A Portable Identity: A Woman’s Guide to Maintaining a Sense of Self While Moving Overseas, Revised Edition
Product Description
A Portable Identity, revised and updated edition, is written by two former expatriate spouses who are also counselors. The book educates and empowers expatriate spouses to take charge of the changes in identity that occur during an international relocation. The most profound change a woman will experience when she moves overseas in support of her husband’s career comes from within herself, to her own sense of identity. With two, three, or more years of an overseas… More >>
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A Portable Identity: A Woman’s Guide to Maintaining a Sense, June 28, 2004
Reviewer: J (Washington, D.C) – See all my reviews
Anyone ever to encounter and navigate the endless and exhaustive details involved with moving and living overseas will appreciate the meticulous care and thought that went into this primer. The exercises and for planning for and understanding the different stages, emotions and thought processes that accompany such a move are terrific, not just for the move itself, but for a very effective and smooth assimilation of this kind of life-changing experience.
I will be giving this one to many of my friends who are also contemplating living and working overseas.
Rating: 4 / 5
Even though I didn’t have any apparent serious difficulty with adjusting to my first expat experience, working through this book provided amazing insights to what had helped me as well as revealed some unknown areas where I needed to do some internal re-evaluation.
This is an exceptional tool that should be given to every expat woman (first time OR long time) by corporate HR departments or government agencies as soon as an expat assignment is anticipated. Although you can work through some sections as soon as you learn about an expat assignment, you will gain just as much even if you begin after moving… or years into your expat experience!
Working through “A Portable Identity” you feel as if you are in a small group discussion with Debra and Charise (the authors). By honestly sharing their own experiences and feelings, it enables the reader/writer to jumpstart her own evaluations. Especially for an expat in a location where there may not be many other support mechanisms, this is an invaluable tool.
Rating: 5 / 5
Like many other women who accompany their husbands overseas, I started to think I was going crazy! But, after attending a workshop facilitated by the authors, I realized what I was feeling was completely normal. By using the skills and exercises that Debra and Charise illustrate in their book, you can get back on your feet and transition into your new lifestyle overseas.
Tracy Garringer,
Former U.S. Embassy Expatriate Wife,
Bangkok, Thailand
Rating: 5 / 5
Even though I didn’t have any apparent serious difficulty with adjusting to my first expat experience, working through this book provided amazing insights to what had helped me as well as revealed some unknown areas where I needed to do some internal re-evaluation.
This is an exceptional tool that should be given to every expat woman (first time OR long time) by corporate HR departments or government agencies as soon as an expat assignment is anticipated. Although you can work through some sections as soon as you learn about an expat assignment, you will gain just as much even if you begin after moving… or years into your expat experience!
Working through “A Portable Identity” you feel as if you are in a small group discussion with Debra and Charise (the authors). By honestly sharing their own experiences and feelings, it enables the reader/writer to jumpstart her own evaluations. Especially for an expat in a location where there may not be many other support mechanisms, this is an invaluable tool.
Rating: 5 / 5
Like many other women who accompany their husbands overseas, I started to think I was going crazy! But, after attending a workshop facilitated by the authors, I realized what I was feeling was completely normal. By using the skills and exercises that Debra and Charise illustrate in their book, you can get back on your feet and transition into your new lifestyle overseas.
Tracy Garringer, Former US Embassy Expatriate Wife
Bangkok, Thailand
Rating: 5 / 5