Being an OUT-OF-TOWNER can be a bumpy ride with its lows but fortunately its highs as well. This is where you can share your joys and woes with us...

CULTURE SHOCK
Everybody feels a bit out of place here from time to time and the adjustment period can vary from person to person but one thing is for sure, we all suffer (or enjoy) at least a little culture shock.
The term, culture shock, was introduced for the first time in 1958 to describe the anxiety produced when a person moves to a completely new environment. This term expresses the lack of direction, the feeling of not knowing what to do or how to do things in a new environment, and not knowing what is appropriate or inappropriate. The feeling of culture shock generally sets in after the first few weeks of coming to a new place. More...

A drive is a dive...
into biculturality
I was talking with David last Irish Thursday night at Lotos where we had a 'gripping' time! We started talking about cultural differences between here and 'there.' And to me there is nothing more depicting, than driving, of the different ways people think and act. David asked me to write down my thoughts so here they are... More...

I first landed at the human grill pan that is "Macedonia international airport" in the summer of 1990 believing that the plane had accidentally put down at a bus terminus. The doors were opened and a rush of heat, the like I'd previously only experienced opening the oven to see if my frozen dinner was finished, poured in. The captain and crew wished me and my fellow milky white travelling companions a pleasant holiday and I emerged into an alien landscape lettered with characters I had only seen in mathematics and physics at school and populated by a people who spoke incessantly to each other in the same tone that my mother would if I hadn't tidied my room for a month. If you asked me what I knew about Greece on my arrival I would have pondered a while and told you that they ate kebabs, drank something that resembles paint thinners, had a penchant for large moustaches, oh and discovered some stuff years ago. More...

A map and a Pin My sister (my Twin) Some drinkies that went down the hatch We all had ideas What to do with the years And then the bags were all packed. More...



Had an interesting post the other day that linked to an ex-pat article written by an American in Australia. The article was well-written and thought provoking on a number of levels. In the end, it prompted me to think more about what it is to be an expatriate, beyond simple things like fitting in, language barriers, seeking home comforts, and missing your hometown. I think most ex-pats can joke about these things, these differences in ways of life that you have to get used to as an immigrant in a new culture. We all know the struggles, the homesickness, the loneliness, the wonders and beauty of living abroad. More...


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