Tereré Talks: Part 4. Zoe and Nicole discuss the oddities of getting around in Paraguay. You can walk - but not on the sidewalks. You can drive - but you can't turn left. You can bike - but watch out for the sinkholes disguised as puddles. You can take a bus - but you have to book it in person. You can fly - but the airport shops aren't reliably open. Next Thursday: food! Read more about tereré here. REVIEW On Apple Podcasts On Podchaser CONNECT Email theexpatcast@gmail.com Instagram @theexpatcast  ..read more

Tereré Talks: Part 3. White chunky tile flooring, a special pavilion for the barbecue, and an old dude with a gun napping at the end of the street. Welcome to a Paraguayan home! In Paraguay, there are a lot of quirky things about a house, from the confusing but cool electrical outlets to dogs that are kind of pets, kind of security. Nicole and Zoe explain what a Paraguayan home looks like, plus a cost breakdown to compare rent and utilities costs among Paraguay, Germany, and the USA. Listen until the end for the wild tale of how far German government agencies will go to track you down! Ne ..read more

Tereré Talks: Part 2. Things Nicole read about Paraguay before moving here: it's the only landlocked South American, and it has an impressive mail system. Both "facts" proved to be untrue. So Nicole and Zoe are here to correct them! After going over basic geographical information, Nicole and Zoe share a short history of Paraguay, some fast facts about the population and places of interest, and a bit about safety in Paraguay. Plus, they discuss their first impressions upon arriving in Asuncion - including the unusual city structure! Next Thursday: we dive into the numbers for all things housing ..read more

Tereré Talks: Part 1. Exactly a year ago, Nicole packed up her bags and moved from Germany to Paraguay. She didn't know what to expect, because the Internet knows everything, except, apparently, things about Paraguay. After a year in Paraguay, Nicole has lots of love for this special place, and she's here to share about it in the Tereré Talks. Nicole's friend Zoe joins her as a co-host, and they start off by catching up on the last year. What did Nicole get up to? What did she find to do for work? Where has she traveled to in South America? Why hasn't this podcast come out for months?? And mos ..read more

Season 7, Episode 25. This week's guest is your host, Nicole! Nicole is from the US and lived in Germany for five and a half years. Just a couple weeks ago, she moved from Germany to Paraguay for a temporary stay. Over the course of seven months, Nicole recorded audio diaries about the move. The voice notes chronicle multiple moves, vehicle sales, paperwork stress,  figuring out how to quit a job in Germany, the oddness that is packing items to ship across an ocean, and sadness because of how a big move like this one impacts friendships. There's laughter, there's tears, there's an emptied ..read more

Season 7, Episode 24. "Last year, the world changed, and the awareness of the situation is there now. It wasn't there 10 years ago." Kateryna grew up in Kiev, Ukraine and moved to the Netherlands a decade ago to study. Before she could reflect on if she'd like to stay there longer after her degree, war broke out in her home country. But, weirdly, not many people around her knew about it or discussed it. Fast forward to 2022. By then, Kateryna had spent most of her 20s in the Netherlands and built a life for herself there. Suddenly, the war escalated, and thousands of fellow Ukranians were seek ..read more

Season 7, Episode 23. You might recognize her name and her voice from NPR, or National Public Radio, broadcasts across the US. Soraya grew up in the US, Iran, and Germany as the child of German and Iranian immigrants. She built an impressive career as a foreign correspondent, despite significant barriers keeping women from doing such work at the time. She persisted, and she succeeded. Soraya's career had her living for years in Afghanistan, opening up a Kabul bureau, before moving to Egypt, just months before the Arabic Spring broke out. After years of covering intense conflict and war, Soraya ..read more

Season 7, Episode 22. Lindsay was living in Michigan and nearing the end of high school, so she started to look at colleges in the US. And then she had a better idea. Rather than go to a US college and study abroad for a semester or a year, why not just go to university abroad? Now, she's halfway through her degree in Utrecht in the Netherlands. Lindsay tells us all about how she got the idea in her mind to get her Bachelor's degree abroad, what it's been like in comparison to a US college, and how she's navigated relationships with family and friends back home - all while learning to be an in ..read more

Season 7, Episode 21. Is there joy in life in Germany? Today's guest Priya grew up in India, lived for several years in Uganda, and now lives in Stuttgart, Germany. Priya and her German husband are raising their two small children in Germany, and focusing on family life has changed the considerations of what "joy" even means. We discuss where there was and wasn't joy in the various places she's lived. Priya shares a beautiful metaphor for how think about priorities when seeking joy. Hint: it involves one of the most popular brunch meals!   LINKS Priya's Instagram Wax & Wake BK on Inst ..read more

Season 7, Episode 20. If you think of a financial planner, you might not immediately think of the resume of today's guest. Born in the USA. A stint in Moldova. A few years in France. Then Rome. Then Copenhagen. Then back to the US, to Boston and then to Denver. And now, Toulouse, France.  Kieran spent most of her 20s living in various parts of Europe, learning what she likes and doesn't like in life, in a place, in a career, and in herself. A crucial piece of advice she got over a coffee date with her boss/mentor led her to relocate to the US, where she switched career tracks to become a ..read more