Many tribal cultures don't have a word for "boredom". Sitting under a tree for hours at a time, waiting in line to get water from the well, or walking four days to a nearby village for medical help is…
Read MoreLast week I was in Saudi Arabia. I was talking with a British executive living there with his family. He said to me, “We love Jeddah. But I don’t know how long we’re going to last here. My wife and…
Read MoreExpatriate Spouses need more than cultural knowledge to thrive. They need high CQ. --Guest post by Regula Sindemann I am not a cultural intelligence expert. As a matter of fact, it was only 18 months ago that I first came across…
Read MoreOur family loves to watch the Amazing Race. Given our many travels together, we often think about how we would compete to cross the finish line first. And you can imagine the joy it gives me to hear my kids…
Read MoreA couple weeks ago I was with my family in Argentina. Empanadas are one of the staple foods in Argentina--a great pie/pastry filled with all kinds of wonderful things. When talking with an Argentinian woman, she was telling us that…
Read MoreIn case you weren’t already convinced that cultural differences matter, brain research proves it. Culture shapes the wiring of our brains. Dr. Ying-Yi Hong did brain scans of American and Chinese students attending the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The students…
Read MoreI'm in Accra for a couple days. I've been here before but it's been awhile. Here are just a few random observations from my afternoon walk around the city: • My favorite business name is here: "All Things Are Possible…
Read MoreYesterday I was traveling by car from Toronto to New York to visit my family. Driving across one of the bridges between the U.S. and Canada is something I’ve been doing my entire life. My parents moved to the U.S.…
Read MoreMost people involved in international work are faced with the dilemma of what to do when “extra payment” is expected. A police officer pulls you over and offers you the option of "paying in cash now". An immigration official suggests…
Read MoreAs I watch the news reports pouring in about the Idaho missionary group arrested for child abduction in Haiti, I keep asking What were they thinking?! I don’t have enough first hand information to make dogmatic judgments about their intentions…
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