expat issues – Page 11

Teaching Children a Foreign Language

January 12, 2011June 29, 2011Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Someone wrote me this week asking how I teach my children Italian. Even before we moved abroad, I had given this question a lot of thought. Our Casteluzzo Academy curriculum (at our homeschool), includes some very ambitious language goals. But what really matters with language study for children are the little everyday details. Here are 10 tips on how to make the most of language learning whether your children are seventeen months or seventeen years old.

1. Start right away. It is never to early to learn a foreign language. My children are three and five, and we’ve been exposing them to foreign languages since birth.… Read more

Light My Fire . . . Kindle It, That Is

January 11, 2011January 12, 2011Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Yes, my #1 favorite Christmas present finally arrived today! Thank you to my in-laws for the funds, and Tina and Robert for getting it over the Atlantic for me. As an inveterate bookworm, I have been contemplating getting a Kindle for years. At first, I was one of those people who just couldn’t stomach the idea of replacing a real book with an electronic device. I loved the classic Star Trek episode where Captain Kirk visits the eccentric with the real, old-fashioned library. It makes me feel at home to have shelves and shelves full of books, preferably nice, heavy hard-bound ones.… Read more

Why I Outsourced Your Job To India

January 8, 2011May 24, 2011Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Well, so maybe it wasn’t your job. But I don’t mind outsourcing overseas. And here’s why. When my husband and I started our first business, we were living in a one-bedroom cinderblock apartment on Brigham Young University campus while he finished up his degree. So our shoestring budget was always more than a little threadbare. When we had the idea about a year later to make a flash-animated online design tool to sell our basketball uniforms, we got a quote from a local company. The Utah company we consulted (which will remain unnamed) quoted us $150,000 to $250,000 to design our tool.… Read more

To be curious is dangerous enough

January 4, 2011March 28, 2017Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Sometimes it’s really hard to be different. To never conform to people’s expectations. To be always causing a sensation when you just meant to live your life authentically. To find your logic somehow forever leading to unexpected conclusions. As a result, I sometimes take evasive action. When making a new acquaintance, I don’t always volunteer certain information such as that my children are home educated, I drink unpasteurized milk, I lived in three different countries last year, and I think Latin grammar is fun. It just makes things simpler. I really do try to avoid affecting other people too directly by the consequences of my eccentricity.… Read more

Pavane for a Dead Phone Charger

December 20, 2010December 20, 2010Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I once had a wonderful, simple, practical, brilliant device that made my life serene, beautiful, and carefree. I still remember the day that I opened the box to my new Blackberry 8830. I slowly extended my hand, touched it gently with my fingers, and then carefully lifted it out. No, not the phone, which was a phone like any other phone, without even the distinction of being an iPhone. The CORD. The incredible, fantastic, never-seen-before-or-since phone charger cord. It looked simple enough. On one end was a mini-USB to fit into the neat little matching slot on my phone. But the other end.… Read more

Grouchin’ in a Winter Wonderland

December 7, 2010January 12, 2011Sarah Bringhurst Familia

In case you’re wondering, this is what I did not post yesterday:

I am done with winter, I am done with cold feet, and I am done with sick people trying to kiss me and my kids! I think I will spend the rest of the winter hibernating in my house. Wake me up when it is half-past May.

Yesterday at Church I hope I didn’t offend half the branch, because I just could not do the kissing thing. I resorted to the friendly wave from across the room, and acting really busy between meetings picking up all the food and pencils my children obligingly scatter around.… Read more

Philippines, Part 9: “Sexy Chic” at the Playboy Fashion Show (Field Study Research)

December 3, 2010January 14, 2017Sarah Bringhurst Familia

In case you were worried, this post is planning to be strictly G-rated. Last week we had front-row seats for a dramatic tropical storm and met an ex-Navy Seal named Tiny (or was he an ex-Marine? They both sound vaguely nautical, and I’m so bad at these distinctions), who took us on the wildest scuba diving adventure of our lives. If you’d like to catch up, here are the previous episodes in the series:

What’s in a Name?

December 2, 2010December 2, 2010Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I have been married for nearly seven years, and have never been able to decide exactly what to do about my name. Every new bride in the United States must decide whether to keep her maiden name or take her husband’s. In effect, society views it as a choice between showing your support for family values or asserting your identity as an individual equal to your husband. The debate is fraught with cultural significance, and you’d better believe that you will be judged by everyone (including yourself) on which choice you make.

What happens to those of us who would rather not choose between the two?… Read more

The Syria Files: Secret Rebel at the Embassy

November 30, 2010July 14, 2011Sarah Bringhurst Familia

On the surface, the Foreign Service seemed like the perfect career for me. After all, wasn’t it right up my alley to have an excuse for moving to a different exotic country every couple of years? When I was taking Arabic classes in college, the Foreign Service (and other more bellicose elements of the U.S. government) loved to proselyte us. What better thing than to explore the world while serving your country and making a comfortable (and unbeatably secure) living? What better thing indeed.

I thought about it. I was still thinking about it when I went on a semester abroad to Syria.… Read more

Philippines, Part 8: Please Don’t Feed the Sharks (Anilao)

November 26, 2010January 14, 2017Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Welcome back to our Friday in the Philippines. Last week we battled the cockroaches for possession of our new apartment. You can find that episode (and any others you’ve missed) here:

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