Telling Our Cross-Cultural Stories Can Feel a Lot like Sharing Last Night’s...
I’m on a subway in a crowded city . . . a group of orange-clad monks carrying bright-blue IKEA bags enters my car . . . now I’m not on the subway . . . I’m on a bus . . . some children next to me are...
View ArticleWaiting and Watching at the Airport [—at A Life Overseas]
If all the world’s a stage, then one of the best seats is at the arrivals gate at an international airport. And if you’re like me, you’ve spent quite a bit of time waiting to pick up travelers,...
View ArticleFor Those of Us Who Aren’t Fluent in a Second Language, Even in Our Dreams...
I’ve heard it’s the holy grail of fluency: dreaming in your target language—walking around in your dream world, saying whatever you want to say and understanding everything that’s said. Sounds pretty...
View ArticleBa Da Ba Ba Ba—I’m Learnin’ It: Lessons from McDonald’s Abroad
Not long after we landed in Taipei in 2001, the head of our church’s missions-ministry team asked about our first impressions. Here’s what we sent to him: people-people-people, stinky tofu, cell...
View ArticleA Life Overseas: Send Us Your Photos . . . Yes, for Real
This post appears at A Life Overseas. I got several responses to my post last month, “Photographers, Can You Do Us Cross-Cultural Bloggers a Favor?” One of my favorites is “We are debating whether your...
View ArticlePhotographers, Can You Do Us Cross-Cultural Bloggers a Favor? [—at A Life...
From a recent edition of the weekly web journal Brigada Today, I found out that there’s a photography conference, “Depth of Field,” coming up, February 7 and 8. It’s designed for pro photographers, but...
View ArticleWhat’s Your “Fancy Like . . .”? [—at A Life Overseas]
If I were to say that I was “fancy like Applebee’s” you might make some assumptions about me. For instance, I might be an American, not the richest guy in the world, and someone who listens to country...
View ArticleCan You Talk the Talk? Swimming in the Alphabet Soup of CCW-ese [—at A Life...
How are your language skills as a cross-cultural worker? No, I’m not talking about the language(s) you’ve learned for living and working in your new home. I’m referring to your fluency in CCW-ese, or...
View Article“Quiet” Insights: On Introverts, Pseudo-Extroverts, and Voices in a Crowd...
Did you hear the one about the team of five cross-cultural workers who walk into pre-field training and take the Myers-Briggs personality assessment? Three of them get a code that’s “E” something...
View ArticleMy CCW Top 40 “Playlist” [—at A Life Overseas]
I’m not a very sophisticated musicophile. I like what I like without a lot of reasoning, don’t follow specific genres, can’t decipher a lot of lyrics (or don’t remember those I can), and don’t have...
View ArticleJourney from the Center of the Earth, and Back Again [—at A Life Overseas]
When I was born, it was quite the event and a lot of really great people wanted to meet me, or so I’m told. Just a few years later, my kindergarten teacher praised me for being especially polite. And...
View ArticleThe Origins of “Culture Shock,” Part 2
In Part 1 of my discussion of culture shock, I examined the genesis of the phrase. In this follow-up post, I’d like to take a look at what seems to be Kalervo Oberg’s extreme dependence on Cora Du Bois...
View ArticleThe Origins of “Culture Shock,” Part 1
While planning my previous post, “Reverse Culture Shock: Repatriating Back to Post-COVID ‘Normal’ in the Church,” I figured somewhere near the beginning I’d include a definition of culture shock,...
View ArticleWhen Hard Things Happen There while We’re Here [—at A Life Overseas]
Ten years. That’s how long we served overseas. And next month, that will be how long since we moved back to the States. This year, this month, is also a milestone for Joplin, MO, where we live. It’s...
View ArticleWhen in Rome . . . or Santiago or Nairobi or Chiang Mai [—at A Life Overseas]
When in Rome, sometimes we do as the Romans do just to fit in. Sometimes it’s out of necessity. Sometimes it’s because their way is actually better. And sometimes it’s because, well—Why not give it a...
View ArticleHow’s Your Training Montage Coming Along? [—at A Life Overseas]
I have swimmer’s shoulder, but I don’t swim. It’s not that I can’t swim, I just don’t do it often enough to cause an injury. I’m in physical therapy for my shoulder now, but I actually started PT...
View ArticleGoodnight Street Light (a bedtime story for urban TCKs) [—at A Life Overseas]
Outside the big window There was a buzzing street light And a dripping AC And a confident frog Chirping up in a tree And there were two little boys playing with toys And cars driving by And a jet in...
View ArticleComing or Going during Turbulent Times [—at A Life Overseas]
In October of 2001, my wife and I boarded a flight and moved our family from the US to our new home in Asia. Nearly ten years later, in June of 2011, we moved back to our old home in Joplin, Missouri....
View ArticleShare Your Little Vista [—at A Life Overseas]
Most countries have their majestic views. They’re the sights that populate Google image results and Pinterest collections. I’m thinking Eiffel Towers and Mount Fujis. In the capital of Taiwan, we could...
View ArticleHow to Do Life during a Pandemic—Cross-Cultural Workers Can Add to the...
Lately, my wife and I have been video chatting with two of our sons, their wives, and our four little grandkids. That’s what you do when your children are serving in a faraway land. That’s what you do,...
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