EXPAT Archives - Page 2 of 4 - following the funks

Episode 50: When you move on to new things

Episode050 is our LAST (regular) episode! We have LOVED being a part of your lives and appreciate all of our listeners. THANK YOU for supporting us and following our journey! Don’t worry though, our website will still be around sharing travel and expat articles.

This episode wraps up a few life updates about language and our experience with buying a bed here. It also covers our 4th year anniversary weekend getaway to the Greek island of Chios just off the coast of Turkey.

Questions for the listeners:

Have you ever bought a brand new bed?
What is your anniversary tradition?
Have you been to Chios? If so, what did you love there?

Listen to Episode050 and let us know what you think! Links are below!

Mentioned links:

3rd Anniversary Travels to Cyprus – Episode030

Recent 4th Anniversary Travels: Chios, Greece

Bus company we should have reserved tickets on if the website worked…

Our Airbnb – Our sign up code for a discount off your first stay!

Hatzelenis Tours – Car rentals

Larimar Boutique Hotel in Cesme

Mastic Museum

Volcanic Rock “Black Lava Rock” Beach

Upcoming Travels:

If you are just now joining in:

We encourage you to go back into the archives and listen back to our first episode. And we encourage you to go back and listen to Episode009 which explains why we made the international move!

Since we won’t be releasing regular episodes, please join our newsletter to get future updates and news and follow along with daily updates on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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WRITING: Snowy Weekend in Cappadocia in Lale Magazine

January 18, 2018January 22, 20182018, TRAVEL WRITING, TURKEY, WRITING Catie

Lale Magazine featured my article titled Snowy Weekend in Cappadocia in their January/February 2018. The article covers a romantic weekend getaway to the snowy land of Cappadocia. The curved canyons of speckled volcanic rock jutting 2 to 3 stories into the chilled winter air were dusted with the recent fluffy snowfall!

The expat magazine, Lale Magazine, is produced by the IWI, International Women of Istanbul. The bi-monthly magazine is shipped to over 600 private home, as well as all advertisers and sponsors. The readers are comprised mostly of Turkish nationals married to foreigners, but also foreigners living in Istanbul. It is full of helpful information about local schools, exhibits for art and workshops, and experiences with IWI groups. There aren’t a lot of English print magazines in Turkey, so this is a fun magazine to have available!

Here is the start of the article:

While most tourists prefer to visit Cappadocia, in central Turkey, in the warmer summer temperatures, our winter travels there proved much more rewarding. Snow covers the usual brown facade and dresses the rocks in white, giving the area a beautiful, wintery glow.

The area prides itself on its carpet-weaving, wines, and the distinctive red pottery of Avanos. The snow and colder weather didn’t stop store owners or their warm rooms from inviting customers into their galleries.

Tour agencies in the region offer four tour routes labeled Green, Red, Blue, and Purple. To best explore Cappadocia you can choose a self-guided, well-traveled tour using a map in a rental car, or via a tour company. Private day guides are always available and cost less during the offseason. Your guided tour may or may not include the entrance tickets and lunch, so be sure to clarify this before agreeing on a price. Take the Green and Red Tours for the more popular sites or, the less-traveled, Blue and Purple Tours if you have been before.

Continue reading here… or scroll down (flip to page 42).

You can also view the article via the link below. Flip to page 42.

Thank you, Lale Magazine for the feature. I am honored to be working with you as a writer.

See my past work published in the Lale Magazine:

Photos – WRITING: Fun in the Historic Aegean Sea Published in Lela Magazine
Full article with photos – WRITING: Reminiscing Romantic Romania in Lale Magazine
Full article with photos – WRITING: European Christmas Market Tour in Lale Magazine

For more pictures and my other accounts of our weekend in snow-covered Cappadocia, read more via the links below:

TRAVEL: Weekend in Cappadocia – Castle Inn Cappadocia
Listen in to Episode027 of the FunkTravels Podcast

Episode027: When there is plenty of room at the Inn

Now to you:

Did you enjoy the article?

Would you go in the winter?

GOING HOME SERIES: 7 self-care tips and why it is important for expats returning home

December 14, 2017December 4, 20172017, EXPAT, EXPAT GOING HOME, FAMILY Catie

With all your de-stressing, prepping for your travels, and organizing your responses and expectations for your expat return ‘home’, you should feel completely ready to go home now! Just one last article left and may be the most important one. Which brings me to my last post of the GOING HOME SERIES, 7 ways to schedule in self-care and why it is essential for an expat returning home.

Just like self-care is vital for everyday life, it is also important, if not MORE important for your travels home. Scheduling even one of the items below with give you a little breather from visits and help you care for YOU!

Here are 7 tips for self-care during your expat visit home:

1. Read about reverse culture shock.
  
  Read about how to deal with your transition and reverse culture shock. Consider reading other blog posts of people who have gone through it as well and learn about how they coped. Find a healthy outlet for your emotions. Let yourself feel, recognize the feeling, and then, perhaps laugh a bit at yourself. Consider keeping a list of gratitudes during your visit or writing in a journal to help process your thoughts and feelings.

1. Make time for a couple of real ‘vacation’ days with just your family or take a personal retreat.
  
  I talk about this here as well, but I will also shout out to this as a great way to care for yourself. Jason usually works while we travel, but we try to make sure we are clear on our actual ‘no work’ vacation days. We also try to travel and explore someplace new in the states we have never been. When you take these days, make sure to work in good ‘debriefing questions.’ I will write more about those in a future, but for now, here are 10 questions your friends may ask you when you return home for a visit.

1. Do something you CAN’T do in your expat country.
  
  This could be going to a water park or camping. In our case, we eat lots of good pork products (ribs and lots of bacon), fresh blueberries on the cheap, and drive a car everywhere (we don’t own a car in Turkey!).

1. Pamper yourself a little.
  
  The first time I lived in Turkey, I was so afraid to get my hair cut by the hairdresser. In fact, I only went to the salon ONCE in the whole two years I lived there. Maybe that was vain of me, but I was so scared I would come out with crazy hair. This time around I have found a hairdresser that I love and trust, but that is nothing as good as a hairdresser you trust and love back home. Or better yet, get a pedicure/manicure with a friend. Guys, get that massage you have been wanting!

1. Eat some good food.
  
  Put your diet on hold and eat all the food! There is nothing like getting the food you love and have missed from the true source. For me, it can be a favorite local restaurant or our family recipes.

1. Don’t forget to exercise.
  
  This may seem like a silly one, and you may debate me and say… “I’m on vacation!” With all the eating and visits you will be making, trust me, just a good 30 minute walk a day will help give your body some movement and keep your systems semi-regular! (You can thank me later.)

Consider processing your past year with a counselor.
YES! While you may not want to admit it, this is an excellent form of self-care. The great thing here is that they are there to listen, not to judge, and to give you the space you may need to express these deep-seated feelings that friends and family may not be equipped to handle.

Here is your FREE worksheet to make sure you cover your expat visit home well!

Questions for you:

Are you an expat living in a foreign country? If so, where?
What self-care tip did you like the most?
What self-care tips do you have? What would you add to this list?

Like this post? Pin it for later.

P.S. – This is the first post of a 6 part series called EXPAT GOING HOME SERIES. Stay tuned for the following articles:

Going Home Series: 10 thoughtful questions to ask your returning expats

Going Home Series: 8 ways you can bless your returning expats

Going Home Series: 6 ways to make your expat visit ‘home’ more enjoyable (Part 1)

Going Home Series: 6 practical ways to destress your next expat visit ‘home’ (Part 2)

Going Home Series: 5 expectations to explore before expats return home

Going Home Series: 7 self-care tips and why it is important for expats returning home

HOLIDAYS: How do expats celebrate Thanksgiving abroad? Glad you asked!

December 4, 2017December 4, 20172017, EXPAT, HOLIDAY, IZMIR, TURKEY Catie

Thanksgiving celebrations in another country are NOT for the FAINT OF HEART. After celebrating 5 Thanksgiving in a foreign country, I have learned to be resourceful!

Last Thanksgiving we totally escaped up to Istanbul and celebrated with American friends. Don’t worry, I was not excluded from my share of the cooking, or eating, for that matter. In fact, I may have done MORE cooking because we were staying with the host of the Thanksgiving dinner.

This year, however, we decided to brave the holiday ourselves. Not alone though. We invited 30 of our friends and neighbors into our little apartment to celebrate the day with us! Instead of the traditional Thursday celebrations, we waited until Friday night hoping it would be easier for guests to come.

This is what our actual Thanksgiving day dinner looked like… eating out and watching a movie at the nearby mall.

And unlike almost all events in my life, I actually started early with the planning, menus, recipes, and activities for kids. I was very impressed with myself, and if you know me well, you would be too.

Turkey and all the stuffings:

While the list looks ambitious, (and it was) we did NOT cook all that was on this list. ‘A’ was to assign out, the boxes were some I were to do… but of course, nothing happened like that. Almost everyone did bring something, but the Americans were the only ones I assigned a traditional Thanksgiving item too.

Jason was responsible for the turkey and gravy. I made a veggie tray and cheese tray for appetizers. My main course dishes were sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, and roasted veggies (which just collected juice from the turkey while it cooked).

We spent our weekly ‘Turkish’ cooking class prepping for the Thanksgiving party instead. I could not have made it through that week without my helpers that day! They cut up veggies, boiled sweet potatoes, made pie filling, and a list of other things I can’t remember right now. I had great ambitions to make green bean casserole, but unless you have those handy french onions or just a lot of time to fry your own… it just didn’t make the cut!

Our hardest prep work went into making the pie crusts. Yes, we made them from SCRATCH because Y’ALL, we can not get ready made pie crust here. It is just NOT A THING and it has yet to reach here. If you have ever made homemade pie crust, every stinking recipe calls for shortening, and well, yet again, it is not here in Turkey. Yet, somehow our brave American friends ordered a massive box of it from the local METRO (think SAM’S Club or COSCO) and they shared some with us!

Going to the store looks a little different here… I usually only buy what I can carry. If I know I am going to the weekly market or will buy a lot, then I bring my handy Pazar arabası or market car (no, I did not forget the ‘t’. The actual translation is ‘car.’)

Later that evening, I had a sweet friend take me to METRO to pick up our special ordered turkey. The people of METRO are my heros! I had given up on a whole turkey after asking several big stores, but METRO came through with a special order for us last minute. In Turkey, the stores do not start getting them in until the end of December to be used for New Year celebrations.

Our kilos of shortening: I stored the stuff on the left for later, and the right we used for the pie crust.

P.S. – It also makes great turkey pot pie crust with leftover turkey!

Pre-cooked! I never got an after picture! While we make our own pureed pumpkin, an Australian friend of ours picked up 2 canned of Libby’s canned pumpkin on a recent trip to Ireland for her American friends living in Turkey! Crazy, huh?

Jason did an AMAZING job with the turkey! I was so impressed. Everyone raved about the gravy he made from the turkey broth.

Having a 68 cm wide fridge means we had to be very creative with our storage!

Decor

Because of all the prep work, the day of our Thanksgiving party was actually calm and somewhat relaxed. I mixed up a few casseroles and my neighbors cooked them for me since our oven had the turkey cooking. Jason and I worked together to rearrange our furniture and prepare a kid area in one of the back rooms.

I love decorating for the seasons, and thanks to the internet and a printer, I already had prints hung up for the season. And thanks to $10 and a Dollar Tree in America, I decided to get plates, napkins, tablecloths, and a few other fallish items. The Dollar Store is one of the things I miss most here!

To seat 30 people, we had to be a little creative with our seating arrangement. And while it wasn’t ideal, everybody was great sports about it!

Thanks LB for letting me borrow the banner!

Guests

Our guests were amazing. With over 7 different countries and a mix of English and Turkish, I was a little anxious to see how it would turn out. Our friends were warm and open to one another and I was very thankful to see conversation flowing freely between groups of people.

Due to the amount of food (people are so generous), we had 2 rounds of eating just like any good Thanksgiving. After Jason made a short speech and prayed over the food, I explained how it works (buffet style complete with Thanksgiving decor paper plates). Everyone enjoyed the first round of ‘savory’ foods and then we pulled out the sweets!

Finished turkey. We also had some extra turkey breast cooked for extra meat.

Overall, our first time hosting Thanksgiving was a huge success. Yes, it was work, but we LOVED sharing this experience with our friends. Thanks to all our friends who came and made this a special time we will ALWAYS remember!

For a verbal account of our Thanksgiving party, listen into Episode042!

Episode042: When you host your first adult Thanksgiving

Your turn!

How was your Thanksgiving?

How do you celebrate?

If you are an expat, what do you like to make? What is easy or difficult to find in your country?

Here are a couple a pics from the day after!

I spent some time on my winter cross-stitch with tv and coffee. Yes, that would be leftover pie on the table.

Not pictured: me in my jammies

Leftover dishes that need to be returned! Poor Woody has a tendency to get left behind.

GOING HOME SERIES: 5 expectations to explore before expats return home

November 30, 20172017, EXPAT, EXPAT GOING HOME Catie

“How was your trip over there?” a sweet but not close friend asked me.

It was the fall of 2009, and I had just finished my two-week visit back to the states. Little did she know that for the 100th time, she asked me the same questions everyone else had. Even harder still, she had used the word ‘trip.’ This was my first visit back to the states after living 13 months abroad. In my mind, while not all of my earthly possession had accompanied me, I had entirely moved to another city and established myself there.

I learned early on not to be offended by the use of that word. In most people’s mind, my expat life and living arrangements were/are temporary. And in their minds, expats will forever belong to their native country and that time living in another country could be considered ‘extended travel.’ It can be hard to grasp that, just like Americans move to other states and it is not a ‘trip,’ so is moving to another country.

That story above is just one example of the vast amounts of interactions you will have with others as you visit your native country. Learning to manage your expectations for your return ‘home’ will be a significant benefit to you, and it doesn’t take that long.

Taking a half hour, evaluate the areas listed below, and consider how they apply to your life, family and friends and home country.

Don’t expect your family will understand you.

I write this being thankful that we, for the most part, have understanding, loving, and interested parents and family members. But I also know that most have NOT been to Turkey and for them to understand what our lives look like is not fair. You may find yourself frustrated or short tempered if they don’t remember things you have shared. Do you remember everything they have shared from their lives? Have grace and patience and consider starting from ground zero, re-explaining your live and stories you may have already shared. This allows for lots of room for understanding and especially room for them to hopefully tell you, “I remember you telling me about this!”

Much has changed in your life, but maybe not theirs. In return, perhaps you are 3-4, 5, even 10 years into your expat years, but a lot more has changed for your friends back ‘home.’

You may find yourself overloading the conversation with all your stories, triumphs and woes of moving abroad, but consider asking questions about their lives as well. While their lives look different, it is still as relevant. You may find that your friends back home have moved on and your ‘home’ country has drastically changed with time. For us, we visit my home state for two reasons, my brother and a couple of friends we consider families. But for the most part, our time is now spent in another state 14 hours away by car because our friends and rest of the family live there.Consider your ‘whys’ of visiting that area and make the most of the people who are left there. Otherwise, consider planning to visit those close, #1 friends that have moved away. I find seeing where they live and their lives in their new cities help keep a friendship going and deepens the relationship!

Prepare for cultural and political transitions

New presidents, rulers, political parties are bound to change out over time…as well as your opinion of them since moving abroad. Or perhaps, your expat country has had some interesting changes that others want to ask you about! Ask yourself how you feel about these new changes and how you will respond questions about it.

Prepare and expect there to be uninterested parties.

There are some reasons for this. Some people just don’t have interest in travel and other countries. More possible, they may not have the context or background to understand the culture and country. For others, and I hate to write this, returning expats may face jealousy from friends and loved ones. Consider how you will help others understand. How can you love those people even if you never discuss your life abroad? Interestingly enough, there are people I considered close friends who didn’t care at all about my overseas life. Eventually, I had to face the hard truth that maybe those friendship were great for a season, but aren’t great for this new season of life.

Added family members change the atmosphere, maybe a new in-law or added children.

Adding to your family will always change the dynamics! Consider when the best time is for you to travel home. Is it best to travel around the holiday, will everyone be able to get together, or are other times less stressful times?

How do you counteract this? Great question!

Here are a few other tips to help you manage your expectations for reentry:

Have you already notice friends or family that communicate last with you? Make a list of those who may need a little extra background to understand you better.
Tell your life in small doses. Use images and stories to help others understand where you live. I use the phrase ‘show me, don’t tell me’ when trying to explain your culture to family and friends.
For those family or friends who seem to be uninterested, figure out what you do have in common and start from there. Perhaps your words are changing their perspective on the world and will create a curiosity about your life!
If you can, find a mentor couple or another family whose has previously lived abroad who wants you to share everything. Jason and I are fortunate to have a few families that have lived overseas, even in Turkey, before. We have found it much easier to express our joys and frustrations with them because they have once been where we are!

Bonus: Tell people how much you care for them. Yep! Seems a weird one on this list, but how many times do we forget to share how much others mean to us?

Here is your FREE worksheet to make sure you cover your expat visit home well!

Questions for you: