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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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China’s Changing Healthcare (Warning: Graphic Images)

Mar 8, 2011

Four years ago I got a root canal . . . kind of. Did you know that your tooth can have more than one canal and consequently more than one root and consequently still hurt like a booger even after a root canal? Long story short my $36 root canal consisted of yanking...

“My $36 Root Canal” or “Who Needs Novocaine?” (Repost from March, 2007)

Mar 8, 2011

note: this blog was originally posted in March of 2007 following what turned out to be a 25% successful dental procedure. It was also written before U.S. healthcare was declared a civil war. I have reposted as a partner to my next post: China's Changing Health Care....

The Beggar Question: Give, Avoid or Buy a Cheeseburger?

Mar 7, 2011

One of the most talented (and well paid) beggars I have ever seen. Absolutely amazing. When Rachel was three years old she loved to give money to beggars. In fact she once went through a brief phase of wanting to be "one of the people who asks for money" when she...

Knock Em’ Dead, Break a Leg and Other Violent Ways to Encourage People

Mar 6, 2011

English is like a great joke. It works so much better if you don't have to explain it. As I was leaving the office this week I said to our Chinese assistant (who was on her way to a teaching gig), "Knock Em' Dead." Her eyes grew a bit and she gave her trademark,...

The Onion Explodes the Mutton and Other Fine Chinese Dishes

Feb 24, 2011

The truth is a hard pill to swallow sometimes. I was actually disappointed to discover that real Chinese restaurants (and by that I mean restaurants in China) don't serve the entire menu on a heated buffet table complete with sneeze guards and a pizza or chicken...

On Eating Dog in China

Feb 23, 2011

Do they really eat dog in China? This is a question that we are seldom asked and yet is often alluded to when we are speaking with people from home. The allusions most often come packaged in a valiant stab at cross-cultural humor such as, "Hey honey! Hide the dog,...

A Valenwhat? Explaining Valentine’s Day to a Chinese Friend

Feb 18, 2011

Sweet Valentines made by my Valentine Sweety for her Sweet Valentine Sweety (that's me) Like most other Western holidays, Valentine's Day has landed in the Middle Kingdom and planted it's flag of sticky sweet, chocolate covered commercialism. I was excited this year,...

Baby’s First Stitches

Feb 11, 2011

So who had 17 months in the "How Long til Judah Gets Stitches" pool? Congratulations. You win. Another trip to Qingdao Municipal today for my son's inevitable first stitches. Two to be exact, after a headfirst dive into the corner of the coffee table. It seems you...

Welcome to the World Ridley Merritt

Feb 11, 2011

We are sometimes asked what the most difficult part of living in China is. Is it the daily struggle of communicating in a second language? The deep cultural contrasts? Being stared at everywhere we go? The absence of thick, juicy ribeye steaks smothered in...

The Paradox of Tightly Packed Gun Powder

Feb 9, 2011

I may quite possibly be the biggest fan of Chinese New Year in China. Ironic, I know. You would think the biggest fan would be an actual Chinese person but it's not. It's me. The fireworks display at midnight is completely unexplainable to those who have not...

China’s Monster City

Jan 31, 2011

If you have never lived in China be honest. Ever heard of Shenzhen? Tianjin? Guangzhou? (please don't attempt pronunciation without help). How about New York? London? Tokyo? There are around 400 cities in the world with a population of more than one million and 160...

Chinese Taxi Drivers and Fat Foreign Girls

Jan 28, 2011

It's common knowledge that the most frustrating experience in the world is trying to find a taxi anywhere in China at 5pm. It's a dual force at work. A billion people are getting off of work and need a taxi and the other 350 million (or as we call them here, taxi...

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