Expatriates and their families are more often than not encouraged to learn the local language when they settle in a new destination. Many do follow this advice, but others prefer either to stick with a common language like English and/or just learn a few words of the local language to survive in their new environment.
When expats and their families move abroad, they are recommended to integrate or to assimilate the culture of their host country. Recommendation or not, the sole process of facing a new culture would end up in assimilating that culture or integrating into that culture or both -one after the other-. But what does that mean?
Expats decide to take on an international assignment after weighting in many factors. Some of them are associated with family stability and spouse development, others are related to children education and/or health service access, among others. But they evidently take into consideration employment elements that can make or break an expat journey abroad. According
During the summer months, it is common for festivals of all sorts to take place all around the world. Especially this year, after a couple of summers with social restrictions and travel limitations, many summer festivals are coming with force and high expectations to make up for the Covid-19 cancellations. But aside from the
The unjustified invasion of Russia into Ukraine has resulted in a senseless war with multiple negative consequences. Aside from the tragic loss of life, the destruction of Ukrainian buildings and infrastructure, the separation of innocent families, the abuse mostly of woman and children and the complete disregard for democracy and free will, the war is
It is no secret that expat spouses wishing to find a job abroad face numerous obstacles. Aside from the fact that many of them are not granted a working visa or a residency permit with the possibility of being employable, which obviously disqualify them from even starting to look for a job, the ones that
Needless to say, the last couple of years have been very unpredictable and challenging due to Covid. Among many restrictions and rules, travel bans have come and go and all the logistics around trip and vacation planning has become stressful and cumbersome, to say the least. Evidently, this has made traveling very complicated for
Many culture-based misunderstandings, culture shock situations and even social conflicts could be avoided or minimized by the practice of empathy. Easier said than done; but still worth examining. Empathy is the ability to understand other’s feelings and actions. Empathy, thus, implies being less judgmental and more understandable, being able to “put oneself in someone
Many articles and reports have been written about which are the best expat destinations around the world. When selecting the best cities or countries to live, these studies consider elements such as quality of healthcare system, standard of education, access to basic services, travel/flight connections, safety issues, housing and many others alike. While these remain
Most expats would agree that having a solid social network is crucial to succeed abroad. This is particularly true for expat spouses that, more often than not, are left somewhat alone to figure out how to operate and interact in a foreign environment, where rules and codes are different from the ones at their country