I Had No Diplomat Parents. I Had Harry Potter and a Grandmother With a Travel Company.
At the Coffee with Expats meeting everyone had a story. From Egypt. Speaks ten languages. Parents were diplomats. I sat there thinking I had none of that.
What Is the Inherited Scorecard?
The inherited scorecard is the set of standards you absorbed without noticing. What a good parent looks like. What success looks like. What kind of life is considered worth wanting.
I Went to Coffee with an Expat Looking for a Mentor. Here Is What Happened.
I have been on a search for a mentor. The vira-lata move of assuming nobody would bother to teach me. The ten steps ahead brain that forgot to ask for directions. I went into that meeting with my antennae fully extended. Someone in here might be my knight in shining armour.
I Am Usually the Mentor. Turns Out That Was a Vira-Lata Move.
A friend here in Switzerland asked me the other day if I have someone bigger than me in the industry who can be my mentor. I said no. I am usually the mentor. What I did not say, because I was still figuring it out, is why.
Does Exhaustion Feel the Same Everywhere?
Research confirms that exhaustion is experienced and expressed differently depending on culture. Brazilian Portuguese has a phrase for it: tô morta de cansaço. Dead from tiredness. Not dead-ish. Dead.
This Idea is Either Brilliant or a Disaster.
I have been watching presentations. The ones that stayed with me were not the ones with the best slides. They were the ones where someone stood up, looked at the room, and just talked. So I made a decision.
This Has Nothing to Do With the Books. But It Made Me Laugh So Hard.
My dad moved from Uruguay to Brazil when he was a teenager. New country, new language, new everything. His mom pulled him aside before they left the house: blend in, don't draw attention to yourself, just blend in. The plan was solid. There was one small problem.
The Day My Sister Ordered Toast Without Prunes.
We were at a hotel in Uruguay. None of us kids wanted to speak Spanish. My sister took the leap, ordered ham and cheese toast, and made it through.