…
The Culture Blend BLOG
If you have EVER lived abroad or love someone who does, there is something here for you.
Scroll through below or click on “Blog” in the top right to pick a category. Hit the magnifying glass to search.
Enjoy — and Thanks for Reading!
Sign up and get free stuff!
Sign up to The Culture Blend and I’ll give you 4 FREE EBOOKS designed especially for people just like you
AND I’ll send you updates when I post new content.
Let’s Talk About the Dolphin in the Room
"I'm thinking about buying an elephant." That's what I said to Flight (our Chinese assistant) just because I knew it would be a fun conversation. "Hmm. Why do you want to buy an elephant?" sidenote - That response was a landmark moment in our relationship. Her...
What Crocodile Dundee Taught Me About Culture Shock
Let me just make this clear. I am secure enough in my masculinity to write a post about learning from Lorelai Gilmore. So following it (almost immediately) with a post about what I learned from Crocodile Dundee is in no way an overcompensation for that. The same...
What Lorelai Gilmore Taught Me About Culture Shock
Culture shock is so cliche. It's a buzz word that is tossed around by all who travel but rarely understood. I know because I don't understand it either. I've seen the charts and the diagrams with the highs and lows, the big dip around six months and the slow climb...
On Rape and Racial Profiling in China
An expat in Beijing was beaten unconscious and left laying in the street last week after sexually assaulting a young Chinese woman. Warning - This post is not a funny one but stick with it to the end. Sorry. I'll be extra funny later I promise. Also, for those of...
Why I Rooted for China Over the “Dream Team” and The Best Daddy Daughter Date Ever
I have had a love-hate relationship with the "Dream Team" (I'm using finger quotes) for 20 years. Like the rest of the Universe I was school girl giddy in 1992 when the Olympics first allowed NBA players to compete. Not at all because it assured a gold medal for the...
The Potty Perspective
My American friend (who was living in China at the time) freaked out when she thought for a moment that her baby was missing. She was only slightly less alarmed when she realized that she was mistaken. Instead, an elderly Chinese woman had removed her 18 month olds...
Watermelon, Brad Pitt and Some of My Other Chinese Friends
My daughter went to Kindergarten with Spiderman. He was shorter than he looks in the movies. Something interesting happens when our Chinese friends get an English name. It's pretty standard practice, considering most Chinese students start learning English when they...
Pip Pip Cheerio Y’all: What’s in an Accent?
My wife and I watched "The Man in the Iron Mask" this week and I ruined it for both of us. I'm about to ruin it for you too. Have you seen this movie? It came out in 1998 (just one year after Titanic). It's a gripping story that places the characters from the Three...
A Valenwhat? Explaining Valentine’s Day to a Chinese Friend (repost)
I'm starting a petition to ban Valentine's Day in China. Judah and I had to wait 6 hours (gross exaggeration) to buy two red roses for our girls yesterday. It was much better when us foreigners were the only ones who felt the pressure of blowing it and all of the...
“Hey Fatty” and other Chinese Greetings
After five weeks in America it was good to see our friends in China. Until they called me fat. Last week I was walking home and ran into Lotus. She's our friend who runs the vegetable shop in our apartment complex. She's also the one who said my son (who is half...
I Think I Might Be Amish
I could totally pull off the Amish look, don't you think? I felt strangely amish today . . . in a bizarre, science fiction, alternate universe, I live in China where there are no Amish people kind of way. From now on I will be blogging by candlelight. I grew up in a...
What if China met Texas?
I got a steak the size of my own torso for Christmas. At least it was the size of my torso before I ate it. Now my torso has grown considerably and the steak is . . . well . . . gone. This incredible piece of beef alone was worth the trip back to the States but the...