We all know what IQ is, right? It’s an attempt to assign a number – a value – to a person’s intellectual ability. In the world of cross-cultural adjustment, cross-cultural agility and cross-cultural effectiveness, we also try to quantify a person’s ability. We want to assign a number to their Cultural Intelligence; their CQ. Let me give...

I bought the “best” I bought the Hard Shell Samsonite. The no-frills, ‘get-the-job-done’ tough guy suitcase. You’ve seen them on the carrousels before: simple plastic; one color; wheels and a handle. I have broken plenty of “life-time guarantee” suitcases in my years of international travel, and could never quite locate the...

Most people live out their lives without ever realizing how much influence (control?) their culture has over them. But if you leave your home cultural context for an extended period of time, you’ll be “blessed” with the opportunity to see how you’ve been shaped by the stories, values, priorities and assumptions that define your home setting....

होली है Holi is an annual festival celebrated on the day after the full moon in the Hindu month of Phalguna (early March). It celebrates spring, commemorates various events in Hindu mythology and is a time of disregarding social norms (because all end up colored, no matter what their social status) and indulging in general merrymaking. Holi is probably...

That’s a pretty good question! WHY CHOOSE TO BE AN EXPAT? Why, after all, would you want to leave the place where you know how to make sense of subtleties, and reside in a place where you function — for quite awhile — as the odd-ball who misses all but the most blatant signals?!! Sure, we know that some people are FORCED into situations like this,...

ROOT CANAL!!!! I’m getting one done here in N. India, by a great dentist. At least I HOPE he’s a great dentist! We’ve got the chairs, assistants, fans and nice tools that Pushkar and Pyara talk about in their filmed interview (below). Anyway, all the drilling and pushing and pulling this week has this expat thinking about teeth a LOT, and it...