PocketCultures

Picture Postcards: Traditional dress in Indonesia

Our Contributing Editor, Carrie, has sent in this photo of traditional Indonesian holiday dress.

marie June 10, 2012 0 comments

Carrie: “living abroad opens up my view of the world and exposes me to new ways of thinking”

Carrie is our People of the World editor and has just moved from Bali, Indonesia to Mendoza, Argentina. In this interview she tells us about living and running a business abroad and how she and her family are adapting to life in Argentina.

Tell us a bit about yourself

I am an American, currently living in Mendoza, Argentina. I love travelling and seeing the world and learning about new cultures- my goal is to see as much of the world as possible. I am also an entrepreneur/small business owner and mom to a two and a half year old boy with another baby on the way in July, so I keep busy!

Where do you live? Where are you from? If those are different, can you tell us a little about what inspired your move?

We just moved to Mendoza, Argentina about a month and a half ago from Bali, Indonesia. My husband and I are from New York, but have lived abroad since 2002. We started out in Barcelona, then London, then got more adventurous and lived in Rio and Montevideo for a brief while before moving over to Bali. Our first move abroad was to go to IESE business school in Barcelona, and then we fell in love with the life abroad. One of our goals is to teach our son Spanish and we love Argentina, so that is what prompted this most recent move. We do miss being home and seeing family, and one of the benefits of being in South American rather than Asia is the time zone (no more 13 hour jet lags!!) and ability to get home more frequently.
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Lucy March 8, 2012 4 comments

Indonesia / PocketCultures / Topics of the World

Picture Postcards: Bali boats

This week’s photo was taken by our contributor in Bali, Carrie, who says that these boats are used by fishermen and to get in and out of the islands. She says they are being used less and less. I hope they don’t disappear as they are beautiful.

marie January 9, 2012 0 comments

Indonesia / People / Topics of the World / Travel

The Beach Culture in Sanur, Bali

Until I moved to a proper beach town, I didn’t really realize how different the beach culture is from country to country, or even city to city.

In Ipanema, Rio, for example, the beach is for tanning and playing volleyball, for surfing and partying. In Sanur, Bali, the beach has its own personality- distinct and fantastic in its own right, but more quiet and subdued. It’s a place for a long walk, stopping to pick up flowers from the path; it’s a place to sit and have a long, lazy lunch of nasi goreng; to ride your bike and watch it all unfold. (more…)

carrie September 7, 2011 3 comments

Indonesia / People of the World / USA

Raising a Third Culture Kid

I have recently become fascinated by the idea of TCKs, or third culture kids. What is a third culture kid? According to the TCK site, “a third culture kid is a “person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside their parents’ culture.”

The other definition on the site: “TCKs are the prototype citizens of the future.”

Being a third culture kid: the paradox of belonging to many cultures, and none at the same time

Although I had never considered it before and certainly never even heard the term until a few years ago, I myself am a third culture kid. I was raised in Mexico City, moved to the US in my pre-teen years. Even when living in New York, after returning from Mexico, I very much considered myself a part of the world as opposed to just an American. I was a bit surprised when I moved to Spain aged 26 and people there considered me so “American” when most of my peers back in the US considered me the opposite. It was almost like I belonged to both… and yet neither. My son, born in London to American parents, has been a bit of a migrant since his birth- first London, then Rio, then Montevideo, and now his longest run (9 months) in Bali, Indonesia. Although we adore Bali, we’re travelers at heart and this won’t be his last move, so he’s just as likely to spend his childhood years in South America as he is in Asia, or somewhere else altogether.

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carrie June 30, 2011 6 comments

Indonesia / People / Topics of the World