Four Seas One Family : All About Expat Living

Mike Wester is a 17-year American expat resident of Beijing and a veteran of five years of expatriate living in Taipei as well. In 2001 he co-founded True Run Media, which provides information and services to the internationally-minded communities in China’s largest cities. TRM operates three brands – the Beijinger and beijingkids (English) and JingKids (Chinese), producing print and digital media as well as large-scale live events for each. • the Beijinger (thebeijinger.com) is the capital's top international English language information resource. Featuring the best in the city's dining, nightlife, style, arts and culture, it is a must-read city and lifestyle platform for locals and expatriates alike. • beijingkids (beijing-kids.com) is the most comprehensive English-language family resource for international English-speaking families in Beijing. • JingKids (jingkids.com) is a community-based, niche-market, multiplatform information resource for affluent parents seeking international schooling and lifestyle

Everyone living outside his or her home nation as a story to tell that explains why they made the choice to travel and then live abroad. In today’s episode we have a guest that fits this description without exception. Currently living in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Anthony Rigogliosi shares with us what brought him to the realization of why he had to change is life situation in his home nation and move abroad. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Facebook (Personal): Anthony Rigogliosi Facebook Group: Podcast Ninja Dojo Facebook: Trek the World TV Website: Podcast Ninja Youtube: Trek the World TV Memorable Quotes: (05:00 mins.) "Respectfully not caring what people say..." (06:20 mins.) "Someone that doesn't have much can give so much. much." (8:35 mins.):"Living in my car taught me the simplicities of life." (09:35 mins.) "The Four Hour Work Week" (13:20 mins.) "You meet the right person when you are doing the right thing." (22:03 mins.) "Real people here." (23:00 mins.) "Gratitude. You can't teach it." (00:00 mins.) "Don't

From overseas, expats can offer unique perspectives that may not be easily observed by international media outlets. With all the cultural and political uprising taking place in the world today, now is the time for expats, who have had the opportunity to interact and live amongst different cultures, to make their points of views heard and work to breakdown cultural misunderstandings that have developed through suspicions, hate and fear. James Thomas, the host of Four Seas One Family, is working with other like-minded expats located in different parts of the world to create a podcast program for expats to hold live online discussions about both local and global events that may directly or indirectly influence their home nation or the nation they currently reside in. The podcast will be called "The Expats Roundtable". “The Expats Roundtable will be based on the following: 1. Members are to be expats who currently live abroad or “former expats” who have returned to their ”home country(ies)“ but have lived “long-t

There are a few expats who have totally immersed themselves in the culture and lifestyle of their host nation. They later discover that their relationship with their adopted home has become strong and, in some cases, inseparable. Because of this type of unexplainable connection, a few expats have made the decision to give up the passport of their nation of birth to become a citizen of the nation of their adopted home. This transformation for many isn’t an easy one and, in some cases, irreversible. In this episode, James sits down for a chat with TC Lin. TC was born in the United States and decided to go to Taiwan to study Mandarin Chinese in college. TC later found himself in a place that helped him find out more about himself. He shares his tribulations and walks us through what went through his mind after making the decision to give up his U. S. passport to become a citizen of a land so different from his upbringing. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: TC Lin’s Personal Website: Poagao TC Lin’s Book on Amazon: Barba

It is often hard or almost impossible to predict where your life journey may ultimately take you. An expat’s journey leads to different pathways for self-discovery. My guest this episode is American expat Carlo JaMelle. He proves in a unique way that it is very possible to become an accidental expat and, in the end, enjoy and learn from the path taken. Carlo talks about how he ended up going to Taiwan after graduating from college. Without any in-depth knowledge of his future overseas home, he shares how he learned the skill of cultural adaptation and assimilation. It isn’t hard to see that Carlo, as an African-American expat who has chosen to educate himself about his overseas environment, is using his cultural adaptation skills to communicate with people across cultural boundaries. He has placed himself in a position of tearing down walls of cultural misunderstandings when others back in his home nation are building walls up. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Facebook: Carlo JaMelle National Taiwan University Nati

We sit down for chat with a 24 year old American TCK (Third Culture Kid), Mr. Brandon O’Neal. Brandon takes us for walk in his TCK world and allows us to have a peek inside his sphere of growing up as an African American third culture kid in Taiwan. He shares amusing stories of becoming part of the local Taiwanese community as well as the struggles he faced while being educated in local Taiwanese schools. Brandon points out the importance of learning about the culture you are living in and developing the needed language skills and cultural awareness to further enforce better relationships within your local overseas community. Always zany, upbeat and optimistic, Brandon shows how his experiences of being the “odd one” strengthened his determination to achieve his goals and the way he currently sees the world and his future. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Facebook: BlasianTW Youtube: Blasian: Taiwanese Thug Workout Intro Instagram: BlasianTW THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO THIS EPISODE! Thank you very much for taking th

It is quite common for expat women traveling abroad, and especially raising a family, to feel lost and lose a sense of purpose. It is easy to feel overwhelmed in an unfamiliar overseas environment. I’m lucky this episode to chat with Ms. Rita Golstein-Galperin a career makeover strategists who focuses on helping expat women abroad find or recalibrate a their life direction. Rita works with women all over the world and offers an online service that helps women focus and stay targeted on their life goals while overseas. She has developed online coaching materials to help women realize that their overseas lives can be made relevant to the goals and dreams they want to achieve. Rita is also the author of the book "Grow Abroad (Gift of Reinventing and Owning your Worth)". This book is the quintessential guide for expat women looking to get beyond their "Zombie Mode" of existence. Rita says it better in her own words: From Rita's Expat Renaissance Website I’m a Career Makeover Strategist® for expat women and the fo

I started this website and podcast, Four Seas One Family, to explain some of my personal insights to family members and friends back home about life overseas. I also wanted to expand the podcast to where people could easily observe that we have a lot more in common than we think. In this format, people would be able to listen in on examples that prove that we are fundamentally the same regardless of skin color, religion, politics or other beliefs. We all have basic concerns that include security, welfare, health, happiness, comfort and prosperity. I also wanted to showcase examples of how expats, who maybe living and working inside nations that are very unlike their own, interact with the people of their host nation and how they were able to have open and objective dialogue (with the local people). In the end, these interactions assisted in building or regaining mutual respect. We live in a world where we are more interconnected than ever. Nations are less limited by their physical boundaries. They are only l

Living as an expat can sometimes be like riding a rollercoaster in a thunderstorm. Sometimes things appear like they are going for a positive up swing an sometimes the swing runs out of inertia and head straight to the bottom. The same thing can be said for life in one’s home nation. However, riding the cultural wave as an expat takes a very different approach to facing fears, filtering doubts and finding of positive conclusion. Our guest this episode is Ms. Jasliyn Albert. Jasliyn is an American expat living in Ufa, Russia. Hear how this expat’s experience helped her to become stronger after facing issue after issue in a location over an hour flight outside of Moscow. Hear how Jasliyn managed to overcome her shyness that allowed her to face doubts when being confronted at her job as an English language instructor. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Website: Coffee and Cleveland From Jasliyn’s blog “ Coffee and Cleveland”: I am an American expat living in Russia. When I’m not teaching English or trying to master the

In this episode, American expat Jim Kovpak joins us from Moscow, Russia. Jim has been living in Moscow for over ten years and goes into how he became attracted to Russia at an early age. Today Jim is a very active expat journalist who has covered stories for many international news agencies. While living and working in Russia, Jim and a friend noticed the false reality presented in the media about Russia and the lives of its people. Because of this, Jim and his friend created the website Russia Without BS. His blog centers on what Russia is really like without bias media opinions. His blog has a faithful following of readers who are well versed in Russian history and culture. In this interview, Jim not only explains what is behind some of the misalignments in Russian reporting, but also goes into some of the reasons why many media pundits in the West have developed an unrealistic view of Russia and its diverse people. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Website: Russia Without BS Facebook: Russia Without BS Twitter: F

People choose to go and live overseas for many different reasons. In the beginning, some people may have gone overseas to further their education, search for financial opportunities, seek romance or to simply search for adventure. The desire to travel overseas can come from variety of different sources. The desire to travel abroad may come from someone we admire, a book we may have read or even a movie we may have seen. So as you see, the reasons are countless and sometimes can be left to the imagination. For some, the search for something missing in their current lives maybe the reason they look and travel abroad. In this episode, I would like to talk about the times when an expat returns to their home nation for short visits; like for a vacation or for attending a family event like a wedding or funeral. We are not talking about repatriation, which is when a person returns, more or less, permanently to the nation of their citizenship. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO THIS EPISODE! Thank you very much for taking th

An expat may never be fully intergraded or accepted into all parts of a host nation. There will always be a far side of a host nation that an expat may never be allowed to reach and this is something that may just have to be accepted. The reasons for this may frankly be the way an expat converses with citizens, habits displayed or simply the way a particular expat looks. Local citizens aren’t under any obligation to completely accept an expat as one of their own. The only thing an expat can do, as a human being, is to strengthen the personal relationships he or she has built within their host nation. Many national constitutions make it a clear point that in legal disputes between a foreign national and a citizen of their nation, any decision made must place their citizen’s rights as having priority over foreign national’s at all levels in any litigation. Sovereign nations retain the right to expel any foreign national deemed as disrupting the political affairs of their country. Expats taking part in local civ

In this episode we are having a wonderful chat with Pakistani expat Shehar Bano Rizvi (A name that James easily mispronounces.) who, at the time of this interview, has been living in Doha, Qatar for 13 years. Shehar is raising three children in her adopted home and shares how her little ones are adapting to a life that is constantly being in a mix of different languages, faces and cultures. Learn why Shehar sees this fact as a strong asset to her children’s personal development. She goes into why she decided to not return to her high paced job in Doha to stay at home with her little ones. Also, hear how she and her husband are keeping their three young children connected with the culture and language of their home nation. Shehar wasn’t always upbeat about her life in Qatar after spending most of her life in Karachi, Pakistan, also known as the City of Lights, until the age of 13. Listen to how, after coming to Qatar as a Certified Project Management Professional, homesickness crawled into her life. Take a pee

In this episode, we chat in the Marilyn Monroe suite with Angela Carson. Angela is an American expat from Southern California who has travelled all over the globe to over 33 different countries looking for adventure (I said "adventure" not trouble! [smile]). Angela has not only managed to travel the world and commit to an exciting career as an accomplished travel blogger (Boy! Am I jealous! [wink!]), but also raise, as a single parent I may add, a wonderful daughter. Find out what Angela's daughter considers the best thing that has ever happened to her. What is it that she discovered? What is it that she learnt? Listen to how Angela got the travel bug at an early age and avoided many obstacles along the way. She explains further how she took some terrible ideals and made the best of the experience. Find out why I call Angela the female "Rambo"! Memorable Quotes: (04:52 mins.) "I was attacked by bandits on a mountain road." (07:02 mins.) "You regret the things that you don't do more than the things that you do

In this episode, we have American-expat Drey Gibson who is, at the time of this episode, living in Germany. He is also an expat guest with a military background. Drey is from a place in the U.S. where people from his small town, at the time of his service in the U.S. military, had limited access to information regarding traveling and living overseas. Drey is an engaging speaker who goes into how he coped with life overseas while in the military. It is easy to hear that his clear and positive state of mind helped him enjoy life abroad. He mentions how being overseas with his fellow soldiers in the late 1990’s is a factor that keeps them united even to this day. He also states clearly that going abroad and interacting with the local people directly changed his perspective of the world and its people. With a background in media, Drey is now working in the education field. He and his German wife, have three wonderful children with very different and unique personalities. He points out that, partly because of his

In our efforts to further understand the expat experience while raising children abroad, we are lucky this episode to gain further insights into the topic with our guest and fellow podcaster, Ms. Jennifer Langkjaer. Jennifer is an American expat currently living in Switzerland near Zurich. Jennifer briefly talks about how her children kept up with pop-culture in the US and the type of education her children are getting in Switzerland as opposed to what they may need upon returning to the United States. She also talks about how important it is to try to learn to communicate in the local language. She mentions one experience when she had to use the local language which later made her proud. At the moment of this interview, Jennifer is connecting to us during a semester stay in Houston Texas. Some of Jennifer’s memorable quotes. Find out why they were said: (05:45 mins.) “The things that you thought you were going to have access to aren’t the things that you actually have access to.” (07:00 mins.) “A case of you

I have been receiving email from listeners across Facebook and Twitter about covering the topic of parenting overseas. So over the next few weeks, I will be trying to deliver more information about the nuances of parenting as an expat abroad. I will also try to gather information from a variety of expats located in different parts of the world and focus on the commonalities of trying to raise children outside of their passport nation. So beginning in this episode we sit down for a chat with an American expat from Michigan, now living in Abu Dhabi, Ms. Liz Tracy. Liz has taken to the road abroad with her cute seven-year-old daughter who isn’t having any problem adapting to the expat experience. In fact, Liz’s little doll has been traveling since she was six months old! As a result, she has become used to hearing different languages, observing different cultures and meeting people of all colors, shapes and sizes. In her young innocent eyes, she is just seeing people for what they really are….just simply ”people

In this episode, James is talking to American expat, part-time musician with a voice that any radio announcer would dream of having, Mr. Jim Santos. Jim is a retired network engineer from the DC area someplace near Chesapeake Bay and is connecting to us from Ecuador. I found Jim from one of his articles posted on the Wall Street Journal website. From his overseas vantage point, Jim uses a direct and, at times, strategic humorous point of view to highlight the events currently going on in the US. He talks about unfortunate events brought him and his wife together and to life in Ecuador. Jim points out that there is a big difference between vacationing somewhere and living abroad. For Jim and his wife home is anywhere they are together and happy. In this interview, Jim honestly lays out what he notices from the events taking place in his home nation. I really appreciate he’s straightforward and honest opinions. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Jim words of wisdom while living as an expat: (05:04) “I give good phone.”

I truly believe every single person on Earth has the ability to show compassion towards their fellow human beings regardless of the many countless obstacles. In my podcast, Four Seas One Family, I frantically try to construct cultural bridges to shorten the distance between common beliefs and mutual concerns. Global events displayed daily on our televisions, read in newspapers and on-line causes us to develop a pessimistic view of the world. The large numbers of innocent people suffering and dying for causes they may not even care about or understand casts a negative view of the world that is being passed on to our children and future generations. This, in turn, is causing them to become suspicious, lose faith, feel insecure and, in the end, hopeless about their future. The side-effects of these feelings, situations and unfortunate events is a state of heightened fear that becomes multiplied over time. This constant state of fear affects everyone regardless of their location or social political status. Fear h

In this episode we have a fellow podcaster from Kansas City who is now living as an expat in Belize on the island of Caye Caulker. A person of action, Robert Harper, explains how he has changed his philosophy about life and managed to arrange a lifestyle that allows him to work remotely and experience living abroad with his extended family which includes two wonderful young grandchildren. Robert shares why he feels supplying his grandchildren with supplementary remote educational resources will help them develop a more overall competitive educational advantage. He also explains what he doesn't miss about life in the U.S. and why he doesn't think he will own land to live on again. This maybe because of how his nomadic lifestyle suits the life he and his family have chosen to enjoy. He also points out, that as an expat, it is important to get out and learn about the surroundings and it's people. Listen to what Robert learnt from a local Belizean businesswoman about the connection Belize once had with the slave