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Today, I have the great pleasure of talking to Expat Empire founder David McNeill.  Originally from the United States, David has lived in Beijing, Tokyo and Berlin, and is currently based in Porto, Portugal.

He started Expat Empire because he has a genuine passion for living abroad, and wants to inspire people to move and show them how to do it. He has produced books, podcasts and blog posts, organizes meetup events and offers personalized consulting services to give everyone the opportunity to achieve their international dreams.

In our chat, we cover a whole range of topics, from the importance of having a dream and the willingness to take risks, to learning patience and trusting (and honing) your intuition in order to move forward.

If you're planning a move abroad, or if you're an expat who feels stuck in your current situation and are looking for change or an improvement of your circumstances, make sure you take a look at David's website, Expat Empire. You can contact him directly by email at [email protected], and follow him on Instagram.

And if you're thinking of moving to Japan, check out his book "Passport to working in Japan".

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My very special guest today is Feli from Munich, aka Feli from Germany (that's her YouTube channel). I love talking to people with a similar background, and in typical German fashion, we jumped right into all the dicey topics you avoid in polite conversation in America: ignorance when it comes to world matters, sex, politics, religion, and many more. We had a blast!
Feli explains how she ended up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and what prompted her to launch her YouTube channel, and more recently, her podcast, Understanding Train Station.  (Listen to this episode if you want to find out what the title means!)

Find Feli on Instagram, and @understandingtrainstation. 

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My guest today is Etienne, whom I met through my husband's work, and who I knew within five minutes of meeting absolutely had to be a guest on my podcast. Originally from South Africa, Etienne has lived in Germany and then moved to the US in 2000 with his South African wife. They now live in San Diego, CA, with their three children.

Our conversation topics span the full US expat spectrum, and include gems such as: 

• accents, especially German and South African 
• Afrikaaner and English differences in South African culture
• the intricacies of bringing up your children with multiple languages
• musings and insights into the American psyche 
• the pros and cons of reinventing yourself & the price you pay for leaving your home comforts
• sausages in all shapes and forms
• American chocolate

We also seem to dedicate an inordinate amount of time talking about Starbucks.

The Netflix show I mention but couldn't remember the title of, starring German comedian Anke Engelke, is called The Last Word. It is a brilliant example of German humour.

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Here's my take on a traditional but not entirely typical German Christmas (is there such a thing?).
After my intro, I'm reading two of last year's blog posts I wrote about Christmas traditions in the US, UK and Germany, and the mix my family has created. If you've already read them, feel free to skip ahead to minute 19.
If you'd like to check out the posts on my website, click here for Part 1, and here for Part 2. 

One of my favourite German (or rather Bavarian/Austrian) Christmas carols is "Es wird scho glei dumpa" (It will soon be dark). You can check out the lyrics with a literal English translation. If you'd like to hear the carol, listen to this amazing A Capella version, or Hubert von Goisern's version (it’s not a great recording, but you’ll get the idea, and he's a wonderful artist).
You can watch “Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel“ (three wishes for Cinderella) with English subtitles on YouTube!

Please don't forget you can donate to Refugees International through my donation portal right here.

Guten Rutsch!!

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Today's guest is Rachel from YouTube channel "Meet the Germans"!
I always love talking to people with a connection to Germany, and Rachel being a Brit in Germany was a double whammy of fun for me.

Apart from comparing notes on German and British culture, we also discuss what it's like to move in stages, and the importance of moving on your own terms, especially when it comes to your career, so you don't end up being a trailing spouse.

Other topics include the German obsession with asparagus, bad internet infrastructure, carnival hysteria, and the crime that is the dubbing of TV series and films.

Please go and find Rachel's show on YouTube! You can find her on the Deutsche Welle Euromaxx YouTube Channel, and of course, check out her Instagram.

Episodes of Meet the Germans that we talk about in particular are:
Small Talk
Asparagus
Film dubbing

And please don't forget to consider a donation to Refugees International. You can do this by visiting my website and scrolling down to the Psst! Section to find the "Buy me a Coffee" button, or go straight to my Ko-Fi page. Thank you so much!!!

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Today's guest is Oscar, a software engineer from Uruguay. At the age of 17, he ventured away from his home country to achieve his career dreams, but eventually decided to put family first and return to Uruguay, after living in the US, the UK and Portugal. We discuss what it's like to find your place in the world when your sense of belonging is askew, and you constantly question your identity, and how certain life events make our minds up for us.  

Other conversation topics range from navigating British social norms and sense of humour, to craft beer and international hand gestures, as well as raising multilingual children and trying to establish English customs in a Latin American country.

I found Oscar's story really inspiring: belonging everywhere and nowhere, loving your family and the countries that become part of you, while keeping your sense of humour - a perfect recipe for years like this one!  

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Today, I'm joined by Dr. Laura Anderson, child and family psychologist with her own multicultural background.  Dr. Anderson specializes in global families, adoptive families and those raising gender expansive children and adolescents, as well as treating children and teens suffering from anxiety and depression. 
The range of topics we cover in our conversations are so valuable and interesting to all parents, not only global families, and if you are the parent of a teenager, or a pre-teen, I'd highly recommend listening!

A big topic we talk about is parental guilt, as added mobility and options always lead to a rise in feelings of guilt and fear. We discuss how you can avoid falling into that trap, and a "recipe" (27:50) for more successful transitions, using the following ingredients:

• child input
• preparation / preparedness
• acceptance of discomfort / grief, loss, fear
• sense of being in this together
• maintaining boundaries: no decisions out of guilt or fear

The book we mention is Raising Global Teens, by Dr. Anisha Abraham, a practical handbook for parenting in the 21st century.

If you'd like to find out more about Dr. Anderson, visit her website, or find her Common Chord Psychology page on Facebook.   

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My guest today is Sophie, whom I met at work here in Austin. She was in total disguise when we met; to me, she sounded just like any other American girl in her twenties, and I had no idea she was a TCK with a very varied international background, until I heard her speak Italian on the phone. I'm so happy she wanted to be interviewed for my podcast, and it was fascinating to hear her family's story and her perspective as a TCK. 

We talk about the difficulties of being thrown into a new country with a new language at a young age, what it's like to maintain friendships over time and distance, and how tough it can be to reveal, and be proud of your full self when you're surrounded by people who don't necessarily want to hear the whole story. 

And if you want to check out today's sponsor: https://roomsteals.com/

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Here's the German version of the last episode!
Und hier das Ganze auf Deutsch! Ich hatte ein wenig Zeit und Lust, mal wieder meine Muttersprache zu benutzen.

Wer Interesse an dem Artikel bei Medium hat, hier ist der Link.  

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It's been just over 6 months since I launched the podcast! As I don't have a new guest this week, I thought I'd use myself as a substitute. And as a special touch to celebrate this half-anniversary, I decided to do this not only in English, BUT ALSO IN GERMAN.
So if you'd rather listen to my ramblings in German, or if you just want to know what I sound like speaking my mother tongue, just download the next episode, 15 b. Or better still, download both, anyway. You know you want to!!
The content is pretty much the same, of course, I veer off track from time to time, couldn't help myself.

The Medium article I read from can be found here.