expat

Networking: finding a job in a new country

 in Resources / Working & Volunteering  tagged #lifeinthebay / adjustment / American culture / bay area / expat / hiring / job search / networking / relocation / work by

“Elevator pitch”, “LinkedIn profile”, “Skills development”, “Building contacts”, “Career events”… If you get the shivers just reading those phrases, don’t worry. You are not the only one who feels confused, nervous or downright scared about using networking during your job search. Networking has become a more trusted and common method of job searching, and it’s easy to see why. You spend some time improving your LinkedIn profile, you attend events in your particular field, you reach out to friends, former coworkers, even family, and boom, you get a job! Wait. It can’t be that easy, can it? Honestly, networking is […]

update skills

Networking: making friends in a new country

 in Family Life / Getting Settled  tagged #lifeinthebay / adjustment / bay area / community / expat / friends and family by

Finally, our child’s school – in my experience, the least common place to find friendships, but the most widely touted as a good place to form connections. Now if you aren’t a parent, this isn’t an option but if you are, most people will think that this is a good place to start. I find the school gates the least friendly place but it’s not impossible to find friends there.

beach with friends

Our next move: From Silicon Valley to Seattle

 in Culture / Family Life  tagged expat / moving by

When I moved to the Bay Area, I had never given much thought to Seattle. I had always seen it as a far-away, freezing-cold, provincial town near Canada: nothing that could compare with our incredible Silicon Valley, where education, technology and wealth found their perfect habitat. This was, until a couple of years ago, when a friend from Italy described it to me as a beautiful city, full of music and life. A few months later, my husband received an interesting job offer from a Seattle-based company. We discussed the opportunity with the family and realized that we were all […]

The US Presidential Election: A Non-Voters Perspective

 in Culture  tagged election / expat / immigrant / politics / POTUS / president / vote by

When the US Presidential election season began, it was all a bit of a joke. As a spectator, an immigrant, a non-voter, watching this media spectacle from the front row, it all seemed a bit laughable. But then the primaries rumbled on, Brexit happened, and someone that we had all seen as joke candidate began to gain steam. But this couldn’t happen, could it? And then it did, Donald Trump became the Republican nominee for President. Suddenly, the joke wasn’t funny anymore. It became more of a horror story, you watch through your fingers, too scared to look properly, but […]