Issue 6 / April 2018
10
MOST SPOKEN LANGUAGES IN THE WORLD FOR A MORE CREATIVE BRAIN, FAMOUS EXPAT:
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
?EXPERT MORTGAGE ADVICE FOR BUYING PROPERTY IN MALLORCA?
CLICK HERE and visit our webpage! Fill in ou r con t act f or m f or f r ee m or t gage advice & calcu lat ion s!
HERE FOR YOU We pride ourselves on our integrity; we ensure that we clearly understand our clients requirements, and hold their hands throughout their property buying experience.
SOURCING THE BEST OPTIONS Working with many lending institutions, some of which are not present in Mallorca, we have access to many mortgage options so that our clients have a range to choose from.
BUILDING DREAM S Whether you plan to buy a modest studio apartment or a glamorous villa, we are here to help you to source the funding that you need to make that dream come true.
w w w .m al l or cam or t gage.com
4 | Content
7 Editor's letter | Issue no. 6 8 Featured city | Living in San Francisco 14 Culture differences | The most important
money customs from around the world 18 Identity | We become what we believe 23 Education | How you can earn
thousands as a private tutor 26 Expatriate nature | More young 29 32 36 40
professionals on the move overseas Life abroad | 6 national holidays from around the world Language | 10 most spoken languages in the world Passport | Passports are the new status symbol for the ultra rich Legal | Keep the interview legal
43 Famous expat | Arnold Schwarzenegger 48 Featured city| Lisbon. Startups are
attracted to revitalize the city 52 Relationships | Friendships in a mobile world 56 Challenges | The countries facing the greatest skill shortages 60 Taxes | Which countries have the
highest standard of living taxes on high Incomes?
Š ExpatsWorld 2018
Content
64
Quality of life | 3 types of people you need to be successful
66
Health | Promoting the wellbeing of globally mobile employees
71
World | For a more creative brain, travel Millennials | Industries millennials are "killing" Working abroad | How to manage cultural differences in global teams
75 78 82 86
90 94
96
Insurance | Some common health insurance myths busted Featured city | 10 ways Frankfurt has changed from being dull to dynamic Food | The most iconic American foods Relocation | Happiness begins at home, especially when it is organized Business Directory | Recommended companies
ExpatsWorld International Calle Gregal 10, Santa Ponsa, Balearic Islands, Spain
Email: contact@expatsworld.com
Credit: Unsplash/Paul Clark
|5
CLICK HERE
Editor's letter
Welcome to the 6th Issue of ExpatsWorld Magazine
We are happy and proud to welcome you to our sixth edition of this magazine. A magazine for people who live, or plan to move abroad. We would love to invite you to enjoy reading this magazine online. You can follow our daily updated newsblog, subscribe to our newsletters, check our international and local Facebook groups and pages, watch our webTV show, and contact us with all kinds of questions and requests for assistance around the world. We would like to announce that we re-launched our web page. We have a new expat platform, so everyone is welcomed to join it! Moreover, by joining our community, you have a chance to participate in our weekly competition and win a great prize! Do not miss your chance to win! Go to the last page of this magazine in order to be directed to the competition page. We see a high concentration of connected people in Europe, Asia and North America. We are now pro-actively starting to connect with people and companies to grow our crowd of followers in Latin & South America, Africa and China. Did you know that there are now over 500 metropolitan areas in the world with over 1 million population? These are the cities we are aiming to grow and be stronger with our online presence, news flow and events. As always, we manage to give all of our followers super services for free, since we have many small and large companies supporting us as sponsors and advertisers. Welcome to another exciting issue of ExpatsWorld Magazine and don´ t forget to visit www.expatsworld.com - our recently renewed website.
Best regards, Peter Redrin - Founder & CEO Clients & Clubs International SL
WWW.MYEXPATSWORLD.COM
|7
SAN
Featured city
LIVING IN F RANCI SCO
SOURCE: FIDI
Imagine the sun setting behind the Golden Gate Bridge as you sit in one of the city?s many well-maintained parks ? San Francisco has an undeniable appeal as the colourful centre of northern California. One of the United States? most liveable metropoles is home to numerous big banks and spawned Silicon Valley as a prominent neighbour. In other words, plenty of expat attractions to go around.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM Credit: Unsplash/Ragnar-Vorel
|9
10 | Featured city
Credit: Unsplash/Omer Rana
PROS: CULTURAL DIVERSITY The Bay Area is filled with people from all kinds of cultural backgrounds. And that shows. San Francisco has been a perpetual breeding ground for cross- and counter cultural paradigm shifts ? most famously the anti-war love and peace-movement in the 1960s. The Summer of Love had its apex exactly 50 years ago, but the lingering effects are still noticeable in the city today. No matter where you come from, chances are you will not particularly stand out in this creative melting pot. On the contrary, as an expat, you will fit right in. CONS: COST OF LIVING Would you like to live in a particularly pleasant and vibrant city? Well, you?re not alone. San Francisco has an exceptionally high cost of living. The median rent in 2015 was reported to be around 4,225 dollars. As a result, many middle-class families are leaving the city for the slightly more affordable suburbs. Expect tough competition for affordable housing and make sure you have thoroughly researched the neighbourhood you want to live in. PROS: FOOD San Francisco is known for its culinary innovation. (Where else could you study Culinary Arts at university?) You can literally taste the finely honed craft in the hundreds of ethnically diverse restaurant, bars and food trucks spread around the city. Unlike housing, good food is quite affordable. CONS: SAFETY Over the years Fog City has carefully cultivated an image as a particularly safe city. A cozy community where you can safely walk around at night, no matter your ethnicity, sexual or religious background. And it?s true, San WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
Francisco is extremely tolerant to people from all walks of life. Recent reports however, have shown that petty crime is on the rise. San Francisco has the highest per-capita property crime rate of the US?s top 50 cities. Better keep a close eye on your possessions! PROS: MOBILITY Pro tip: if the distance is at all manageable, just walk. There?s plenty to see and the weather allows for a nice stroll all year round. No surprise then, that San Francisco was voted the second most walkable city in the US. Still not convinced? No problem, the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metropolitan area is the 16th best area in the US in transit coverage to job access. Whether you prefer the subway, bus, or old-school tram, with a little experience you?ll be navigating the streets without breaking a sweat. CONS: FOG & AIR QUALITY Yes, the weather in northern California is really, really nice. But make no mistake; it can get cold too. If you rent near the water, you will probably not see the sun all summer long. The heat in the southern valleys create a dense fog that envelops the waterfront for months on end. And that?s not the only aerial problem the city faces: the Bay Area ranks among the 10 worst polluted regions in the country. SUMMARY Culture, nightlife, delicious food: San Francisco has a lot to offer ? that much is clear. But it?s not all sunshine and roses. Literally. The air quality and dense fog will make you wish for the hot LA-sun during winter, while you could be too stretched financially to buy a bouquet of roses because your rent has just gone up for the second time in a year.
Credit: Unsplash/Rezaul Karim
TRAVEL THE WORLD SAVE MONEY BE A MEMBER
LEARN HOW!
CLICK HERE >>
The Top Travel Club is a member-based travel club that negotiates outlet prices, direct booking discounts and savings for members who are comfortable with handling their own travel arrangements, directly with the listed and linked travel operators on the website. Members get access to thousands of Direct Booking Discounts and Savings on travel and shopping selections in over 100 countries at 3 global clubs - TheTopTravelClub, WorldPrivilegeClub and Hotelsetc? ..all for JUST ONE family membership fee. Benefits of having a member ship with us: - Members may get the same deals for their family and friends with just one membership - Offers may be given as gifts or forwarded to friends around the world - Access to Hotelsetc.com and the multiple savings - New offers available each week - Easily recover the membership fee with the savings - Members go direct and save - 100% of savings go to members - The Club does not earn any fees or commissions for advertising, promotions, bookings, sales or clicks. We are not j ust another tr avel club and are NOT a tr avel agency We seek quality travel business operators all over the world who want to deal directly with our members and offer direct booking savings, net of commission prices or special member-only discounts. Over 1400 global independent travel and tour operators currently offer these deals, and our members have free direct access to the many thousands of savings at Hotelsetc.com and WorldPrivilegePlus.com - no need to pay extra membership dues. Want to save 50% on a family member ship? One membership is all that is needed to save for all of your family and friends booking or travelling together. We have such an exceptional travel offer that we are making it available to your friends and connections around the world who may also want to save on their travel needs. Simply forward this offer to them for their own review? they won?t believe the price! Book one hotel night or day tour and you will recover this small membership fee. This is the greatest deal in online travel, so go to www.thetoptravelclub.com/special-invitation to save 50% on a family membership NOW!
Contact The Top Tr avel Club: Email: tony@thetoptravelclub.com Web: www.thetoptravelclub.com
LEARN MORE
14 |
Culture differences
THE MOST IMPORTANT
MONEY CUSTOMS
FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Credit: Unsplash/Joshua Ness
BY SARAH SCHMALBRUCH SOURCE: BUSINESS INSIDER
Figuring out money etiquette in your native country can be hard enough, so it can seem especially daunting when you're in a foreign country. Here you can find some useful information which outlines who pays on a date, how to split the bill with friends, and how much to tip around the globe. WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
Culture differences
WHO PAYS ON A DATE In Europe it's rare for a couple to split the bill on a first date, and this will usually only happen if the date has gone particularly badly. However, some European countries abide by the rule that whoever suggested the date should be the one to pay for it.
EUROPE
SPLI TTI NG THE BI LL General etiquette implies that if you go for dinner and some people order significantly more than others, the bill should be split according to what each individual had. However, if you've all had more or less the same amount, it's petty to make a fuss over splitting the bill accurately just to save yourself a few pounds.
TI PPI NG In general, most European countries will expect between 10 to 15 percent tip, and this will sometimes be included within the total bill. If it is not already included, it's considered best practice to tip in cash rather than card, to ensure the full amount goes to the server.
WHO PAYS ON A DATE Although it's generally believed that the men should foot the bill at the end of a date, it's customary for the woman to make the offer of paying their share. The woman is expected to make the token gesture of reaching for her purse or asking what her share is. If this gesture isn't made, they may come across as rude.
NORTH A AMERI C
SPLI TTI NG THE BI LL The bill is most often split evenly, and it can be considered tacky to calculate individual spending down to a tee. Despite this, it is not too uncommon for diners to simply pay for what they ordered, even if is frowned upon by the staff of the restaurant.
TI PPI NG Tipping in the USA is a huge part of their culture, and you should expect to tip between 15 to 20 percent when eating out without exception.
WHO PAYS ON A DATE In South America, the man will always offer to pay the bill on a date. The man considers it important that they pay as part of their culture, and will always be extremely insistent on this when the bill comes.
SPLI TTI NG THE BI LL In South America the most common practice on splitting the bill suggests that whoever extended the invitation to the meal should be the one who offers to pay for it. It can be considered impolite to divide up the tab at a restaurant.
TI PPI NG In South America you're expected to pay between 8 to 12 percent in tips. Although this is not always mandatory, it will always be hugely appreciated.
SOUTH AMERI CA WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
| 15
16 |
Culture differences
ASI A
WHO PAYS ON A DATE In most Asian cultures it's considered good manners for the man to pay the bill at the end of a date, and some will even be insulted if the woman insists on paying.
SPLI TTI NG THE BI LL In most Asian cultures it's considered prestigious to be given the honour of paying for the meal, and preventing an individual from paying if they've made the offer is thought to be very rude. It's most often the individual who extended the invitation who is expected to pay the bill.
TI PPI NG Depending on which region of Asia you're frequenting, rules on tipping may vary. In India, a tip of around 5 to 10 percent is expected as mandatory. On the other hand, in other areas of Asia such as Japan, tipping is not compulsory and can even be considered rude.
AFRI CA
WHO PAYS ON A DATE In South Africa, the most common practice on a first date is for the man to pay the bill. However, if the woman insists that they want to split the costs, this is not unusual and should be graciously accepted.
SPLI TTI NG THE BI LL In most African countries common practice for splitting the bill is for each individual to pay for what they ordered. However, in some rural areas it's customary for the whole table to chip in to buy a bottle, rather than buy individual drinks.
TI PPI NG Similarly to Asia, tipping etiquette in Africa will vary depending on which region you're in. In South Africa it's expected that you'll give a tip of between 10 to 15 percent to the waiter in cash. However, in Morocco a tip of just 10 percent would be considered very generous, and this will often be included in the bill from the start.
OCEANI A
WHO PAYS ON A DATE As a general rule, the individual who suggested the date should offer to pay. However, it's still regarded as courteous for the man to pay the bill and the woman to instead make a small contribution, such as buying the man a drink before or after the date.
SPLI TTI NG THE BI LL The bill will most commonly be split evenly between the group, regardless of what you ordered. In some occasions, the individual with the highest salary might be expected to foot the bill.
TI PPI NG For most of Oceania, tipping is not compulsory, but can be a nice gesture if you've received great service. If you do decide to tip, a maximum of 10 percent will usually suffice. WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
18 | Identity
WEbecom HOW TO CHANGE YOUR IDENTITY/ BELIEFS 1. DECIDE THE TYPE OF PERSON YOU WANT TO BE. 2. FIND THE SOURCE OF YOUR CURRENT LIMITING BELIEF. 3. IDENTIFY A COUNTER INSTANCE. 4. IDENTIFY AN ALTERNATIVE MEANING. 5. RE-FRAME OR FLIP IT. 6. FORM A NEW BELIEF WITH SMALL WINS. Credit: Unsplash/Tom Barrett
B
eliefs are mental notions and assumptions that you have about yourself, others and the world around you. Beliefs are formed through our experiences and interactions and influence your habits. Many of your beliefs were formed in childhood and are heavily influenced by our parent?s beliefs. Often we are not aware of how our beliefs influence our actions and reactions, they are unconscious. Beliefs can limit you or propel you towards excellence. Our identity is heavily influenced by our self-belief. It?s a self-fulfilling prophecy. James Clear summed it up quite well with this example:
Sour ce: Habit Recode
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
?My girlfriend is great at remembering people?s names. Recently, she told me a story that happened when she was in high school. She went to a large high school and it was the first day of class. Many of the students had never met
Identity
| 19
mewhat WEbel iev e
that day. The teacher went around the room and asked each person to introduce themselves. At the end, the teacher asked if anyone could remember everyone?s name. My girlfriend raised her hand and proceeded to go around the room and accurately name all 30 or so people. The rest of the room was stunned. The guy next to her looked over and said, ?I couldn?t even remember your name.? She said that moment was an affirming experience for her. After that she felt like, ?I?m the type of person who is good at remembering people?s names.? Even today, she?s great at remembering the names of anyone we come across. Here?s what I learned from that story: In order to believe in a new identity, we have to prove it to ourselves? I dentity-based habits If you don?t believe that you can achieve your goals or build those positive habits, then you need to work on your
identity. You are a reflection of what you believe you are, your current habits are a reflection of your current identity. If you have a limiting belief, you can change it. You need to believe that you are the kind of person that you want to become. Find the source/s of your cur rent limiting belief Think back to an experience that brought you to this self-belief conclusion. You might need to dig deep, but there will be a stand out instance that led you to this belief. This experience might have been the catalyst for future proof of the belief and that identity. I dentify a counter instance Look for one specific example where the statement is not actually true, where you did something or experienced WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
20 | Identity something that is not in alignment with that belief.
or Positive -
I dentify an Alter native M eaning This part has two concepts -
-
1 -There is a strength or positive that you have not focused on from the source. You need to find it 2 ? Your perception of the event is distorted.
Example: My father examined one of my artworks when I was a kid; he just did not get it and openly discouraged me from pursuing any career in the arts. This contributed to my belief that my art was crap. I had chosen that perspective out of the many possible perspectives that could have explained the situation. But at the time, I chose one and attached myself to it. Nothing has any meaning unless we give it meaning. Find the strength
-
Maybe I have found a unique style of art Maybe my art has shock value and had depth that is not apparent to some.
See the alternatives: -
-
Dad might have been having a bad day. He might have an analytical brain and not appreciate different forms of art. Maybe it wasn?t my best performance, but it was an isolated occurrence.
Re-fr ame Being flawed in one aspect of your life simply means that you are strong in a different area. Flip a weakness into a strength. ?I struggle with execution?, flip it to
?I always try to give my best work, no matter what?. ?I?m stubborn? flipped single-minded determination.
=
For m a new belief with small wins Become the type of person who can achieve the behaviors of the identity. Start by completing small behaviors synonymous with the type of person you want to become. For example, if you want to lose weight become the type of person who moves more every day. Walk around the block every day or buy a pedometer and add 50 steps everyday. It is of paramount importance that you start with incredibly small steps. The goal is not to achieve the targeted result, the goal is to become the type of person who can achieve those things. If you aim too high, you might not follow through. Consistency is key.
CLICK HERE
Education
HOW YOU CAN EARN THOUSANDS AS A PRIVATE TUTOR BY MARK MACLAINE SOURCE: THE TELEGRAPH
I
don?t particularly like the term ?super tutor?, which I hear used more and more by the parents who hire me to work with their children. The connotation of ?super tutor? is that it is all about being paid very large fees. And while that is certainly part of it, it is not the whole story.
I tutor the children of royalty, movie stars, sports people, millionaires and billionaires. My year is spent between London, Hong Kong, Cannes, St Moritz, New York and the Caribbean. I?ve tutored mid-air on jumbo jets kitted out by their owners as homes, and was once picked up from my place at an hour?s notice by helicopter to take me to the private jet that then flew me to my pupil in Rome. In some cases, I don?t even know their real names because of security concerns around them. The demand from rich parents for tutoring has been growing for as long as I have been doing it, but especially over the past three years. It has gone mad ? like New York and Hong Kong where some tutors are treated like celebrities. I have calls, based on word-of-mouth recommendations, offering to double or triple my normal rate of ÂŁ300 an hour if I can squeeze their child in.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
| 23
24 | Education
On one occasion a well-known ruling family in Asia proposed what was frankly a silly rate of ÂŁ1,000 an hour if I would make a four-day trip out there and give intensive sessions to their son so he would pass the Eton entrance exam. And I said yes. It may sound glamorous, but that is only part of the story. At the same time there are some students I take on for nothing because they can?t afford to pay, but they are being failed by the education system. The thrill of working with a 13-year-old who tells you when you first meet her that she?s stupid, but who then goes in a few weeks from scoring 22pc in maths to getting 85pc is just extraordinary. And that confidence, especially in maths, then has a massive knock-on effect in all other subjects. I got into tutoring when I was an undergraduate in London. I was doing part-time work in a DIY store to make some cash. One day I was explaining how a vacuum cleaner worked to a customer. ?You?re very well trained,? she said. I explained that I was doing a degree in astrophysics at King?s College, London. ?You should tutor, like me,? she replied. ?I earn ÂŁ25 an hour, which I?m sure is a lot more than you.? She put me in touch with the agency she worked for and I began tutoring in maths, where there are always high levels of demand.
"THE DEMAND FROM RICH PARENTS FOR TUTORING HAS BEEN GROWING FOR AS LONG AS I HAVE BEEN DOING IT, BUT ESPECIALLY OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS. IT HAS GONE MAD ? LIKE NEW YORK AND HONG KONG WHERE SOME TUTORS ARE TREATED LIKE CELEBRITIES." I firmly believe that any tutor charging ?super? rates should be able to deliver success in a short time, at most a few months. I consider I have done a good job if I put myself out of work quickly. If tutoring carries on for too long, it creates dependency, and that isn?t healthy. Why are people prepared to pay such large sums for tutors? Because they?ve been told we are good at what we do and I have a solid record of As and A* s at GCSE. I always insist on meeting pupils and their families before I agree to take them on. Partly it is to avoid finding myself
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
Education
| 25
landed with children who are just ghastly. I was once physically assaulted by a pupil. But it is also because the chemistry between a tutor and a pupil is so important. Lack of chemistry in the classroom is why many children don?t thrive at school, even when they have good teachers.
"LACK OF CHEMISTRY IN THE CLASSROOM IS WHY MANY CHILDREN DON?T THRIVE AT SCHOOL, EVEN WHEN THEY HAVE GOOD TEACHERS." Sometimes it is assumed that parents who pay a lot of money for tutoring are also disconnected from their children, and want to pass a burden to the tutor. I have come across that. I had one pupil who said to me, ?Mummy orders tutors like other people order pizzas.? In other homes, the children are in the day-to-day care of nannies. I remember once asking a child when they?d last seen their mother and he replied, ?I think I saw her last week.? But as I was leaving, there she was, around and about in their very large house. These are parents who only get together with their children for the happy family photograph on the Christmas card. But fortunately, they are the exceptions.
Credit: Unsplash/John David Dela Peri
There are, I am the first to admit, many problems with the tutoring industry. It is not transparent. Many parents don?t quite know how to find a tutor or how to judge how good or bad that tutor is. They panic and end up paying for something that doesn?t really help their child. There is no assessment or regulation. The other problem with tutoring, of course, is that it is only for people who can afford it. I know about being on the wrong side of that. When my family moved to Britain from South Africa, we couldn?t bring any money with us. My father died when I was young and we lived on a council estate. So I do try to take on children whose parents can?t afford tutoring. Often they are very intelligent but it is the exams that daunt and defeat them. They usually come to me via recommendations from friends or family. I am also talking to a number of academy schools (and other organisations) about assisting them to ensure they deliver the best education possible for their pupils. I do it for the very selfish reason that I enjoy it. I want to see tutoring taken seriously.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
26 | Expatriate nature
Credit: Unsplash/Andy Beales
Expatriate's nature
MORE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS ON THE MOVE OVERSEAS BY LISA SMITH SOURCE: IEXPATS
MORE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS AND CREATIVES ARE MOVING ABROAD THAN EVER BEFORE, ACCORDING TO OVERSEAS RELOCATION EXPERTS. INQUIRIES TO MOVE BETWEEN COUNTRIES FROM THE 18 TO 35- YEAR- OLD AGE GROUP INCREASED BY 60%OVER THE PAST 12 MONTHS, ACCORDING TO MOVEHUB. So many young adults want to move around the world because they have fewer ties holding them back. ?Today?s young people have considerably less spending power than their parents?generation, and long-term investments such as buying a house are considered a pipe dream by many,? said the firm?s Patrick Gilligan. ?It?s not surprising, then, that many young professionals are breaking ties with their birth countries and seeking a more affordable and better standard of living overseas.? Researchers asked 20,000 expat movers why they wanted to leave
their home country. Job prospects Most were attracted by better job prospects and financial benefits of moving to a developed country. But the traditional big three expat countries ? the US, UK and Australia ? all saw a drop in the number of inquiries, explained Gilligan. ?The UK took the biggest hit as inbound international moves plummeted by 22% whilst Australia saw 6% fewer expats arriving at its shores, suggesting that the high cost of living in these countries is forcing many people to consider alternative destinations,? he said.
Besides the big three, other top 10 countries attracting expats are Spain, Canada, France, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland and Portugal. Surprise entrants into the top 30 relocation destinations were Reunion and Guadeloupe. Movehub explained their popularity as due to more people retiring to the French overseas enclaves from their home country. Social media also seems to influence move decisions as Iceland and Ireland have surged up the rankings on the back of TV?s Game of Thrones publicity, while Denmark?s hygge revolution has also triggered a lot of interest.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
| 27
009714 3306611
EXCLUSIVE
drkayleclinic.com
info@drkayleclinic.com
CLINIC
DUBAI
Find your sense of beaut y! Dr Dany Kayle Plastic surgery specialist
SCHEDULE AN APPOINTM ENT TODAY!
CLICK HERE >>
Life abroad |
6
NATIONAL HOLIDAYSFROM AROUNDTHE WORLDTHAT EXWPAATBSONUTEED TO KNO
SOURCE: FIDI
As Christian cultures recover from the excesses of another Christmas holiday season, it seems appropriate to look at some of the major religious, cultural and national holidays that affect other parts of the world. They are often times of great
joy and celebration ? but expats may find they are also a time of travel and work disruption. Here are a few of the major celebrations ? including religious and national holidays that expats may need to be aware of.
Credit: Unsplash/Denise Johnson
Chr ist mas Perhaps the most commercialized and widely known holiday is the combination of Christmas and New Year, as celebrated in most Christian cultures and many Western countries. While the New Year (according to the Gregorian Calendar) is based on a pagan celebration, the two effectively merge to create a ten-day period of celebration or disruption ? depending on your perspective. Note also that other holidays may be associated with Christmas; in WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
29
30 | Life abroad Scandinavian countries, for example, the Yuletide holiday is a cherished celebration of the Winter solstice, which occurs on 21st December.
Credit: Unsplash/Tarik Haiga
Gol den Weeks (China) Some of the worst traffic jams in the world are to be seen on China?s roads during the start of October as China celebrates its National Day Golden Week. National Day itself is celebrated on 1st October, but many companies and government agencies close down for the week, to enable families to get together for the duration of the festivities. A second ?Golden Week? also surrounds the Chinese New Year festivities (which coincides with the new moon between 21st January and 20th February). These week-long celebrations were originally conceived to promote internal consumption and boost the economy, although some argue that the disruption caused to the economy outweighs these benefits. Nonetheless, unwary expats may find it hard to book flights or accommodation around these periods.
Credit: Unsplash/Priscilla Du Preez
Gol den Week (Japan) Japan enjoys a similar convention with a week?s holiday taken in late April, early May. It celebrates a number of notable dates, namely Showa Day on 29th April (commemorating Emperor Showa Hirohito 1926-1988), Constitution Memorial Day on 3rd May, Greenery Day on 4th May and Children?s Day on May 5th. Many companies close their offices and it is a popular time for foreign travel. WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
Life abroad | Credit: Unsplash/Katerina Radvanska
Ramadan The month of Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar (in 2017 it starts on 27th May), during which time all adult Muslims are expected to fast during daylight hours. Its end is signaled by the crescent moon, followed by the holiday of Eid-al-Fitr. Expats in Islamic countries will already be aware of the need for cultural sensitivity. This is heightened during the holy month, and care should be taken not to offend or contravene cultural laws which, for example, forbid anyone to eat and sometimes drink in public during daylight hours. Also expect restaurants to be particularly busy at night, for obvious reasons, and rush hour traffic to be intensified. Credit: Unsplash/Fer Gomez
East er / Semana Sant a (Spain & Hispanic count r ies) The festival of the Semana Santa (Holy Week in Spanish) is celebrated the week before Easter in many Catholic and Spanish-speaking countries. Festivities include parades and processions in the streets (especially the Spanish region of Andalucia where celebrations are noted for their flamboyance) and usually involve many businesses closing for the duration. Easter is also observed in other Christian countries, and national holidays may be observed, but to a lesser degree than Catholic countries.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
31
32 | Language
BY JAMES LANE SOURCE: BABBEL
Language
| 33
Almost half of the world?s population claim one of only ten languages as their mother tongue. So who?s in the top ten? You might be surprised. Chinese Numbers vary widely Ethnologue puts the number of native speakers at almost 1.2 billion native speakers, roughly a billion of whom speak Mandarin - but there is no doubt of its clout. If you wish to learn a language that one in six people in the world speak, this is the one for you. A tonal language with pictograms, it will certainly keep you busy. Spanish If we are only to look at native speakers, Spanish has its nose in front of English with about 400 million speakers. If you want a language that will open up whole continents to you, Spanish is your best bet. As with all the languages on this list, the politics of language and associated identity are highly disputed: ask Catalan or Quechua speakers if Spanish is their local tongue and you will get a very different answer. But it is certainly the primary language of most of South and Central America, Spain, and, ahem, large swathes of the US. English If you?re reading this article you may be one of the 360 million-odd native English speakers, or one of the half a billion people who speak it as a second language. This indicates the remarkable success of English as the lingua franca of business, travel and international relations. The relative
ease with which English can be picked up (especially compared with Chinese) and the pervasive soft power of US culture mean that English will continue to dominate the world stage.
and Morocco are so different that a couple of philosophy professors from these countries might be able to discuss the finer points of the ancient texts while struggling to order lunch.
Hindi India has 23 official languages, with Hindi/Urdu chief among them. Whether this is one language, Hindustani, or two dialects, is still fiercely contested. Spoken mainly in northern India and parts of Pakistan, Hindi uses devanagari script while Urdu uses Persian notation. At the time of writing, the debate about its role in Indian education and society has once again flared up: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, is seeking to have Hindi displace English in the southern Indian states as the primary language of official communication and education, a strategy that has met with resistance. If you ever travel in the Indian subcontinent, a little Hindi will get you a long way. Plus, this is the language that gave us shampoo, jungle, jodhpurs and bungalow what?s not to love?
Portuguese This is another language whose reach owes much to its colonial past. Starting in the 15th century, avid Portuguese traders and conquerors brought their language to Africa, Asia and the Americas. The spread of Portuguese may have initially been tied to European colonization, but the colonized countries developed their own vibrant cultures that transformed the language forever. Today, Portuguese is spoken by 215 million native speakers in countries like Brazil, Goa, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bisseau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Macau. It?s also the language of Machado de Assis, Bossa Nova, Mia Couto, Fernando Pessoa, and Agualusa.
Arabic Recent numbers put Arabic at around 250 million native speakers. But this is another instance of numbers not telling the full tale: Arabic, like Chinese, is so vastly different in its respective dialects as to be effectively a number of languages, grouped as one for the sake of convenience. Modern Standard Arabic is a primarily written form, closely related to the Classical Arabic of the Quran. However, the spoken forms of Arabic in, say, Oman
Bengali Admit it: you didn?t expect Bengali to be on this list. The Partition of Bengal by the British in 1947 divided (mainly Hindu) West Bengal, now part of India, from its (mainly Muslim) counterpart East Bengal, now Bangladesh. It is the language of Kolkata, of the Andaman Islands, of fabulous sweets, and of 170-odd million Bangladeshis, many of whom are extremely vulnerable to climate change; by the next century, the population is projected to double while 15% of the land area is expected to disappear below rising seas.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
34 | Language
Credit: PngTree
"IF WE ARE ONLY TO LOOK AT NATIVE SPEAKERS, SPANISH HAS ITS NOSE IN FRONT OF ENGLISH WITH ABOUT 400 MILLION SPEAKERS."
Russian With roughly 170 million native speakers as of 2010, Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world. Famed for its inscrutable grammar and quite lovely Cyrillic script, it remains one of the six languages spoken in the UN, and produced the likes of Dostoyevsky, Nabokov, Chekhov, Gogol, Tolstoy and Pushkin. Japanese Almost all of the 130 million native Japanese speakers live in Japan certainly the most highly geographically concentrated of all the languages on this list. Japanese boasts two distinct writing systems, hiragana and katakana, as well making
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
extensive use of Chinese Kanji characters. The largest groups living outside Japan can be found in the US, the Philippines, and Brazil. Punjabi/ Lahnda With varying estimates of around 100 million native speakers, last spot on the list goes to? Punjabi! (Sorry, German - you got dumped a few years back.) Spoken in large tracts of India and Pakistan, the Punjab was sliced in two by the British when they left, and millions of people were forced to abandon their homes, businesses and families. But they?re slowly taking their revenge, Bollywood-style: Punjabi songs now account for 50% of chart-toppers.
CLICK HERE
FORGET FAST CARS A "By applying for multiple passports, ultra high-net worth individuals can take advantage of free movement between countries."
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
PASSPORTS A NEW STATUS S FOR THE ULTR
Passport
| 37
Caribbean countries, a growing number of nations are launching their own programmes to appeal to the rising number of ultra-rich individuals around the world and the increasing trend of people wanting to live a nomadic lifestyle. Two dozen countries now offer CIPs to those willing to invest in the countries' businesses, real estate or government bonds, including Cyprus, Portugal, Moldova and Malta, while Montenegro is currently in the process of launching its own programme.
Credit: Unsplash/Marcus Zymmer
AND YACHTS
ARE THE SYMBOL RA RICH BY SOPHIE CHRISTIE SOURCE: THE TELEGRAPH Ultra high-net worth individuals are turning their attention away from sports cars, yachts and designer clobber, and are instead focusing on acquiring the latest status symbol among the super wealthy: passports.
Today it is entirely possible to buy and sell citizenship, and for the ultra rich, the more passports they can get their hands on, the better. Citizenship by investment programmes (CIPs) is a concept that began in 1984, when the two-island Caribbean nation of St Kitts and Nevis came up with the idea to encourage wealthy individuals to pump money into its economy in exchange for a passport, which gives holders visa-free access to 132 countries worldwide. For millionaires in countries that have politically problematic or restrictive passports, such as China and some regions in the Middle East, the ability to buy a passport that offers visa-free access to a huge number of countries around the world is priceless. While CIPs were once a niche market offered by a handful of cash-strapped
Cyprus's CIP is one of the most popular, and expensive, on offer ? giving investors visa-free travel to more than 150 countries in exchange for a ?2m (£1.8m) investment in either real estate ? which helps create employment in the country, further boosting the economy ? or government bonds. In Saint Lucia, a millionaire can get visa-free access to more than 120 countries in exchange for either a $100,000 (£76,000) donation to the Saint Lucia National Economic Fund, a $300,000 investment in an approved real estate development, or a $3.5m investment in an approved enterprise project. Even Canada, the US and the UK offer their own citizenship by investment programmes, but the path to citizenship in these countries is typically more difficult and expensive. In the UK, for example, investors must spend £2m on government gilds in exchange for a "tier-one visa", which gives individuals residency for three years, with the option to apply for indefinite leave to remain and full citizenship after five years ? but it isn't guaranteed.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
"Cyprus's CIP was introduced in 2014 as a way of attracting foreign high net-worth individuals to invest their money in the country in exchange for European citizenship."
CLICK HERE
WWW.MYEXPATSWORLD.COM
Other passports are quicker to procure and cheaper to buy, but less desirable. Nuri Katz, president of Apex Capital Partners, an international advisory firm that specialises in CIPs, said the ultra wealthy could get a passport for anything between $100,000 to $2.5m, depending on the country and the value of its passport. He estimates that between 3,000 and 5,000 passports each year globally are acquired through CIPs. "For extremely wealthy people, having a second or third passport is important so that they can travel easily for both business and pleasure," Mr Katz said. "And for some it's also a status symbol, with some individuals
collecting six or more passports. "There are additional benefits to having multiple passports, such as having the ability to manage tax burdens," he said. The Chinese are the biggest buyers for CIPs, as their passport only allows visa-free access to 50 countries. "If a Chinese multi-millionaire wanted to fly to Paris for business, he wouldn't be able to without first having to go to the French embassy to request a visa, which can take days or weeks," Mr Katz said. "Therefore, the ability to travel seamlessly between countries is invaluable to the super rich."
40 |
Legal
Keep t he Int er v iew
Legal By LouiseKur smar k Sour ce: Monst er
Fair hiring laws were enacted to give every candidate a fair shake in the interview and selection process. Yet more than 40 years after the first of these guidelines became law, j ob candidates today still are asked questions that are illegal, insulting, and irrelevant to j ob performance. The keys to eradicating this kind of behavior are ongoing education and consistent interviewing processes and selection practices. WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
Planning and Prepar ation are the Fir st Steps The planning process prepares you to ask candidates about only the essential skills and qualifications required, and helps prevent you from asking off-the-cuff questions that could be illegal. As an HR professional, it is your job to train and guide hiring managers and other company interviewers in fair hiring practices. Many companies mandate a formal training program before any employee is permitted to interview candidates; it's also a good idea to provide a written overview for all interviewers and a brief refresher curriculum from time to time. And it is the responsibility of the HR department to stay up to date on new laws and legal interpretation of existing acts. Job Relevance is the K ey Factor Your interview questions should be designed to determine a candidate's
capability to perform the essential functions you have defined for the job. Just be sure to couch your inquiries in job-relevant language, and don't make assumptions about a candidate's ability or disability. For example, let's say you are interviewing a wheelchair-bound candidate for an account manager position, and you have determined that an essential function of the job is to visit client sites. It's perfectly legal to ask how the candidate would perform this essential function: "This job will require you to be out of the office meeting with clients several days per week. Can you tell me how you would get around?" It is not OK to say to this same candidate, "How long have you been disabled?" In other areas, where a disability is not visible, again you should confine your questions to essential job functions or workplace environment issues. For example, while you cannot ask a candidate if he or she has children or has adequate child care, you can ask about ability to perform the job: "This job requires you to travel overnight about 2 days per week and to attend out-of-town conferences once per month. Does this travel schedule prevent a problem for you?" L egal and I llegal I nquir ies Following are some of the key areas that are covered by fair hiring laws. You will see a trend in what is legal and what is illegal -- essentially, you cannot ask questions that will reveal information that can lead to bias in hiring, but you can ask questions that relate to job performance. Affiliations: Do not ask about clubs, social organizations, or union membership; do ask about relevant professional associations.
Age: Do not ask a candidate's age other than, "if hired," can a candidate produce proof that he or she is 18 years of age. Alcohol or Dr ug Use: The only allowable question relating to current or past drug or alcohol use is, "Do you currently use illegal drugs?" Cr iminal Recor d: Do not ask if a candidate has been arrested; you may ask if the candidate has ever been convicted of a crime. Culture/Natur al Or igin: You may ask if the individual can, "upon hire," provide proof of legal right to work in the United States. You may ask about language fluency if it is relevant to job performance. Disability: You may ask if candidates can perform essential job functions, with or without reasonable accommodation; and you may ask them to demonstrate how they would perform a job-related function. You may ask about prior attendance records. And you may require candidates to undergo a medical exam after an offer of employment has been made. M ar ital/Family Status: Questions about marital status and family issues are discouraged except as they relate to job performance, as in the child care example above. Per sonal: Avoid questions related to appearance, home ownership, and personal financial situation. Race/Color : No race-related questions are legal. Religion: If Saturday or Sunday is a required work day, you may ask candidates if they will have a problem working on those days. Sex: You may ask if a candidate has ever worked under another name. Be sure not to make gender-related assumptions about job capabilities. Consistency Equals Fair ness Carefully planned questions and a structured interview process that is the same for all candidates will ensure equal treatment of all who apply. Keep the focus on the job requirements and how each candidate has performed in the past. Perhaps most importantly, make fair hiring part of your company's mission and value statement, championed from the top down and an integral part of the selection process.
CLICK HERE
Famous expats |
43
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER A preternatural degree of confidence, focus and ambition propelled
Cred it : A rn
o ld Sp o rt s Fe
st ival
Arnold Schwarzenegger
from the forest village of Thal to triumph in bodybuilding, Hollywood & US politics. SOURCE: DEUTSCHE WELLE WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arnold_Schwarzenegger_1974.jpg#/media/File:Arnold_Schwarzenegger_1974.jpg
Credit: Pinterest
Famous expats |
45
He won plenty of prizes as a bodybuilder and actor, but Arnold Schwarzenegger's perhaps biggest achievement was being elected twice as governor of California. "The Terminator," the futuristic killing machine, became notorious for being practically invincible. Arnold Schwarzenegger has played the role four times over the course of his career, and it seems he's nearly internalized the Terminator's most important trait. Still "invincible" at 70, he continues to travel the world as a climate activist, businessman and, of course, actor. "I don't know what else I'd do," Schwarzenegger told German newspaper SĂźddeutsche Zeitung. "So I'll continue until I stop breathing." His first breath was taken on July 30, 1947, in Thal in the Austrian region of Steiermark. As a child, he was active in sports, including soccer, boxing and swimming. At age 15, he first entered a weightlifting studio. Over the next few years, the young Schwarzenegger would spend most of his time fine-tuning his muscles. "You have to train each muscle individually. It's like the precise work of a sculptor who works on marble with a hammer and chisel - not exactly like Rodin, but similar," Schwarzenneger told the German weekly Die Zeit in 2012. In 1967, he became the youngest Mr. Universe. Starting in 1970, he earned the Mr. Olympia title - the most important bodybuilding award - six times in a row. He readily admits that he took steroids, adding that they weren't banned at the time. New ar tist fr iends
Credit: Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0,https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8944009.
When Schwarzenegger immigrated to the US in 1968, his impressive appearance soon caught the attention of the film industry. Known under his stage name, Arnold Strong, he got his first role in 1969 in "Hercules in New York."
Now well connected, his film career took off in 1977. Schwarzenegger surprised critics by winning a Golden Globe for Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture for his bodybuilder docudrama "Pumping Iron."
At the same time, Schwarzenegger also found his way into the art scene and got to know Pop Art icon Andy Warhol. "He was fascinated by my energy and my strength," the bodybuilder told Die Zeit. "I worked as a model for him, and he introduced me to other artists like Jamie Wyeth and Laraine Newman."
"WHEN SCHWARZENEGGER IMMIGRATED TO THE US IN 1968, HIS IMPRESSIVE APPEARANCE SOON CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF THE FILM INDUSTRY."
Schwarzenegger also recalled how Warhol introduced him to producers, fundraisers and actors like James Caan, Woody Allen and influential people like Jackie Kennedy. Years later, Schwarzenegger would become part of the Kennedy family himself, when he married Maria Shriver, the niece of former US President John F. Kennedy, in 1986.
In 1982, he became famous as "Conan the Barbarian," and in 1984 he was offered the main role in a B-movie called "The Terminator," which, in Schwarzenegger's own words, was "a big challenge for him." Thanks to his convincing performance as the android killer, the low-budget production by director James Cameron quickly rose to cult status. WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
46 |
Famous expats
The 'Gover nator ' By then, Schwarzenegger was in high demand, and his earnings continued to rise. From the late 1980s until the early 1990s, he enjoyed a great deal of commercial success not only with action movies, but also with comedies like "Twins" and "Kindergarten Cop" alongside Danny DeVito. Nevertheless, the hype had ebbed. After his third performance as "The Terminator" in 2003, Schwarzenegger said farewell to the film world and launched his third career - this time as a politician. When he ran for governor in California in 2003, he brought along the sword he used to carry as "Conan the Barbarian" to Sacramento, presenting himself as the strong man the state needed to rescue it from heavy debt, while calling his political opponents wimps.
It took him a while, however, to get used to his new profession as governor. "As an actor, you can rely on the screenplay, but a politician doesn't have one. Every day, every hour, it's incredible how many problems you're faced with - social welfare, poverty and overflowing jails. You wake up in the morning to 2,000 bush fires in California, or somebody is sitting in a prison cell waiting to be executed at midnight, and you get a call, saying, 'Governor, you could stop it,'" he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in 2013. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, is a supporter of the death penalty and turned down two pardon opportunities as governor before lethal injection was declared unconstitutional in California in 2006, effectively ending capital punishment in the state.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arnold_Schwarzenegger_on_Capitol_Hill.jpg#/media/File:Arnold_Schwarzenegger_on_Capitol_Hill.jpg
Credit
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM Credit: Pinterest
Famous expats |
Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movies
M ountain of debt in Califor nia Schwarzenegger served two terms as the governor of California. Those eight years were marked by numerous quarrels with the Democrats, who held a majority in the state legislature, as well as conflicts with his own Republican party after he became an environmental activist. Upon his departure from office, Schwarzenegger left behind a mountain of debt amounting to $91 billion roughly tripling the debt he started with. Nevertheless, Schwarzenegger set his political sights even higher - but he didn't qualify to run for president, since candidates have to have been born in the US.
Instead, he returned to familiar terrain and filmed yet another edition of "Terminator" in 2015. However, he has continued to be politically active, meeting with French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron to discuss reducing CO2 emissions, for example. And he is a vocal critic of President Donald Trump. Schwarzenegger took over Trump's casting show "The Apprentice" in January 2017, but dropped it after one season due to bad ratings. That certainly won't be the last we'll see of the bodybuilder-actor-politician. After all, he's gone down in film history as the man who said, "I'll be back."
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
47
78 | Featured city
WWW.MYEXPATSWORLD.COM
Credit: Unsplash/Vita Marija Murenaite
Featured city |
BY SIMON DAVIES SOURCE: TECH.CO
Lis bon ortugal was hit hard by the global financial crash of 2008. Its economy struggled to remain afloat during the crisis and it?s capital, Lisbon, suffered greatly. But Lisbon has since been working hard to recover, and the city is now making waves as a startup capital. The city is viewed so favourably as a hotpot of tech talent that it was chosen to host this year?s Web Summit for the second year in a row.
p
Lisbon?s counter-attack has been largely led by its young people who have instilled a new creative energy in the capital. Of around 500,000 university graduates that left the country during the crisis to find work abroad, 60 percent have since
St ar t ups Ar e At t r act ed t o Rev it al ize t hecit y
returned to launch their own companies. The city is currently favoured by young entrepreneurs looking to launch their business ideas, thanks to the low cost of living, thriving cultural scene, and the high quality of life.
Lisbon t o Housea Mega St ar t up Campus On both a national and local level, the Portuguese government is looking to revitalise underdeveloped areas with business investment. Derelict buildings are being given a new purpose as tech hubs, offices and business lounges which in turn result in job creation and the butterfly effect of urban regeneration. One of these projects includes
redeveloping a 20-building complex of factories into a mega campus for startups, which will be situated in Lisbon?s Beato district. The Beato Creative Hub is set to rival Paris? Station F, and will feature 35,000 square metes in its first phase, before being increased to 100,000 square meters in its second phase. The new campus will be a partnership between Startup Lisboa, an initiative powered to promote startup ventures, and hub-builder Factory, which created the new home to Soundcloud and other Berlin-based startups. Automotive giant Mercedes-Benz, which opened its Digital Delivery Hub in the city last year, is rumored to be one of the development?s first tenants. WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
49
50 | Featured city
Por t ugal ?s Residency Pr ogr amIs At t r act ing For eign Tal ent As well as nurturing its own creative talent, Portugal is also attracting investment from abroad with its attractive residency programme. Under the Golden Residence Permit Programme, entrepreneurs can apply for a residence permit which grants the freedom to live and work in Portugal and to travel to the Schengen Area.
"AS WELL AS NURTURING ITS OWN CREATIVE TALENT, PORTUGAL IS ALSO ATTRACTING INVESTMENT FROM ABROAD WITH ITS ATTRACTIVE RESIDENCY PROGRAMME."
If, after five years, an entrepreneur has met a unique set of requirements such as creating at least 10 new jobs in Portugal, they are able to apply for permanent residence. They may also seek Portuguese citizenship after six years of residence. The programme is extremely attractive to startup innovators and entrepreneurs, particularly in terms of freedom to expand their business and branch out across Europe.
Portuguese residents enjoy visa free travel as a member of the European Union, travelling between other EU states and the Schengen region. For Lisbon, the residency and subsequent citizenship programme allows access to a greater pool of talent, helping to establish itself as a major European tech hub.
Lisbon?s Low Cost of Liv ing Is Per f ect f or St ar t ups Cheap rent, sunny weather, and a vibrant blend of cultural heritage and creative innovation has drawn young people to Lisbon. It?s also perfect for startups with a limited budget, with office space available at a much cheaper rate than in other major startup cities like London and Berlin. Tech entrepreneur, and former Downing Street adviser Rohan Silva, recently opened a second brand of his creative space and cultural venue, Second Home, in Lisbon. Speaking about the move, he said: ?What it really reminded me of, without sounding very old, was 2010 when I started the Tech City initiative ? for the same reason. There was this little scene emerging and it just felt incredibly vibrant and really interesting, and that something big could happen.?
Credit: Unsplash/Vita Marija Murenaite
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
Lisbon continues to impress young entrepreneurs looking to launch a business with all it has to offer. The exceptional educational system offers business owners a pool of local talent with competitive prices, from developers to designers, and the added benefits of obtaining Portuguese residency and citizenship make it an ideal place to start building a business.
Featured city |
Credit: Unsplash/ Joel Filipe
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
51
Credit: Unsplash/Chang Duong
Fr iendships in a Mobil e Wor l d By Jul ieBeck Sour ce: The At l ant ic
WHEN PEOPLE REPEATEDLY MOVE FROM PLACE TO PLACE, THEY MAY BE MORE WILLING TO LET GO OF RELATIONSHIPS. WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
When the Jewish German psychologist Kurt Lewin fled Nazi rule and moved to the United States in 1933, he, like many immigrants, found his new home a little puzzling. Especially when it came to friendships. ?Compared with Germans, Americans seem to make quicker progress toward friendly relations early in the acquaintance process and with many more persons,? he wrote in his 1936 paper ?Some Social-Psychological Differences Between the United States and Germany.? ?Yet this development often stops at a certain point and the quickly acquired friends will, after years of relatively close relations, say good bye as easily as after a few weeks of acquaintance.?
Relationships |
Lewin thought that this idea of friends as fast fashion - easily acquired, emotionlessly discarded when worn out, might be spurred by the United States?s high level of residential mobility. American society was mobile in his day and has only gotten more mobile since. People can move from sea to shining sea, dropping things as they go. Research by Shigehiro Oishi at the University of Virginia has shown that moving residences is sometimes associated with shallower or lower quality social relationships especially for introverts, who may find it harder to replace the friends they?ve left behind. And a new paper by Omri Gillath at the University of Kansas and Lucas Keefer at the University of Dayton suggests that the more someone moves from place to place, the more likely they are to think of their relationships as disposable - because they?re used to thinking of things as disposable. Gillath and Keefer did a series of small studies where people took questionnaires about their willingness to dispose of things and people and their history of moving from place to place. They found that people who?d moved around a lot were more willing to get rid of objects (presumably because they have to do a culling of their possessions when they move), and being willing to get rid of things was associated with being willing to cut social ties. And in an experimental study where they primed people to think about moving in the future before they took the ?willingness to dispose? survey, even if they didn?t have a nomadic history, they saw the same results. Moving is a big life change, and not
only with regard to place. Unless someone just moves across town, or to the next town over, the social circles they have easy access to are also likely to change, which, the researchers suspect, is the largest factor in why people might let some friends go. (Throughout the studies, they found no difference between romantic relationships and friendships as far as disposability, which is interesting and maybe reflective of friends being equally valued as significant others.)
being extra mobile might make them lonely and might motivate them to put extra effort into their long-distance relationships. But they might put more effort into staying in touch with their best friends while they let some less-close friendships fall into remission.
?Mov ing r equir es making choices about which r el at ionships ar e?wor t h? maint aining and which ar enot .?
This isn?t to suggest that people view their friends as objects, or ?disposable? in the same way as a weird tangle of old cords at the back of the closet. But ?moving also requires making choices about which relationships are ?worth?maintaining and which are not, which ties could be replaced and which ties should be maintained,? Gillath and Keefer write. We can maintain them - we have the technology - but effort put toward long-distance phone calls and Facebooking is effort not put toward making new friends in the new place. It?s a complex calculation. And chances are, people will have many opportunities to make these assessments - one study that followed best-friend pairs for 19 years found that people moved an average of 5.8 times over that time.
Perhaps this occasional tendency to keep friendships from getting too deep, and being willing to let them go, that Lewin characterizes as particularly American, comes not only from an easy-come, easy-go flippancy borne of mobility, but the knowledge of how hard it is to leave people. As John Reisman puts it in his 1979 book Anatomy of Friendship, as part of a discussion of Lewin?s claims: ?Within a disruptive, changing, discontinuous society, people could, by keeping their friendships at an associative level, protect themselves from the sadness and self-blame that can be brought about when they have to sever close relationships.?
The researchers acknowledge that the associations they found are only part of a complicated picture. For some,
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
53
CLICK HERE
SEE MALLORCA FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE CLICK HERE
AIRPORT PICKUP & DROPOFF After arriving at Palma International Airport let Balearic Helicopters fly you straight to your villa or hotel. ?980.00 APPROX. TRIAL LESSONS It is a unique and fantastic experience but explanations come nowhere close to the experience itself - it is simply something ?199.00 (30 MINS) HELLI DINNING Balearic Helicopters in Mallorca has teamed up with several of the islands most exclusive Country Hotels and Restaurants to offer a fantastic island helicopter tour FROM ?549.00
Tel: +34 971 794 132 info@balearic-helicopters.com w w w.balear ic-h elicopt er s.com
56 | Challenges
THE COUNTRIES FACING THE GREATEST SKILL SHORTAGES BY RACHEL HALLETT & ALEX GRAY SOURCE: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Rapid technological advances and the digitization of the workplace are making it harder for workers to match their skill sets with the needs of employers. The scale of the problem varies from country to country, but is particularly bad in Japan, where 81% of firms (with 10 or more employees) have difficulty finding qualified employees, according to recent data from the OECD. WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
Challenges |
Spain
United Kingdom
France
China
Canada
Italy
Greece
Mexico
Turkey
Japan
3%
12%
24%
21%
31%
40% 34%
40%
United States
42%
41%
Australia Germany
44%
63% Brazil
63%
64% India
81%
THE COUNTRIES FACING THE GREATEST SKILL SHORTAGE Skills shortage as a %of firms with 10 or more employees in selected countries,
Credit: Manpower Talent Shortage survey via OECD, 2014
In Europe, 40% of employers reported in 2013 that they had trouble finding people with the required skills. This shortage was most common in the manufacturing sector, the OECD report says.
Credit: Unsplash/Baim Hanif
With the arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or fast-paced digital progress, technology is transforming the way we work ? and workers?skills will need to keep pace with these changes.
Meanwhile, 45% of workers surveyed by the OECD believe that they lack the appropriate skill sets to do their jobs effectively. This was highlighted as a major issue in Mexico, Japan and Korea.
As computers get smarter and more capable of doing tasks previously done by humans, employees will need to develop skills that give them the edge over machines, such as critical thinking and creativity.
And just three in 10 workers believe that they have the right skills to be able to cope with more demanding work.
A Forum report, The Future of Jobs, reveals that by 2020 more than one-third of skills that are considered important in today?s workforce will have changed. WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
57
58 | Challenges
TOP 10 SKILLS IN 2020
IN 2015
1. Complex problem solving 2. Critical Thinking 3. Creativity 4. People Management 5. Coordinating with others 6. Emotional Intelligence 7. Judgment & decision making 8. Service Orientation 9. Negotiation 10. Cognitive Flexibility
1. Complex problem solving 2. Coordinating with others 3. People Management 4. Critical Thinking 5. Negotiation 6. Quality Control 7. Service Orientation 8. Judgment & decision making 9. Active Listening 10. Creativity
To help tackle the skills shortage and equip workers for technological change, the report urges business leaders and governments to take a proactive approach to developing the skills of the future workforce. By 2020, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will have brought us advanced robotics and autonomous transport, artificial intelligence and machine learning, advanced materials, biotechnology and genomics. These developments will transform the way we live, and the way we work. Some jobs will disappear, others will grow and jobs that don?t even exist today will become commonplace. What is certain is that the future workforce will need to align its skill set to keep pace. W HAT SKILLS W ILL CHANGE MOST? Creativity will become one of the top three skills workers will need. With the avalanche of new products, new technologies and new ways of working, workers are going to have to become more creative in order to benefit from these changes. Robots may help us get to where we want to be faster, but they can?t be as creative as humans (yet). Whereas negotiation and flexibility are high on the list of skills for 2015, in 2020 they will begin to drop from the top 10 as machines, using masses of data, begin to make our decisions for us. A survey done by the World Economic Forum?s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Software and Society shows people expect artificial intelligence machines to be part of a company?s board of directors by 2026. Similarly, active listening, considered a core skill today, will disappear completely from the top 10. Emotional intelligence, which doesn?t feature in the top 10 today, will become one of the top skills needed by all. WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
DISRUPTION IN INDUSTRY The nature of the change will depend very much on the industry itself. Global media and entertainment, for example, has already seen a great deal of change in the past five years. The financial services and investment sector, however, has yet to be radically transformed. Those working in sales and manufacturing will need new skills, such as technological literacy. Some advances are ahead of others. Mobile internet and cloud technology are already impacting the way we work. Artificial intelligence, 3D printing and advanced materials are still in their early stages of use, but the pace of change will be fast. Change won?t wait for us: business leaders, educators and governments all need to be proactive in up-skilling and retraining people so everyone can benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Credit:Unsplash/Alex Knight
Far from Home? We are by your side
Click here to learn more!
Fam ily Law Specialist s
Team of En glish law yer s
In t er n at ion al divor ce
Our lawyers advise on a range of UK family law issues involving expats, from the separation of multi-national couples to the safe recovery of abducted children.
We advise many hundreds of British expatriates on family law matters each year. Our clients reside across the world, but in particular in expatriate hubs in the Middle East, in Africa, and Asia.
Our clients are reassured by our team?s international experience and training, together with our local knowledge of issues affecting expatriates.
(+44) 20 3096 7169 info@expatriatelaw.com
www.expatriatelaw.com
60 | Taxes
Credit: Unsplash/Wonsung Jang
Credit: Unsplash/Benedict Matern
BY AMY FONTINELLE SOURCE: INVESTOPEDIA
W
hich are the countries with the top tax rates on high incomes, and why does it matter? Some people believe that placing high tax rates on the wealthy helps to redistribute income throughout society, thereby increasing equality and ensuring that the less well-off have decent housing, health care and enough to eat. Others believe that high taxes on wealthy individuals discourage them from working and investing as much as they might at lower tax rates and that this could result in reduction of these two activities that benefit society by leading to advances in technology, medicine and other areas that improve living standards for everyone.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
TA 5 Countr ies With the Top Tax Rates on High I ncomes Regardless of which theory resonates with you, there?s no question that tax rates affect the wealthy?s decisions about where and how to live, work and invest, including their activities in the countries with the top marginal tax rates on individuals. The rates shown here include both personal income taxes and employee social security contributions, based on the latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data. Por tugal: 61.3% Portugal?s national government taxes employment income, and business and
professional income, at progressive rates of up to 48% and investment income, real estate income and increases in net worth and pensions at a flat rate of 28%. Employees pay social security taxes of 11%, and employers pay another 23.75%. Real estate is taxed at the municipal level in the form of property taxes and transfer taxes. Portugal allows deductions for health and education expenses, and provides personal tax credits based on the number of family members. Spouses, descendants and ancestors do not have to pay taxes on gifts and inheritances, but there is a 10% tax on other recipients.
Taxes | 61 59
Credit: Unsplash/ Alex Vasey
Credit: Unsplash/Ivan Levchenko
WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE THE HIGHEST
TAXES ON HIGH INCOMES? Slovenia: 61.1% Slovenia?s national government taxes employment income, business income, income from basic agriculture and forestry, income from rents and royalties, income from capital and other income. The highest progressive tax rate is 50%. Employees pay social security taxes of 22.1% on gross income, and employers kick in 16.1%. Income from capital, certain business activities and rental property is taxed in separate buckets and at sometimes-different rates from all other sources of income. Slovenia levies inheritance and gift taxes at progressive rates based on the
property?s worth and the recipient?s relationship with the deceased or the donor. Belgium: 58.4% Belgium levies both national and regional income taxes on its residents. Individuals pay taxes on movable and immovable property, professional income and miscellaneous income. The highest progressive tax rate is 50%, which may be increased further by communal surcharges of 0% to 9%. The social security tax rate on employees is 13.07% of gross income. Individual capital gains from shares categorized as professional income are typically taxed at the ordinary
individual income tax rate, but most capital gains from individuals not engaged in business activities are not taxed. Belgium allows tax deductions for business expenses, social contributions and alimony payments. The country also provides a personal allowance based on whether the taxpayer is single, has dependent children and so on. Depending on the region, real estate acquisition is taxed at 10% or 12.5%; there are also annual property taxes. Inheritance taxes apply even to spouses, legal cohabitants and descendants; the rate can be as high as 30% for these beneficiaries.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
Credit: Unsplash/Matias Larhag
Finland: 57.5% In Finland the tax authorities fill out residents?tax returns for them. The country categorizes all individual income in one of two ways: Earned income is subject to national, municipal and social security taxes; it is also subject to church taxes for members of one of Finland?s two national churches. National income tax has progressive rates as high as 31.5%; the first 16,900 euros is exempt from national income tax but not from municipal income tax, church tax or social security tax. Municipal taxes are also applied progressively and max out at 22.5%, and the church tax is 1% to 2.2%. Income from capital has two tax rates: 30% on income up to 30,000 euros and 34% on income exceeding that amount. Transfers of Finnish securities incur a 1.6% tax. After deducting the pension income allowance, pension income exceeding 47,000 euros is subject to a 5.85% surtax. Finnish workers have withheld from their gross pay pension
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
insurance contributions of 6.15%, plus 1.60% for unemployment insurance, as well as 1.58% for health insurance premiums if their annual income is 14,000 euros or higher. Finland allows deductions to earned income for work-related expenses, such as commuting costs, professional literature, tools and equipment and certain travel expenses. It also allows deductions to capital income, such as home mortgage interest. Real property is taxed at 0.41% to 6.0% at the municipal level, depending on location and property type. There is also a 4% property transfer tax. Inheritance taxes depend on the relationship between the deceased and the inheritor but can be as high as 33%. Sweden: 57.0% Sweden?s national government taxes business income, employment income (which has a top progressive rate of 57%) and capital income (a category that includes capital gains, dividends and interest, taxed at 30%).
Employers contribute 31.42% of their employees?wages to social security. There are personal allowances against income, and deductions are available for the costs of acquiring or maintaining income, work-related travel expenses and increases in living expenses from work-related travel or the maintenance of more than one home. There are also tax deductions for housekeeping and home-maintenance expenses. In real estate transactions the purchaser pays a real estate stamp duty of 1.5% on the property?s market or transfer value; there are also municipal property taxes. Top Tax Rates in Other OECD Countr ies The top tax rates are quite high in a number of other OECD countries as well. Coming in with honorable mentions at six through 10 are Japan (56.2%), Denmark (55.8%), France (55.0%), the Netherlands (52.1%) and Ireland (51.0%). The United States is a distant 17 on the list, with a rate of 48.6%.
+44 20 3129 2884 help@eurosender.com
Do you have too much luggage? We can help with your packages, suitcases, parcels and sports equipment
Use the code "EXPATS10" and receive 10% discount for your shipping* * On all standard (not freight) shippings. simple | door- to- door | hassle- free
www.eurosender.com
64 | Quality of life
3
TYPES OF PEOPLE YOU NEED TO BE
SUCCESSFUL ed Cr
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
it :
Un
sp
ilip h/ F las
Mr
oz
SOURCE: EXPATSWORLD
Quality of life |
No one makes it on their own. Our success and accomplishments are normally achieved through assistance or support from others and the notion of the self-made man is a myth. Ever yone Needs Suppor t Throughout life we each have experiences proving that relying on others is essential and can be very beneficial. As one grows to adulthood most have a circle of family and friends who are there when support is needed. Each of these supporters have different talents and abilities to help you accomplish your goals. Choose Your M entor s It takes great consideration to choose the right people as our advisors and supporters. We must choose depending on our needs so that advice doesn?t cause too much conflict but rather input that is acceptable to us. Everyone Needs Support Throughout life we each have experiences proving that relying on others is essential and can be very beneficial. As one grows to adulthood, most have a circle of family and friends who are there when support is needed. Each of these supporters have different talents and abilities to help you accomplish your goals. Choose Your Ment ors It takes great consideration to choose the right people as our advisors and supporters. We must choose depending on our needs so that advice doesn?t cause too much conflict but rather input that is acceptable to us. THE CONNECTIONS EXPERT This person knows how to market your skills and build a network. Market researchers acquire particulars such as facts and figures and how to
operate in a specific field. With their knowledge you can learn how to go and promote business, sell products, services or yourself.
confidence and is ready to take on the unknown and come what may, will always be able to put you back on track.
Marketing is essential to achieving success and marketing functions require specific skill to be successful. Those who are good at this understand the need to promote, advertise, network and sell.
THE DO-ANYTHING PROFESSIONAL
These people will help you build your client base and help your career reach its?peak. Your chances of increasing your client base grow when you interact with others. THE CONTINGENCY SPECIALIST This person has no fear. They like the challenge of overcoming obstacles, fixing mistakes and moving in a positive direction. The Contingency Specialist never says ?never? and normally bounces back from any situation no matter how terrible it appears.
There are many jobs we have to do when taking on a new project. And not all of them are ?pretty?. On our way to success there are a million and one tasks, and deadlines are always imminent. But each small step is on the way to the desired end. And each task must be completed accurately and timely. If you would like to get things done and done right you need a workhorse in your circle. The characteristics of a Contingency Specialist are loyal, stable, focused and persistent. And, they will do just about anything. They will work long and hard and will take on boring and manual duties and persevere with excellent results.
Your Do-Anything Professional The Contingency Specialist is a great doubles as your confidant and look person to have by your side because out for your best interest. Normally, life is these people are great never "We must choose listeners and may take a smooth little longer to make depending on our needs sailing. so that advice doesn?t judgement. They possess From confidence that them, cause too much conflict aisprivate very rarely shaken and you will but rather input that is are generally already have help acceptable to us." accomplished. This to deal with person normally will unexpected carry out the things you don?t want to situations and they will teach you do or don?t have time to do. how not to panic. Conclusion With the help of a Contingency Specialist, you can plan for the disasters that could potentially derail you because they are experts in risk management. Normally these people plan ahead and are also willing to step in to offer comfort when needed and in the end will help you get to your final destination even if via a different route. The Contingency Specialist lives with
We don?t normally accomplish our goals via one dimension, but normally by working with and through others. To become successful one must interact and connect with others who provide skills and knowledge that we ourselves don?t possess. The key is recognizing that you make it together ? not alone.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
65
66 | Health
Pr omot ing t he wel l being of gl obal l y mobil e empl oyees SOURCE: RELOCATE GLOBAL
From apps to employee assistance programmes, forward-thinking employers are using a range of ways to support the wellbeing of their international assignees, expatriates and business travellers.
By helping employees to acclimatise to their new surroundings and way of life, employee assistance programmes, or EAPS, now offered by a range of medical insurance providers, can play a useful part in reducing stress and building resilience. They support employees in a wide range of areas, from marital, family, financial and issues to alcohol, drug and emotional problems. EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
As well as putting in place appropriate international private health insurance (iPMI) cover for their international assignees and business travellers, employers should take steps to safeguard employees? wider wellbeing, including encouraging them to find a healthy work-life balance and practise effective stress management.
It?s important to encourage employees to promote their own health, fitness and wellbeing by eating well, taking regular exercise, and keeping abreast of the latest health news and articles, plus relevant medical and health information. Health and security awareness should be included in international assignment preparation and inter-cultural training.
Doing so will not only help to ensure they meet their wider duty of care towards globally mobile staff but also benefit the business.
Both before and during the assignment, international assignees and business travellers should ensure they are aware of
Health
| 67
Credit: Pxhere
the latest health and security developments and alerts in their destination country or region. These may involve war, a civil disturbance or a terrorist attack, diseases (such as the Zika virus), or environmental threats ? air pollution in China, for example. The ever-expanding range of health-related apps and technology tools can be very useful. WELLNESS MAKES GOOD BUSINESS SENSE Wellness at work is a relatively new concept, but one that is gaining traction as its value to businesses and individuals is increasingly recognised. Workplace wellness programmes can range from on-site medical testing to relatively low-cost options like educating staff about diet, exercise and stress reduction. Larger firms may have their own staff restaurant offering healthy options, a gym or a sports club. Smaller ones may consider
negotiating use of local sports and fitness facilities for their employees. In its report Growing the Health and Wellbeing Agenda: From First Steps to Full Potential, the CIPD highlighted the potential role of healthy workplaces in closing the UK?s productivity gap. It said that, while employers and government were aware of the positive impact of promoting workplace wellbeing, a ?stubborn implementation gap? was hampering long-term health and business sustainability.
"It? simportant to encourageemployeesto promotetheir own health, fitnessand wellbeingbyeatingwell, takingregular exercise, andkeepingabreast of thelatest healthnews andarticles, plusrelevant medical andhealth information. "
According to the report, only 8 per cent of the UK organisations have a wellbeing strategy that supports wider organisational objectives. Rachel Suff, policy adviser at the CIPD and author of the report, said, "The cost of inaction is staggering, yet the gains that can be made from a proactive and holistic approach to wellbeing are equally impressive.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
68 | Health
"Wellnessat workisa relativelynewconcept, but onethat isgaining tractionasitsvalueto businessesandindividuals isincreasinglyrecognised."
"To put wellbeing firmly on the business agenda, we need to change conversations around the business case for wellbeing programmes from 'cost avoidance' to 'shared value creation', and highlight what organisations stand to gain, rather than lose.? "By taking a proactive and holistic approach to wellbeing, organisations can help both their people and the business to reach their full potential." Professor Sir Cary Cooper, president of the CIPD and a leading wellbeing expert, added "In the fast-changing world of work, wellbeing has never been more important. With the UK at the bottom of the G7 and near the bottom of the G20 countries on productivity per capita, the way we manage people and create cultures that enhance wellbeing are now bottom-line issues. Prevention, Professor Cooper said, was better than cure. It was high time that business leaders recognised this and created cultures in which wellbeing was centre stage and people were happy, healthy and committed to achieving organisational success.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
SUPPORTING MENTAL HEALTH International assignees, who must get to grips with a new living environment as well as a new job, may be acutely susceptible to the effects of stress and need help with managing it. The importance of good mental health is increasingly being recognised by employers, thanks to initiatives like World Mental Health Day and Time to Change. However, independent research carried out by Westfield Health found that more than half of employees who had taken time off work because of mental health issues didn?t like admitting the real reason for their absence, feeling that to do so might affect their careers negatively. Westfield Health?s executive director, David Capper, said, ?Without open, honest conversations in organisations, many employers might think they provide a good support package for employee illness, but actually it?s failing to address one of the most common problems. ?What?s more, a lack of transparency means the problem is much bigger than many employers realise.?
CLICK HERE
For a Mor eCr e Br ain, T BY BRENT CRANE SOURCE: THE ATLANTIC
"New sounds, smel l s, l anguage, t ast es, sensat ions, and sight s spar k dif f er ent sy napses in t hebr ain."
There are plenty of things to be gained from going abroad: new friends, new experiences, new stories. But living in another country may come with a less noticeable benefit, too: Some scientists say it can also make you more creative. Writers and thinkers have long felt the creative benefits of international travel. Ernest Hemingway, for example, drew
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
inspiration for much of his work from his time in Spain and France. Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, moved from the U.K. to the U.S. in his 40s to branch out into screen writing. Mark Twain, who sailed around the coast of the Mediterranean in 1869, wrote in his travelogue Innocents Abroad that travel is ?fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.? In recent years, psychologists and neuroscientists have begun examining more closely what
World | ?Foreign experiences increase both cognitive flexibility and depth and integrativeness of thought, the ability to make deep connections between disparate forms,? says A.Galinsky, a professor at Columbia Business School and the author of numerous studies on the connection between creativity and international travel. Cognitive flexibility is the mind?s ability to jump between Credit: Unsplash/Kelsey Knight different ideas, a key component of creativity. But it?s not just about being abroad, Galinsky says: ?The key, critical process is multicultural engagement, immersion, and adaptation. Someone who lives abroad and doesn?t engage with the local culture will likely get less of a creative boost than someone who travels abroad and really engages in the local many people have already learned environment.? In other words, anecdotally: that spending time going to Cancun for a week on abroad may have the potential to spring break probably won?t make affect mental change. In general, a person any more creative. But creativity is related to going to Cancun and living with neuroplasticity, or how the brain is local fishermen might. wired. Neural pathways are The researchers also found that influenced by environment and the more countries the executives habit, meaning they?re also had lived in, the more creative the sensitive to change: New sounds, lines tended to be - but only up to smells, language, tastes, a point. Those who had lived and sensations, and sights spark worked in more than three different synapses in the brain and countries, the study found, still may have the potential to tended to show higher levels of revitalize the mind. creativity that those who hadn?t
eat iv e Tr av el
worked abroad at all, but less creativity that their peers who had worked in a smaller number of foreign countries. The authors hypothesized that those who had lived in too many countries hadn?t been able to properly immerse themselves culturally; they were bouncing around too much. ?It gets back to this idea of a deeper level of learning that?s necessary for these effects to occur,? Galinsky says.
"Going t o Cancun f or spr ing br eak pr obably won?t makea per son any mor ecr eat iv e, but going t o Cancun and l iv ing wit h l ocal f isher men might ." Cultural distance, or how different a foreign culture is from one?s own, may also play a role. Surprisingly, Galinsky and his colleagues found that living someplace with a larger cultural distance was often associated with lower creativity than living in a more familiar culture. The reason for that, they hypothesized, was that an especially different culture might come with a bigger intimidation factor, which may discourage people from immersing themselves in it? and no immersion, they explained, could mean none of the cognitive changes associated with living in another country. Traveling may have other brain benefits, too. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, an associate professor of education and psychology at the University of Southern California, says that cross-cultural experiences have the potential to strengthen a person?s sense of self. ?What a lot of psychological research has shown now is that the ability to engage with people from different WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
71
72 | World
Credit: Unsplash/Julentto Photography
backgrounds than yourself, and the ability to get out of your own social comfort zone, is helping you to build a strong and acculturated sense of your own self,? she says. ?Our ability to differentiate our own beliefs and values. is tied up in the richness of the cultural experiences that we have had.? Cross-cultural experiences have the potential to pull people out of their cultural bubbles, and in doing so, can increase their sense of connection with people from backgrounds different than their own. ?We found that when people had experiences traveling to other countries it increased what?s called generalized trust, or their general faith in humanity,? Galinsky says. ?When we engage in other cultures, we start to have experience with different people and recognize that most people treat you in similar ways. That produces an increase in trust.? This trust may play an important role in enhancing creative function. In a 2012
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
study out of Tel Aviv University, researchers found that people who ?believe that racial groups have fixed underlying essences? - beliefs the authors termed ?essentialist views? performed significantly worse in creative tests than those who saw cultural and racial divisions as arbitrary and malleable. ?This categorical mindset induces a habitual closed-mindedness that transcends the social domain and hampers creativity,? the study authors wrote. In other words, those who put people in boxes had trouble thinking outside the box. Of course, although a new country is an easy way to leave a ?social comfort zone,? the cultural engagement associated with cognitive change doesn?t have to happen abroad. If a plane ticket isn?t an option, maybe try taking the subway to a new neighborhood. Sometimes, the research suggests, all that?s needed for a creative boost is a fresh cultural scene.
"Tr av el ing incr eased what ?s cal l ed gener al ized t r ust , or gener al fait h in humanit y."
A pleasure for the eyes & for the stomach!
Click here & learn more!
WE STRIVE TO MAKE EVERY EVENT A CELEBRATION CREATE LASTING MEMORIES FOR OUR CLIENTS AND THEIR GUESTS.
Madrid: +34 91 722 52 93 | Barcelona: +34 93 475 44 03 | Valencia: +34 96 145 35 00
Credit: Unsplash
Millennials |
I N D U ST R I E S M I L L E N N I A L S
A R E 'K I L L I N G' BY ANDREW JOSUWEIT SOURCE: FORBES
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
75
76 | Millennials
NAPKINS. K-MART. EVEN, HORROR OF HORRORS, FABRIC SOFTENER. THESE ITEMS ARE JUST A SMALL SELECTION OF WHAT NEWS OUTLETS HAVE ACCUSED MILLENNIALS OF ?KILLING.? AT THIS POINT, IT?S SO OVERDONE IT?S BECOME ITS OWN MEME. ONE TWEET, MOCKINGLY CALLING MILLENNIALS A ?GENERATION OF MURDERERS,? LISTED 14 HEADLINES WITH THE WORDS ?MILLENNIALS ARE KILLING [FILL IN THE BLANK].? SO WHAT, EXACTLY, ARE MILLENNIALS DESTROYING ? AND WHY? As times, tastes and technologies change, so does business. While I don?t think Millennials have collectively decided as a generation to avoid these industries (unless I was left out of some massive Facebook thread), it?s apparent they?ve seen fewer profits since Millennials came of age. Casual Chain Restaurants Applebee?s recently made news when it announced its plan to lure back Millennials had failed.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
Though the chain had attempted to re-brand itself as a hip bar and grill, millennials prefer healthy, local options that offer aiolis and farm-raised pork. So Applebee?s is closing more than 130 restaurants before the end of the year, and will return to its ?middle-America roots,? according to NPR. Also victim to millennials?high-brow eating preferences? Chains like Buffalo Wild Wings, Ruby Tuesday and TGI Fridays, all of which have had declining sales in the past several years. Even Hooters has seen its sales drop by 7% since 2012. And who knew that could go out of style? Diamonds In June 2016, The Economist asked in a now-famous tweet: ?Why aren?t millennials buying diamonds?? Pithy replies included ?You mean, besides the crippling debt?? and ?Because you can?t live in a diamond or eat a diamond.? After all, Millennials No. 1 source of money stress is debt. But jokes aside, The Economist noted that ?young consumers increasingly shun the taint of conflict and exploitation? ? perhaps a reason sales for De Beers and Tiffanys have dropped (11% and 4%, respectively). Or, it might just be the fact that Millennials are delaying marriage, and therefore not buying diamond rings. The median age for a first marriage is now 29 for men and 27 for women ? more than seven years
later than it was in the 1950s. Homeownership Going along with the decline in nuptials is a decline in deeds. The percentage of Americans who own homes has hit a record low, according to the Washington Post. And Millennials are a big part of that, as just 34% are homeowners. While some espouse the flexibility and mobility afforded by renting, homeownership ? including both the down payment and the mortgage ? is simply too expensive for many people. A recent Apartment List survey of 24,000 renters found that almost 70% of Millennials had less than $1,000 stashed away for a down payment.
Millennials |
Cereal
If you listened to the headlines, you?d think Millennials hate fun: They?re killing the movies. They?re killing TV.
Is there nothing Millennials will spare? Apparently not, because they?re even destroying the nation?s favorite breakfast.
Over the past several years, the number of Millennials going to the movies has decreased by a whopping one-third, reported the New York Post. And millions of cable subscribers have also cut the cord.
In 2016, the Los Angeles Times reported that sales of the morning staple were expected to drop that year to $10.6 billion, down 17 percent from 2009.
But the truth is they?re just consuming entertainment differently. One study from Anatomy Media found that only one-third (31%) of Millennials could match popular TV shows to the corresponding cable networks ? but when it came to shows that were produced by Netflix, 65% got it right.
And, while some crazy people said cereal takes too much work (because you have to clean up afterward), I?d like to think they?re not that lazy ? just that they?re eschewing cereal because it?s like eating dessert to start your day. Why Aren?t Millennials Paying For These Things? In addition to changing tastes ? and the fact that, well, Buffalo Wild Wings and cable shows just aren?t that good ? financial difficulties could be to blame.
"
The median age for a first marriage is now 29 for men and 27 for women ? more than seven years later than it was in the 1950s.
"
Movie Theatres And Cable TV
Since 1990, the median price of a house has increased by around 67%. Yet, median income has increased by only 11% over that same period. Factor in student loans ? of which the average student has $37,172 ? and you can see why Millennials aren?t running out to buy diamonds and homes. On the other hand, Applebee?s does have $1 margaritas all month. Meet you there?
Credit: Unsplash/Zachary Nelson
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
77
78 |
Working abroad
How To Manage Cul t ur al Dif f er ences In Gl obal Teams WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
Working abroad
| 79
Credit: Unsplash/Alex Sajan
BY ELLEN SHENG SOURCE: FAST COMPANY
Here?s how to adapt your work culture to fix the five main areas of conflict that come up for teams that are spread across the world. In today?s globalized world, it?s easy to assume that everyone speaks a common language. After all, how can we be so different when co-workers on opposite sides of the globe can shop at The Gap and hang out at Starbucks? Yet, managers leading global teams find that there are still a lot of communication minefields stemming from cultural differences. ?We talk about the world being flat and globalization making differences disappear. There?s an assumption that everyone ? technologists or finance professionals and so forth ? speak a ?common language? of the profession, and that cultural differences are just a little local color and noise,? explains Karine Schomer, a Bay Area management consultant specializing in bridging cultural gaps. This attitude can spawn some nasty surprises. Schomer categorizes cultural conflicts into five key areas. M anagement hier archy. In some cultures, there is an expectation that employees defer to managers. This deference is often a key reason why it?s hard to get honest feedback during meetings.
"THESE DAYS, MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES ARE HIRING LOCAL MANAGERS WHO UNDERSTAND THE MARKET AND CULTURE, BUT CULTURE CLASHES ARE STILL RIFE AMONG THE LOWER RUNG OF WORKERS. "
Different ideas about agreements and commitments. Americans tend to prefer clear, detailed agreements and expect commitments to be taken literally and seriously. But other cultures take a more flexible approach to agreements. Results ver sus profits. Some cultures value getting things done and aren?t sticklers for rules or protocol. Others emphasize protocol above all else. If managers don?t talk about this, it can be a very problematic area. Attitudes towar d appointments and deadlines. Whereas Americans expect strict adherence to deadlines, others are more flexible. Being ?too direct.? Americans are known for being direct and are generally not concerned with ?saving face? or avoiding conflict, but these can be big hang-ups in other cultures. Significantly, merely being aware of these differences is not enough. Managers also need to adapt, something that?s easier said than done. To break out of this default often means going out of your comfort zone, says Andy Molinsky, a professor at Brandeis International Business School who wrote the book Global Dexterity on adapting behavior across cultures. Companies sometimes shortchange their employees by offering a short two-hour seminar or a paper on cultural differences, said Molinsky, but to tackle this sort of personal development and be truly successful ?really takes work.?
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
80 | Working abroad Molinsky notes a common example. American managers often come to him when they are frustrated that Asian consultants don?t contribute in meetings. The solution is manifold. First, adapt company practices by creating smaller meetings and try calling on meeting participants. Secondly, work on getting employees to feel more comfortable speaking up. This second tactic takes time and requires trust. Consultants and managers alike emphasize it?s also important to focus on the relationship. Americans have a tendency to jump into business and neglect the personal side of things. That?s to their detriment, especially when working in emerging markets like China or India. Dan Chou, a former American investment banker in Hong Kong who is now at Edge Makers, an education startup in San Francisco, recalled a
painful learning experience when he went to India on a business trip. He needed a very large presentation uploaded and printed within a few hours to prepare for a meeting. When he asked the India team if they could do it, he was pleasantly surprised when they assured him they could. But when it came time to pick up the presentations, they weren?t done. Looking back, Chou said, there were multiple problems with his request. Part of it was the India team not understanding the perceived deadlines. There was also an element of not wanting to say no, wishful thinking that they might be able to get it done, and conflict avoidance by saying yes and then hoping for the best. After having a chat with them a few months later, Chou said he learned that a lot of other issues also came out from that seemingly straightforward request. The team was resentful of a lack of respect, being
overloaded with work and then being treated as a print shop. ?We needed to work on our end to work on the relationship and show respect for their time, too,? he says. Make sure you?re not coming in with ?Hi, I?m the imperial American and I?m going to control this relationship. The perceived power can breed resentment. If you don?t show respect, that will play into it,? he continues. These days, multinational companies are hiring local managers who understand the market and culture, but culture clashes are still rife among the lower rung of workers. Workers coming straight from universities haven?t yet been exposed to evolving Western standards of what?s expected by U.S. managers, while U.S. counterparts tasked with leading these global teams are also not necessarily very international.
LEARN MORE
WWW.MYEXPATSWORLD.COM
Dream a little bigger that?s what we do every day
Long Term Rentals Department Y! U S TODA TALK TO ia ar e in La Zen m a e t r Ou ll : r yo u r ca w ait in g fo
453 3 7 7 6 6 +34 9 26 0 3 7 7 6 +34 96
New Developments division Resale Spanish Property Legal Division Business Division Franchise Development Distressed Sales and Spanish Bank Repossessions - ALL UNDER ONE ROOF !
CLICK HERE to visit our webpage!
Want to benefit from the unique opportunity of a well-established, real estate agency franchise in Costa Blanca, Spain? BECOME A REAL ESTATE ENTREPRENEUR
"Finding the right Estate Agent is just as important as finding the right property in Spain" w w w .com ask ey.com
82 |
Insurance
Sour ce: Pol icy Bazaar
Health insurance is often a misunderstood financial product. Particularly in India, various misconceptions revolve around health insurance policies, stemming from general lack of understanding. Here are the most common health insurance myths, busted. Young and healthy? No insur ance needed! In reality, the ideal time to purchase health insurance is when one is younger and healthiest. A policy purchased early in life and renewed regularly, leads to better claim experiences should the need arise. Certain maladies remain undiscovered until symptoms become evident. As per health insurance regulations, these pre-existing diseases are covered only after a person holds a health insurance policy for at least 48 months. Buying health insurance early is therefore a good idea, as the policyholder stays insured at any life stage. Health insurance also acts as a shield against accidents that come unannounced any time.
Credit: Unsplash/Angel Fernandez Alonso
Some Comm Heal t h Ins Myt hs Bus
Policy benefits begin from day one
Cheap policy = Best policy
Every health insurance policy comes with a ?waiting period', before which, claims against specific ailments are not entertained. In the first 30 days from commencement of the healthcare policy, no diseases are covered.
While purchasing health insurance, it is wrong to seek a plan with the lowest premium. Low-cost/basic plans have restricted offerings, with important features excluded. While basic health insurance policies include the obvious, updated policy versions come with numerous additional and crucial benefits.
Only accidental hospitalisation gets coverage from the beginning. Pre-existing diseases are usually covered after four claim-free years, and for certain other diseases, there are one, two, three and four-year exclusions.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
Cover age under group health insur ance is enough It is important to check benefits and total policy coverage in a group health insurance policy, and assess if it adequate for your family?s
mmon sur ance st ed To stay unprotected at all times, it is best to buy additional health insurance in case one decides to change jobs or if the employer decides to restrict coverage or slash benefits. Buying health insur ance online is not safe In fact, purchasing health insurance policies online is a trend fast catching up, since premiums are usually lower for online policies. This is because no agents are involved, so insurers save on payable commissions and pass on the benefit to the customer. As long as one reads the policy document carefully, buying health insurance online is perfectly fine, maybe even better than buying through agents.
Not renewing on time = loss of benefits Even if the health insurance policy is not renewed on the due date, the policy holder can renew it within 15 days of the policy?s expiry date. In this way, the insured is treated as 'continuously covered' in terms of continuity benefits like pre-existing disease coverage and waiting periods. Note: If a policy is renewed ?X?days after the due date, treatments undertaken during those ?X?days cannot be claimed even after policy renewal. I nsurer s reimbur se all costs
"Ev er y heal t h insur ancepol icy comes wit h a ?wait ing per iod', bef or ewhich, cl aims against specif ic ail ment s ar enot ent er t ained. In t hef ir st 30 days f r omcommencement of t he heal t hcar epol icy, no diseases ar ecov er ed."
Not true, insurers sometimes only pay partially. The policy may have sub-limits, for instance, hospital room charges may be capped at 1% of the sum insured, and the excess must be borne by the policy holder. Sometimes, a policy can have sub-limits on other expenses, specific medicine purchases may not be reimbursed if they come under non-admissible expenses. The insured may even
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
84 | Insurance
Policy documents can be destroyed after expir y Changes in TPAs lead to scattered claims data. During a claim, the new TPA may not know how long the person was continuously covered - a vital data point for claim approvals, particularly treatments with waiting periods. To evaluate continuity of cover, TPAs may ask for policy copies of the past three to four years. For smooth claim settlement, it is important to retain policies of at least previous three years, plus the current.
"Al ways r ead t he pol icy document in det ail ."
Many health insurance plans have started providing coverage for procedures like chemotherapy, radiotherapy, lithotripsy, dialysis, eye surgery, etc. These procedures, termed as day care procedures, do not require 24 hours hospitalisation for availing claims. Procedures like dental treatments do not fall under day care nor do they need 24-hour hospitalisation ? these are out-patient procedures. Some insurance plans have started permitting claims on out-patient procedures too, subject to restrictions.
24-hour-hospitalisation myth
Concluding
Another common health insurance myth is that a minimum 24-hour hospitalisation is mandatory to avail a claim. With growing medical advancements, certain surgeries/procedures that earlier required prolonged hospitalisation now need less than 24 hours.
People tend to believe that policy terms and conditions remain unchanged and that cashless is the ultimate insurance solution. When purchasing health insurance, it is important to do away with all these myths and buy a policy in sync with your healthcare needs, lifestyle, and financial capacity. Always read the policy document in detail.
A MEMBERS-ONLY SOCIAL CONCIERGE FOR NIGHTLIFE AND SOCIAL EVENTS
Would you like t o have access t o some of London?s best and secret venues as well as at t end exclusive members event s every mont h, and are aged bet ween 35 and 55? To apply for your exclusive membership price of ÂŁ100 off the fee, using reference MEW 295
info@dionysuslifestyle.com WWW.MYEXPATSWORLD.COM Phone: + 20 3 5909848
new people | new places
CLICK HERE
www.dionysuslifestyle.com
CLICK HERE
ways 1 0 FRANKFURT
haschanged frombeingdull to dynamic
Featured city |
SOURCE: THE LOCAL Twenty years ago, Frankfurt quite rightly had a reputation for being a dull, one-dimensional city with nothing but its financial centre to help it stand out. Times have changed though, with steady growth of jobs and investment in the city and surrounding areas giving the city much greater wealth than just money alone. Germany's economic success has been focused on Frankfurt, with the surrounding region boasting one of the country's lowest unemployment rates and one of its fastest growing populations. So here are ten reasons why Frankfurt no longer deserves its reputation as Germany's 'dull' financial centre:
1
INTERNATIONAL MAKE-UP Thanks to the many international companies that have set up in Frankfurt, the city has become a melting pot of languages and cultures. "Mainhattan" is now more than 25 percent foreign nationals, making it Germany's most international city and driving growth in all sorts of foreign events, services and parties. Walking the streets, you will hear many languages, and the expat network has developed into a lively social scene with monthly events in a variety of tongues.
2 PARTY TOW N
Germany's most famous festival might be Munich's Oktoberfest, but few cities can now compete with Frankfurt's constant party atmosphere from May through to October. The narrow city streets and compact city design lend themselves perfectly to the many street festivals that
Credit: Pixabay
the city has to offer.
3
CHRISTMAS DELIGHTS Deserving a whole point on its own, Frankfurt's Christmas market is now close to rivalling Nuremberg's famous event. Almost the entire city centre is now taken over for four weeks by stalls that wind around the old city centre streets. EXCLUSIVE BARS
4
Frankfurt may now be one of the most expensive German cities to live in, but the large number of well-paid residents has driven a growth in up-market bars and clubs. From well-heeled cocktail bars, to members-only drinking lounges and exclusive bars in the skyscrapers with a view of the city, there is something for everyone.
5
W ORLD-FAMOUS ROCK BANDS And not to be outdone, the large student population of around 50,000 drives the more affordable nightlife of bars, pubs, and live music concerts that are increasingly featuring the biggest international names.
6 A CLUSTER OF MUSEUMS
If your tastes are more cultural in preference, then Frankfurt's museums and galleries are unlikely to disappoint. The city now has one of the highest numbers of museums per capita in Germany, 13 of which are clustered on the famed Museumsufer, or Museum Riverbank on the river Main. The museums are even worthy of their very own festival, allowing entry for a fraction of the normal price and shuttle buses ferrying people from one venue to the next.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
87
7
FROM BIKING TO BLADES For the more active city dwellers, Frankfurt hasn't just got the hills to the north for hiking and biking, and the river for rowing - the city is also taken over every week by night-time skaters in the hundreds. Escorted by police on bikes and skates, the pack of skaters wind their way across the city in a bright display that is worth watching even if you can't join in.
8
A FOOD EXPLOSION
The best part of Frankfurt's international profile is now the explosion in cuisines from around the world. From budget to gourmet, there is everything available that you could think of. Even the city's once notorious Bahnhofsviertel (train station quarter) is now buzzing with low-cost foreign restaurants and bars.
9 HUGE FAIRS
Credit: Pixabay
And if all of that isn't enough to convince you, the city's massive downtown conference area is completely taken over by the biannual international automotive fair and annual Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's oldest and largest international book fair. Between them, these two events draw in many hundreds of thousands of visitors from Germany and abroad.
10 A BIT OF R&R
Lastly, after all the excitement, rest and recuperation is needed. There is a reason why north of Frankfurt is where Kaiser Wilhem II decided to build his summer residence at Bad Homburg. The hills north of Frankfurt have been occupied since Roman times thanks to their spring waters and the region is still dotted with both public and private spas and wellness centres.
Credit: Pxhere
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
CLICK HERE
90 | Food
BY ABBEY CHASE SOURCE: CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER
TheMost Iconic
Hot dogs at the ballpark, chocolate chip cookies cooling on a stovetop, burgers on the Fourth of July; food and quintessential American moments go hand-in-hand. Yet like many things in the U.S., American cuisine often came to the country from elsewhere, with German, British, Swedish, Italian, Polish, Irish, Dutch, French, and Caribbean influences all contributing to many foods we frequently consider our own. Others, like Buffalo wings or a Reuben sandwich, are purely the product of American ingenuity.
American Foods
Food
| 91
Hot dogs
Reubensandwich Biscuitsandgravy
While Germans and Austrians disagree about who first invented the hot dog, mentions of sausages date back to Roman times, though it was German ?dachshund? sausages that first caught the attention of the American public. The sausages were wildly popular at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where many say the invention of the hot dog bun occurred.
Whether it was the creation of a man named Reuben Kulakofsky in Nebraska, or originally dreamt up by the proprietors of Reuben's Delicatessen in New York City, the classic corned beef, Swiss cheese, and sauerkraut sandwich is emblematic of 20th-century American cuisine, with Jewish, German, and Irish ingredients all making an appearance.
Applepie Perhaps the most iconic item on any all-American menu, apple pie first came to the U.S. by way of British, Swedish, and Dutch immigrants, where it was a staple of colonial diets for more than a century thanks to its cheap preparation. During World War II, apple pie became inextricably linked to American culture, and has since become a fixture of Americana.
Ma Macca aro ron nii a an nd d cheese The mouthwatering combination of pasta and cheese predates the founding of America by several hundred years, but Thomas Jefferson is widely credited with introducing the much-loved dish into American cuisine. After a trip through Italy, Jefferson brought a pasta maker and Parmesan cheese back to Virginia and famously served the dish at a state dinner in 1802.
C Ch ho occo ola late tecch hiip p cookies The history of the chocolate chip cookie is one with an unimpeachably American history. Ruth Graves Wakefield, the owner of the now-famous Toll House Inn in Massachusetts, whipped up the first batch in 1938. Her recipe has graced the back of every bag of NestlĂŠ chocolate chips since the 1940s.
Thehamburger Though the name ?hamburger? and the ingredients have strong German roots, the burger as we know it today was likely born in New York, when German immigrants combined the famous ?Hamburg steak? from their homeland with two slices of bread. The burger?s popularity at Philadelphia?s 1876 Centennial Exposition, the first official World's Fair in the U.S., soon made it a household name.
We can thank the British for the original biscuit, while sawmill gravy came about as a cheap, filling breakfast option in early American history. During the Revolutionary War, biscuits and gravy became a staple among the food-strapped colonies, and thus, an American favorite was born.
Clamchowder Likely inspired by seafood stews in northern France and southwest England, clam chowder first landed in New England in the early 1700s. By the middle of the 18th century, recipes had begun to appear in newspapers in the colonies, and since then, variations from Manhattan to Seattle have become a part of American cuisine.
Barbecueribs Barbecuing is as old as this country George Washington even made reference to a barbecue in Virginia in 1769. Whether you?re partial to Memphis?s wet ribs, Kansas City?s hearty barbecue sauce, or the Carolinas?pork-only menus, barbecue in America has evolved from a basic form of cooking into a highly specialized, regional art.
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
DISCOVER A NEW WAY TO PLAY AND CREATE iWALLZ is a must have product for every 4-99 year old boy and girl who loves to build with Legos and other building blocks. It also saves space, makes the toys last longer and with its endless possibilities iWALLZ helps you become more creative than ever before. There are no rules - just your imagination.
CLICK HERE www.iwallz.com
Gen er al in qu ir ies info@iwallz.com iWALLZ Lt d PO Box 59, 00101, Helsinki, Finland iWALLZ Lt d Eu r ope Simon Stevinstraat 11, 5916 PZ Venlo, Holland Tel. +31 (77) 321 04 17 iWALLZ Lt d Ch in a Room 1309, Sterling Centre No. 11 Cheung Yue Street Cheung Sha Wan, Kln, Hong Kong Tel. +852 271 334 40
CLICK HERE
HAPPINESS BEGINS AT HOME... ESPECIALLY WHEN IT?S ORGANIZED
BY SHERYL SOURCE: ORGANIZATION AND RELOCATION
Happiness is an elusive concept. What truly makes us happy? Love? Money?Chocolate?Puppies? Being organized? WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
Relocation
| 95
Studies have shown that outer order is directly related to inner calm. Gretchen Rubin, best-selling author of The Happiness Project, says that ?creating order gives a huge boost in energy, cheer, and creativity.? She is a big proponent of keeping her home neat and streamlined ever since she noticed how much more relaxed it makes her feel. She says that being organized makes her a better writer, a better mother, and a happier person. With organizing, I always say that it?s all in the details that?s where the real satisfaction comes in. As the often-quoted British writer Samuel Johnson observed, ?It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.? Nice to have Dr. Johnson on my side. Without exception, all my clients report higher productivity and peace of mind when their space is clutter-free and organized. Organized people tend to be faster at accomplishing tasks because they don?t have to waste time searching under piles of stuff for that elusive thing. And they naturally get more done because, as a result, they have more time to do it in. Call it a happy circle. A few blogs back I mentioned feng shui, and how following these ancient Chinese principles can create a sweet living space. You know how sometimes you walk into a place and it just feels good? People remark on how it has ?great energy?? That simply doesn?t happen when you walk into a space that?s messy, chaotic, or overflowing with clutter. The energy is stale, and you feel it the minute you open the door. As we wrap up Get Organized month, I hope you?re feeling good about having taken on some challenges in your life and imposing some order in your home. I know I am. My kitchen has been deep cleaned, utensils have been purged, and my closet is looking good enough to include on a house tour. Organizing is a lifetime process, not a one-time event. I?ll continue chipping away at these tasks whether I have a big chunk of time or a small slice. Step by step.
Credit: Pixabay
Psychologists and self-helpers tell us that the cornerstones of our happiness, give or take a few, are meaningful work, personal connection, health, and adding value to ours or others? lives. We all know that happiness comes from within and spreads outward from there--and that it definitely isn?t dependent upon when you get the new iPhone. But what you may not know is that being organized also leads to happiness. I kid you not.
Still, I?m not naive enough to think that a good-looking file drawer and a pretty rainbow of sweaters are the source of my true happiness. But I will say that when my house is clean and organized and I walk through the front door, I feel a sense of relief. Order brings a sense of ?being on top of things? that makes me feel productive. Then when my house and office are organized, I have more time to devote to the things I care about--things that really make me happy. Like meaningful work, friends, family, Mister Cat, pilates, hiking, skiing,... and maybe even that new iPhone. Happy Organizing!
WWW.EXPATSWORLD.COM
96 |
Business Directory AL PHA-L I NGUA Kattesundet 12A, Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, 1458, Denmark T. +45 33 14 66 26 info@alpha-lingua.dk www.alpha-lingua.dk Alpha Lingua is translating and interpreting to and from English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Polish. We are eight state-authorized translators and interpreters in the same house.
AOC I NSURANCE BROK ER 60 Rue de Strasbourg, Courbevoie, Ile-de-France, 92400, France T. +33 (0) 1 76 21 10 66 / 65 expat@aoc-insurancebroker.com www.aoc-insurancebroker.com Compare your expatriate health insurance based on your needs and your destination. Take your health in your hands and get discounts.
AM STERDAM REM OVAL Izaäk Enschedéweg 50, Haarlem, North Holland, 2031 CS, Netherlands T. +31 (0)23 8200218 info@amsterdamremoval.nl www.amsterdamremoval.nl If you move in, or to Amsterdam we are glad to be your moving company. We know our way to apply for permits, hoist to higher floors with a moving lift and know which trucks to use in different neighborhoods.
TOURS & TI CK ETS Damrak 26, Amsterdam, North Holland, 1012, Netherlands T. +31 20 420 4000 customer.service@toursandtickets.nl www.tours-tickets.com As a tour operator, we specialize in providing excursions in The Netherlands and Belgium, offering various tickets for museums, attractions and all kinds of canal cruises.
DAYARAJA Hessische Str. 12, Berlin, Berlin, 10115, Germany T. +49 0163 98 95 370 post@dayaraja.de www.dayaraja.de People are never too old to take up meditation or yoga. Even if you may feel stiff and heavy now, you will soon notice the beneficial effects of this practice.
K ANGA SERVI CES Virginias Benaki 15-17, Athens, Attica, 104 36, Greece T. +30 210 64 66 400 kanga@otenet.gr www.kangaservices.gr Door to door, around the corner, across the nation or oversees. Our services: express courier, freight forwarding transport services and, biocourier.
HOUSESI T M ATCH Hessische Str. 12, Berlin, Berlin, 10115, Germany T. +34 671 45 04 34 lamia@housesitmatch.com www.housesitmatch.com Leaving the house in the care of a stranger is something that naturally can make you nervous and should not be taken lightly. We offer a range of guidelines and legally approved template contracts and documents for registrants that will help to make this a smooth process.
CENTERDENT Giesshübelstrasse 15, Zurich, 8045, Switzerland T. +41 44-342 44 44 info@centerdent.ch www.centerdent.ch Quality, 365 days a year, online diaries, all disciplines of modern dentistry under one roof, top modern, unique practice setting, and more, awaits you on a visit to the attractive new practice CenterDent.
DAYARAJA 438 Retaheim Way, San Diego, California, 92037, USA T. (888) 750 1070 - toll free arno@healthisinternational.com www.healthisinternational.com International Travel Insurance is more affordable than you think. We can help you navigate the confusing terms and jargon, giving you an education about the products that are available to get you the insurance you need.
ORANGE TAX SERVI CES Arnold Waal, P.O. Box 75524, 1070 AM Amsterdam,The Netherlands T. +31 (0)20 520 7991 info@orangetax.nl www.orangetax.com Dutch tax services for international clients seeking local Dutch assistance. We helped many expats and foreign companies in Holland with their Dutch tax services and other fiscal challenges.
NEVADO REALTY M ARBEL L A Camilo José Cela 18, Marbella, Málaga, 29602, Spain T. +34 952 82 55 17 info@nevadomarbella.com www.nevadomarbella.com Specialists in selling and renting luxury villas, penthouses, apartments and plots in Marbella center and Marbella?s Golden Mile. We have a large portfolio of exquisite properties in Marbella centre beachfront, golf and mountain.
COACH EL SPETH Palma de mallorca, Balearic Islands,07001, Spain T. +44 797 151 3497 www.coachelspeth.com A personal trainer who focuses on strength and conditioning. 1-1 personal training and group training for up to 4 people from Megasport.
Business Directory VI VI FI NEART Boulder, Colorado, 80302, USA T. +1 303 875 0661 cindi@vivifineart.com www.vivifineart.com Art is about learning. Learning to be quiet and learning to be loud. Learning to explore and to accept, to sit and observe, feel and touch.
|97
WHI ZWORDZ 151 Chin Swee Rd, #13-04 Manhattan House, Singapore 169876 T. +65 6600 3798 sales@whizwordz.com www.whizwordz.com.sg A translation services agency in Singapore dedicated to providing an outstanding level of service.
ACE OF BRUSSEL S Drève du Prieuré 19, Auderghem, Brussels, 1160, Belgium T. +32 2 420 02 04 info@aceofbrussels.com www.aceofbrussels.com A family-centred, international, English speaking school community in Brussels, Belgium. We develop character as well as academics.
AUPAI RWORL D Wolfsschlucht 9, Kassel, Hessen, 34117, Germany T. +49 561 310 561 17 support@aupairworld.com www.aupairworld.com AuPairWorld is the greatest resource for au pairs and host families to find each other and live the utter au pair experience.
OTC GL OBAL GM BH Helmholtzstraße 2-9, Berlin, Berlin, 10587, Germany T. +49 30 639 686 44 anfrage@otc-global.com www.otc-global.com We specialize on niche markets, yet offers a great expertise globally and therefore positions itself as your global removal and transportation specialist.
SARRI À QUI ROPRÀCTI CA Carrer Caponata 3,Spain T. +34 646684402 info@sarriaquiropractica.com www.sarriaquiropractica.es For lower back pain, sciatica, neck pain, headaches and general health issues.
CREATE
EM BED
GROW
Cr eat e You r Ow n TV Ch an n el. Br oadcast it Fr om You r Websit e. w w w.st r im m .com
Click here to GET STARTED
www.expatsworld.com