The Time Is Now

Igor Koscak comes from Germany and lives today with his wife in the Philippines. He studied electric engineering and business administration in Germany but also in Italy. That is where he discovered his interest in living abroad, but he never had the chance to do so as after his studies he immediately started a great career in the automotive industry with Porsche, then Audi. Igor met his wife who comes from Austria when she was posted in Iran, very soon after that they got married, he quit his job and they moved to Manila as she was transferred to the Philippines.

Glimpse on Igor's insights in this episode:

* What motivated him to quite his secure and great job to join his wife in a global nomadic life.

* How did he deal with "being the following husband".

* What helped him keep hope and find a job in the Philippines.

* How he establish his circle of friends and social net.

* How to manage an intercultural team and adapt to local management cultures.

Igor's online ressource in relocation:

Whatsapp

Igor's book recommendation:

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.

Find Igor Koscak:

 

Email: [email protected]

 

 

 

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In the episode 16, we had a very interesting conversation about the personal development and identity construction of TCKs.

In this episode, I would like to bring to you some insights and guidance on the academic education of TCKs, how to make some decisions regarding the school choices and the educational support we can bring to our kids when we live in expatriation.

I brought to you a great expert in the matter, Rebecca Grappo.

Rebecca is American and has lived in 11 foreign countries. She has raised her three kids abroad and is very much aware of the unique issues related to (third culture kids) TCKs. In fact, not only Rebecca has the personal experience as an expat partner raising kids abroad but she also has the professional experience of managing kids education abroad.

Rebecca is the founder of RNG International Consultants that provides innovative solutions and educational advice for students and families around the world.

Rebecca’s insights in this episode:

How to evaluate if a school is the right fit for your child?

How to evaluate the curriculum of a school and its management standards?

How to make sure that it is the right choice for the long term?

What are your options if you don’t know which country you will go next?

What should parents with special needs kids look for in a school?

Find Rebecca:

Web: www.rnginternational.com

Email: [email protected]

Check out the FIGT organization and its conferences for global families:

* Families in Global Transition

 

 

Leen Abdel Jaber comes from Jordan, she also lived in the FRANCE, in Egypt and today she lives in Algeria with her husband and 3 boys.

While traveling from a country to another with her family for her husband’s job, Leen spent the last decade as the founder and executive director of an NGO called INJAZ mobilizing the private sector and ministries of Education in Jordan, Egypt and Algeria to join forces in creating a new generation of business-minded youth who will become entrepreneurs and employees of choice for corporations. For instance, in the past 5 years, Leen’s efforts in Algeria led to reaching more than 6000 young Algerians across 9 cities and 20 universities and making more that 22 Algerian private companies participate to board of INJAZ and commit to empowering the youth in Algeria.

Glimpse on Leen’s insights in this episode:

How she lost sense of her value on the labor market after being away for just two years to take care of her child.

How she learned to capitalize on her skills rather than on her weaknesses (check out her book recommendation below!).

Why she thinks that her relationship with her husband and kids would have not been as strong as today if they didn’t live in expatriation.

How to build a successful NGO.

Leen’s habit in relocation:

* Organization!

Leen’s book recommendation:

* Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath

Find Leen Jaber:

Facebook: Injaz Al-Djazair

Web: www.injazalarab.org

Email: [email protected]

 

Tayo is a TCK on a mission! Tayo was raised in Sweden, Burkina Faso, Nigeria (where he comes from), Vietnam and the United States. As he recognized the need to bring awareness and inspiration to the growing TCK and Global Nomad community, Tayo hosts the show as Told By Nomads, a podcast featuring interviews with global nomads, Third Culture Kids, and entrepreneurs. He is also the founder and CEO of UYD Media. UYD Media is a youth media and a digital content platform made by and for TCKs, Global Nomads and Millennials. Its purpose is to inform, inspire, entertain, and celebrate those who are “using their difference to make a difference” in today’s globally interconnected world.

Tayo shares with you here in a very intimate way his experience as a TCK, what each country has brought to his rich identity, the challenges that he has been through and how he managed to deal with them and make them become his biggest strengths. He will tell you about his three principals, 3 connectors, that allow him to integrate anywhere. Tayo also shares with you how his parents supported him in his journey and who were the other influencers who helped him thrive during his childhood as a TCK.

Tayo has a really fascinating podcast show where he invites TCKs, nomads and entrepreneurs to share their experience, a podcast show with stories of global leaders. Find his podcast here. Also you will find more info on UYD Media here.

How to find Tayo:

Web: www.tayorockson.com

Twitter: TayoRockson

Email: [email protected]

Katja Otter comes from Austria and lived in various countries such as the UAE, the US, South Korea and Japan. She currently lives in Tokyo with her husband and 3 kids.

She started her career in business consulting at the same time as her husband. When he got his first assignment abroad, they decided to go into this nomadic journey together and that she will look for job opportunities where ever they would go in the future. As she gave birth to her kids and moved from a country to another, she realized that it was not that easy for her to develop her corporate career. However, she also realized that it would be a great opportunity for her to dedicate her career to her growing passion for Yoga. She took the time to train to become a Yoga instructor and build her Yoga business, which gives her the flexibility and freedom to take care of her family and enjoy her nomadic life.

Glimpse on Katja's insights in this episode:

How she went from a difficult culture shock in Japan to falling in love with the Japanese culture, music and language.

How she turned from a career in business consulting to being a Yoga instructor.

How she dealt with the challenges of rebuilding her life in every country she moved to.

Katja's online ressources:

Google!

Katja's book recommendations:

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

Mindfulness for Beginners by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Find Katja:

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It tends to be much more complicated for serial expats to have visibility and make long term plans for their life and their family (estate, retirement, college fund...etc.). Also, in certain cases, expat partners end up in a very vulnerable situation when unexpected life events happen as they often depend on their spouses (financially, administratively, legally and more). Therefore, it is very important to prevent these situations by planning ahead our expat lives to fully enjoy the journey and assure the best outcomes to all the members of the family. 

In this episode, Rachel Yates shares with you her great insights on how to build your back up (expat) life plan. 

Rachel Yates was an expat partner for 14 years, during those years she moved to 3 countries in three different continents (UK, Kenya, US). Today she lives in California. Rachel is a writer, trainer, speaker and founder of The Expat Life Line. She combines her personal and professional experience to design life planning and organization systems and resources for globally mobile individuals and families. She is also the co-another of Finding Home Abroad: A Guided Journal for Adapting to Life Overseas, and the creator of the Global Girl's Guide to Creating a Back Up Plan.

These are the 3 major aspects of planning your expat life for the long term that were discussed in this episode:

* The mindset aspect.

* The financial aspect.

* The legal aspect.

Find Rachel Yates:

www.theexpatlifeline.com

(www.definingmoves.com)

Help your expat friends who might need inspiration to turn the challenges of relocation into great opportunities.

Share this episode with your friends!

It tends to be much more complicated for serial expats to have visibility and make long term plans for their life and their family (estate, retirement, college fund...etc.). Also, in certain cases, expat partners end up in a very vulnerable situation when unexpected life events happen as they often depend on their spouses (financially, administratively, legally and more). Therefore, it is very important to prevent these situations by planning ahead our expat lives to fully enjoy the journey and assure the best outcomes to all the members of the family. 

In this episode, Rachel Yates shares with you her great insights on how to build your back up (expat) life plan. 

Rachel Yates was an expat partner for 14 years, during those years she moved to 3 countries in three different continents (UK, Kenya, US). Today she lives in California. Rachel is a writer, trainer, speaker and founder of The Expat Life Line. She combines her personal and professional experience to design life planning and organization systems and resources for globally mobile individuals and families. She is also the co-another of Finding Home Abroad: A Guided Journal for Adapting to Life Overseas, and the creator of the Global Girl's Guide to Creating a Back Up Plan.

These are the 3 major aspects of planning your expat life for the long term that were discussed in this episode:

* The mindset aspect.

* The financial aspect.

* The legal aspect.

Find Rachel Yates:

www.theexpatlifeline.com

(www.definingmoves.com)

Help your expat friends who might need inspiration to turn the challenges of relocation into great opportunities.

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Flor Taboada comes from Spain and lived the passed 17 years in expatriation. She has been living in Italy, in the UK and moved few years ago to the US with her husband.

Her original training was in linguistics. She speaks Spanish, English, French and Italian. For many years she worked as a translator and interpreter. However, her true vocation started to slowly reveal itself when she began to get involved in Flower Essences, Meditation and healing in the early 90s. This was the beginning of Flor’s step by step inner transformation through many trainings that let her to become today a certified practitioner in healing touch and flower essences. Flor also volunteers as a Healing Touch Practitioner at the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge in New York City.

Find your spiritual and physical balance!

If you would like to discover how healing touch and flower essences can help you find your balance, find relieve and relax, check out Flor's website and feel free to contact her. 

Click Here

Glimpse on Flor's insights:

* How she took the change as a great opportunity to achieve her long time dream.

* How language was critical for her to thrive in her nomadic life.

* How she deals with stressful transitions and change.

* How she managed to adapt to new countries and new cultures.

We Also discussed the power of "Awe" (being mezmerized by things). I have read a very interesting article in the New York Times that was mentionning the results of a study that showed that the more people experience Awe, the more generous, grateful and happy they were! Find this article here and take the time to explore and let yourself be amazed by our world, our living environment and the people who surround us

This episode is about the advantages, disadvantages and solutions of working from home.

One of the biggest challenge for expat partners who move regularly from a country to another is managing to build a sustainable career and building financial independence. Finding a job or a small business that we can manage remotely and from home can be a great solution to continue working while moving from a country to another.

In the past 5 years, I have been myself working from home and managing my business in marketing and branding. I would prepare all the work from home and go out to meet my clients in their office or to meet new prospects in networking events. I found that this solution brings a lot of flexibly as we are in charge of our agendas and can switch from work to home management and private life in few minutes. However, it is also a solution that can be overwhelming or not stimulating enough to reach our professional goals.

Therefore, in this episode we will discuss some of the advantages, disadvantages and solutions of working from home. And to bring you to you an extra perspective, I brought to you a special guest, Katja Tschoeope, who has been working from home since 12 years!

Katja comes from Germany and moved with her husband and 2 daughters to Austria nearly 4 years ago. She was a public relations manager before she started her own business as a consultant in corporate communications specialized in strategy and communication controlling. 

In this episode she shares with you a lot of great tips and insights that she learned from her personal experience working from home.

She also emphasized on the importance to build a strong partnership within the Tandem to be able to build your success as an expat partner. Among a lot of other insights, she will share with you how she managed to involve her husband in the process.

Know more about Katja and her services: www.katja-tschoepe.de

 

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Jody Ballard was born in Hawai, mother of three grown-up kids, she lived all her life moving from a country to another, currently, she is living between Warsaw (Poland), where her husband works, and Abu Dhabi (UAE), where she goes back regularly for her professional projects.

She is a licensed clinical therapist, a certified wellness coach, a professional trainer and a public speaker. She is also the author of the novel “The smell of Mud”, working on a second novel, called "Whispers from the sand". Jody is also the founder of a fascinating yearly event called the “Women’s Heritage Walk” that takes place in Abu Dhabi.

Glimpse on Jody's insights:

* How to build a strong relationship with our partners and manage to go through stressful transitional times together.

* How to adapt to new cultures and get out of our comfort zones.

* How to build a successful career while moving from a country to another.

Jody's habits in relocation:

* Appreciating the people who are in her daily life (friends but also those who are not necessarily close, such as the people who work in the grocery store where she shops...etc.).

* Asking questions and trying to understand cultural differences.

* Not fearing to ask for help.

Jody's recommended online resources:

Social Media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram).

Jody's recommended books:

Third Culture Kids by David C. Pollock

Jody’s book:

The Smell of Mud

Find Jody Ballard:

www.jodyballard.com

www.womensheritagewalk.com

Help your expat friends who might need inspiration to turn the challenges of relocation into great opportunities.

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