How to make the most of house guests or visitors

I am lucky enough to have my mother visiting for a month. She is an excellent guest, easy going, accommodating, interested in what we are doing and keen to know her grandchildren in New Zealand more.

Mum and her Grandchildren in NZ

I am very proud of her ability at almost eighty to fly for 28 hours to be with us. She looks marvelous. Her great company is a reminder of what we miss out on, but I relish every moment of being with her.

This is the time of year when many people will have visitors. They may be staying for more than one day. Immigrants with visitors often have family or friends staying for a few weeks at least. It is lovely to have them but those who have or have had visitors will agree there is some merit to the saying, 'Fish and family, out after three days.'

How do you make the most of your house guests?

12 Ways To Overcome Homesickness

The second newsletter is out click here to read it.
It has information on homesickness and suggests 12 ways to overcome it.

Have you ever wondered how to greet people of a different culture? Make sure you get it right. The newsletter shows ways to greet people of different nationalities.



Finally, how many artists can you name (without Googling the answer) on this version of Lou Reed's Perfect Day?


Tell us what you think of the newsletter. Are there any other topics you would like for future newsletters and blogs?

November Newsletter: Homesickness - What you didn't know and what you can do.

Homesickness/Nostalgia was acknowledged in the seventeenth century as such a debilitating disease that soldiers who had it were sent home form the war. Now homesickness is a sign of weakness. Find out more by signing up to the newsletter here.
As another homesick inducing holiday season approaches with Hannukah, Thanksgiving and Christmas, find out what you can do to make it easier.
If that is not enough, find out how to greet people of different cultures without offending. Its in the Newsletter. The November issue coming out 19th November or before.
Finally, one of the greatest piano players of our time sings a tribute to going back home.

Newsletter 2 - Homesickness

Homesickness, some history of it, 12 ways to overcome it, greeting people and hearing Elton John sing Back home again are just some of the items on this newsletter. Click on the link below.
Newsletter 2 November 2013

How To RemoveThe Fear Of Flying With Children. Part 2

Your carry-on luggage survival kit:

1. Your survival kit for toddlers or children should include boiled sweets, vitamin tablets or something to suck for takeoff and landing to avoid earache. For babies I used to have water or milk in a bottle for them to suck on. It can also include activity bags for the children, fruit and nuts to cover for disorientated meal times.

How To Remove The Fear Of Flying With Children. Part 1

As Christmas approaches some of you will be thinking of making a trip back to your homeland. If you have

children or babies to take with you, this may seem daunting. You can probably already hear the groans of passengers as you and your offspring approach a seat near them.

I heard one young man say, “My flight is going to be terrible now.”  I felt for the mother and hoped that she didn’t hear the comment, though I thought I saw her clench her jaw. I empathised with the young man just a teeny bit. A constantly screaming baby is hard to be near but so is a drunken young man, which he had the potential to be.

Since immigrating to New Zealand from England, I have flown long-haul flights with all ages and stages of babies, toddlers, children and teenagers. The journey is two twelve-hour flights with a variety of hours in transit in between. As my youngest is now a teenager, most of the travelling with children was before those marvellous individual screens for in-flight entertainment.

Individual screens or not, the journey can be hard. The prospect of it can be overwhelming. The journey is worth it though, and the more you are prepared the easier it is. Here are a few tips for travelling with children that worked for me, particularly on long journeys.

Brain Shock or Culture Shock?

The first newsletter is out! Read about what your brain has to go through when it is processing all the changes of a new environment. See 100 images of migration. Click on the link below.
Newsletter 1 Sept 2013

Newsletters Imminent, Community Celebrations

The first newsletter will be out in the next few days. There has already been interest in it so sign up to get the first issue. When you sign up, enjoy reading through the free Ten Tips To Become A More Settled Immigrant.

September hosts the Jewish New Year and the Moon festival.  Both are times of gathering with family and friends and celebrating. If you are away from your loved ones, see if you can join in the celebration with people around you. Perhaps you could invite them to your celebration. If they are not aware of the celebration, you may be just the right person to introduce them to it.

Sit back, enjoy, your time will come

There are some movies you can see over and over again. Even if they are soppy, they just resonate with you in the right way at the time. There are some parts of a movie that you can watch over and over. The end of Love Actually is a favorite. People are reunited with their family and friends at the airport arrival gate. I love watching the genuine embraces and expressions, smiling, tears of happiness. Great camera work (A team was at Heathrow for a week filming this footage.) Watching the collection of those joy filled moments makes me smile and look forward to that time in the future, when it will be me with my arms around a loved one, touching cheeks and feeling each others tears of joy. Here is a snippet of the ending.Enjoy the loving

In Mixed Marriages, who gets to stay in their homeland?

I met my husband in his homeland and we stayed there. Another couple I know met in her homeland and they moved to his. I would love to know if there is an even mix of mixed marriage couple's locations. It seems most of the mixed marriages I have come across, have the women as the immigrant. I could put this down to the fact that I am more drawn to women immigrants, so I know more immigrant women than immigrant men.

Perhaps as suggested in the article Do Men Suffer More Homesickness Than Women? women are geared up to be homemakers so they feel they can make a home where they need. I know as an independent twenty year old, I thought I could make a home anywhere. It turned out to be harder than I thought, especially being so distant from my homeland. Once we became established, it seemed too overwhelming to re-start a life in my homeland and expose my husband to the homesickness trials I had been through.

So we are still in his homeland. We are able to live in a lifestyle that suits us both in enough ways. I guess that is the deal breaker. Which country do you, as a couple or family, think you will have a life that you will be most happy in?

Connecting with grandchildren

What will happen if your children decide to immigrate?  Thinking about this may help you appreciate some of the feelings your parents had when you announced that you were going to emigrate.

Would you miss your grandchildren?  Your parents are probably concerned they won't know or be known enough by their grandchildren. What can you do?

Strategy: Have a plan of how you can keep your children connected to their grandparents. Skype, phone calls, visits, facebook.

Meeting Migrants

Since deciding to write about migrants and their emotional challenges they have, I seem to be meeting migrants on every corner. If they are not migrants, then they are parents of migrants. This is encouraging. I want to hand them my card, but I haven't quite got it ready. I am typing this at a course Selling books on line, how to create a blog by Jocelyn Watkin, director of www.thestorybridge.co.nz.
I am feeling like an adventurer, delving into the possibilities of the world wide web where I can give rather than just research and receive.
This blog is about making migrants feel more settled. The more I meet, the more I hear their feelings of the pull of home is universal. I'll be exploring this later and suggesting strategies to deal with the emotional challenges of being an immigrant.