Some things change… and some things stay the same

 - 20 Years of diverse mobile lives 

In March the Families in Global Transition conference was held in The Hague.  It was a celebration of 20 Years - a chance to look back at the beginnings of FIGT, to look at where we are today and reflect on where we want to go.

The speakers and presenters reviewed the past, considered problems and envisaged the future.  It struck me, from a Global Mobility perspective – when it comes to supporting families in global transition -  some things have massively changed and some things remain the same.

What has changed? 

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New Webinar: The First 90 Days in Your New Role Overseas

My latest webinar dealt with the challenges and experiences of the adaptations of the first 90 days in your new role overseas. For an individual settling into a new job there is a break even point between the value an employee takes in and the value that they give, this point is at about 90 days. However, for an employee taking on a new role in a new environment overseas that point may, in fact, be a little bit later. Regardless, that settling in period is an important building block for an employee and so this webinar helps to address that experience. 

Insiders and Outsiders – the pain and the gain

Panelists Trisha Carter, Ryan Haynes, Marian van Bakel at #FIGT16NL

In 2016, I led a panel at a Conference in Amsterdam.  ‘Insiders and Outsiders –Is Belonging Overrated?’. 

It was the conference of Families in Global Transition an organisation that speaks to the growth, success and well-being of people crossing cultures globally.

The people who were there were expats, migrants, global nomads.  But most of them weren’t the employee who was moved.

They were the partners and the children of those who had been moved around the world by corporations, diplomatic corps, military, missionary, or NGOs.  They were the people who fell in love and moved cultures to be with their partner, raising children who represent different cultures, speak multiple languages.  They were the people who had returned ‘home’ to find they no longer felt ‘at home’. And they were the educators, the service providers, the researchers and the writers who tell the stories and support these groups on their journeys.

If anyone knew about being on the outside – these conference attendees did. 

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The best gift is the gift of gratitude

It’s December.  The end of the year is fast approaching.  Here in Australia my family are preparing to celebrate Christmas.  There will be duck cooked on a BBQ on Christmas Day.  There will be swimming in the pool (remember it’s summer down this end of the world) some white wine in the sun, and gifts to share. 

I’ve written before about gift giving across cultures and about celebrations around the world at this time of year.

Last year I wrote about gifts that we have given to organisations supporting education and health in Papua New Guinea.

Our work in Papua New Guinea, with PNG expats coming to Australia, and expats from different countries moving to PNG, has continued this year so we have again made donations to the organisations; Buk Bilong Pikinini and Send Hope Not flowers. 

But the gift I want to focus on this year is the gift of gratitude. 

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Language learning is aided by technology and knowing what works for you

In this webinar I interviewed Terry Neal who has been living in China for almost 18 months and working with focus and determination on learning Chinese - both written and spoken (Mandarin). 

Listen in.  If you're like me you'll be fascinated by the way she has used technology, and appreciate her strong self awareness of how she learns best.  Terry would be the first to say there is no one size fits all in learning a language.  As an expert in learning and educational processes and systems she has the theoretical ‘how’ of best learning experiences and uses that to support the reality of her daily learning.  

Whatever language you are learning or thinking about learning this will be an inspiration and encouragement.