Geopats Abroad : Living overseas conversations

Send us Fan MailTHIS WEEK we chat with Creatrix Tiara. Tiara started interacting with others online in chat rooms at 10 years old while IRL living in Malaysia. Over the years Tiara’s geographical path has included locations in Malaysia, Australia and the U.S. While Tiara’s geographic life shifted, Tiara’s online life seems to have had an upward trajectory in notariety and impact due to the candid and eloquent vocalization of immigrant and queer issues.​Like many Online Content Creators, Tiara’s work going viral has not balanced notoriety with financial freedom. Judging from the voluminous body of work, Tiara will no doubt keep writing and creating for as long as possible. This passion to analyze, share and question is what first led me to Tiara’s creations and is why I love keeping up to date on what Tiara is doing. original publication date: December 27, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailThis week we expat chat with first time expat, Miicher, a Florida, US native who decided it was time for a change. Miicher is a teacher, an actor, a mom and a natural storyteller, which explains why her Facebook China Chronicles , where she has been sharing her experiences in Shanghai, China, have become such a hit. original publication date: December 18, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailTHIS WEEK we are proud to have Anh Ta with us for a conversation about how geographic movement from Vietnam to the U.S. has affected her online experience. Anh is an Artist with a strong online presence that she carefully curated for both professional and personal usage.She originally moved from Hanoi, Vietnam to the U.S. for her Bachelor’s Degree and has just completed her Master’s Degree in Art recently as well. Congratulations Anh! She is currently creating art and sharing it and other aspects of her life online from New York City.original publication date: December 7, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailSteve left the UK for a trip to Spain quite a number of years ago. After that trip he ended up living in Greece for a year and just reached his 6 year anniversary in Asia this month. After living a number of years both on and offline in mainland China, he moved to Hong Kong earlier this year, where he now works as a Life Coach.​Like yours truly, he has been an avid user of online technologies and social media from the beginning and has a lot of stories of wonderful and not so wonderful things that have happened online. And, also like myself, he has a lot of questions about what the hell we are doing online and how sustainable our virtual selves are going forward. His expat geographic life and VRL (virtual reality life) do in fact seem to affect each other in a rather interesting way, so have a listen and let us know what you think.original publication date: November 19, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailMai, Creator of the Intellect Grime YouTube Channel, is an Egyptian YouTuber who produces content about Philosophy, languages and books. She learned about blogs from YouTube, has been on and off Facebook for years and uses an app to track her mobile phone usage. In short, she is an inspiring example of how we can take agency of our online selves.​In this episode we talk about her virtual chronology as she grew up in Egypt and as she moved to the UK for university. Did her move IRL effect her actions VRL? What is VRL? Have a listen to find out all of this and more.original publication date: October 23, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailSowmya Vajjala is a Data Scientist, a Computational Linguist and one of the most intelligent and down to earth people you will ever meet. She is from India, lived in Germany for her PhD program and then taught at Iowa State University in the U.S., which is where I met her. She has since moved to Toronto, Canada, where she was during this conversation. Personally, she has impacted my life in ways I am only beginning to understand.​But that is all explained in the podcast itself. Her perspective on if living in different countries impacts people’s online experiences is very different than what we have heard so far in this podcast. This honest, matter of fact approach to the messiness of online life as it currently exists is, frankly, refreshing. I think you are going to appreciate this very different point of view on social media, geographical movement and why we do what we do online.original publication date: October 7, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailEx-chef and perpetual expat Alison takes us through her Instagram feed from her first year in Thailand: freedom, an explosion of her senses and moments of cultural pause are audio enclosed, proceed with caution and contemplation. ​original publication date: September 25, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailHave you ever been inspired by someone online, contacted them, met them in person and was even more impressed? Yup, that's the story of how Ronald and I met and it happened in just a few hours. I was listening to his Creativity Roots Podcast and loving it. The rest of the story is in the intro, so I don't want to spoil that part. What I will say is that we met at just the right time. I struggle greatly with accepting my creativity and he wears his like a favorite tshirt. He also has a heavy online presence, for both personal and professional reasons. And with that presence came opportunity, responsibility and love (oh wait until you hear his jokes!) Thank you Ronald for reminding me how freeing it can be to embrace who we are without judgement both on and offline.Ronald's website:https://mundosantoart.wordpress.com/Original publication date: September 4, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailWe started this podcast with Jo, a British expat who was living in Shanghai, China. Her wisdom, insight, humour and down to earth advice to other expats about how their online and geographical selves can, should, may and might influence each other is very inspiring. Original publication date: September 2, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailHow sound sensitive are you? Our guest today, Phoebe, grew up with Mandarin Chinese but has learned a myriad of languages including English, Finnish, German & more. But her sound talent goes far beyond languages into sound and voice research in her current PhD life in Ireland. She is currently researching the connection between recorded voices and listeners’ emotional responses to them. This sensitivity and Phoebe’s general curiosity touch every aspect of language that we discuss in this conversation. Original publication date: December 27, 2019More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailEric (his English name) grew up partly outside of Shanghai, China and then in Shanghai. He is now a Software Engineer that maneuvers through his Shanghai life in a multitude of languages including Mandarin Chinese, Shanghaiese, English, Japanese and French.Original publication date: July 10, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailIn this episode we talk to 沃维薇 (Wò wéi wēi), also known as Liz, about her dual Mandarin Chinese-English language experiences. Liz grew up in Shanghai, China with a passion for books and languages, which explains why and how she was reading English Sci-Fi at 14 years old. She is now a Simultaneous Interpreter, which is someone that is translating one language to another during a conversation at regular conversational speed. Yes, wow is the correct response to that.original publication date: December 18, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailZiwei is originally from China’s. He's hands down one of the most intelligent, motivated, and hard working people I have ever known. We met in a Natural Language Processing class (taught by Sowmya, guest on the Virtual Expat Podcast in Iowa State University’s PhD in Applied Linguistics and Technology Program.​ In this conversation we talk about his experiences learning Mandarin Chinese and English as a child.original publication date: November 17, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailLucy grew up in Shanghai, China speaking both Standard Mandarin Chinese and a local Songjiang dialect. She later learned other languages both as a child and an adult. Her descriptions of both the Chinese and foreign language classrooms in China are fascinating. She is now working in an English language workplace in Shanghai in the Social Media arena of a local publication, original publication date: September 16, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailThis is our first group chat about Simplified Mandarin Chinese. In this episode we have Yifei, a Chinese college student in Shanghai and Phil from episode 2 fame (he's British), who is a Master's student and also works in Shanghai. They share their own language learning stories, their successes and challenges in an open, blunt and friendly group conversation. Original recording date: June 29, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we chat with Lotta, a Finnish college student who lived in Shanghai, China between High School and University. During part of that time she took intensive Chinese language courses. Lotta has continued with her Chinese language learning even after returning to Finland by using TV shows and other media until she can take more language classes at her university.Original publication date: May 7, 2019More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailThis episode is about half of a conversation that Matthew Boyle of Legendary Language Learner YouTube channel and I had about language teaching, content creation and the intersection between the two.Original publication date: March 24, 2022More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailHow much overlap is there between music and language? Sinologist, Linguist, Jazz Pianist & returning Geopat Podcast Guest, David Moser, joins us again for a dive into this question. Original publication date: March 13, 2020More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailThis week due to an evil head cold I have something different for you. This mini language episode includes:-a personal German language update (get ready to cringe) and-an unpublished language snippet from a previous interview with Yunus from September 2019. Original publication date: February 14, 2020More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailCan the making of a language be a riveting story? Yes, yes, and according to Sinologist, Linguist, Jazz Pianist & returning David Moser has thoughts on this idea.Original publication date: December 6, 2019More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailHave you ever had to create your own path to succeed at something? That is exactly what Venture Capitalist did to become fluent in Mandarin Chinese. In fact, he was so successful at it that he ended up being the Lead Interpreter for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 in China. This is a 2 part interview about his amazing language learning story. Ryan Shuken: https://twitter.com/RshukenOriginal publication date: November 17, 2019More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailDavid’s Twitter bio says that he is a Sinologist, Linguist, Jazz Pianist and Author of "A Billion Voices: China's Search for a Common Language" but what it does not say (most likely due to understandable platform space constraints) is the thread of curiosity that permeates everything he does. That curiosity is infectious and one of the reasons why we are pleased to say that he has agreed to become a repeat guest on the Changing Scripts part of the Geopats Podcast. We need time and space to dig into the linguistic, psychological and motivational topics that we started to cover in this conversation and we are super pleased that he is willing and able to do so.Original publication date: October 4, 2019More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan Mail In this podcast episode, Steph talks with Thom Clairmont, Thomreads on Instagram, a French university student who is studying Sinology in graduate school. Sinology is the study of Chinese language, history, customs and politics. He has studied French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Russian but it is Chinese that he is the most fascinated with. In fact, he admits to not even liking learning languages until he started learning Chinese the last two years of high school.​What is it about the language that pulled Thom in and kept his attention? I’m afraid that you will have to have a listen to his language story for the details of him studying Mandarin Chinese both in Europe as well as in Asia. What I can tell you is that what Thom puts out into the world about his studies and about his reading experiences outside of Academic texts, is thoughtful, relevant and shared from a place of heartfelt enjoyment. Original publication date: August 8, 2019More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we chat with Angela, a Canadian who went to China for the first time in 2006, which is where she met her husband. She left China and returned, as so many expats do. Lucky for me, she came back to China in 2010 and worked at the same school teaching Academic English to students who were about to study abroad. Angela’s relationship to languages and language learning is the complete opposite to mine: before learning Mandarin Chinese she fluently learned French, Spanish and Finnish, with a strong emphasis on speaking the language. She is now a teacher in Canada and is able to help International students from China and other countries, adapt to their new learning and academic life in a small study group environment as well. Original publication date: June 10, 2019More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailNine Years Ago Joshua Ogden-Davis left graduate school in Texas, moved to China and taught himself Chinese. He is now a Mandarin Chinese Translator, does audio and video production in multiple languages, and is a Puppeteer. In this Changing Scripts podcast episode we dig into Josh’s fuller language story, including this switch from English to Mandarin Chinese as well as his experiences with Spanish, German and English from his beforetime.​Original publication: May 22, 2019More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailIn this episode we continue our conversation with Eric Olander about his 33 year Mandarin Chinese language learning experience. Eric is a Journalist, Blogger, Media Executive, and Co-Founder and Managing Editor of the China Africa Project which includes the China in Africa Podcast, which he co-hosts weekly with Cobus Van Staden.Original publication date: march 12, 2019More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailThis week we talk to Von, an American who grew up around Mandarin Chinese via martial arts and later intentionally slid into learning to read the language as well. Von thought the first 4 of the 5 years he studied Chinese were easy because he viewed it similar to the frequent practice of any new skill. But then the grammatical difficulty, script changes, and genre differences kicked in and the “brain burn” began.​But that has not stopped his progress at all. He studies usually in intensive two week increments of about 6 hours a day and then pauses until the desire to learn returns (usually a few weeks later). His patience, persistence and contextualization of the language are ideal characteristics for what I wish were called the “Slow Language Learning Movement.” In a world where people strive to learn a language in 30 days, his views are refreshing and his approach is inspiring. Come along and listen to how he wants to use language to “speak the story of what he wants to say."Original publication date: December 27, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailIn this episode we talk to Matthew Boyle, who started learning Mandarin Chinese thanks to an administrative error in his Arabic class registration at university. In 2011, he moved from the East Coast of the United States to Southern China and started to “play with the language” immediately.Original publication date: December 6, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailThe first time I met Ian we were walking around Shanghai for a work event, talking about the challenges of learning Mandarin Chinese. When he casually described the Mandarin Chinese script (cursive) book he had to special order, my mouth dropped and I made a mental note to ask him to be on the podcast later. Thankfully he agreed to do this.Original publication date: October 21, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailEric Olander, co-host of the China in Africa Podcast: https://chinaafrica-podcast.com/ (https://chinaafrica-podcast.com/), has been studying and using the Mandarin Chinese language for over 30 years. With this linguistic longevity comes language wisdom, a realistic perspective and sensible tools to give those of us studying the language a boost.Original publication date: September 18, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan Mail​In this episode we chat with Angie, Creator of T(h)ree of Books YouTube channel is from Germany. She had a few languages under her belt before moving to Shanghai, China and studying Mandarin Chinese. ​​Angie decided to take the time to study Mandarin Chinese in a classroom setting the first few months she was in the city and that is what our conversation revolves around. I have been curious about Chinese language classes in China so I had questions! Angie's YouTube channel, T(h)ree of books, about books and bookstores: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6LBSm1HZjecZt7EVnyUImwOriginal publication date: June 23, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailAntonella Moretti is the Author of Parsley and Coriander, a fictional book about an Italian expat community in Suzhou, China. Antonella has lived in Suzhou for many years herself and draws upon her personal expat experience for this narrative. In this episode we asked Antonella about her two bookish hats: expat reader AND expat Writer. We discuss her love of reading books about China, what led her to write this book on an expat experience in China and about the publication and translation process. Original publication date: June 28, 2019More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailIn this episode we chat with Summer Rylander, an American expat who has been living in Nuremberg, Germany since 2015. Summer is a freelance food and travel writer with a fondness for cooking, reading, daydreaming, procrastinating, and taking long walks with podcasts. Her latest droolworthy publication in Culture Magazine is about Swedish cheese (yes, it’s a thing!). When Summer gets writing hungry, she also posts about food and cooking on her blog, Eat Something Go Somewhere.Summer's website: https://www.summerrylander.com/Original publication date: June 4, 2019More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan Mail​In this episode we chat with Expat Mo from the More Sibyl Podcast. She describes this show as “a podcast about culture and cultural nomads designed for Blacks and Asians and those who love them.” Mo is a Nigerian-born, US-educated, Korean-speaking, Struggling Intellectual.​I enjoyed chatting with Mo so much about her Facebook posts from her first year in the U.S. Her reflections on her own posts and the discussion that ensued really got me thinking about what we take for granted when we grow up in a culture AND what we expect others to accept readily when they enter the same culture as an adult. Mo’s honesty, hilarious sense of humor and compassion for others is very inspiring. Mo's podcast: https://www.mosibyl.com/Original publication date: March 19, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailThis week we expat chat with Hannah Lund, who is magnetic, funny and thinky. Her geographic trajectory includes her home state of Minnesota and a quiet town in Iowa in the U.S., Paris, France and Hangzhou, China. In 2012 it was a mystical story involving a character called Madame White Snake, set in Hangzhou, which was the inspiration for this move to China but Hannah soon found out there were so many more unexpected surprises that would come from this experience. Original publication date: November 26, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan Mail​Pia and her family just recently left Shanghai, China after living here for two years. I have met some active expats in my life but Pia takes the cake on really living life the fullest. She explored China, worked and volunteered locally, all while raising two intelligent and worldly daughters. How did moving to the U.S. a few years ago help her to make this transition to living in China? Come have a listen to the answer to that question and more as we explore a blog of hers from this time period. ​Pia's blog: https://pianshanghai.blogspot.com/Original publication date: October 30, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailMany of us are promised things growing up in a certain culture and often those promises are never actualized. Jennifer is an American who had been to over 70 countries before moving to China to teach at an international school but that did not stop this home country disappointment from kicking in. In this episode she reads a poem that she wrote a bit after her first year in China to her father about these cultural promises. And as we often do in Expat Rewind, we spend quite a while unpacking what this poem and the frustration in it means to her now, what has changed since she wrote it and so much more.Original publication date: October 15, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailDid you blog your way through your first experiences in a new place? Shannon Martin did when she first moved to China in the early 2000's and you're going to find her observations from then AND now hilarious. Here's a side of China you rarely hear about. Original publication date: June 18, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailThe first year in a new country is always the hardest. Evan did what I did, he took to writing a blog to sort out the think through what he was seeing, experiencing and feeling. In this conversation we revisit an early blog post of his from when he first arrived in China. We chat about dogs, language and so many more nuanced aspects of Chinese (and American) culture. Original publication date: June 1, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailDo you have a spiritual home? Xing Zhao does. He's a Chinese Writer, Translator and former international student in Edinburgh, Scotland. Xing shares with us a blog post, Kapa Zhou, that he wrote during his first year studying in Scotland. He goes on to reflect on how his memories of that time period and how they are not fully represented in the blog entry. Xing also shared a post he wrote on the Chinese language version of this blog as advice to other international students. As someone who has taught international students both in Asia and in my passport country of the U.S, this was interesting insight to get first hand indeed. Xing’s website: https://kapazhao.com/Original publication date: May 14, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailHave your expectations about a place ever gotten you into trouble? American expat Evan, also known as my husband, was kind enough to be our first guest on the podcast show back in 2017. He shared a group email that he wrote to his family and friends back home with us as well as what he thinks about his culture shock now, 20 years later. Original publication date: May 7, 2018More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio

Send us Fan MailIf you're thinking of living outside of your passport country OR like to learn more about different cultures around the world, welcome. These are conversations that I had with other long term expats about what grounded them in their other places in the world. More: https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio