Episodes
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Today we're travelling to the Silver City!
Catriona Turner, author of "Nest - a Memoir of Home on the Move", former guest on this podcast and recent repatriate to Scotland, takes us around her beautiful hometown of Aberdeen.
If you haven't read it yet, Catriona's book Nest - A Memoir of Home on the Move is widely available everywhere and a really good read.
You can also listen to our previous podcast conversation to find out more about Catriona's story.
Please also check out her website, and Instagram with links to the wonderful writing initiative #May on the Move!
Here are a few mentions in case you're planning a trip:
Bars:
Number 10
the Dutch Mill
Under the Hammer
Cafes:
Corner Tree Cafe
Books & Beans Cafe,
Inversnecky Cafe
Restaurants:
Travancore restaurant (South Indian)
The Silver Darling (fish restaurant)
In and around Aberdeen:
Albert Terrace
Union Terrace Gardens
Aberdeen Art Gallery (artist Louise Bourgeois)
Belmont Street
Nuart: Street art festival
Old Aberdeen/University Campus
St Machar's Cathedral & Seaton Park
Brig o' Balgownie
Codona's fun fair
The fishing village of Footdee (Fittie)
Torry
Greyhope Bay
Further afield:
Royal Deeside
Balmoral
Falls of Feugh near Banchory
Braemar
Caerngorms mountains
Fife Arms Hotel
The market town of Stonehaven
The ruins of Dunnottar Castle
Slains Castle - inspiration for Dracula
Food/Recipes:
Yumyums
Haggis
Millionaire's Shortbread -
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Have you ever felt lonely in your expat adventure?
My guest today is Sarah, a German in London, who used her own loneliness to establish a business as a "Loneliness Coach".
Friendships, and how to make friends and keep them, is our overall topic, but of course we also talk a lot about cultural differences, especially between the UK and Germany.
Sarah mentions Brooke Castillo's The Life Coach School Podcast, which is a great resource, not only if you're interested in coaching in general. There's a lot of wisdom there.
You can find out more about Sarah via Instagram or head straight to her Linktree and find all the links to her resources, including a quiz to find out how lonely you really are, and ways to turn it into your biggest strength. -
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Heute geht's auf die Insel!
Mein Gast ist Vanessa, eine Engländerin, die lange in Österreich gelebt hat und seit 10 Jahren wieder in ihrer alten Heimat Hertfordshire lebt.
Vanessa arbeitet als interkulturelle Trainerin und Sprachlehrerin, und natürlich sprechen wir ausgiebig über das Sprachenlernen und die Unterschiede zwischen Englisch und Deutsch. Außerdem geht’s ums Umziehen mit Teenagern, die Zweisprachigkeit, verschiedene Schulsysteme, Tee, Schokolade und Chips, sowie den Unterschied zwischen "Handy" und "Handy".
Wenn ihr mehr über Vanessa wissen wollt, findet ihr sie am besten auf Instagram, oder natürlich direkt auf ihrer Website. -
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My guest today is a true ATCK - an adult third culture kid. Third Culture Kids are people who were raised in a culture other than their parents' or the culture of their country of nationality, and also live in a different environment during a significant part of their child development years.
Shakti is also the author of Colours of a Cultural Chameleon: "Where are you from?" Life. gets interesting when one has no simple answer.
Born in the Netherlands to a Belgian father and an Indian mother, Shakti has known cross-cultural living from an early age, moving to Delhi, India on several occasions, and also Boston, USA, for a year, before returning to the Netherlands, where she lives today with her husband and son.
We talk about writing in general, and writing and publishing your own work, but mainly we talk about what it's like to constantly bridge two or more cultures, what it means to belong, the power of celebrations, and the gift of multillingualism.
You can find Shakti on Instagram, or go straight to her website for more information about her writing, travel and publishing tips. -
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For my very first Destination Special, we're travelling to South America!
Nikki Palazzo, born in the US and a former expat in Germany, is showing off the city she's called home for the last 18 months: Asunción, the capital of Paraguay.
Join us on our virtual weekend through this colourful and friendly city and find out where to eat, drink cocktails and watch the sunset.
We also venture out of town, and there are tips and anecdotes galore!
Make sure you eat something before listening, as you'll be ravenous once you've heard Nikki describe Paraguayan food.
From Tereré to San Juan Festivals and the joys of parallel parking, I promise you won't get bored hearing all about this secret little place that usually ranks pretty high on the list of happiest countries in the world.
For more information, get in touch with Nikki on Instagram, or listen to her on this podcast - she was my guest for Episode 27! If you want to find out about her previous experiences in Germany, she still has her Expat Cast links available.
Some other things Nikki mentions:
El Café de Acá
Mbeju food
El Parque de la Salud
Nu Guasú Park
Guaraní language
San Bernardino town and lake
O Gaucho restaurant
Ciudad del Este: gateway to the Iguazu Falls
Encarnación: Unesco World Heritage Site
The Chaco: the "green hell" -
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My guest today is Sabine, a fellow German transplant in New Jersey, who's lived in the US since 2010.
Her story is truly harrowing and amazing at the same time: Sabine talks about how a life-altering emergency made her expat journey take a 180, and how her life has changed since then.
We talk about how an emergency situation like this affects your family in and outside of your country, what consequences a medical diagnosis can have for your residency status, and we discuss different health systems, and the importance of grandparents in your children's lives.
Apart from being an active fundraising coordinator, speaker and advocate, Sabine functions, amongst other things, as a volunteer leadership advisor for the American Brain Tumor Association, sits on the advisory council of the National Brain Tumor Society, and serves on the Board of Directors of Epic Experience, a Colorado-based nonprofit that organizes camps for adult cancer survivors. She recommends their podcast: Campfires of Hope - Living beyond Cancer.To connect with Sabine, find her on Instagram!
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Today's guest is a true nomad - Iliana, a Living Abroad Strategist, writer and scientist, born and raised in Bulgaria, and currently living in Chicago.
Iliana left life behind the Iron Curtain for adventure in the US just before the millennium and has since lived in five countries on three continents.
We talk about the transience of life, making friends all over the world, what it means to have a relationship with a country, and how to keep a glass-half-full attitude through the darker times.
To connect with Iliana, find her on Instagram, LinkedIn or via her websites, www.olivemaps.com, and www.iliana.us, where you'll find the writer's side of this free spirit. -
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Und weiter geht's mit den deutschen Folgen! Mein heutiger Gast ist Susann Reiner, alias Madame Süsette, Vintage-Liebhaberin und Geschäftsfrau mit Herz.
Susann ist ursprünglich aus Thüringen, und floh mit ihrem damaligen Mann kurz vor der Wende in den Westen, wo sie sich in der Nähe von Stuttgart niederließen.Susann war ausgebildete Krankenschwester, bevor sie ihren Beruf an den Nagel hängte und in vielen Bereichen tätig wurde - unter anderem führte sie zehn Jahre lang eine Second-Hand-Boutique, zunächst in Deutschland und dann in Malaga, Südspanien, wo sie heute mit ihrem Mann bereits zum zweiten Mal lebt. Momentan arbeitet sie hauptsächlich online, und führt außerdem Vintage-Touren durch ihre Herzensstadt.
Susann liebt Spanien, die Sonne, Kleider und natürlich vor allem Vintage-Mode und alles was mit Nachhaltigkeit zu tun hat, außerdem hat sie es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, Frauen zu unterstützen. Ihre positive Grundeinstellung und Energie kann man schon beim Zuhören spüren!Mehr über Susann und ihr Leben findet ihr auf ihrer Madame Süsette Website, und natürlich auf Instagram.
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We're heading to Rotterdam today. My guest is Sicilian Rossella Davi, who's lived in the Netherlands on and off for the last 12 years.
While we talk a lot about how national stereotypes aren't always applicable, we also can't escape them, and have a good laugh at Dutch minimalism vs. Italian drama, amongst other culture shocks.
Find Rossella on Instagram, or check out her Going Expat website if you want to know more about moving abroad, and in particular the Netherlands!
Want to be a guest on this podcast? Please get in touch, I'd love to hear your story. Check out my website Transcontinental Overload. -
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Meine erste Folge auf Deutsch!
Mein heutiger Gast ist Monique Menesi - vielleicht bereits bekannt durch ihren Muttersprache-Podcast, oder ihren Unternehmer-Podcast zum Business-Aufbau.
Monique ist erfolgreiche Unternehmerin, Auswandererin und Coach mit mehr als 30 Jahren Erfahrung. Wie sie selbst das Auswandern mit ihrer Familie meistert (Dubai, Katar, Schweiz und USA) und was sie sonst noch für Pläne hat, erfahrt ihr in unserem Gespräch.
Natürlich sprechen wir auch über ihre große Leidenschaft, das Coachen von Frauen und die Begleitung bei der Unternehmensgründung, und alles, was dazugehört.
Weitere Infos findet ihr am besten auf Moniques Website, und natürlich auch auf Instagram.
Viel Spaß!
Wenn ihr inspiriert seid. und selbst Gast bei mir sein möchtet, meldet euch bitte! Ich freue mich immer über neue Geschichten. -
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My guest today is "The Culture Guy" - Christian Höferle, founder, president and CEO of The Culture Mastery, a coaching, mentoring and consulting company based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Our conversation starts with Christian's early life in small-town Bavaria (incidentally, the exact same area and time period I grew up in), his experience as a 17-year-old exchange student in the US, and how this part of his life shaped his future mindset. We then meander through his professional life traveling from Germany to the United States, and finish by talking about the nature of his business.
We cover a multitude of cultural differences, expectations, and the importance of vulnerability in an international setting, and find some special Bavarian aspects of being German - which I'm always happy to talk about!
Christian shares some amazing insights into the German and American psyche and draws out some fascinating historical coincidences - if you're working in an international environment and are intrigued by how different cultures can work together more productively, you're in for an absolute treat.
Christian mentions Karl May, a German 19th and early 20th-century author, and in fact one of the most well-known German writers to date. He wrote travel adventure stories about the American Wild West despite never having travelled there himself, and his stories about Winnetou and Old Shatterhand were part of German children's childhoods for over a century.
Just because I promised it in the episode, here's an American swear word you might not know you needed: "BFE = Butt F%$ Egypt = the middle of nowhere". You're welcome.
Spider Murphy Gang is a Bavarian pop group we grew up with in the 80s. Watch the video of the song Christian quotes from to get some impressions of summery Munich in the 80s!
Eisbach-Surfen: The Eisbach is a side arm of the Isar, Munich's beautiful river, and there is a standing wave, where surfers gather at any time of the year to show off their skills.
Find out more about Christian and what he's up to on The Culture Mastery Website, his very funny and informative YouTube channel and podcast "Two Chaps Many Cultures" on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and IHeartRadio, or find him on LinkedIn and of course on Instagram. -
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Today's guest is, without a doubt, the most global person I've had the pleasure of talking to! She is none other than two-times author, writer, speaker, economist, language enthusiast and passionate expat, Mariam Navaid Ottimofiore.
To say that today's episode is a love letter to learning languages is an understatement, and you will find so much wisdom in Mariam's observations. I kept wanting to stop and take notes.
Mariam was born in Pakistan, grew up in Bahrain, the United States and Pakistan, went to college in the US and Britain, and has lived in Germany, Denmark, Singapore, Dubai, Ghana and Portugal. She met her German-Italian husband at university in Brighton, England, and they're raising their three children with even more than "just" their four home languages.
They're currently based in Cascais, Portugal.
I still don't know how we managed to fit it all into one episode, but we cover a huge variety of topics. We talk about how she has managed all those moves, maintained and developed her identity, why learning the language of each country has been so important, and how she keeps all those memories alive for her family.
Mariam recently published her second book, "The Guilty Can't Say Goodbye", a mystery novel about three global women, and of course we're talking at length about this book and the writing process. I devoured it on a recent trip and wholeheartedly recommend it for your summer reading list!
For more information about Mariam, her life and her books, visit her website, and make sure you follow her on Instagram.
Find reviews of her books on Goodreads: The Guilty Can't Say Goodbye, and This Messy Mobile Life. -
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Today's episode is for all the aspiring writers out there and, of course, their equally important enthusiastic readers!
My guest is Catriona Turner, a seasoned expat and newly published author. Her memoir, "Nest - a Memoir of Home on the Move" is widely available.
We chat about Catriona's expat journey, taking her from Scotland to France, Uganda, Congo and Denmark, and then back to Scotland, and how she decided to fulfil her dream of becoming a writer and then a published author.
Find out more about Catriona on Instagram, or her website: The Frustrated Nester.Get the first three chapters of "Nest" for free: https://thefrustratednester.com/overload/
Sign up via email, and you'll be sent the download link.
The book that helped Catriona with her memoir is Fast Draft Your Memoir by Rachael Herron. Rachel also hosts a brilliant writing podcast, called How Do You Write.
If you're interested in joining a writing challenge, NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month) might be the tool for you!Another writing resource Catriona mentions is Faber Academy London; this is full of advice, courses, and writing assistance.
If you're interested in making a Galette des Rois for epiphany, here's Catriona's French recipe, and here's one in English.Thank you again, Catriona, for this inspiring, uplifting and informative conversation!
Have a Fun-filled Festive Season and a Happy New Year! -
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My guest today is an education warrior: Brantley Turner-Bradley, East Asia Education Director for Dwight Schools.
Born in Brooklyn, NY, Brantley spent 25 years of her life in China and is raising three TCKs with her husband. We spoke in June, while Brantley and her family were in the US; they are currently embarking on a new venture in Hanoi, Vietnam.
We cover a whole range of subjects, from the importance of cultural immersion for growth, to the Chinese vs US education system, AI and how the current education system is failing young people, the way emotions have been dismissed from curricula over the last few centuries, the differences in remote and in-person learning, the importance of vulnerability - both feeling and showing it - and so many more.
To connect with Brantley, or learn more about her, find her on LinkedIn.
The book Brantley mentions is called Emo Sapiens, by Polish author Rafał Ohme, expert in the field of psychology of persuasion, emotions and the subconscious. The book has only been published in Polish at this point. -
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Today's guest is Katherine, who was a guest on my podcast two years ago, an expat coach, writer, and locational astrologer.
Using my own journey as an example, we're traveling the world looking at some of the places I've lived in or visited, and how the date, place and time of my birth are determining how I react to different places in the world.
You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance and Living Your Purpose by Chani NicholasThe Twelve Houses by Howard Sasportas and Liz Greene.Andrea Dupuis' spiritual approach to astrology, and comprehensive program on her website Rising Woman. Locational astrology entry-level material: Helena Woods' website.
If you're interested in finding out more, check out Katherine’s website, or find her on Instagram.
Special treat: Katherine is offering a 20% discount for listeners of Transcontinental Overload on her Astrocartography packages!! Code ASTROMAP20, bookable here.
Katherine recommends:Glossary:
Sun: a place to be seen, the ego can develop, creative talents become more visibleMoon: a place to call home, go deeper into yourself, be with family, and nurture self-care practicesMercury: a busy place with lots to do, many people to meet, and so much to learnVenus: a place to love and be loved, to indulge, create, and find pleasure and romanceMars: a place to stake your claim, get motivated, take action on your passions, and do big thingsJupiter: a place of expansion, good fortune, luck, overindulgence, and grand new beginningsSaturn: a place of discipline, restrictions, and limitations, tough life lessons that make you strongerUranus: an unconventional place with lots of twists and turns, alternative experiences and people, and disruptionsNeptune: a dreamy place of bliss, spiritual happenings, unexplained phenomena, and the possibility of escapismPluto: a place for deep soul healing, psychological plumbing, and exploration of the circle of lifeNodes: a place you may have been in a past life that can still feel like you’ve been there before, fated experiences Chiron: a place to heal your inner child, explore wounds from the past, and turn pain into art or healing
Planetary line themes:MC Line: The Midheaven/Medi-Coeli line is your voc
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We're going really deep today!
My guests are American family and sex therapists Julia & Jeremiah, who currently live in Utrecht, The Netherlands. They are the founders of "Sexvangelicals - the sex education the church didn't want you to have", and co-host the Sexvangelicals Podcast.
Sex! Religion! Politics! We talk about it all in this episode. Our topics range from sex education (and the lack thereof) at school to differences in parenting depending on which country you grow up in, and the impact of social media on they way we approach sex.
You can find out more about Julia & Jeremiah on Instagram, and make sure to check out their website, where you'll also find the Sexvangelicals Podcast. Their site is an absolute treasure trove of books, links, and recommendations if you want to dig deeper!
The book Jeremiah references is "Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens, and the Culture of Sex". Highly recommended!
The 2021 documentary I mention but couldn't remember the title of: "Cusp", following a group of teenagers in rural Texas. Watch the trailer here, and read more about the documentary here and here. -
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Hey, it's me, I'm still here!
Just a little update from yours truly. The sound isn't very good as I recorded this in the car, but at least it's a little sign of life!
In a nutshell: I'm spending more time writing these days than on the podcast, but it's still going. :-)
Please leave feedback and suggestions, contact me if you want to be on my podcast or just want to chat!
You can find me on my website, or on Instagram.
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My guest today is Chase, an American currently based in Spain and Germany.
Chase works as Head of Remote at Doist, a pioneer of distributed work that specializes in productivity software. He is responsible for developing and executing the company's remote work strategy. Having worked remotely for over 12 years, as one of Doist’s 100 employees in 35 countries, he has a whole array of accolades!
Knowing the huge range of possible subjects, we just started chatting and our topics cover the nomadic lifestyle, working remotely and what a typical day looks like for him, national stereotypes, the pros and cons of calling several places home and what it does to one's identity, and what it's like to do all this with a pet!
Chase also has a podcast, which we didn't get a chance to talk about. If you're interested in finding out more about that, check out his website, About Abroad. He can also be found on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Other apps/websites/organizations we mention:
Internations, a global organization that helps newcomers connect with like minded people (not just expats)
Pettravel.com, a great resource for anything related to traveling with your pet
Bringfido, a global resource for anything dog-related (hotels, destinations, activities, restaurants, etc, plus entry and vaccination requirements)
When I looked for other pet travel related resources, I found this one, compiled by blogger Abroad Purpose.
Don't forget to subscribe to my podcast and blog, and if you're feeling generous, consider making a donation on Ko-Fi (who am I kidding - it's January lol). -
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In our second conversation, Lea and I jump right back in and pick up a few subjects we mentioned in Episode 48.
This time we dig even further into our expat minds, and Lea takes me deep into Jewish cultural history and how it's shaped the collective psyche.
We also talk about how our own experiences have not only shaped us, but also keep influencing our immediate families, and we go back to topics such as identity, belonging, homesickness, and how we can maintain a bearable tension between missing a place and living in the present.
For more information about Lea, or how to contact her, take a look at her therapy and coaching website, or contact her by Email: [email protected]
Lea's Charity: Act for Change , Email: [email protected], also on Instagram and Facebook.
Lea can also be found on LinkedIn. -
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Today's episode is the first of two parts - I'm talking to Lea Misan, London-based author, psychotherapist and coach, as well as trauma counsellor. She's the executive director of UK charity Act for Change, and has worked extensively with expats.
We talk about everything from what it's like to grow up with multiple languages, moving countries at a young age and in adolescence, what such a multi-faceted life does to your psyche and sense of self, and so much more.
For more information about Lea, or how to contact her, take a look at her website, or contact her by Email: [email protected]
Lea's Charity: Act for Change , Email: [email protected], also on Instagram and Facebook.
Lea can also be found on LinkedIn. - Show more
