But what about those of us who don’t know where that is? In the City, the Resistance fights for a new world where the From-Heres and the Not-From-Heres can live together.

Tickets for the September 2nd performance at Rich Mix, London (and more information about the project) at www.amyclaretasker.com/hyphenated

Nowhere near London? Check out the Oral History Library on Soundcloud, where you can listen to clips from interviews with nearly 30 TCKs. 

We still need your help to bring these TCK stories to the stage! Please consider making a donation to Home Is Where... Thank you! 

The upcoming Moving with Kids Summit, 1st - 14th of June, hosted by The Expat LifeLine, is set to be an informative, fun and interactive two weeks, packed with experts from the FIGT community and beyond.

Parenting is tricky at the best of times, but when you add in geographical, language, educational and cultural change, making the right decisions can become incredibly complicated.

That’s the aim of this FREE Online Summit - to take the guesswork out of expat parenting. It brings together experience, expertise and down to earth actionable advice that parents need, all in one virtual room. So whether you are a cross border parent, educator or international mobility service provider, sign up to enjoy presentations from guests including Ruth van Reken, Julia Simens, Tina Quick, Lois Bushong, Dr Jill Kristal and Christine Gilbert.

To find out more, click here.