How life as an Expat can prepare you for difficult times, like Covid19

Let's be honest, nobody was prepared for what we are living globally the last few months. Not even the most wild mastermind would have thought such an extreme plot for a Hollywood movie. Although to be honest scientists had predict it... This Covid-19 or better invisible terrorist, that have made billions of people #Stayhome for weeks! Huge health, physical, and psychological challenges for every age, every nation, every religion and every financial status. A virus that equalized the world, maybe something that happened for the first time ever, since the existence of civilization? No one knew, and lets face it still do not know, how to deal with this. But there is maybe a group of people that are a little bit more trained and resilience on a physiological level at least, than the rest of the world, and these are the Expats*. The world nomads, the people that have to restart their lives in new horizons. The people that have to start from scratch, over and over again. The people that know how is to be isolated, with no friends, with some restrictions, far from loved ones, and yes, who know how is to feel lonely. 

My interview at Expatfinder

Couple years ago I had the opportunity to share my experience as an Expat of 18 years now, to one of the most experience sites about Xpats, the Expatfinder. Here Is following my interview that very kindly was hosted on their site. Please share with me your expat experiences, by leaving a message in the end or at my Instagram account! 

Understading America

Wow, life really took over me. But here I am! Back after ONLY 8 months of absence. In between those months we have celebrate here the coming of Autumn, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, Diwali, Super Bowl and Chinese New Year. In the States everything is a big reason to celebrate, and you can't escape, because you will see it, hear it, smell it, eat it, wear it... The moment one celebration ends, another find its way on the selves of the grocery shops. Anything for a celebration and for spending some cash, mainly! And although you know it is all part of the marketing game you grow to love it, and to crave it. Because in the end, it is all about the memories and the moments you get to built.

Our trip to Disney World - How to survive mentally, emotionally and physically

Disney world. How many kids have cried and screamed the lungs out, in front of the camera and then been watched on a you tube video from millions, when their parents were announcing to them: "WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!" How many people they have choose to go there for their honeymoon, birthdays, or graduations? The hot place to be on your school/college spring break. Disney World is the land of our dreams. Is the place where everyone is allowed to feel as a kid. Where the adults are overwhelmed and some even emotional from meeting and hugging the famous Mouse and his gang. The place where all the family members can be happy. But is also the place where the word LINES and WAITING sometimes steal the limelight from the actual famous residents of the park. So if a visit there is on your bucket list of "things i want to do before i die" then keep some notes, and go prepared. Mentally, emotionally and physically. Ah and of course financially!

What -a lot of- stress can teach you

My stress reliever 

It is the first month of the New year and since i rarely have resolutions  i will just go with you through some realizations and lessons i learned from the past challenging year i had, and still partially have, and maybe you had also, and you too looking for ways to overcome and move on. 

Red sign! STRESS was my biggest challenge of all.  I am not going to lie, i have never been the person that has the most cool reaction when there is an issue or a problem, but this time everything was seriously out of proportion. Mountains after mountains that i had to climb, and obstacles to overpass. Accumulations of  "you must do" and losses of "i want/need to do". 

Next chapter soon: Why i will miss the (North) Netherlands...

Another move, another set of goodbyes, another time for wet eyes, and emotional farewell dinners and coffee mornings. The Netherlands welcomed our family so warm, that it is very difficult to let things go. I never expected to feel so at home in a country where, we just came for work, where i don't speak the language, (although my time in Belgium helped me a lot) where i knew nobody, and where i had to start from 0. Well everything happened so easily, effortless, and calm. We found a house close to my ideal kind of house, in an area where you can easily find anything you need on a walking or biking distance. In a beautiful setting surrounded by nature and animals. Where the rhythms of life are relaxed and organized. Nothing fancy or glamorous, just pure normal living. And of course i had the luck to be at the right place at the right time to meet my first friend here at the gym, who she generously open her house, her hug and her other friendships and shared them with me. They say, or i say, you only need one person to connect so to stop feeling alone in a new place. Well, i had the privilege to meet more than one wonderful women, mothers and seekers of a better life for them and their family. Netherlands has been a box full with surprises!

Traveling with kids...

I still remember the time that my parents were getting ready for our summer holidays, loading our car until the wheels looked almost flat from the extreme weight of our stuff and me trying to squeeze myself on the back seat having to battle with the falling hats, beach chairs, umbrellas and other summer paraphernalia. Sandwiches and some cold drinks for the road, and for entertainment the scratchy music of the broken radio signal or from a favorite /boring cassette of my parents. Windows open, no AC at that time, and ready to roll to our destination. No planning ahead from my parents for what to bring to keep me happy, no worries if I am going to get bored in the car, no stress about how they will keep me entertain. Some books and magazines, dolls when I was younger, and maybe a Walkman (and for the younger audience Walkman means small portable cassette player similar (not) to cd player, to mp3 or the smartphones/iPad now) were the only options and of course actually looking out of the window to the scenery around me. But traveling with kids now is a total different story and sometimes if you are not well prepared can be scary and painful... for you and the others around you!

The Positive Thinking Trend: not cool for everyone!

Hello! Spring has arrived here in the Netherlands and things have started looking more colorful and more positive already, the temperatures though not there yet! So, this post it is not by me. I have the pleasure to have a dear blogger/writer friend, guest writing here on my blog. Lety Ponte is originally from France. but she has been traveling a lot for studies and later because of the work of her husband, so she is a serial expat mom like me! For now she lives here in the Netherlands and apart from a wonderful husband and daughter has a very beautiful site where she shares what she loves most "Life, Positive eating, Mindfulness and Spirit Guidance are ‘my things’" as she mentions at her site. Lety loves the earth. Forests and magical gardens are her hideaways, but she is also working a lot towards reaching and improving her higher self and has the gift to bring beautiful messages from high above to others. Many of this messages you can find them at her site or by simple asking her for guidance. Here she shares with us about the pressure of the "trend" of positive thinking and what are actually the real tools so to conquer  this! Enjoy and follow Lety here if you want some more light in to your life.

Greece's beauty motivates the Greeks

Greece is in an economic turmoil for a long time now. Is on the news everywhere in the world almost every month. Bubbles that burst and flooded the streets, the businesses and the homes with despair, financial uncertainty, unemployment and sadness. But Greeks are trying to take everything day by day, and right now the only motivation I see in their eyes is the country by itself. Greece is the gas that makes the motor run everyday. The beauty that this land was given is the driving force for Greeks to wake up and move on with their day. The hope of a bright, sunny day that will warm their skin and light the darkest spots of the cities. The blooming trees and flowers along the roads. The smell of lilac flower, and jasmine from the house fences. The barefoot feeling on the sandy beaches and the first touch of the Mediterranean sea after months of waiting. Greece is a feeling, it gets in to you even if you are not Greek, and it stays with you forever.

Positive people are rare, embrace them!

I am privileged to have some people in my life that by choice see the glass half full. No matter what life brings to them: health issues, money issues, personal matters, job issues, they manage to turn it to something positive and beneficial for them and for the others around them. These type of people are dreamers, are romantic by nature and they have a deep belief in others. They say I love you easily, a word that many people are scared even to think, and they mean it, because for them it means "I care for you", "I care for your wellbeing", "I want you to be happy", " I am here for you." What we don't understand is that these people are here and next to us so to protect us and our soul. To remind us that happiness sometimes is inside a very small box, that when you open it, it multiplies and spreads its wings like the butterfly when she is leaving her cocoon, and paints rainbows on the pavement and the walls and sheds warm light to our darkest corners, this powerful light that we all need so to survive. Positive and happy people are here to teach us to appreciate whatever we consider a given thing in our everyday life.

Falling apart is the new strong

A good friend recently asked me "Nely, what do you do when you feel low, and how do you recover?" The answer from me was clear. I see my life as a rollercoaster and so does my mood. I have my exciting peaks, and I have my terrible lows. I allow my self to have grey days, days with  inward discussions and thoughts or with just silence. These days are as much valuable as the good days. I have learned, and I have grown so much through out these days. On these days behind my "dark glasses" I will try to see clearer and figure out my life, my goals, my future. I will re-evaluate, appreciate and recognize the people and the situations around me. These are the days that have managed to make me stronger every time.

Εscape the b*tch Karma. Just be nice! (Me, being fed up!)

😀

Credits

Lately I am fed up with the social media and the world in general. So many people full of hostile, negative feelings, with luck of respect, manners and ethos. When rudeness became so popular and acceptable? Don't all these people know that their attitude will hit them back hard? That Karma is a b*tch and oh yeah will hit you on the head sooner or later?  BTW I need a karma button on  the FB ASAP 😂!- Why people choose to hide behind their little screen and throw up every bitter word they can found in their vocabulary? And now many of them have an excuse and even 'role models" like some people with power or fame that support, and encourages this virtual bullying. That means that these people have always been double-faced? Because I bet many of  them want dare to speak like that on face to face situations? Was there always so much underline hate and finally the social media offered and open mic for everyone to finally be themselves? So much hidden hypocrisy? Or is it cool nowadays to be "bad", nasty and full of insults? My motto is "if you haven't something nice to say, then don't say anything!" or as an ad was saying " sometimes its better to chew, than to talk! "

Get happier and healthier with music!

Music and emotions. Music is so vital for our mental wellbeing. Sad or happy, sick or well, old or young, listening to tunes will can only benefit us. Is the best work out for our brain and the balsam for our soul. I cannot even imagine my life without music. Since I was a kid it has been vital, like breathing. Music and dancing is a need. I will still put music on and with every opportunity I will dance alone or with my two boys. And they love it too, and makes me so happy. What a connection you can have this way? I will even try all the music apps are out there 😂 - probably embarrassing my older son-  with most recently the Musical.ly. And I am so happy for all these young people that are expressing themselves through music and dance. What a healthy way to say to the world what you are feeling!

Cry me a river, its ok!

My mother used to say, when I was a kid that it was as if "I had tears in my pocket". I wasn't a drama queen, but I was and still getting emotional very, very easily. I might cry from happiness, sadness, empathy, injustice, anger, tiredness... I can be a crying machine 😂 and I even weep to social events like my son's play at school, from proudness of others achievements, or from being sympathetic to a friends story that shares at a café. I am definitely not ashamed about me crying in front of others!  For some crying is a weak thing to do, embarrassing, uncomfortable, not for adults and especially not for men -yes still is considered a handicapped. Other people they just cannot cry, which I find dangerous, mostly for their own health. For me crying has been as much comforting and cathartic, as laughter has been. So crying and laughter in my world are holding hands.

A hymn for Greek people

Reaching for the light through a cave in Chios island

Philoxenia means Hospitality and is a Greek term. A concept that Greek people always had in their lives. Since ancient times Greeks were welcoming the foreign, the new (my name Neofili, means friend of the new actually!) Greece has always been the oasis for the people from North and from colder climates. The place where they plan their honeymoon, the country that trust for beautiful holidays, the most sacred time of everyone's life. The place where they go because they now they will find big smiles, open arms and a lot of great food and sceneries. But Greece proved lately that it is there at dark times also. At times that people need a helping hand, a lifesaver literally and metaphorically. Times that nobody wants to witness. Greek people in the refugee crisis became the lighthouse, the hope and the road to a new life.

What's your job? (pause) Stay-at-home mom/dad... Hmm

On my role as an entertainer!

In the years I have been traveling and meeting other moms like me, and by saying like me I mean stay-at- home moms (sorry didn't met any stay-at- home dads although i know they exist and are doing a great job), there was always a cloud over us when somebody was making the very logical and normal question: "Do you work?" The short answer was "no, I am a stay-at- home mom" but most of the times a "but" and "because" had to come after that answer so to defend ourselves that we are not those women, that you see in the American reality shows that are pampering and drinking wine all day. Believe me our lives have no glamour, sparkles (well maybe if you have little girls in the house) and we don't live in a pink fluffy cloud, although it sounds nice.

2017 health resolution: Go to an Osteopath!

When I was back in Greece and working for the media sector, I was at one point specialized to write and report for alternative medicine and therapies. I was also keen to find new super foods, the next big effective diet and therapy or technique, anything new, interesting and different.  So for example I knew about the Alexander technique (great therapy for dancers and people with problem with their posture), but for one reason i never came across osteopathy, although it is not a new therapy since it was founded in the late 1800s by physician and surgeon Andrew Taylor from Missouri, USA. I knew physiotherapy and the work of a chiropractor, but osteopathy was never one of those techniques and therapies that fallen under my attention. Not until I moved to the Netherlands. And funny enough the first encounter was for my baby boy, and not for me!

Home away from home

Merry Xmas everyone! A day like today celebrating away from Greece and most of our family and friends thoughts jumped in my head. "Home", one simple word that is very difficult to define when you are an expat or when you have just moved to a new place far away from home. Is home a place or a feeling? Can you feel at home in more than one places? Can home be something that you had and you were use too, or something that you can built and have to adjust? Is it the people you are surrounded or the things? Is it all of the above?

Give Xmas a chance, and get some Xmas lights now!

Happy December everyone! 🎄
If you are a friend of mine in FB or Instagram you are already know that Xmas has arrived this year in our house mid of November. That is the case sometimes when you have kids. But for me my kids is the excuse, because i simple love Xmas! And Xmas is not an easy period for me and i will explain later why. But Xmas is not easy for many. Others feel more lonely, in others brings bad memories from unhappy childhood or family times, others feel that are obliged to be and feel happy. And you have every right to feel that way, but before you do give Xmas a chance there are many reasons out there that will  help you to feel happy when you see red ribbons and flashing lights and get you in to the festive mood, only if you open that window and let the magic in.

My festive Dutch photo-diary (long version!)

Autumn in the Netherlands has been great! It is mid November and the weather decided to wear its fall costume just last week. But it has been great also because it is full of so many activities, festivities and celebrations that it seems like a looong party! Well for our family its the first fall in The Netherlands so we had to explore everything! So with the help of the good, sunny weather we visited other cities, we followed flower parades, we sang and took candies on the night of St. Martins and of course we met Sinterklaas and his helper(s) Piet(s)! Sooo exciting months for the kids and all the families. Here are some of the wonderful things we saw the previous months. Enjoy the Dutch festivity greatness!