Why is it that some people seem to succeed in all they do? What is the difference between the colleague who gets promoted into higher positions a lot quicker and his colleague who seems to stay put with where he is in his career and who is not climbing the corporate ladder no matter how hard he thinks he is trying? It might not be obvious at first sight, but you will find that the more successful colleague has mastered the fine nuances of etiquette. Etiquette, or in this case

I will never forget one of the dilemmas I ran into when I went on my first trip to the Philippines. My husband introduced me to one of his best friends, but had to leave the room to welcome his other buddies. We were left alone, sitting in awkward silence. Me, being Western thought it would be polite to ask some questions and get to know his best friend. However, I noticed he would never answer my questions. He would simply raise his eyebrows quickly up and down every time I

For many, the concept of living abroad has to do with being rich, being a student or knowing the right people who can place you in a prestige company earning you millions. However, that is not so. You do not need to belong to either three to be able to experience life in a foreign country. As in my case, I was not on a student exchange program, I was not referred by an amazing company, nor did I have the money. I chose to sell all my belongings and simply checked the internet

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” Robert Louis Stevenson. Going on a big trip, preparing to move or live abroad for a considerable amount of time can seem quite intimidating at first – especially when it is your first time to go on a big trip. It can seem even more daunting when you have decided to travel and live in a country so far away from where you are from or where the culture is like nothing you have experienced before. To take away

Materialism receives a new definition when living abroad. Yes, you will be enticed to buying all those souvenirs while traveling and send them back home, but when it comes to your actual possessions, you do not really have any and learn to not grow attached to anything too much Live the comfortable life or sell everything? When I first ventured out to India, the only way I could afford to pay for my flight ticket was to sell all my furniture and everything I pretty much owned

When you are in your “own” country where you grew up, you kind of take your nationality and how you do things for granted. It is only when you leave and live in a culture so different from your own that you are constantly being reminded – as in all the time – that you are the “other one”, “the foreigner”, “the white girl/boy” or “the odd one out”. Whether you like it or not, you are never really going to be a part of that culture for pretty obvious reasons. You are likely to

I think most people who have lived abroad for many years would say that they are not the same person they were when they left their comfort zone. It is not just about getting all those stamps in your passport and seeing places most people would never get to see in their lifetime – let alone hear of (but that certainly is a bonus most of us would not want to miss). Living abroad is more than that. This journey and adventure of living in cultures so different from what you were