Monday, December 27, 2010

Expat Women: Best of 2010 Newsletter

Hi Everyone! First of all, Happy Holidays to each of you and thank you so much for your support in 2010. We hope that wherever you are and whatever you are doing this festive season that you are safe, healthy and creating some wonderful end-of-year memories with treasured friends and family members.


Second, for those of you who missed our Expat Women Best of 2010 Newsletter earlier this month (or if you are not subscribed to our main Expat Women newsletters), please find below some of our most popular features this year, as voted by you, our readers. Enjoy!


Success Story

Debbie Travis
Television Star, Producer and Entrepreneur Extraordinaire
Once upon a time, Brit Debbie Travis modeled with celebrity supermodel Gail Elliott. Today, long-term expat Debbie Travis is a household name in Canada, famous for producing and hosting three successful lifestyle television series that now show worldwide...

Success Story
VP Africa Strategic Initiatives, Agility (Kuwait)
Deanne De Vries is a career woman, a traveler and an adventurer. Born and raised in San Jose, California to Dutch parents, she has lived in Belgium, the Netherlands, Kenya, South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, Iraq and now Kuwait...

Business Idea
Renée Coppinger
Fashion-lover Renée is a shining example of an expat entrepreneur who has reinvented herself, over and over. From electronics, to fashion, to care giving, to study, to art and then back to fashion, she has set up businesses...

Business Idea
Janine Hall
Janine Hall combined her career skills with her passion for coaching, surfing, yoga and well-being to create Surf Haven Bali, a luxury boutique surf and yoga spa retreat. Her guests experience and adventure of a lifetime and leave recharged and refreshed...

Expat Confession
Expat Women Girlfriend
Help! My husband's job has taken us to a small, remote, island community in the middle of nowhere. The population is just over 1,000 people and the locals resent and bully the foreign community. They even chased an expat off the island who blogged about her time here...

Expat Confession
Expat Women Girlfriend
My husband's new role is very demanding and he is frequently travelling away from home. I am embarrassed to confess that my loneliness has led me to start an affair with my neighbor. I feel extremely guilty about what I am doing and know that this is not right. Ironically, I started the affair to ease my loneliness...

Relocation Decisions
Louise Wiles
Currently over 200 million people worldwide are living abroad... But how do you decide if relocating is right for you? Expat coach Louise Wiles takes us through 8 steps to making the decision that is best for you...

Repatriation
Heather Carreiro
After living abroad, moving back to your home country can be even more of a shock than learning to live in a new country and culture. So much of how we define ourselves while living and working overseas is wrapped up in being an expat...

Job Search
Lois Freeke
Job searching can be a frustrating process, especially if you are an expat trying to find your way abroad and unsure who to approach for that dream job offer. However as a job seeker in today’s digital age…

Motivational
Kim Seeling Smith
As expats we are forced to reinvent almost every aspect of our lives when we choose to pick up, pack up and pluck ourselves down in another country...

Web Tips
Andrea Martins
Relocated families love the Internet. It feeds their need for information about new destinations and keeps them “connected” with friends and family when their companies transfer them thousands of miles from home. To boost your brand in this market, you need to be online media savvy...

Travel Tips
Susanna Zaraysky
If you consider yourself a master at the travel game, but you are still looking for some new ideas to save money and better navigate travel, read on to learn from Susanna Zaraysky who has lived in nine countries and is the author of Travel Happy, Budget Low...
Read more...

If you are not a member of our main site, ExpatWomen.com, please join today to support us (and receive a link to download our free Expat Women e-book "Winning Stories"). This will also mean that future Expat Women newsletters will be delivered directly to your inbox.



Thanks Everyone and all the very best for 2011!
See you again in mid-January. :-)

Monday, December 13, 2010

Expat Women December Newsletter Highlights

Hi Everyone, For those of you who missed our Expat Women December 2010 members' newsletter last week, or did not get time to read the new features, please find below the highlights and we encourage you to click on a few for a great read!

(If you are a member and did not receive your newsletter, please email us here, thanks)

Success Story: Karen van der Zee, Romance Novelist;

Business Idea: Janet Dorey, emBoxed;

Expat Needs: The Pyramid of Expat Needs, by Elizabeth Abbot;

Student Campus Visits: 10 Most Important Things to Look for in the Campus Visit, by Rebecca Grappo;

Expat Confession: Local Poverty, by our Expat Women Girlfriend;

BlogWorld2010: 12 Insights from the World's Largest Social Media Convention, by Andrea Martins;

Currency Exchange: 4 Key Ways to Protect Yourself When Using A Currency Exchange Service, by Deborah Benn;

Winning Story: Black and White for Thanksgiving - The Mourning After; and

Winning Member: The name of our Explorer Publishing mini-guide pack winner.

If you are not a member of our main site, ExpatWomen.com, please join today to support us (and receive a link to download our free Expat Women e-book "Winning Stories"). This will also mean that next month your newsletter will be delivered directly to your inbox.

Thanks Everyone!  And look out for our "Best of 2010" newsletter later this week...

Andrea

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

December Edition of Mobility Magazine Online

Hi Everyone, If you are in the expat, global mobility and/or relocation industries, you may be interested in the December edition of the Worldwide ERC® Mobility Magazine, which features the following:

Moving Into the Future
By Eric Read, CRP, GMS

Commoditized Services: Balance Between Quality and Cost
By Boris Populoh

Balancing Talent Mobility with Talent Productivity

By Jill Heineck, CRP

By Johannes Laxafoss, Peggy Smith, SCRP, SGMS, and Joseph Morabito, SCRP

By David Barlow, SCRP, SGMS

By Michael F. Tucker, PH.D., CMC

Happy reading!  Andrea

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Escaping Corporate Life To Find A More Relaxed Expat Life Abroad

Hi Everyone, If you have taken a break (or are aspiring to take a break) from corporate life back home to explore a more relaxed lifestyle abroad, you might be interested in our recent interview with Courage and Croissants: Inspiring Joyful Living: A Story and Life Guidebook author, Suzanne Saze-Roux, whose family did just that...

Courage and Croissants

Five years ago, Suzanne Saxe-Roux and her husband, Jean P. Roux, left behind corporate life in the United States for a small, peaceful village in Southern France. The expected year away soon turned into three, at which point the family reintegrated back into American society part-time. Suzanne and Jean’s book, Courage and Croissants: Inspiring Joyful Living, A Story and Life Guidebook, explores the events that led to their life-changing move to France and their adjustments to the local culture. Courage and Croissants also features a section of tips for anyone seeking a significant life change and wondering how they can make it happen.

Suzanne is a consultant, facilitator, coach, author and speaker who has travelled the world to train leaders, professionals and teams.  She is currently based in Tiburon, California with her husband and eleven-year-old daughter, but they still enjoy spending a great deal of time at their home in Montpellier, France.


Expat Women’s Interview with Suzanne


Expat Women: Suzanne, what made small-town France appealing enough for you to give up the security of corporate life in the United States?

Suzanne: We loved France and had gone every summer for 12 years. It felt natural to truly take the time off we so desired and regroup, regenerate, and reprioritize life.


Expat Women: What was it like reentering the busy American lifestyle, three years after you had left the U.S. for France?

Suzanne: We came back for a variety of reasons, one being work and another to get our house ready for sale.   I also wanted to visit with friends and see how I felt after being away.  During the first six months, we all felt great sadness over the transition.  We desperately missed the rhythm of how we had lived in France.  As time went on, we adjusted, but we continue to hold on to some aspects of our French life.

Our lives are much more hectic here in the U.S., but we manage the busyness in the following ways:

1. We make only one plan for the entire weekend.  One social event with a schedule and one activity for our daughter on Saturday mornings.  Sundays are free, spontaneous and a slow day in which we are together doing whatever we feel like doing.  Taking control and saying no to certain activities and invitations is often hard, but it is how we keep our pace of life sane;

2. We continue to cook at home and invite people for dinner about once a month.  This brings us pleasure, reminds us of France, and our friends love it as well;

3. We are out in nature as much as possible (especially on weekends) and amidst the busyness, try to focus on the simpler things in life;

4. Our house is much cleaner and void of “stuff” now.  It is “simpler living” even though the house has not changed; and

5. We continue to read as a family and still do not own a TV – we use the Internet instead.   Not being constantly bombarded by the outside world keeps things simpler as well.


Expat Women: You write candidly about your experiences and struggles learning the French language, discovering French cuisine and finding a new appreciation for your body, to name a few.  How did you allow yourself to adjust to the cultural transitions while keeping a smile on your face, and what tips do you have for others in a similar position?


Suzanne: Be curious and put yourself in the place of being a student.  Continuing to learn French is a lifelong goal because language learning does not come naturally to me.   I find though that with every conversation in which I am understood, I am secretly pleased with myself and feel like I am making progress.  Unfortunately, this is much more difficult to do in America as I am not immersed in the language, but I keep on pushing.  I am also constantly cutting out recipes.   I dream of using them and it makes me happy.  Once a month I try to cook something new, which helps me to be creative.


Expat Women: What vital steps do you believe are necessary for someone to pursue their dreams?


Suzanne:

1. Decide on a clear dream or vision.  What does it include or not include?  The more specific you can be about what you want, the easier it will be to focus on achieving it;

2. Know and understand your fears.  Write them down, stare at them and then let them go.  Throw them, burn them, and shift them to the back burner;

3. Develop a strategy to move forward on your vision/dream.  Create three to five bold outcomes to help you.  You might look at all areas of your life that need to be included to make your vision/dream a reality;

4. Once you have written your bold outcomes – develop action plans for each one.  Take one at a time or do them simultaneously, moving them forward;

5. Get support from a friend, partner or coach; and

6. Acknowledge the small shifts as you move towards your dream.


Expat Women: Suzanne, thank you for sharing your thoughts and inspiring experiences with us. We wish all the best to you, your family, and your new book, Courage and Croissants.


Thanks go to Ashley Thompson (Expat Women) for this interview.

Share This: