When one moves to a new place, one has to spend a lot of time networking. Making new friends for yourself, your children if they are young and for your family. I have found that once the friends network is established, life becomes much simpler.The adjustment problems that children typically face upon relocation can be easily diluted if there are close family friends with kids of similar ages. It is up to Mom to make sure that strong bonds are formed in a relatively short period of time. Fortunately, wherever we move today there is a large Indian community to lend us it's support.
I found an interesting way in which to bond with like minded people fairly quickly. This is through establishing a book club. Many ladies are very attracted to the idea of a book group, it is a good way to meet with other women but with some purpose. It is a place to read and discuss interesting books and to exchange ideas. I first joined a book group when I lived in New York. It was a wonderful way to meet and bond with other women in New York City. It became an incredible support group over the years.
In Manila a few of us new expats started the group with a handful of ladies and then it sort of expanded by word of mouth. The aim was to make the group as diverse as possible. This is a lot of hard work! We invite people from different backgrounds, professions, nationalities. This is the only way to ensure some genuine exchange of ideas, otherwise we would have everyone repeating the same set of ideas and prejudices.
So far we have read books such as The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Illustrado, Freedom, and Love in the Time of Cholera. American writers, Philippino writers, South American writers and so on.
Each time we meet at each other's homes. A sumptuous spread is laid out. Although we have tried very hard to keep the meal simple, the host usually focuses on serving very delicious food made with lot of effort.
The book club has been an unbridled success. There are a lot of members and there is a long waiting list for our Manila book club!
I found an interesting way in which to bond with like minded people fairly quickly. This is through establishing a book club. Many ladies are very attracted to the idea of a book group, it is a good way to meet with other women but with some purpose. It is a place to read and discuss interesting books and to exchange ideas. I first joined a book group when I lived in New York. It was a wonderful way to meet and bond with other women in New York City. It became an incredible support group over the years.
In Manila a few of us new expats started the group with a handful of ladies and then it sort of expanded by word of mouth. The aim was to make the group as diverse as possible. This is a lot of hard work! We invite people from different backgrounds, professions, nationalities. This is the only way to ensure some genuine exchange of ideas, otherwise we would have everyone repeating the same set of ideas and prejudices.
So far we have read books such as The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Illustrado, Freedom, and Love in the Time of Cholera. American writers, Philippino writers, South American writers and so on.
Each time we meet at each other's homes. A sumptuous spread is laid out. Although we have tried very hard to keep the meal simple, the host usually focuses on serving very delicious food made with lot of effort.
The book club has been an unbridled success. There are a lot of members and there is a long waiting list for our Manila book club!
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hi! where's this book club? Is there a website? I am interested.Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHow can i join?
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