Expat Women - May Features Now Online

Hi Everyone! We uploaded our new May features onto our home page and elsewhere on our site earlier today. Here's a quick run-down:

Success Story: Lyndall Sachs
Lyndall is currently Australia's Ambassador to Lebanon. She has led a fascinating life and we ask her about working as an Ambassador, working previously for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and about her experiences abroad.

Studying Abroad: Settling-In To An International School
No One Said It Would Be Easy
Special thanks go to Jenny Early, who helped us out recently as an intern, while on her gap year in the UK, for sharing with us her experiences of moving to an international school in The Netherlands for two years.

Feng Shui Your Way To Relocation Success
Samantha Honey kindly contributed an article for us on how to follow Feng Shui principles abroad - to cleanse and balance your new environment.

Adult TCKs (Third Culture Kids)
Our Expat Confession this month was written by one of our Expat Women Girlfriends (a trained psychologist), myself and TCK guru, Ruth Van Reken. If you are a TCK and you wonder if you can ever really 'fit in', take a read.

Courage To Fly
Robin Fay McNair talks about the 'fear of flying' - discussing 'trigger words' and giving us some great tips to help us gain more courage to fly.

Planet Germany
Jenny Early talks to Cathy Dobson about her experience trying to adapt to the local German culture, after a decade of living in Germany. (A very witty and entertaining book, by the way.)

And... if you want more... you will have to wait for our newsletter at the end of the week. Best wishes for May!

Andrea

PS. For anyone who wonders why we are featuring two Australian Ambassadors in the space of three months, here's the answer...

Last year, I scoured the UK government website seeking women Ambassadors to approach for this Success Story feature. Not only were there very, very few women Ambassadors abroad for the UK at the time, but unfortunately, those that I wrote to all declined the invitation. This year, I wrote to four Australian women Ambassadors (hoping that at least one would say 'yes'), and three out of the four agreed to participate! So, Lyndall is number two being showcased and later in the year, true to my word to the third generous Ambassador who participated, we will showcase the lucky third. :-)

UK Expats Thinking Of Going Home?

If you are a Brit living abroad who is thinking about going home to the UK, then Angie Cox at Fever Media is looking for you:

"ITV1 are making the second series of 'No Place Like Home?' about British Ex-Pats who are considering moving back to the UK. We're keen to hear from Brits who are living abroad, but who are now thinking about returning permanently to Britain. Perhaps you miss your family and friends, maybe you are struggling with the language, or very simply you yearn for a bit of British culture. You'll be flown back to the UK and given the opportunity to 'test-run' the reality of living in the UK. We'll give you the information and experience to make an informed decision on whether to remain an expat or come home for good. If this sounds like you, or anyone you know, please contact Angie via email as soon as possible, or call 00 44 (0) 20 7428 5768. To watch segments from the first series please click here and then click on programmes in the menu. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, Angie Cox."

Angie said in her email to us today that they have 30 episodes to make. So if you are interested - go for it! :-)

Heard of Tomorrow People?

Last week, I came across an interesting site for the Tomorrow People Organization (TPO):

"Tomorrow People Organization is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping young people to become educated and ethical, globally aware professionals, committed to inflicting a positive change in the world. Our focus is on leadership and cross-cultural studies. By inspiring young people to develop new ideas and teaching them the skills necessary to put those ideas into action, we are creating new generations of responsible and successful global citizens - future leaders. "

"Tomorrow People Organization was founded in 2002 by a group of enthusiastic young people in Belgrade, Serbia and by now has grown into an internationally recognized organization with numerous respectful academic partners, references and academic programs held in dozen countries and 4 continents. In its academic programs, Tomorrow People Organization has hosted participants of more than 60 different nationalities..."

I see that they have a 3-day women's conference coming up at the end of next month. If anyone is in or close to Korea, or interested in attending, please click here to get more information from their site. In the meantime, here are the basics:

Women's Leadership Conference 2008:
25-27 May 2008, Busan, South Korea

280 Euros before 2 May (or 180 Euros for Student Observers)
320 Euros from 2 May onwards (or 220 Euros for Student Observers)

If anyone goes, please drop me a line afterwards to let me know more about the conference.

Thanks, Andrea.

Have You Joined InterNations?

If you have joined FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Naymz, WAYN and 2BalanceU (Go Heidi!) and you still have an appetite for more, the relatively new InterNations site might be right up your alley.

InterNations was started (I am told, in September 2007) by three Europeans: Christian Leifeld, Philipp von Plato and Malte Zeeck.

The site claims to be "the first international online Social Network exclusively for people living and working abroad". The idea is to build a network of trust, "where its members can interact with other internationally-minded individuals sharing the same situation abroad, similar interests, and needs. Members of InterNations can get and keep in touch with private or work-related friends and acquaintances on a global and local level and exchange trustworthy and relevant information on specific topics with each other".

It's an invitation-only network, but if you'd like an invitation, just click here and go for it!

5 Key Points For Writing A Book

If you have some ideas that you really want to get out into print, take a read of Jasmyne Boswell's article 5 Key Points For Writing A Book , which we published on our site today, to get you motivated.

As Jasmyne says, " Writing a book is similar to starting any project. It takes planning, preparation, focus, commitment, and most of all a passion for what you’re doing. If you implement all five points, the odds of flourishing are in your favor."

Thanks go to Jasmyne for her voluntary contribution.

World's Most Expensive Cities

Every so often, a survey comes out naming the world's most expensive cities, the world's best cities to live in etc. I just read an online news article on my local news site that was quoting ECA International's latest annual survey results, which surveyed 92 cities worldwide, in an effort to compare the cost of expatriate housing. Take a quick look to see how your city ranks in terms of the most expensive cities in the world to rent a three-bedroom apartment:

1. Hong Kong
2. Moscow
3. New York
4. Tokyo
5. The news site accidentally missed this one!
6. Mumbai
7. Seoul
8. Caracas
9. Singapore
10. Ho Chi Minh City
11. Paris
12. Shanghai
13. Dubai
14. Bogota
15. Istanbul
16. Beijing
17. St Petersburg
18. Lagos
19. Rome
20. Amsterdam

Career In Your Suitcase

Great news, the long-awaited third edition of Jo Parfitt's Career In Your Suitcase book is now out! Jo sent me the PDF today and I spent more than an hour scrolling through its 298 pages. (Aren't e-books just amazing... the fact that you can get access to that much information without needing to touch a hard-copy any more?)

In short, this book is truly like a bible for anyone wanting a portable career and I wish I had read it years ago when I started the song-and-dance-trailing-spouse-routine. It is jam-packed with so much advice, that I look forward to reading every single page, when time permits. Do not be surprised if we feature this book on our home page in the coming months. It fills a genuine need for so many women in our audience, and it's practical and inspiring to boot.

If you're in need of a portable career, or just needing a motivational lift, you can order/pre-order your copy from the following sources:

Bookshaker (E-Book, immediate version)
Amazon.com (Hard-copy version)
Amazon.co.uk (Hard-copy version)

Note: The release date on Amazon is only 4 May 2008, so this truly is 'hot off the press'!

Happy reading, Andrea.

Bloggers: Heard of Voki?

I saw something very, very cool on a blog tonight that I have never seen before: a Voki. What is a Voki? Basically, a speaking avatar that you can use on your blog for free!

The official Voki definition goes as follows: "Voki enables users to express themselves on the web in their own voice using a talking character. You can customize your Voki to look like you or take on the identity of lots of other types of characters… animals, monsters, anime etc. Your Voki can speak with your own voice which is added via microphone, upload, or phone.Voki lives on your blog, social network profile and will soon be integrated in various instant messaging platforms. You will also be able to download it to most video supported phones. "Voki" is a combination of "vox", which is Latin for voice, and "Loki", which, is a prankster character in Norse Mythology."

Thanks go to our newest Expat Women Blog Directory member, Tamara of American Girls in Moscow, for introducing me to Voki. If you would like to see Voki(s) in action, check out Tamara's blog, as she features one for herself and one for each of her two beautiful daughters. :-)

Warmest regards, Andrea.

New Trailing Spouse?

If you are a new 'trailing spouse', or 'accompanying partner' as some prefer to be called, you may like to check out this super-useful guide that we stumbled across today on the web, written by the Family Liaison Office (FLO), US Department of State.

The guide is entitled Spouse and Partner Guide to the Foreign Service and it was only just published in February (which explains why we have not seen it before when surfing the FLO website).

Now, you might be neither American nor in a foreign service, but if you are new to the role of trailing spouse, there should be at least something in here that you can find useful, as the PDF document consists of 39 pages - sharing lots of useful advice and links.

Thanks go to the FLO for posting this information onto the 'open' internet, rather than onto just a 'closed' intranet site, so that expat women everywhere can benefit.

There Has Never Been A Better Time To Be An Expat

Robin Pascoe's article with this title was published last week in the Telegraph.co.uk. To read why Robin believes this, and what she thinks has/has not changed over the 20+ years that she has been covering the "global living beat", click here.

To read our interview last year with Robin about her book 'Raising Global Nomads', click here. To read our interview last year with Robin about her book 'Homeward Bound', click here.

Happy reading!

Living in the Olympic City?

Bustling Beijing, I have been told, offers countless new experiences for resident expats. Flicking through two review copies of books that arrived on my desk this week, Insider's Guide to Beijing 2008, by Immersion Guides, and a preview copy (that was distributed at the Beijing Expat Expo this week) of Beijing Explorer: The Complete Residents' Guide, by our friends at Explorer Publishing, who kindly donate our great monthly giveaway, I have to agree.

Is there anything this city does not have to offer? Maybe clean air is hard to come by, but I would hazard a guess that you could even find some clean air in Beijing if you needed it, via 'drop in oxygen bars' or something similar.

In short, if you are in Beijing, or moving to Beijing, I definitely give these books the thumbs up for helping you to make the most of your time in Beijing. From what I saw, there is just no way that you could discover all of the options presented in the books by yourself... or even through your local expat club... or even if you married a well-connected Beijing local. These books are a feast for the senses. Check them out if you are in, or moving to, Beijing. :-)

Warmest regards, Andrea.

Disclaimer: Expat authors and publishers sometimes like to send us review copies of their books. If we consider the books useful to expatriate women, we typically list the books on our ExpatWomen.com Country Books pages. We may also mention the books here in our blog and/or feature them in our newsletter. For the record, we are not paid for these mentions.

Repatriation: Going Home Is Not Easy

If you are a repatriate, you will know that going home is not an easy transition. In addition to the physical requirements of setting up a new home and settling children into new schools (if applicable), repatriation can stir up a pot-full of mixed emotions - especially if it was not your choice to return home.

Repats need to re-establish their support networks at 'home', adapt (read: usually downgrade) their lifestyle and habits, re-shape their language to try to fit back into the typically more domestic-centered mind-set of the people that they meet, accept career changes , re-mould their identity and more.

If you are a repatriate, you may be interested in two women that I talked to in this past week:

The first is Kirsten Terndrup Hammarkvist, the founder of The Repatriation Network of Denmark and the Coming Home Network. (Note: These sites are in Danish.) Kirsten lived in California, US, for 8 years, before returning 14 years ago to Denmark. She recounted to me the struggles that she went through, thinking at times "What was wrong with me?", which led her to follow her passion and set up a network for repatriates in Denmark.

Several years on, some media articles and even a TV feature in Denmark, and Kirsten now has 262 members on the network's mailing list, who not only identify with her vision, but want to connect. Hats off to Kirsten!

If you are Danish and would like to get involved, or if you are a repat elsewhere and would like to talk to Kirsten about her experience setting up a network for repatriates, please contact Kirsten here.

The second woman is Madeleine Dobson. Madeleine is a PhD student in the UK at Royal Holloway, University of London. She was an expat in Singapore when her family moved there in the mid-nineties. When her family moved back to the UK she became interested in what it is really like to repatriate and how people negotiate this and the challenges and opportunities it presents. To avoid simply focussing on the economic ‘lead’ migrant, she is looking for households including dependent children who might be willing to take part in her research.

Madeleine is primarily interested in UK citizens who have lived at some point in Singapore as expats. If you can help her with her research, please visit her website and/or email her via this address. Thanks.

If anyone else is doing similar repatriate research work and/or managing repatriation networks, feel free to drop me a line - I would love to hear what you are up to.

Thanks and best wishes, Andrea.

Expat Women April Newsletter

Warm greetings Everyone! We sent our April newsletter out earlier today. In addition to our home page features, the April newsletter also includes:

(1) Families In Global Transition (FIGT) Conference 2008 Highlights - thanks to Robin Pascoe;

(2) This month's Expat Women Confession - Job Restructure - talking about how to handle a shock decision such as a job restructure – especially when you have only recently expatriated;

(3) A plug for Robin Pascoe's (aka "The Expert Expat"'s) "Family Matters!" Survey - as mentioned previously on this blog. Please help Robin;

(4) This month's Winning Story - On Life, Being Busy and Moving On - written by Anita, an Indonesian in Scotland;

(5) An advertisement for a cool new site - My Week In. Take a look if you are in Paris, the Loire Valley, London or Edinburgh; and

(6) The announcement of our first winner of the fantastic Explorer Publishing book giveaway.

Important note: If you are an Expat Women Member and you have not received our April newsletter, please check your spam folder - as sometimes it can go straight to there. If it is not there either, just jump onto our online version and then drop us a line and we will investigate why you do not seem to be receiving it.

Thanks and enjoy your weekend!

Want To Get Our News Faster?

Hi Everyone, Just a quick post to let you know that you can now get our blog news faster, directly via email.

We have added the FeedBurner subscription box on the right-side of this blog, so please just add your email address and any day that we post a new entry, you should get it delivered to your inbox sometime in the following 24 hours. It is super simple.

If instead, you would prefer to subscribe in a reader, we have added those quick-links further down the right-side too.

Thanks and enjoy your day/evening!

Telling Tales Exhibition in Dubai

Friends, I do not normally use this blog to promote local expat-oriented events (because there are just too many, as you can imagine) but...

I just received word from our dear friends and supporters at Explorer Publishing that they are hosting a "photographic and oral history of Dubai through faces of the Emirati community" this week and that you are all invited. If you are interested and you are in Dubai, here are the details:

Telling Tales Exhibition
XVA Gallery, Bastakiya, Bur Dubai
Wednesday 2 April: 9am - 7pm
Thursday 3 April: 9am - 7pm
Friday 4 April: 10am - 5pm

For more information contact Shedan on 971 4 340 8805 Ext 201 or email shedan@explorerpublishing.com or click on this link.

Enjoy!

Andrea

Expat Women April Home Page Online

Hello Everyone, we hope you are enjoying a great start to your week! If you have not jumped onto our new home page yet for April, here are this month's main features:

Success Story: Stacie Nevadomski Berdan - a shining example of how successful you can be if you take the plunge and accept a work assignment abroad.

Featured Book: Get Ahead By Going Abroad - which Stacie co-authored with Perry Yeatman. We deliberately opted for the double-feature for Stacie in the same month, because honestly, their book is great - full of real-life examples, quotes and feedback from many women abroad - and it made sense to keep the two features together, rather than separate them into two different months, so that the interview responses complemented each other.

1st Special Feature: Women in Transition - contributed by Dhyan Summers MA, Licensed Psychotherapist - an American Expat Woman in India. If you are trying to cope with various changes in your life, you may find Dhyan's discussion about N.K. Schlossberg's "4 'S' System" for coping with transition to be just what you need.

2nd Special Feature: Special Needs Children... What To Know Before You Go - contributed by Rebecca Grappo, M.Ed, C.E.P. - an American Expat Woman in Oman. Rebecca is an International Educational Consultant who has worked with hundreds of globally-mobile families in both private practice and as the former Education and Youth officer for the U.S. Department of State. Her feature is a great read if you have special needs children and are about to move to a new expat location. If you know of someone else in this situation, please on-forward this article to them, as anyone faced with this challenge could benefit from Rebecca's advice.

Our newsletter this week will feature a few more things. If you have not signed up to receive a copy to your inbox, quick, do so here.

Thanks and happy April everyone!

Expat Infidelity Poll

Help... We moved our monthly Expat Women Poll from our Home Page to our Polls section this month, when ExpatWomen.com underwent it's March makeover. The problem now seems to be that the Poll is a bit too buried on the site and we need more responses.

Granted, some women might be scared to commit an answer to a question about infidelity... but given that our Poll is completely anonymous and no ExpatWomen tracking device whatsoever will find out who said what (we assure you), we hope you will click on this link and take the 5 seconds you need to click on your multiple-choice response to the following:

Question:

What is Your Experience with Infidelity Abroad?


Possible Answers:

• My Partner Has Had An Affair, But I Have Not
• My Partner Has Had An Affair, And I Have Too
• My Partner Has Not Had An Affair, But I Have
• I Suspect My Partner Has Had An Affair
• I Want To Have An Affair
• We Have Both Been 100% Faithful

Thanks in advance for your help!

Want to Win a Web Award?

If you have ever wondered how web experts would view your web site or blog, here is a great way to get some feedback and potentially receive some valuable recognition for your efforts...

The US-based Web Marketing Association has just announced it's 2008 call for entries to its annual WebAward Competition, with the deadline for entry being 31 May. You do not need to be a US-based company to enter. The entry costs US$195 (or US$99 for non-profits), but the sweeteners are:

(1) There are 96 (!) categories in which they typically announce several winners per category; and

(2) Every site entered receives rankings (and sometimes valuable judges' comments) across different selection criteria, so you can see just how you are doing and get some focus on how best to improve your site.

Last year, in our first year online, we entered ExpatWomen.com just to get some feedback from what we saw as 'real' web experts. We ended up winning (which they noted was primarily due to our content, rather than any super-interactive feature on our site) a Standard of Excellence award in our Online Community category.

This award was undeniably nice to show our sponsors and supporters, but more useful to us were the scores, rankings and two pages of extremely valuable feedback from their volunteer judges. That alone was well-worth the price of entry. (We will not be entering this year, but that is because we still have such great feedback to work on from last year.)

Now, in case you are wondering if they hand out awards to 'just anyone'... here is the list of the top 12 winners last year (note that Disney's name is mentioned twice), and here is the MyCoke site (aka another big name, Coca-Cola) that won last year in the Online Community category.

After approving the (exactly) 444 Expat Women Blogs on our site, I know that some of you have some really fabulous sites and blogs - so I hope some of you enter and win - then be sure to tell us, so we can showcase your winning blog here on our blog.

Good luck Everyone!
Andrea.

Are You An American Expat Lawyer?

Hi Everyone, This post is specifically for American Expat Lawyers, who might be able to help Amy Montemarano at the Drexel College of Law in the US:

"I am writing an article (and extending it into a book) on international legal careers and would like to interview (through email & telephone) ex-pats who were graduated from a U.S. law school and are now working in other countries. The article/book will feature "profiles" of how U.S. lawyers found their jobs working abroad. The intended audience is law students. The article will be placed in legal newspapers/magazines and will also be put on the website of Drexel University College of Law. The book will hopefully be published by the ABA (or similar legal organization) in its career division. I will run all final drafts of the interviews to confirm accuracy and make sure there is nothing confidential in what is said. This is being written in my professional capacity as Assistant Dean of Career & Professional Development at Drexel College of Law. Please contact me if you are interested in talking about your career. I anticipate gathering interviews from April through May 2008. Thank you."

If you can help Amy, please contact her directly via:

Amy Montemarano Esq.
Assistant Dean of Career & Professional Development
Drexel University College of Law
3320 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 571-4720
amymonte@drexel.edu
www.drexel.edu/law

Many thanks!

Expat Mentoring in BR Anchor News

Hi Everyone. Have you ever heard of BR Anchor Publishing? If you are a HR/Relocation Manager and you have not, then read on...

BR Anchor Publishing was started in the US in 1990 by Beverly Roman. Since that time, Beverly and her daughter Amy (who has recently assumed the company reins and moved the business to Florida) have built the company into a destination of choice for HR/Relocation Managers - in terms of expert advice and relocation resources customized for individual companies. Their newsletter database, for example, has over 7,000 subscribers. If you are interested, you can subscribe to their (now one-page-only) monthly newsletter via this page on their site.

This month's newsletter has just been sent out and I want to thank Amy and Beverly for publishing our Expat Mentoring article as the cover feature. If you are a HR/Relocation Manager and want to boost the success rate of your company’s expatriate assignments, take a quick read to see three simple ideas for you to help your expats link into the benefits of mentoring abroad.

Fancy Vietnam in June?

Hanoi, Vietnam, is the place to be this June if you would like to participate in the 2008 Global Summit of Women - nicknamed the "Davos for Women" because of "its focus on business and the calibre of women who participate".

The Forum is now in its 18th year. Last year, the Forum was held in Berlin, Germany. It hosted 1,000 participants from 95 countries, including 44 women government Ministers, as well as top women corporate, entrepreneurial and NGO leaders. You can see the video from last year here on the Globe Women website.

This year, the theme will be "Women and Asia: Driving The Global Economy". The program promises another fabulous array of VIP speakers, plus break-out sessions aligned as following:

• Leadership Development track;
• Entrepreneurial track;
• Micro-Enterprise track; and
• Issues track.

Dates are: Thursday 5 June - Saturday 7 June.

If you decide to go, please let me know, as I am going for the first time and would love to meet you there.

Best wishes, Andrea.

Note: On Wikipedia, "Davos" is explained as a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos, in Switzerland. It is described as famous for being the host to the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the annual meeting of global political and business elites, which is often referred to as simply Davos. To read more, click here.

Got an Expat Blog in Asia?

Hi Everyone, I talked today to the Founder and CEO of Expat-Advisory Services (EAS), Anthony Galloway, and to the Managing Editor for EAS, Naomi Robinson - both based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The EAS web site, with the catch-phrase "The Insider's Guide to Asia" has been up for about four years, so if you are in (or have been in) Asia, you may have heard of the site. Currently, they cover Cambodia, South Korea, Vietnam and Laos. They have plans to expand to another three or four countries this year - so they are growing.

Anyway, Naomi kindly asked me to help promote their Blog in Asia competition. Basically, each month, the best blog post submitted to EAS will win US$100. At the end of the year, their "best Blogger" will be awarded US$1200. Now that would be a nice end-of-year bonus to travel somewhere exotic within the region!

To see more details about the competition, please Click Here. Good luck Expat Women in Asia Bloggers! :-)

Andrea

International Women's Day

On March 8 (and/or in the week prior or after), thousands of women around the world get together in some shape or form to celebrate International Women's Day (IWD).

According to this great United Nations (UN) link: "[IWD] is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. It is an occasion for looking back on past struggles and accomplishments, and more importantly, for looking ahead to the untapped potential and opportunities that await future generations of women."

Did you do anything for IWD? Go to a luncheon? Participate in an organized fun run? Get together with your girlfriends? Or watch some IWD videos on YouTube? :-)

This year, I had the pleasure of attending a breakfast function for my local women's network in Australia: the Sunshine Coast Business Women's Network (SCBWN). The guest speakers for the morning were Hariati and Serena - two of the first female pilots to fly for Royal Brunei Airlines.

Hariati and Serena were incredibly inspirational. These women grew up in an Islamic society, on an island (Brunei) of only around 300,000 people. They both spent their childhood dreaming of being a pilot, but given that women were never allowed to do that in Brunei, it would have been easy to let go of their dreams... but they never did. They studied the subjects that they hoped one day would help them be pilots and they never lost faith in their dreams.

In 1999, both Hariati and Serena saw the advertisement by Royal Brunei for one (yes, just one) female pilot cadetship. They told us at the breakfast of their overwhelming sense of joy that day - as they knew that their dreams and hard work had not been wasted - they knew that they finally had a chance to fly high in the skies. (For the record, the women did not compete against each other, as one of them did not apply until the following year, due to age restrictions.)

Hariati and Serena both overcome some amazing odds to achieve the success that they enjoy today. For that reason, I am trying to interview one of these wonderful women as a Success Story for ExpatWomen.com in an upcoming month. The women are keen - but I am just needing to navigate through some "company security barriers" first. Wish me luck.

In the meantime, here are three inspirational quotes that I scribbled down from their talk, so you can share a little in some of the mottos that these ladies live by:

• "Women who want to be as good as men, have no ambition" (Serena was given this quote on a coffee mug, which she still uses it every day)

• "Write your own history, shape your own future"

• "N o t h i n g is impossible - n e v e r give up on your dreams"

Happy International Women's Day for last Saturday! Andrea.

Other IWD links:
Aurora's IWD page (UK-based)
Wikipedia's IWD page

Expat Women March Newsletter - Now Online

A very warm hello to everyone on this beautiful day. Our March newsletter is now online here. We managed to send the newsletter to half of our Members today. The task will be finished tomorrow, for those who missed out today. Please bear with us. It takes a couple of hours to send to all of the newsletter groups, so occasionally we run out of time (or encounter technical hiccups) and the task then gets spread over two days. If you have not joined us yet, we invite you to sign up now, so you do not miss the next inspirational dose in April!

One feature in the newsletter that has not previously been mentioned on this blog is the Double Vision in Mexico article. This was an interview that Jill and I did last year with Elena Bucciero of (A)WAY magazine in Belgium, about living in Mexico. (A)WAY published the interview in their hard-copy magazine in January/February 2008, as part of their regular feature showcasing what it is like to live in different countries as expatriates. If you are moving to Mexico, or have just moved to Mexico, you may be interested in the article.

If you think you live in an interesting expat location and you would like Elena to consider interviewing you in the future, you can contact Elena via this online contact form (remembering to mark it for Elena's attention). Elena says: "The idea behind this 'interview-type' piece is to tell other expats what it is like living in various countries worldwide - to give them a 'flavour' of the lifestyle, people, food, culture, etc. as well as information about all the other things which are really important to expat families - education, healthcare, accommodation, cost of living, etc."

By the way, if you are in Belgium and you do not already subscribe, I encourage you to seek out the magazine at some point - it is very nice (they sent me a copy) - and 15,000 readers must be onto something, right? (I saw on their website that a two-year subscription costs 30 Euros.)

Have a wonderful weekend, Everyone! Andrea

Thank You Expat Women Mentors

Those of you who have a keen eye may have noticed that our new-look web site does not include the "Forums" or "Mentors" sections that we had in the past. Well, your eyes are not mistaken, those sections are not hidden anywhere on the new site... sadly, those two sections have both been taken off the site, due to spam and maintenance issues. (We announced the withdrawal of the Forums in our February newsletter and we are going to announce the withdrawal of the Mentors section in our upcoming March newsletter.)

The good news is that we have started looking for more creative, user-generated ways to stimulate online expat women networking. We hope to have an alternative networking format to replace the Forums and Mentors sections later in the year.

A H-U-G-E thank you to every single one of our 150 or so Expat Women Mentors, who volunteered their time and wisdom on our site. You are all wonderfully generous women and you really did make a difference!

Thanks for your support everyone, Andrea.

Want Some Tips On Writing & Publishing Your Book?

Anyone who is interested in getting some tips and insights on writing and publishing that book that is inside of them, I highly recommend taking a read of last week's discussion on Barbara Gabogrecan's Micro Biz Navigator Forum for Guest Experts, facilitated by Jo Parfitt, a British expat woman in The Netherlands:

http://www.forum.micronavigator.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=184

Jo, and some of the other published authors who participated in the discussion, share some really great insights that we could all learn from, if we are thinking of writing/publishing a book.

Go for it!

Television Opportunities

Hi Everyone, You may notice on our ExpatWomen.com home page that there is a prompt to visit this blog which says: "Want to get our gossip first? Read our latest news and find out how to be on television!"

If you're new to the Blog and want to know what the "television" bit means, here is an explanation...

From time to time, media (journalists for newspapers, magazines and television shows) contact us looking for Expat Women to feature in various projects. If you scroll through the previous postings, you will see some examples.

We started trying to find women to match the opportunities, but then we decided just to post the requests on this blog as they came through, as there are surely more of you 'out there' that we don't know about, that might appreciate the inside goss.

So, if you are interested in these types of opportunities, just keep an eye on this blog. ;-)

Cheers, Andrea.

Welcome to the New ExpatWomen.com!

Dear Friends,

It is with much pleasure that we unveiled today our new home page. As mentioned previously, the home page is complete, but it will take us a week or two to change over the colours properly on all of the other pages, so thanks for your patience on that.

Full thanks for the new design go to:

1. Beth Nori, of Nori Studios, who has been an ExpatWomen Mentor for us in the UK. Beth wrote to us like a guardian angel one night and miraculously translated our ideas for our new top banner into reality within two days. If you ever need a web designer, we highly recommend Beth! and
2. Our regular web designer, Ines Castro of Blu Concept in Mexico, who spent many, many, many hours with me developing the rest of the home page. Ines, for your patience and persistence, we thank you immensely!

Loyal ExpatWomen.com readers will notice that the feature format on the home page looks different. This is to better profile the selected features and also to rotate the feature concepts from month to month. So, if your favourite feature is not there this month (eg. Book of the Month or Business Idea), just keep a look out in future months.

Home Page features for March:

Special Report: From Chennai to Shanghai: Expat Executive Women in Asia. This is the article that we mentioned in a previous post, that was written for ERC's Mobility Magazine (which they published in February). It is the result of interviews with seven expatriate women working in Asia. Thanks go to Nancy, Christa, Julianne, Basia, Cisca, Lesley and Sarah for their participation. You can read the article and see all of their photos here.

Success Story: Ambassador Sharyn Minahan, Australia's Ambassador to Denmark, Norway and Iceland. Sharyn has had experience abroad in Argentina, Spain, France, Chile, Mexico and is a very interesting woman.

Winning Story: Welcome to the Dark Side - Depression in Cambodia. Yes, we know, not the usual cheery fare, but an excellent account of a very real issue - all over the world. It's very well-written and full credit to the author, Bronwyn Sloan. She fully deserves her US$100 (our lucky last winner of the US$100, as that promotion has now ended) just for the courage to speak out. Congratulations Bronwyn.

Expat Confession: Infidelity Online. This was a very real confession from one of our members. (Name and location changed on request) Has this happenned to you?

New Book Giveaway: Thanks to our friends at Explorer Publishing in the UAE (namely Kate Fox - thanks Kate!), we have a great new book giveaway every month. Instead of five individual winners scoring one book each, Explorer are helping us to give away one complete set of Explorer Mini-Guides (16 in total, and more being published all the time) to one lucky member - who hopefully loves to travel. If you have not got around to joining up yet, please do so here for the chance to w-i-n.

New Bronze Sponsor: Clements International. A very genuine welcome to Clements International, who are a leading provider of trusted and reliable insurance services for expatriates, covering more than 170 countries. If you need automobile, personal, property, life, business, school and/or any other form of insurance, please support Clements, who we thank sincerely for supporting us.

Okay, thanks everyone and we wish you all a wonderful weekend! Andrea

Want to Write for Culture Smart?

Dear Expat Women Writers,

A good friend, Jo Parfitt of the ExpatRollercoaster.com, has been asked to source potential authors for some upcoming Culture Smart! books. If you think you can write about 30,000 words in an upbeat style about what it is like to live in one of the following countries as an expatriate, please email Jo and she can connect you with the series editor.

The countries are: Jordan; Syria; Tunisia; Mongolia; Bosnia Herzogovena; Slovakia; Nigeria; Tanzania; Venezuela; Columbia; and Ecuador. This is a great opportunity to gain a reputation as a country expert and an author. It will apparently earn you GBP1000 (a one-off fee).

If I had lived in any of those countries, I would do it! A thousand Pounds helps pay for the next exciting trip right? Go for it! Andrea.

Face-Lift Update

Hi Everyone, Just a quick update on ExpatWomen.com's face-lift. All going well, we are pleased to report that our mad efforts over the past couple of weeks should be unveiled on March 1! :-)

The navigation bars (that need to be changed manually, on every single page) will take another week or two to update to the new navigation bar colour (which will not be pink). So thanks for your patience on that.

The top banner will however keep our famous pink branding - but it will be a 'new' pink. We hope you will like it.

Thanks and enjoy your day/evening! Andrea

HSBC Offshore's Global Expat Survey

BREAKING NEWS: HSBC Bank International (one of our generous Gold Sponsors) just unveiled an ambitious project to conduct the largest ever survey of expats. Can you please help?

Here's what HSBC said: "The project aims to give more than 2000 expats across four continents the opportunity to have their say on what life is really like for people living and working away from home. The survey will look at opportunities that come with starting a new life in a foreign country away from home, and the challenges and difficulties that they may face at home and at work. The survey will also reveal how new technology helps expats start their new lives and manage their professional and social affairs. It will also find out how expatriate children’s lives differ from the lives of the friends they leave behind."

To make your opinion heard, please visit this link.

Thanks Everyone!

Women Inspiring Women

Hi Everyone, please let me share with you a good news story that I've been meaning to share for some time...

After appearing on our home page as our Mentor of the Month for December, Vicel (a Filipino expat woman in Afghanistan) wrote to us recently to share her excitement about being subsequently contacted by a Filipino researcher to participate in a very interesting study on the values and traditions of Filipinos living abroad. Vicel was also excited that her story inspired her sister’s friend so much that her sister's friend is no longer overwhelmed with anxiety about her move soon to with her husband to Tanzania. That’s fabulous Vicel. Thanks for the good news, and here's cheers to women inspiring women, all over the world! Andrea.

Intelligent Women Drink More?

I read something very interesting the other day, when I was Stumbling around on the web. The article was entitled "Intelligent People Are Prone to Alcoholism - Especially Women". Written by Stefan Anitei, Science Editor, Softpedia.

The results quoted were apparently the results made by the Medical Research Council and published in the American Journal of Public Health. They claim that "women are particularly prone to drink heavily in their thirties, if they have an over-the-averge intelligence". If you are interested, you can read all about it here.

Regards, Andrea.

An Expat In India?

Hi there, Julia is looking for expats in India, to survey for her Masters thesis on cross-cultural adaptation in India. Please help Julia if you can, thanks.

"I would like ask for your help to contact non-Indian expatriates or family of expatriates living in India regarding their success while working and living abroad. This research is issued by the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

It has been found that expatriates do not always perform as successful in the foreign country as they did in their home country. Some causes for these personal differences have been found in personality characteristics. Through this new research we would like obtain more certainty about the determinants of cultural effectiveness; in this case, job success. A lot of money could be saved when one could predict which employee is going to be cultural effective and thus successful in an international assignment.

To help me with my research, please click on this link (the survey should take you about 10 minutes). Hopefully you are able to help me and in this way help me graduate. Thank you very much!"

Yours sincerely,
Julia Wijnmaalen
Turfsingel 41
9712 KJ Groningen
The Netherlands

Face-lift for Expat Women

Ladies, it's time ExpatWomen.com (mainly the home page) gets a face-lift. We're working on this behind-the-scenes right now, but any ideas are more than welcome here. All going well, you should see a new-look Expat Women home page in either March or April. Thanks and stay tuned...

Got Something To Confess?

Dear Friends,
Following on from the positive feedback that we have received about the Expat Confessions section on our site, we would like to put a book together of both these confessions and new confessions, to help expat women the world over feel supported and that they are not alone in struggling with some/all of these issues.

If you have additional topic ideas, or things to confess that you have struggled with as an expat, ALL ideas are welcome via: contactus@expatwomen dot com. The topic ideas and/or personal confessions are purely voluntary and they will be kept anonymous in the book. (We can easily change names and locations.)

Thanks in advance for your support and for your contributions! Andrea

Family Matters Survey - Please Help Robin Pascoe

Hello Everyone. I would love you to help Robin Pascoe with her new "Family Matters!" survey.

This survey is different from other expat surveys in that it focuses more on the family and the impact of relocation on all of the family members. It was released today by my good friend, Robin Pascoe, aka the Expat Expert, in collaboration with one of her sponsors, AMJ Campbell International.

Robin has been running her Expat Expert website for 10 years now (congratulations on your anniversary, Robin!), devoting countless hours to helping expat women all around the globe. I encourage you to help Robin if you can, as a small way to contribute back to someone who has been helping expat women for many, many years.

The survey took me 30 minutes. You might be quicker. Thanks in advance, your willingness to help is genuinely appreciated.

Andrea.

British Expats Running A Business Abroad? Television Opportunity

If you are a British Expat running a business abroad who is needing some help, Anne Stone might just be able to make your day...

"I work for a London based TV Production Company called RDF Television- we make programmes such as Secret Millionaire and Faking It. I am doing some research for a new documentary series for Channel 4.

I am looking for someone whose dream of running a life and a business overseas has not gone to plan. Maybe it’s cash flow problems, language barriers or simply cultural differences that are making things difficult. The idea of our program is to help families get back on track – we want to help them save their dream.

We are looking for British couples who might welcome some advice to help rescue their business. I wondered if you knew of anyone who might be interested in talking to us. Thank you so much for your help. Anne Stone"

If you are interested in contacting Anne, please contact her via:

Anne Stone
Casting Producer
RDF TELEVISION
The Gloucester Building
Kensington Village
Avonmore Road
London W14 8RF
tel. +44 207 013 4115
fax. +44 207 013 4001
anne.stone @ rdfmedia dot com
www.rdftelevision.com

Expat Women February Newsletter now online

Hi Everyone, Our February newsletter is now online here. Members who did not receive the newsletter today should receive it tomorrow (as we had some hiccups in the sending process today and need to complete it tomorrow).

If you are subscribed to our newsletter with a Yahoo email, the newsletter may have gone to your spam folder, as sometimes happens with Yahoo accounts. To fix this, you are welcome to give us a new email account, or we encourage you to white-list the email address: admin @ expatwomen dot com (as per these instructions).

Thanks and enjoy your day/evening, Andrea.

Have You Seen Amazon's New 'Kindle'?

Hi Everyone, If you haven't seen Amazon's video for their new 'Kindle', take a look here. It is amazing what technology can do these days. What a great invention for internationally-mobile women like all are. And very interesting technology for the many authors and would-be authors among us.

Thinking further ahead... Imagine a day when school students only carry Kindles to and from school, saving their backs from lugging heavy school bags (filled with heavy text books) to and from school each day. Imagine book clubs sitting around with members only referring to their Kindles. Or instead of packing your holiday books for beachside-reading, you just pack your swimmers and your Kindles. Imagine. :-)

Can Anyone Help Jamuna (Expat Survey)?

"Hi, I'm a student from Malaysia University of Science (USM). I'm a MBA candidate doing research on Expatriate Adjustment. This is a 10 minutes anonymous survey on Expatriate's Adjustment. Its totally anonymous, no email address request. It takes 10 to 12 minutes! You can do halfway, Quit and Continue later. The results will be available to public. Please help me to give a broad distribution. The link to the survey is here. If you need more info from me, please let me know. Thank you so much for your help. Regards, Jamuna."

Jamuna Sulaiman
MBA candidate
School Of Management
Malaysia University Of Science (USM)
Penang, Malaysia
Contact: 6012-4587903
Email: jamuna.sulaiman@yahoo.com

Dr Anees Janee Ali
Lecturer/Supervisor
School Of Management
Malaysia University Of Science (USM)
Penang, Malaysia
Contact: 604-6533888 (ext: 3434)
Email: aneesali15@yahoo.com

Expat Women February Home Page now online

Depending on which time zone you are in, it is already a new month! That means new features, new interviews, new winners and new poll results. To see everything new, please check out our Expat women February Home Page which is now online and ready for viewing.

Some highlights this month include:

* Success Story - Amy Smilovic - An American who started her fashion business in Hong Kong (because she did not want to stay in the same company and report to her husband in American Express at the time) - and who now sells her fashions in over 200 stores

* Mentor of the Month - Carol - An American in Saudi Arabia - who served as a US Diplomat for 20 years before leaving the Foreign Service to marry her love in Saudi Arabia. Carol was a huge contributor to the Saudi Arabia forums on our site last year and we thank Carol sincerely for all of her volunteer contributions to ExpatWomen.com. Carol is now famous because she is also quoted in the Pink Magazine article below. Go Carol!

* Book of the Month - Saffia Farr (British) - A great book about her adventure when she moved (pregnant) to Kyrgyzstan with her water engineer partner Andrew. Saffia has a great wit and humour in her writing, as she talks about witnessing the 'Tulip Revolution' after political mayhem erupted during her stay there. Saffia is another gutsy woman - when traditional publishers would not publish her book - she decided to do it herself. Go Saffia.

* Business Idea - Emma Bird (British) - Emma talks about moving to Italy, starting a business in Italy, and writing a book about all of this - including her top five tips for starting a business (specifically in Italy, but also very useful for other countries as well).

* Special Report - Where Have All The Accountants Gone? - an interesting article written specifically for us by Lorraine Flaherty of Kathbern Management and ANZfinancejobs.com.

To read more, jump onto our home page. Thanks everyone, enjoy your day/evening!

Andrea

Foreign Relations in Pink Magazine

It's official - you guys really are the flavour of the month. First it was More Magazine (US) that ran an article about women working globally in their Dec/Jan edition, and now it is PINK magazine (US) that features an article by freelance writer Renuka Rayasam, entitled "Foreign Relations: Here's what those you work with overseas really think of American businesswomen" in their Jan/Feb edition.

I got quoted a couple of times, from an email interview that Jill and I did last year with Renuka. They seemed to only use the controversial quotes - eg. one about California blondes (remember, Jill is a Californian blonde, so that one was primarily from Jill's experience) - and one about (executive) women often having a tougher uphill battle than (executive) men abroad. We did say other interesting, intelligent things, I assure you. But hey, this is media, and isn't any publicity better than no publicity?

Thanks Renuka for the inclusion - it was actually genuinely appreciated. :-)

PS. If, you are a Tyra Banks fan (aka Supermodel, America's Next Top Model, The Tyra Banks show etc), then there's a double-incentive to buy the Jan/Feb magazine, as she features both on the cover and as their feature story inside. I confess, I am a fan - as she openly admits to being thrown daily "you cannot do this because you are black" comments in her career, before she got to where she is today. To me, she is like Oprah in many ways - not only do they both have their own talk-shows, but they both exemplify women who are gutsy and determined - and they do not let the naysayers (or negative people) get in the way of achieving their dreams. Go Tyra.

Expat Executive Women in Asia

Hi everyone. Last year, I wrote ExpatWomen's second article for Mobility Magazine (a monthly publication from the US-based Employee Relocation Council - ERC, which apparently has more than 30,000 hard-copy subsribers, plus online readers).

Great news, the article has finally been published and is now available for viewing here. It does not look as good on-screen as when you see the hard-copy of their magazine with the beautiful pictures (including the photos of the wonderful women interviewed), but the content is still the same, and I hope you enjoy it. :-)

From Chennai to Shanghai: Expatriate Executive Women Working in Asia is basically a summary of my interviews with seven expat executive women working in Asia - about their role, their highlights/successes, their challenges and their advice to employers (given that the audience is typically employers and HR managers). We have scheduled the article to be featured on ExpatWomen.com in March.

My very genuine thanks to the now-famous seven women featured:

Nancy Reisig
(American - Ford - Chennai, India)
(Nancy has now returned to the US)

Christa Avery
(Canadian - KPMG - Sydney, Australia)

Julianne Rogers
(Australian - British Airways - Tokyo, Japan)

Sarah Stuart
(American - Baker Hughes - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Lesley Gibb
(Scottish - Major Worldwide Apparel Brand - Hong Kong, China)

Basia Kruszewska
(American - Element K - Chennai, India)

Cisca Wikkeling
(Dutch - Asia Pacific Access - Shanghai, China)

I would love to do something similar for a European-based HR magazine, so if you are an executive expat woman sitting in Europe, please get in touch with me for a possible interview. Thanks Friends!

Andrea
contactus at expatwomen dot com

ExpatWomen.com Farewells Jill

If you have ever read this blog in the hope of some behind-the-scenes news that has not yet been publicized more widely in our Members' Newsletter, then today is your lucky day... here is your insider's dish from 'Hollywood'-ExpatWomen-style...

"Finally, some sad news: Jill is stepping aside from ExpatWomen.com to focus on her upcoming move back to California, USA. Jill has lived as an Expat Woman for 9 years in Paris and 5 years in Mexico City. Moving back to the US as a single mother with two children is an incredibly gutsy move and will require all of Jill’s time and energy in these coming months. I personally want to thank Jill for her two years (one prior to launch, and one after launch) of every-day-dedication in helping to build ExpatWomen.com and its growing reputation as an essential community site for expatriate women around the globe. Anyone who would like to send their best wishes to Jill is invited to do so via [jill at expatwomen dot com]." Taken from our upcoming February Members' Newsletter

We updated the About Us page on our web site today, so wanted to share the news with you here on our Blog at the same time.

Adios Jill. We wish you all the very, very best!

Andrea
(and every expat woman that you have helped in the last two years)

Singapore Wandering Wok Tour, 10 - 19 July 2008

Anyone interested in joining Pauline Lynch (an Australian) on a foodies' tour of Singapore, 10 - 19 July 2008, during the Singapore Food Festival and the Great Singapore Sale, please contact Pauline at wanderingwok@tpg.com.au, or check out Pauline's advert on our Singapore page here. 8 nights of Luxury, a visit to the Raffles Culinary Acadamy, and much more. (Please tell Pauline where you heard about her tour. Thanks.)

Canadians: Want To Be In A Documentary Series for Expats?

Hi Everyone, Is started really well. Here is a new media request, this time if you are a Canadian abroad:

"I am writing to you in regard to a documentary series i am working on about Canadian expatriate experiences abroad. The series is being produced by Nextfilm productions for the Discovery Channel Canada and Channel 5 in the U.K. The angle we are exploring concern Canadians who move to another country to pursue an new life either through a new job, opening a business, following their dreams or retirement but who encounter significant obstacles to their new life, either they run afoul of the law, fall prey to scams or find themselves in the middle of a natural disaster. We hope to provide something of a cautionary tale encouraging Canadians planning such a big life change to do their homework. I'm hoping that you can help."

Many thanks,
Amy Walton
Associate Producer
NextFilms
366 Adelaide St. W. Suite 300
Toronto, ON
Canada, M5V 1R9
T. 416-531-2500 xt. 580
F. 416-603-7545
awalton@nextfilm.ca
www.cineflix.com

If you are interested, please get in touch with Amy directly, and mention how you heard about her request. Thanks.

Any Australian Expat Women abroad from NSW?

Here's a Radio Producer looking for Australian expat women abroad, from New South Wales (NSW):

"I am a Radio Producer for the ABC based in NSW and produce a Statewide Afternoon program across NSW. I am hoping to make contact with NSW expats to do some radio interviews. Nothing too serious - just where they are, how they got there and what they're doing sort of stuff. I've done this in the past in SA and it has been tremendously successful. Family and friends love to hear them on the radio and they get to tell some great stories. Obviously the hitch for me is actually making contact, so I am hoping you... could send my details to and ask for people to make contact if they were interested." "If you can help I would appreciate it - to make sure this is not a crank email you can access our website on www.abc.net.au/midnorthcoast - my biog isn't there at the moment because I am just new to NSW but you could take a look at Presenter Fiona Wyllies blog. Regards,
Pam."

Pam MacIntosh
Statewide Afternoon Producer
ABC Radio NSW

If you fit the bill and are interested, please contact Pam directly - and let her know how you heard about this. Thanks.

Want to be on Canadian TV?

Yes, another one this week. (Maybe now that it's January, production companies are ramping up their research departments.) This time, a Canadian TV program:

"Hello there! I am with a Toronto-based production company called Matter of Fact Media. We are currently producing a series with CTV, the Canadian broadcaster for their Travel and Escape channel called "Exotic Lives." I came across your website and was intrigued. Could you kindly... let me know how best to proceed with your members? Kindest regards, Marilyn B. Fabrizio, Researcher/Production Coordinator, Matter of Fact Media, 258 Wallace Ave, Suite 104, Toronto, ON, M6P 3M9."

mfab@rogers dot com

If you are a Canadian and interested, please contact Marilyn and let her know where you learned of her request. Thanks.

Are you an Aussie Expat abroad?

Here's another media request: This time from Paul Edwards, an editor in Australia:

Expat Tales
The Age, Melbourne, is looking for Australian expats to feature in this weekly column, which runs in the Careers section. Members may contact the editor for more information: paul.edwards@westnet dot com dot au

If you are an Aussie expat abroad and would like to be featured, please contact Paul directly, and let him know where you learned of his request. Thanks.