Friday’s Olympian(s) to Watch: Sarah Attar and Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahkhani

Leave a reply

CNN has been doing a series on the athletes of the Arab Spring. I was on their site this week and found a clip about Saudi Arabia’s Olympic Team, which you may have heard will include women for the very first time. After great pressure from the Olympic Committee, Sarah Attar and Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani will represent their country in the 800 meter and judo respectively. Although Olympians, the Saudi government has set strict rules for the two women. They must dress appropriately for Sharia law at all times (head covering included)and they must have a male guardian with them at all times when in public. Regardless, these women are to be admired and hopefully will be the start of allowing more women in Saudi Arabia participate in sports.

SARAH ATTAR

Olympic Sport: 800 meter

Hometown: Escondido, California, USA

Birthdate: August 27, 1992 (age 19)

Height: 5’4″ (a mere 5 inches taller than me)

Weight: unknown

WODJAN SHAHERKANI

Olympic Sport: Judo

Hometown: Makkah, Saudi Arabia

Birthdate: February 1, 1996 (age 16)

Height: unknown

Weight: 175 lbs.

Read more about these incredible women at the following:

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

4 Replies

Tomorrow we leave San Diego for last time as residents. Hubby will drop me off at the train station with three suitcases, two carry-ons, and large painting covered in bubble wrap. He will then drop our car off to be shipped to Oklahoma, take a taxi to the trolley, and then take the trolley to the train station. We will then take a train to LAX where we will catch a bus to the airport and then a red-eye to Atlanta, where our parents will pick us up tomorrow morning. Whew! I’m already exhausted and the day hasn’t even started.

San Diego, you’ll be missed. You’ve been an incredible place to work, play, and be global from home.

Atlanta, I can’t wait to be home, see family, and sleep!

Oklahoma City, be ready. We’re coming next Friday!

Olympic Insider: Jane’s Olympic Blog

2 Replies

With the Olympics starting this week, I’ve been searching through Olympic tagged posts on WordPress to gear up! A few nights ago I came upon a blog that stuck out: Jane’s Olympic Blog. Jane is from Bromley, England and her blog is all about serving as an ambassador for Team London. She is a true Olympic insider! Jane was so kind to answer a few of my questions.

What Olympic sport are you most excited to see?

We’ve got tickets to see the table tennis, as hubby plays it (though not to Olympic level!), so that will be the most exciting, I think. Plus of course the athletics – I wonder how many records will be broken and how quick Usain Bolt will run?!

What is the most important thing they teach you in ambassador training?

Our ambassador training provided us with a lot of knowledge about what we’ll be doing – welcoming people to London and providing them with information on places nearby, how to get to where they want to go and what else is going on nearby.

As an ambassador for London, what restaurant would you recommend a visitor to try?

We can’t recommend specific restaurants as there are so many and it depends where we’ll be based, and on individual taste. I will be in the ‘Flying Squad’ which means I’ll get to travel about and provide cover at different Ambassador stations each day. For anyone coming to London, the best place to look for restaurants and read their reviews is http://www.timeout.com/london/.

Definitely check out Jane’s blog for the inside scoop on the London Olympics.

Abroad Blog of the Week: Born Again Brazilian

5 Replies

Although a little later that usual, I am proud to bring you the Abroad Blog of the Week! I found Born Again Brazilian about a month ago and since then have been fascinated with her project of becoming Brazilian. This American-born blogger moved to Sao Paolo from NYC about two years ago with her Brazilian husband and little girl. But on January 1st of this year, she took on a new challenge – do one Brazilian thing every day and blog about the venture. She is now +203 days into her journey and has even survived being Brazilian in Chicago (I’d say that’s is pretty global-from-home-worthy). On top of all that, Born Again Brazilian was so gracious to give me a last minute interview. THANK YOU!!! Here’s what she had to say:

Now that you are +203 days into your Brazilian Challenge, what is your favorite challenge so far?

While the travel experience and the food tasting challenges are the most fun, my favorites are the ones that are really kind of scary and challenge me in both the culture and language. So I’d have to say that my very favorite is “The Exams” when I spent the morning experiencing the Brazilian medical exam center system and learning all sort of new vocabulary.

You’ve been State-side for almost six weeks. How hard has it been to be Brazilian in Chicago?

Harder than I thought. Chicago doesn’t have a large Brazilian community like New York and Los Angeles, so I’ve been limited on food, art and entertainment venues. But it has forced me to test my Brazilian behavior skills, which gets me closer to the original goal of my blog – to become more Brazilian.

What do you prefer: Brazilian parenting styles or American parenting styles?

That’s difficult because parenting styles vary within both cultures. But I feel like American parents are much more involved in the details of their children’s lives. Brazilians tend to put less importance on day-to-day participation and feel it is acceptable to pass tasks, like bathing and feeding, off to others. My mothering mindset is more aligned with the American way, probably because of my American upbringing. But I have witnessed a few American expat mothers adapt into the Brazilian parenting style quite easily.

Who speaks better Portuguese, you or your daughter?

My daughter. Hands down.

What advice would you give someone trying to assimilate into another culture?

I just published “10 Tips for Surviving Sao Paulo,” on my blog. I think all ten pretty much apply to anyone assimilating into another culture. But the one main clue to adaptation is to know that you need help. Most larger cities have organizations for expats and I would highly recommend seeking out those groups for information and support.

Abroad Blog of the Week Nominations

8 Replies

With moving, Mexico, and a residual stomach bug I am a bit off this week and now I’m running behind. While I’ve been emailing with a few bloggers, I have no abroad blog (yet) for this week. Bummer. But like the greeting card says, “When life gives you lemons, stick them in your bra.”  I figured I could use this opportunity to get some nominations for future Abroad Blogs of the Week. So here is the deal:

Criteria to be an Abroad Blog of the Week:

  1. The blogger must either be about to go abroad, currently abroad, or recently returned from abroad
  2. The blog must predominately be about culture/travel
  3. Posts should be fairly regular (at least once or twice a week).
  4. It has to be interesting

Requirements to be an Abroad Blog of the Week:

  1. Let me ask you 4-6 questions via email
  2. Send back your responses by the following Monday
  3. If you want (i.e. this is not a requirement), welcome any new readers from Global from Home the day I post our interview.

Easy, peasy.

If you would like your blog to be an Abroad Blog of the Week or know of another blog you think I should scope out, let me know! You can comment on this post or email me at elisehblalock@gmail.com.

Want to learn more about the Abroad Blog of the Week? Check out these previous editions:

London Calling!

Leave a reply

Only 3 days until Opening Ceremonies! I was in the grocery store yesterday and saw this display. I couldn’t help but take some pictures and make one small purchase for Friday.

I just had to get the London Lollies to celebrate on Friday. Unfortunately we’ll be watching the Opening Ceremonies from LAX but at least we’ll do it in style!

What I Learned About Jalisco’s Culture

2 Replies
Since we didn’t leave the region of Jalisco, I decided I could not apply what I learned to all of Mexico. It would be like applying everything you experience in NYC to the rest of the States…and as a Southerner living in San Diego, I know that would be ridiculous. But I did learn a good bit and found a lot of things that were surprising.
.

  1. Do not play Punch Bug. For some reason the VW Beetle is a very popular automobile in Puerto Vallarta. You’re shoulder will end up pretty sore.

  2. Saying “buenos dias” is just plain old common courtesy. Whether we were entering a store, the elevator, or passing someone on a small street, everyone said “Buenos Dias.”

  3. Locals eat really early. If you want a good local meal for dinner, plan to eat around 5pm because most restaurants close at 6pm.

  4. Salsa is not just for dipping chips. We had some incredible local breakfast foods all served with salsa.

  5. Jaliscienes value their salsa variety. Even at the tiniest taco shop, three types of salsa were served.

  6. Horses are still a common mode of transportation in the country.

  7. They people of PV have so much more patience than the average American. They patiently wait until the customer is done to bring them their bill. They patiently assist foreigners as they linguistically stumble with their 8th grade Spanish. And when it comes to the arts, their patience is absolutely astounding.

How to be Global from Home

3 Replies

With my 75th post yesterday, I went back and read through my blog. As I did, some things stuck out. I recognized some patterns and themes in how I’ve been global from home. These certainly aren’t all the ways to bring your experiences from abroad back with you, but for me, these have been a good way to start.

1. Reflect on my abroad experiences

When I started this blog, I realized that there were lots of experiences from abroad that I had not really thought about again. Through postcards to Grandma, reminiscing with friends, and drawing comparisons with my every day life, my reflections from my abroad experiences has been one of the best ways I’ve been global from home.

2. Interact with people who love culture/travel as much as I do

Since I can’t live abroad right now, I like to live vicariously through others. The Abroad Blog of the Week has been my best way of interacting with others who are abroad living out what I can only imagine right now.

3. Help others experience culture or adjust to mine

For me, this mostly plays out by being a study abroad advisor. I love helping others explore where they want to go and really prepare for their time abroad.  I’ve also realized that it’s important to help those who are new to my culture. Volunteering with the local refugee community or with organizations like Cup of Local Sugar are a few ways to pay it forward.

4. Eat and cook with culture in mind

My first Friday Lunch was a shameless ploy to get students to come visit me during the summer, but it turned out to be a great way for me to explore foods of other cultures (and try to make them without a kitchen). Hubby and I have also increased our ethnic dining and I promise to cook more internationally once we are settled in OKC.

5. Practice my language skills

My Italian is definitely an area of being global from home that I need to work on, but I have a plan!

6. Global reads and foreign films

With the start of my regional reading list and some great Netflix finds, I feel like I’m learning so much more about countries that I may never have a chance to explore myself.

7. Creatively incorporate travel and culture into my physical surroundings

Whether it be maps, pictures, traditions, or crafts, I’m trying to incorporate visual reminders of the cultures and experiences that I so love.

On May 16th when I posted for the first time, I had an itch I was trying to satisfy. Having not left the country in over 3 years, I felt frustrated that I was not doing something that I really enjoy. This blog has certainly soothed that itch; it has made me intentional about looking at the world 30 miles from my door and seeing all the culture available to me. I’m excited to see where it takes me next.

Molcajete Recipes

Leave a reply

When Hubby and I got married two years ago my cousin got us a molcajete from Williams Sonoma. We had recently discovered that we loved guacamole and were so excited to make it “the real” way. That is all I’ve ever used my molcajete for. As far as we were concerned, molcajete = guacamole maker. But now that we’re in Mexico, we’ve discovered it has a lot more uses than to just make awesome guac. In addition to having guacamole made at our table, we’ve also enjoyed freshly-made salsa and stew made and served in a molcajete. Newly aware of its additional uses, I thought I would do some recipe research to share.  Here’s what I’ve found:

Rudy’s Molcajete Mixto Recipe – a mixed grill of carne asada, nopales, chicken, shrimp, jalapenos, and chorizo sausage served with queso fresco, avocado, and lime

Mexican Style Meat and Vegetable Stew – a chicken, flank steak, and bacon in a tomato based broth

Seafood Molcajete Recipe – shrimp, scallops, and chicken sausage  served hot and spicy in the molcajete

Currently our molcajete is in a storage unit in Augusta, Georgia but once it’s out, I promise to try these and share how they go.

Have any molcajete recipes to share?

Courtesy of davedworkin.com. My own pics are still to come!

Friday’s Olympian to Watch: Guillermo Pérez Sandoval

Leave a reply

On our last full day in Mexico, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight one of their star athletes for this week’s Olympian to Watch. After asking around and doing some research, I was surprised to find out that Mexico excels in Taekwondo. In fact, in the 2008 Olympics they took home two gold medals in the sport. One of those medalists was Guillermo Pérez Sandoval, who will be returning to Olympic Games this year in London.

Guillermo started his career in Taekwondo at the young age of 5, inspired by Bruce Lee movies. His successes came early with his first big win at age 10 which threw him into the international competition circuit. With his win in the 2008 Olympics, Guillermo became a national hero. With only 55 medals in the country’s history, he has become one of the elite athletes and has gained a great deal of notoriety. Upon his Olympic win, Guillermo told interviewers that the Mexican president called him and said he was the pride of their country. The president of Mexico’s World Taekwondo Federation also credits Guillermo and Maria Espinoza’s Olympic wins for the growing popularity of the sport in Mexico. There are now over 1.5 million people who practice the sport.

Olympic Sport: Taekwondo

Hometown: Uruapan, Mexico

Birthdate: October 14, 1979 (age 32)

Height: 5’7″ (8 inches taller than me)

Weight: 127 lbs.

Read more about Guillermo Pérez Sandoval at: