Expat Women October Home Page

Hi Everyone, We hope that you are all really well! Please check out our new Expat Women October Home Page, featuring:

Success Story:
Margaret Adamson
Ambassador to Cambodia
Margaret is a senior career officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Prior to becoming Australia’s Ambassador to Cambodia, she also served abroad in Warsaw, Berlin, Bonn, Hanoi and Vienna, as well as in various senior positions in Australia...
(See note at bottom)

Business Idea:
Rainforest Realty
Rev. Macarena Rose
Rev. Macarena Rose moved from the US to Belize, as the Director of her Church. Two years later, she runs Rainforest Realty, hosts a weekly TV show, has coached the Semi Pro Men’s soccer team and is the voice on the cell phone system in Belize...

Expat Confession:
Divorce Abroad
Expat Women Girlfriend
My 20-year marriage has been slowly disintegrating over the last four years, as my husband and I have tended to argue more and increasingly live our own separate lives. I thought that accepting his first expat assignment…

New Mothers:
Having A Baby: Far From Home
Beverly D. Roman
Moving to another country can and should be an exciting prospect. However, suppose your family has just learned the joyous news that a baby is on the horizon. Now, being far from home takes on a whole new meaning…

Your Life:
Leading An Extraordinary Life
Debra Fentress
In our lives we all make choices on a moment to moment basis. Most of the time, we go through life doing the same routine in the same way. What would happen if you decided to do something in an extraordinary way?

Expat Assignments:
Expat Assignments: Are You Addicted?
Andrea Martins
If you love living abroad, you see your passport more than your home country, you enjoy a much-envied lifestyle and you hate the thought of repatriating, there is a good chance that you, like many expats before you, have been seduced by the addictive nature of international assignments…

(Apologies if you have already read this one, which has been mentioned briefly before. It has received such a good response from the brief mentions, that we decided to feature it on the home page.)

Not An Expat Women Member Yet?
Please sign up today, to make sure that you receive our October Member's newsletter next week. We would love to have you in our online community.

Thank you very much and best wishes for October!


Note About Our Success Story: For those of you who might be curious as to why Margaret Adamson is the third Australian Ambassador to be featured as a Success Story on our site this year, here is the answer: Last year, we wrote to a number of Ambassadors of other nationalities. No one responded. So this year, we wrote to four Australian Ambassadors, in the hope that one would respond. Three responded immediately - each of them with something different to offer in terms of their stories and experiences, and each of them deserving of our recognition. So how could we say no? :-)

Official Launch of 2BalanceU.com

Dear Friends, The women's social search portal, 2BalanceU.com, has now officially launched.

Congratulations Heidi Öste (an American expat living in Sweden) and her team for making this dream a reality. I have met Heidi a couple of times and am always inspired by her passion to help women around the world share knowledge and wisdom. Hence, 2BalanceU's motto: "Women Sharing Wisdom, Resources and Inspiration".

The best way to understand Heidi's vision, is to watch the video currently on the 2BalanceU home page. Or read the About 2BalanceU page here.

Please note that 2BalanceU is an invitation-only site. If you are interested in joining, just use this code: advocate. Thanks.

Venus Adventures - Women-Only Travel

Hi Everyone, In officially welcoming a new advertiser to ExpatWomen.com: Venus Adventures - Global Tours For Women Who Love To Travel, I talked to the founder, Julie Paterson (a New Zealander living in Switzerland):

Andrea: Julie, Why do you believe women-only group travel is becoming a popular option for female holiday-makers?

Julie: Getting away with the girls, whether it be for an evening, a weekend or a holiday is great fun and more and more women seem to be realizing how important 'girl-space is'. Women lead busier lives than ever before and taking a break from all responsibilities for a while is an enticing option – but sometimes something we can only dream of! However the travel industry has responded to this demand, and in recent years there has been a boom in women-only tours: there are many different companies now out there offering everything from weekend getaways, to shopping trips, to adventure holidays, as women of all ages realize 'girls just wanna have fun!'

Andrea: What do you think are the benefits of women-only travel?

Julie: There are a thousand reasons for going on a women-only trip, and everyone will have their own one . . . but the main reason has to be the opportunity to be yourself, and live it up a little. Without men around, women let their hair down, don’t worry so much about how they look or how good they are at something, and there are no roles as wives or mothers to be fulfilled. And let’s face it - women just like to do different things than men, talk about different subjects, shop and have fun. Travelling with a group of your peers, is, on a deeper level, also good for the soul - women are able to share information about their lives in safe surroundings and they also learn a lot from one another in conversation, especially about life experiences that women typically go through. It's a non-threatening environment in which to talk about whatever you want, from child birth to capitalism, it's all a part of life... and you only live once!

Andrea: Thanks Julie. I would love to join you one day!

Anyone interested in contacting Julie directly, just email here. Thanks, Andrea.

Need Your Expat Stories

Hi Everyone, Just a shout-out, especially to the new members who have joined recently, that we are always looking for your expat women stories and experiences.

To read any of the (nearly 200) stories submitted, Click Here.

To submit a story (and we would certainly love you to), Click Here.

Thank you very much!

Kid-Friendly Travel Destinations

Hi Everyone, We received an email this week from a nice guy named Edward Serrano, the founder of NineBlue.com, introducing us to his business of e-travel-guides for families looking for kid-friendly destinations. They cover 120+ destinations worldwide, plus I see that they are looking for writers for new destinations. :-)

About NineBlue:

"Our mission is to assist parents in planning family travel by providing frank, relevant, and current content designed to help save time and create great experiences."

About Edward Serrano:

"A life long nomad, Edward spent most of his childhood moving from country to country due to his father's hotel business career..."I got the idea for NineBlue when traveling abroad with my daughter. As a single father I cherish summers with her and each year we vacation to a couple of countries. I had difficulty finding destination-specific information for traveling kids, especially reliable information so I decided to begin compiling my own travel guides.... Even when my daughter's back at school I stay on the road. How else can I discover cool things to do? For example: the amazing and unique firefly canoe tour in outside of Kuala Lumpur is an example of what makes travel priceless. Or even knowing not to travel to England during Guy Fawkes, night if you cherish your sleep that is. It's a holiday that's officially celebrated on the 5th of November but people light fireworks on the street for two weeks straight!" Edward is a former board member for Big Brother Big Sisters of America and former president of Entrepreneurs' Organization."

Have a wonderful weekend! Andrea

Been To An 'International Living' Conference?

Hi Everyone, I am just doing some due diligence research into the conferences run by InternationalLiving.com, such as the upcoming Live & Invest Overseas conference that they are hosting in California, United States, 3-5 October.

If you have been to one, I would love your feedback. Please contact me directly. Many thanks, Andrea.

David C. Pollock Scholarship - FIGT 2009

Hi Everyone, Just a shout-out today to anyone interested in applying for the David C. Pollock Scholarship to the FIGT (Families in Global Transition) Conference in Houston, Texas, US (March 5-7, 2009).

"Thanks to the funds raised during the 2008 Silent Auction and the FIGT Associate Program, FIGT will be able to award a limited number of scholarships to students and self-sponsorsing participants of the 2009 conference.

Scholarships are awarded to help defray registration fees, and to enrich the lives of participants who are or plan to be involved in the transition work of families. Scholarship decisions will be based on application responses and demonstrated financial need to those who would not otherwise be able to afford attending the conference."

Applications are downloadable here. The deadline for submissions is December 15, 2008. Good luck!

Women Entrepreneurs in the UK - Meet Five Amazing Women - Sept 30

Hello Everyone, You may recall that recently we let you know about a new website for women entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom: Women UnLimited.

Well, Julie Hall of Women UnLimited has asked us to let you know of their first key event, on Tuesday 30 September, at the Business Design Centre in Islington. The afternoon will feature:

"Penny Power (ecademy); Gita Patel (Stargate Capital); Gina Lazenby (best-selling author); Jacqueline Rogers (The Athena Network); and Pauline Crawford (Is That All There Is Ltd). These five women have all built successful businesses and want to share with you how they did it and give you their tips and advice for your business. During the seminar you will have a chance to personally ask five amazing women questions about your own business and challenges. It is an incredible opportunity to engage with some of the most enterprising women in the UK."

Tickets are £65 and available here. Have a great week!

Robin Pascoe's Survey Summary Is Up!

Hi Everyone, Followers of this blog will know that Robin Pascoe (aka The Expat Expert) conducted a large international relocation survey earlier this year, sponsored by Canadian movers AMJ Campbell International, entitled "Family Matters!"

The survey returned an amazing 655 workable responses from expats and their family members (14 years of age and above). In addition to 30% of the respondents being male, one of the other notable aspects of the survey was its array of open-ended questions - which in turn resulted in a wealth of very open, honest, heartwarming and heartbreaking responses.

To be one of the first to see the results (as Robin has literally only put it up an hour ago), just click here. Happy reading! And well done Robin and associates!

Best wishes for your weekend, Andrea.

Worldwide ERC's 2008 Global Workforce Symposium, October

Hi Everyone, If you are involved in the workforce mobility field, or servicing those that are, you might like to consider a Worldwide ERC© (Employee Relocation Council) conference.

This year's Global Workforce Symposium will be held at the Marriott Wardman Park, Washington DC, October 29-31. More details available here.

To see Jill's account from her attendance last year at the same conference in Denver, Colorado, just click here.

FYI, Worldwide ERC© is also running the following events:

2009 Global Workforce Summit
March 4-5, 2009: Singapore

2009 National Relocation Conference
May 13-15, 2009: San Diego, California

2009 Global Workforce Symposium
October 7-9, 2009: Chicago, Illinois

2010 National Relocation Conference
May 19-21, 2010: Orlando, Florida

2010 Global Workforce Symposium
October 27-29, 2010: Seattle, Washington

SIETAR 2008 Conference - Granada, Spain October 22-25, 2008

Hi Everyone, If you haven't heard of SIETAR, it is the Society for Intercultural Education Training and Research ...and if you haven't heard of their 2008 World Congress, it is in beautiful Granada, Spain this year, October 22-25.

"This year's theme is How Globalization Affects Cultures & Cultures Shape Globalization ...and will address key issues faced by: All interculturalists and other professionals working in education, corporate training, communication and expatriation; and Professionals working in human resources, marketing, politics, diplomacy, conflict resolution and international finance."

To find out more, just click here.

WebAwards 2008

Hello again, If you are interested in web site best practice, you might like to take a look at the newly-released winners database from the US-based Web Marketing Association's WebAwards 2008.

The WebAwards roll call is long, as they give multiple awards across 96(!) industries. We even scored an award last year, in our first year online, in their "Online Community" category. :-)

The winners' list includes lots of big names like Disney, British Airways, National Geographic, GE, Harry Potter, Microsoft and the like, but also lots of smaller-site names too. To see the best-of-the-best, jump quickly onto their Best of Show award winners page.

Change Of Web Host

Hi Everyone, In case you have been wondering why we have been quiet for several days, it is because we have been busy behind-the-scenes organising the changeover to a new web host, which will hopefully take place this coming weekend.

So, if our main site is down this weekend for a few hours, while the old company switches to the new company, that will be why. Thanks for your understanding and have a wonderful day! :-)

Have You Told Your Friends?

Hi Everyone, Just a friendly reminder to please support our 'Tell A Friend' Promotion this month. All you have to do is tell your expat women friends to join ExpatWomen.com.

If they join and win our US$100 prize, we'll ask them who referred them, and if it was you, we'll give you US$100 also. So you both win! See conditions and details here.

The more members we have = The easier it is for us to gain/retain Sponsors and Advertisers = The more money we have to invest back into ExpatWomen.com = The better we can make our site for you.

Thank you very much in advance for your support! Andrea.

Got Books On Your Expat Blog?

Hi Everyone, When approving a new blog submission today for our Expat Women Blog Directory, we noticed a very cool way to display books down the side of your expat blog: it's the Shelfari bookshelf.

We've seen many books on many blogs, but the Shelfari widget today on Cat Bauer's Venetian Cat blog was very effective. Take a look if you are interested.

The Girl Effect

Hi Everyone, There are many worthy movements out there. This one struck our eyes yesterday on expat Dish's Hooked in Amsterdam blog: The Girl Effect - which is a movement to empower (particularly adolescent) girls in the developing world.

Interesting facts:

"An extra year of primary school boosts girls' eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school: 15 to 25 percent."

"When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man."

"Research in developing countries has shown a consistent relationship between better infant and child health and higher levels of schooling among mothers."

See the Girl Effect Fact Sheet Here to find the sources of these quotes and to find out more.

Watch the 2 minute video because it is very clever and worth watching just to see the ad's clever use of text. Best wishes, Andrea.

Expatica's "I Am Not A Tourist Fair", Holland, Sunday 12 October 2008

Hello again, If you are an international living in or moving to The Netherlands, looking for opportunities and information to make the most of life abroad, then this might be the event for you. Enjoy!

"I Am Not A Tourist Fair" (Expatica)
Place: Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam
Date: Sunday, 12 October 2008
Time: 10am – 5pm
Tickets: Free tickets available now. Tickets ordered online are free, while tickets purchased at the door will be EUR 10 each. Sign up here.

"The "i am not a tourist" Fair is a unique opportunity to get all the information and contacts you need in one place. Within a single day, you'll have the chance to meet groups and clubs, service providers, experts, and other expats. If you’re looking for a house or a job, starting a business, or just want to meet other internationals, the “i am not a tourist” Fair is for you! This year being the fair’s 5th anniversary, it will include numerous lifestyle surprises as a special bonus."

Leman Expat Fair, Sunday 9 November, Morges, Switzerland

Hello Everyone, If you are living in Switzerland and in the Canton of Vaud, you might like to mark your calendar to visit the Léman Expat Fair on Sunday 9 November 2008 at the Théâtre de Beausobre in Morges.

The producers of the Fair are experienced expatriates themselves and have promised to put together an event where you can "meet the businesses that can help you and your family integrate into your new Swiss lifestyle".

WIN Conference 2008, there is still time...

...to register and attend. This is a fabulous conference. I went to last year's conference in Norway. A sure way to inspire your spirit, meet some wonderful women and kick-start your goals into action post-Summer.

W.I.N. Global Leadership Forum
Sitges (Barcelona Coast), Spain
Vision and Vitality: Moving into the Future
(17) 18-20 (21) September 2008

Go for it! Andrea

Expat Women September Newsletter

Hello Everyone, We have just finished sending out our Expat Women Members' Newsletter for September. If you have not signed up yet, you can read the newsletter online here.

If you are signed up and you did not receive the newsletter, please let us know here. Thanks and best wishes, Andrea.

Dual-Career Academic Couples

Hello Everyone, I received an email yesterday from Stanford University’s Clayman Institute for Gender Research. (Perhaps because of the post earlier this week on Dual Career Households.)

They wanted to share their latest US-based research on the topic: Dual-Career Academic Couples: What Universities Need to Know.

The research report does not have any expat focus, but it is still interesting, particularly if you are part of an expat dual career couple in academia, you are a HR Manager in academia and/or if you are doing complementary research in this area. Here is their blurb:

"Announcing New Research on Dual-Career Academic Couples – exploring hiring and retention of top talent, increasing diversity, and workplace culture.

Dual-career issues are increasingly important in higher education today. Over 70 percent of faculty are in dual-career relationships; more than a third are partnered with another academic. This trend is particularly strong among women scientists and people in more junior positions. As the number of women receiving Ph.D.s continues to rise, U.S. universities will see an increasing number of high quality candidates for faculty positions partnered with another academic. This presents universities with a challenge, but also a great opportunity to access new candidates and diversify their faculty.

Based on a major survey of full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty at thirteen leading US universities, plus interviews with administrators at eighteen universities, Dual-Career Academic Couples explores the impact of dual-career partnering on hiring, retention, professional attitudes, and work culture in the U.S. university sector. It also makes recommendations for improving the way universities work with dual-career candidates and strengthen overall communication with their faculty on hiring and retention issues. It is vital reading for anyone interested in the continuing strength and competitiveness of US universities.

Lead author Londa Schiebinger, Director of the Clayman Institute and Professor of the History of Science, welcomes questions and comments on the research."

Here is the link to their Executive Summary. Happy reading, Andrea

Challenges Of Dual Career Households In A Global Economy (For Americans Abroad)

Hello Everyone, If the topic of expat dual careers interests you, we invite you to read Leila Heron's article that we uploaded this week.

Leila's research and focus concentrates on US expats, but there might just be something in the article for you, even if you are not American. (The data table itself is very interesting.) :-)

Here is Leila's Executive Summary:

"The global economy, growing numbers of dual income households, and the increase of international assignments are producing pressure on American multinationals and the Federal Government to provide career transition assistance to spouses/partners worldwide. New support programs emphasizing entrepreneurial skills training and internet savvy show promise to boost employment opportunities abroad."

Have a great day/evening! Andrea