ExpatExchange Blog

Family issues likely will always be a complication for people moving abroad. As a recent article in the International Herald Tribune points out, if an overseas employee’s family is unable to adapt to their new life, the chance of an assignment failure significantly increases. What’s more interesting, or frustrating, is that there is such a low percentage of companies that mandate cross-cultural training. There are many things that can be learned in this type of training that can enhance a family’s capacity to manage the stressors faced on an assignment. We’d love to hear feedback from anyone that has utilized cross-cultural training and what it has or has not done for them!

A new survey by ECA International, a London company, indicates that Angola’s capital, Luanda, is the costliest destination for expatriates. London and Seoul have plummeted on the list due to the depreciation of their currencies over the course of the last year.

There have been two new additions to Alan Paul’s column “The Expat Life” on WSJ.com. In the first, Alan writes about preparing to end his assignment and return home. The second is a great piece about the variety of “Chinese Food” that is much more broad and delectable than what one tends to encounter in Chinese restaurants in the U.S.