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Standing Up Crooked Together
Here’s an intro to my post this week at A Life Overseas. Standing Up Crooked There’s a tree near Colorado Springs that I admire. It’s a pine tree sitting on the property of The Hideaway Inn and...
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Culture Stress, when There’s No Hook to Hang It On
Head over to A Life Overseas to read my complete post. When most people open up their closets in the morning, they usually ignore the out-of-style shirts on the edge, the wrong-color sweaters, the...
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I’m Not a Tourist, See?
When you’re a tourist, it’s mostly fun to be a tourist. Most people like to help you and you’re treated as a guest. Sure, when you go to buy something you might get taken advantage of, but you don’t...
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Goodbye: Making a Hard Word Easier
From my post this month at A Life Overseas – goodbye /gə(d)-ˈbī/ excl. / salutation spoken at a departure, extremely unpopular for certain English-speaking tribes, such as cross-cultural workers, TCKs,...
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Pre-Tripisms
First expatisms, then airportisms, and now . . . pre-tripisms. Because we simply don’t have enough ways to talk about things. metapacking Carrying a suitcase in a suitcase so that you can bring back...
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Empathy at a Cultural Threshold
Empathy has taken somewhat of a beating lately, as Paul Bloom’s Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion has made the rounds. I’ve not read the book, so what I know of it comes from...
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An Open Letter to the Kind People in My Host Country [at A Life Overseas]
Dear neighbors: When my wife and I and our four children stepped off the plane in your country, with our 12 carry-on bags—and all our plans, enthusiasm, expectations . . . and naiveté—you welcomed us....
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Adding to Your Story-Letter [at A Life Overseas]
Ahhh, newsletters. (And by “Ahhh,” I’m guessing you know what I mean.) Living outside your passport country means finding ways to keep people updated about what’s going on with you. Some of those...
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Repost: 11 Ways Moving Abroad Is like Skiing to the North Pole
In May of 2004, explorer Ben Saunders completed a solo, unsupported trek to the North Pole—on foot. He set out on his trip from the Russian side on March 5, reached the Pole on May 11, and was picked...
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Surviving? Thriving? How about Striving? [—at a Life Overseas]
“Are you thriving?” It was during our first term on the field, and our pastor asked me this question in a Skype chat in front of our home congregation. My answer? As I remember, it was in the...
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Is Conflict with Teammates Really the Top Reason for Missionaries Leaving the...
You’ve probably heard it many times. Simply put: The number-one reason missionaries leave the field is because of problems with coworkers. The trouble is, it’s not that simple. First of all, the best...
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Study Prep: Getting Your Kids Ready for College back in the US [Updated]
[This is a new version of a post I wrote two years ago, including updated links and FAFSA information] Now that your kids’ school year has started, it’s time to take in a big breath, let it out slowly...
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Dépaysement: What the French Call That Feeling of . . . um . . . Un-country-ness
Dépaysement. It’s a French word that means something like “culture shock,” but it’s for those times when culture shock isn’t enough to capture what you’re feeling. I could give you my definition, but...
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Language Learning: Like Wrestling with the Laundry
I wrote the following in a newsletter a few months after moving overseas. That was a long time ago, but my thoughts on language learning haven’t changed much. Our main goal right now is to learn the...
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Where Are You From? 2, 3, 4
“Where Are You ‘Really’ From? Try Another Question” Latinos, Asians and people who fall in between the black-white racial binary in the United States are those who are most likely to be asked, often in...
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Are You OK? and Help! Two Things You Really Need to Learn to Say in Your...
When you visit a country where the people don’t speak your language, there are several important phrases you should know how to say: things such as “Hello” and “Goodbye,” “How much is this?” “Where’s...
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Of Big Macs, KFCs, and Tall Lattes: A Full Menu of Global Indexes
I’ve always wondered about the “heat index” and “chill factor,” ways to say, “We know how hot or cold it is, but here’s how it feels.” Obviously there are scientific factors figured into the...
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What Did I Do Today? I Made a Copy. Woohoo! [—at A Life Overseas]
An imagined but quite possible day in a life overseas . . . This morning I woke up with my to-do list waiting for me on the nightstand. Item number one was Get out of bed (I’d written that one down so...
View Article33 Clickbait Headlines for Expats—Number 12 Will Make You Gasp [—at A Life...
Normally, clickbait headlines are created simply to grab clicks—and clicks and clicks and more clicks. But you can’t click on the titles below, since there aren’t any stories linked to them. Instead,...
View ArticleShort Fiction at High Altitudes
“Is Wi-Fi the existential threat that will finally kill the inflight magazine?” That’s the question Mark Tjhung asked this past July in Forbes. His answer is No, in part because his answer has to be...
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