This talk is about children who move places together with their parents. They move houses, and schools and change colleagues and friends.
It is a talk about small immigrants, and about third culture kids, and what parents can do to make them feel safe through the process and through the changes.
About children who do not move towns and countries because they choose themselves, yet because they are following the grown-ups in their lives.
Crossing cultures can be easy for some and more challenging for others, the same with transitions through foreign languages and school systems. Listen to the podcast with Coach T, he is doing great with children.
I was a guest as Trova Expert where I shared my expertise with a webinar titled: ‘Reframe Your Focus: and Claim Your Life Abroad’.
The webinar explored why people move to other countries, whether by choice, such as: a new job opportunity, education, or seeking adventure or forced circumstances such as war.
The information provided here will help you reframe how to view your circumstances so that you have the most significant opportunity to be content and thrive in our new environment in another country.
Trova Health is in service of expats. I argue the difference between “expat” and “immigrant” in an article on my personal blog, which you can find if you click this link.
We are all PEOPLE, and some may argue that we are ALL THE SAME.
At the same time, the FAMILY, and the CULTURAL CONTEXT we are born and raised in work like a FILTER we see the world through, for the REST OF OUR LIVES.
In “Truth @ Work” podcast, led by Christi Scarrow, I am speaking about some of the FILTERS I see in the multicultural environments I walk through every day.
These FILTERS could be used and applied by each leader leading a multicultural team. Seeing your team members as the humans they are, with all that they bring with them regardless of if it is written in their CVs or not, can be the key to a loyal, productive, and well-motivated team.
This is “I Viaggiatori” a sculpture by the artist Bruno Catalano, symbolizing the void created by leaving one’s country, one’s family, one’s people for another life. For some, this can be true. For others, the country/family they left behind may have caused such a void, that they need to go someplace else to fill it.
Have you ever thought of how does it feel to be an immigrant?
Since I am an immigrant myself, I find it natural to speak about this experience in opposition to others. If you are an immigrant, you probably already found out that there are layers of feelings that scatter our bodies in the process of adjusting or just being in the new country we’ve chosen for ourselves.
I find this issue little spoken about. I think it may have to do with the fact that many immigrants find themselves in a survival mode even from the beginning.
Survival mode means being able to buy food and pay rent. When people struggle with these issues, the experience in itself with many emotions and experiences can fade away.
When people are “hungry”, or they are “cold”, it is difficult for them to take time to think about how is it, really, to be an immigrant?
To make it feel ok, and to be able to enjoy the stay, we all have coping mechanisms. And those would be “trying new things” in the new country: food, drinks, festivals, concerts, hobby clubs, and for many, overworking. Because if people don’t have friends or family, or a group of people to hang out after work, they will do what feels familiar, and that would be to work. It is better to have something to do than not doing anything because one does not feel comfortable with doing things alone.
If you are an immigrant, have you ever taken the time to think about how does it feel?
If you would like to emigrate, have you ever taken the time to think of what would you need so you could adjust better to the country you want to move to?
What to do, when in quarantine? Be a guest speaker
When we travel to a new country, we travel with more than suitcases. We carry with us thoughts and emotions and skills and behavior, and we hope our lives will change for the better. In this podcast hosted by Nida Jawed, we are talking about all these “things” we carry with us, yet they are invisible to the eye.
The week the interview was made I was sitting in quarantine, in a hotel in Norway. Traveling to see my family and friends had this as a price as well. Yet, I did the best I could with the time in my hands at that moment.
Doing the best of what I have is something I have learned from my mother, who always used to say:
“Don’t complain about what you cannot do with what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what you have!”.
I was not always happy to hear that phrase in my childhood. Yet, I am happy now that I can remember it and put it to use when it is needed.
I was forced to be on my own in a hotel room. Yet I had a computer and WiFi and loads of contacts available through the internet.
This talk is for women only, because the community I’ve held this talk for is women travelers only. I speak about “The invisible luggage” we all carry with us, and which is more than the suitcases which follow us around the world.
If you want to watch it, you’ll have to join the FB group. Check it out here.
Communication is difficult. Even between people who speak the same language. Let alone between people who speak different languages. Or the same language, which is the second language for both.
This is why I was asked to explain some theories of communication for Pint of Science Norway. You can watch my talk here. Don’ get scared by the length of the video. My talk is from min 14 to min 45. Enjoy!
If you liked it, let OTHERS know!
If you didn’t like it, let ME know! I would love some feedback!
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