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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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Cause’ You Can’t Make One? What China Thinks About Adoption

May 24, 2011

My family is a walking confusion storm in China. Big white guy with a gorgeous white wife holding hands with a seven year old Chinese girl speaking freakishly advanced English (10th Grade according to her 1st grade SAT scores) who frequently hugs and kisses a chunky,...

Would Someone Please Tell Us the Next Time the World is Going to End?

May 22, 2011

We just noticed yesterday morning that the world was going to end. That would have been nice to know. Best part about living in China? The "on/off" switch. We can watch the news . . . when we want. We can follow politics . . . when we want. We can check in on...

Obama Learns to Hock a Lugey

May 21, 2011

You know that noise you make when you're trying to transfer mucus from the back of your throat into your mouth so you can spit it out? It's the disgusting sound of forced air and snot violently vibrating your whippy snappy thing (see diagram below). In medical...

On Getting Robbed in China

May 20, 2011

Shame can be a strong theft deterrent. I've never seen this in China but writing "Thief" on your chest and sticking you in a public place seems like it might be an effective rehabilitation for kleptos. One time in China . . . someone broke into my hotel room and stole...

Our Intern the Superstar

May 14, 2011

Hoods off to the best intern in the history of interning and the most famous expat in Qingdao this week. micMAC was proud to claim a grown man in green tights as one of our own last weekend. Jeremy came to China in October to spend a year with us and recently landed...

Has No One Noticed that Obama and Osama Rhyme? An Update on What China Thinks About Bin Laden

May 14, 2011

"Bin Laden is not dead." I have it from a reputable source. In fact a whole room full of reputable sources. I spoke with some more Chinese friends this week and got the down low on what China thinks nearly two weeks after Osama Bin Laden's death (or should I say ....

Turn Off the Light, Stupid: What China Thinks of Bin Laden

May 3, 2011

“We believe the death of Osama bin Laden is a milestone and a positive development for international anti-terrorism efforts,” -Jiang Yu, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson for the People's Republic of China "Americans are happy today." -My barber "We don't like Bin Laden,...

Watching the World Change From the Other Side of the World

May 2, 2011

I was in Taipei, Taiwan when President Clinton gave the second most famous speech of his presidency:"Ok maybe I did have sexual relations with that woman" (second only to his previous "I did not have sexual relations with that woman"). I remember that day vividly...

“That Stink is Awesome!” – Explaining Slang to My Chinese Friend

Apr 29, 2011

I stumbled across an application on the web today that blew me away. As I watched the tutorial I got more and more excited and my Chinese assistant worked harder and harder not to laugh. "Sweet . . . no way . . . aaaaahhh . . . stink!" That was the one that pushed...

I Love This Gaem: NBA Jersyes on Sale Just in Time for Plyaoffs

Apr 28, 2011

This is probably one of my favorite snapshots of China. Not because of anything it represents culturally or politically or socially. It just cracks me up. Every single NBA team is misspelled EXCEPT the Houston Rockets, home of China's pride and joy, NBA superstar,...

China Bans Michael J. Fox

Apr 27, 2011

Marty McFly's time warping DeLorean has been impounded by the Chinese government along with Bill and Ted's phone booth and Dr. Who's . . . what was it that Dr. Who drove? China recently banned time travel (not the real kind, that would be silly). Movies and shows...

My Mother the Felon or The Many Misspellings of Adidas™

Apr 19, 2011

My dear sweet mother never once in her entire life smoked a single cigarette or sipped a single drop of alcohol. To my knowledge she never even said a cuss word except the one time she read a Van Halen t-shirt out loud which doesn't count because she was asking me...

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