The Birth of a Blog
This blog is not about me. It’s about an idea that became a networking group that spawned a newsletter that necessitated a website and now a blog. Maybe it all began when I started feeling that I’d been born on the wrong continent, which was long before I spent a year as an Antioch student in Besandon, France.
It began in earnest in the early 90s after I placed an ad in LA Weekly “Greener Pastures Abroad - Let’s start a network.” Soon a fascinating group of people convened in my Southern California living room. The group grew, eventually meeting in restaurants with speakers and slide shows. A newsletter for the Network for Living Abroad seemed like a logical next step, and well, I’d been writing for decades. Focusing on one country at a time, the newsletter dealt with culture and culture shock as well as practical matters like residency requirements. After a short Washington Post story, which was picked up by newspapers all over the country, the newsletter gained national circulation.
I moved with my family, not abroad, but to Santa Fe, NM, in 1998, and the next year we launched Liveabroad.com. The website was initially designed to promote the newsletter, but by the 2000s, the information I’d been collecting from consulates, expats themselves and my own travels was becoming readily available on the Internet. The last issues was in 2002 and after that a free e-mail letter “Updates from Liveabroad.com” took its place. Internet advertising soon made the website sustainable.
From now on, “Updates from Liveabroad.com.” will alert subscribers to what’s new at the blog. There will be various threads and plenty of opportunities for visitors to the site to start discussions and post comments. Feel free to post links to other sites, including your own, but please - no outright advertising.
Many of you want to create an exciting new life in a new country and a new culture. Whether you’re just starting out in your career or have reached retirement age, you have options. The right information can expand your horizons and empower you to have the life you really want.
This news/blog will feature news and comments of interest to expats, prospective expats and anyone with an international perspective. For example, what does it mean to have Daniel Ortega, the former Sandinista guerrilla leader, elected president in Nicaragua, a country that has been billed as “the next Costa Rica”? What new tax laws is the US government or other governments cooking up for expats?
And then – money matters. I’ve never believed that financial concerns alone were a good reason to pick up and move to another country; that’s why the newsletter and website have always been keyed in to the local culture and what life is really like for expats. Now, however, everyone’s financial life is intricately connected to the global economy, so international investing will be an important part of the blog. What it won’t be is hard sell “buy now before it’s too late” or how to hide your money overseas. The purpose here is to share research and sources of information to help the small, independent investors do their own research and make their own decisions. (Unless otherwise noted, I have no financial interest in investments discussed. Although I have worked in the financial industry in the past, I now have no connections with any financial firms.)
Some of the most exciting news from abroad comes from the non-profit sector, NGOs and volunteering abroad. We’ll have information on agencies that provide micro-credit, cooperatives selling handcrafted items and stories of people making a difference in far-flung parts of the world. And as always, our links page keeps expanding to include more opportunities to volunteer abroad.
Whoever you are, whatever you’re looking for, the purpose here is to stimulate your thinking and get you talking, sharing ideas and linking with others who have similar interests.