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The Culture Blend BLOG

If you have EVER lived abroad or love someone who does, there is something here for you.

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Enjoy — and Thanks for Reading!

The Four Relationships You Need if You’re Doing Something New

There's a whole lotta' new going around. COVID shook things up didn't it? Expats have been kicked out or displaced or put on hold. Brick and mortars are morphing into websites and zoom calls. Careers have shifted. Businesses have been reimagined. Paradigms have been...

Little brother syndrome: How expats feel when you badmouth their host country

I never had a little brother ... but I was one. So I know how this works. There is an unwritten bylaw in the "How Family Works Field Guide" that states very explicitly that elder siblings reserve full rights to be absolutely annoyed by little brothers. Because little...

Oops … I forgot myself: Reclaiming your identity in a massive life transition

You know that feeling? It's a sick one. In your gut. Sometimes you catch it early. Two minutes down the road on the way to the airport. "Did you pack the swimsuits?" "Yes." "Socks?" "Yes" "Underwear?" "Yep." "Boarding passes?" "YES! I got everything ok?!" "Sorry . . ....

Transition in a Transition: A few thoughts for making big moves after a big pandemic

You can feel it can't you? Like racehorses lined up at the gate. Like a dam about to bust. Like globally-minded, would be (or former) world travelers and serial expats who haven't been on an airplane (or put on pants) in over a year. The tension is mounting. We're...

Bald Tires and Bad Habits: The right kind of change in a snowstorm year

Facebook did it. Instagram too. All of them. They cracked my code. Not a day goes by that I don't get at least 458 offers for the exact thing that I was just talking about yesterday. Sometimes (and I swear this has happened) all I have to do is think about it. You...

Permission to Netflix: The Power of Intentional Disconnection

There is a MASSIVE difference between "oops" and intentionality. You've been there right? Tell me I'm not the only one. The clock says three hours past your bedtime but your brain is in full-on bargaining mode. One more episode won't kill me. I'll catch a nap...

Ten Years of The Culture Blend

Ten years ago today I hit "publish" for the first time. I had no clue. I had no clear agenda. No long term goal. No 10 step plan for optimizing SEO, driving traffic, managing bounce rate, or maximizing widgets. I barely knew what a blog was. I just knew that cultures,...

The High Hidden Cost of Constant Transition

If you are running, leading, investing in, managing, or somehow otherwise involved in the oversight of an international business, team, or organization, someone in your group is shoveling money out the window. You should do something about that. Transitory teams are...

Pandemics are Stupid (and other things I learned about transition in a 2020 global move)

I'm a Transition Specialist. I know because that's what is on my business cards -- which are outdated -- and in a suitcase -- on a ship -- somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. Feels like a metaphor for my life right now. My role is to know things. Important things like...

Dear China: A note from a thankful expat

Dear China, You're so much better at goodbyes than I am but let's try to get through this ok? When we first met I was so intimidated by you. You were bigger than life, older than Moses, and more confusing than puberty. But you were so welcoming. I can't say I felt at...

“Yeah, but you’re not Black”

How does a White father from the United States, raising his Black son in China talk about the news this week? That's not rhetorical. It's not hypothetical? I'm asking. Because I don't know. What I do know is that I'm not the only parent this week scrambling for the...

The Best Things About COVID19

How do you even begin to write a blog post with that title? Feels like walking through a minefield of potentially explosive offensiveness and miscommunication while word-twisting snipers lurk in the trees all around. "Did you see that blog post? Some idiot said COVID...

Stop Thief: Getting back what COVID19 has stolen

COVID 19 is a dirty, rotten criminal. Ironically, not even a smooth one. It snuck in and no one saw it coming, but it made a bunch of noise and stayed way too long. Got greedy. Got cocky. Thought it could take everything. Got news for you COVID ... you don't get...

3 Seconds of Insane Courage: A Tribute to Caleb Meakins

"The problem isn't fear. It's being stopped by fear."- Caleb Meakins One year ago my stomach was in my throat and my heart was about to beat out of my chest. I was weighing out a decision that was wrenching my guts. It was one of those "this could be beautiful,...

Expat Disrupted: How to Move Forward When Everything is Going Wrong

This year has been NUUUTS. I had a plan. It was a good one. I was excited. And then . . . Life happened. Sound familiar? In June I quit my job to pursue my passion -- something I've been dreaming about for a long time. So (as one does), I laid out a plan for a...

An Expat in China’s Response to the Coronavirus

Two weeks ago Corona was just a beer. A couple of disclaimers to start: ONE: I'm no doctor, reporter, researcher or a public official and I am certainly no expert in nCoV-2019 (the Corona Virus that everyone around here is talking about). I'm just an expat in China...

White Expat Privilege

Photo by bruce mars So this happens. A lot. I get into a taxi and say "ni hao" ("hello" in Chinese). The taxi driver's eyes get wide and he says, "Waaahhh, your Chinese is SO good!" My daughter, on the other hand, could get in the exact same car, with the exact same...

Addicted to Change

Hi. My name is Jerry. And I'm addicted to change. Hi Jerry. Glad I got that off my chest. I know I'm not alone (come on expats -- fess up). I've seen you out there and you're just like me. You get itchy if you go three months without getting on an airplane. Your life...

A Christmas wish for ALL people

Christmas has become a convoluted affair, hasn't it? Frankly. I'm confused. As an expat, I'm admittedly behind the curve on the most current culture wars and feather ruffles. I lose track of what I'm supposed to say and what I'm not supposed to say. Let me see if I've...

Stop wasting your time abroad: Recovering what you came to do

This blog post will change your expat experience -- if you let it. Grab something to write with -- and something to write on. We're about to go to work. Remember that time you moved abroad? You were so ready to take on the world and you had big plans to do it right....

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My Second and Last Blog About Diarrhea: The Movie

Aug 3, 2011

Yeah so the very least of my writing aspirations is to become known as "the diarrhea blogger""Hey do you know Jerry Jones?" "The owner of the Dallas Cowboys? Yeah sure.""No, not the real Jerry Jones, the other one." "There's another one?""Yeah the guy who...

The Diarrhea Clinic and Why I Think It’s Funny

Aug 2, 2011

This clinic is a short walk from our home. I laugh a little every time I walk by (don't judge me). I find it ironic that "diarrhea" is spelled correctly in a country where the rest of English is not. I only know because I have spell check. Know how to say...

Yao Ming What?! Say it Isn’t So

Jul 9, 2011

Yao Ming has informed the NBA and the Houston Rockets that he will retire however he has evidently not informed China. According to reports from Chinese news agencies the rumors of his retirement are not verified and not true. In other words . . . It isn't so. "We...

How Not to Get 28 Enormous Hickeys on Your Back: More Confessions of a Language Faker

Jul 8, 2011

My back - post-therapy As a follow up to "Confessions of a Language Faker" I thought I might share a story . . . you know . . . for the children . . . in hopes that they will learn from the error of my ways and stay far, far away from the slippery slope of fraudulent...

First World Problems

Jul 6, 2011

I think my dad went to school with Bill Cosby's dad. He once showed me the road that he walked to school as a boy (after he milked the cows, slopped the hogs and butchered the chickens). I can't explain it but it really was uphill . . . wait for it . . . both ways....

Confessions of a Language Faker

Jul 4, 2011

"Hi my name is Jerry and I'm a Chinese faker." "Hi Jerry" There I said it. I feel so free. I pretend to speak Chinese. Not like the typical American Chinese faker with the "ching chang willy willy bing bang bong" or the hilarious jokester who mistakes fake Chinese...

The Changing Face of Communism: Seeing My America through Their Chinese Eyes

Jul 2, 2011

Beijing: A worker cleans a portrait of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China, at Tiananmen Gate Photograph: Guang Niu/Reuters When I moved to China I had big dreams of being arrested by Communist soldiers just for being an American Christian....

Dear Unnamed American Airline

Jul 1, 2011

Dear Unnamed American Airline, (no relation to the real American Airlines™) I recently flew with you from Chicago to Beijing and have one small suggestion that might improve the quality of your service. Please consider banning Chinese people (especially older ones)...

I Miss You America

Jun 29, 2011

Dear America, It was great to see you again and even though we didn't have much time to catch up I realized how much I have missed you. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder and frankly . . . I think that's bunk. I am convinced though, now more than ever,...

Royal Schmoyal – Now THIS is a Wedding!

May 31, 2011

Did you watch the Royal wedding a few weeks ago? BOOORINGGGG!! No fireworks. No marching band. No confetti cannons. And in all of the pomp and circumstance, among all of the Dukes and Duchesses, Mickey and Minnie Mouse were noticeably absent. The nerve. China...

On Smoking Dope in China

May 30, 2011

Betcha' didn't know. Tommy Chong (of Cheech and Chong dope smoking fame) was born the son a a Chinese truck driver. Crack kills everywhere but especially in China. Make a note -- drug trafficking is on a list with 67 other offenses that are currently punishable by...

Scotty and Lauren Got Nothing on These Guys

May 25, 2011

Just in case you need a quick break from Idol Mania, here's a taste of what's hot in the Middle Kingdom (that's China). Gong Li Na was a popular Chinese folk singer already but this song has gone uber-viral on the internet making her a household name. The song is...

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