from NICHOLAS BREALEY INTERCULTURAL

THE ART OF COMING HOME

Craig Storti

The evidence is compelling: the overwhelming majority of people returning from a period living or working abroad find returning to their home culture more difficult than adjusting to the foreign culture in the first place.

Expecting that home will be the way it was when they left, most returnees are shocked to discover that both they and their home have changed. Indeed the differences between what they expect and what they actually find are so striking that the phenomenon of re-entry is known as 'reverse culture shock'.

In The Art of Coming Home Craig Storti takes his readers through the re-entry experience. He discusses the highs and lows, the problems and the solutions and what to expect at each stage along the way, defining four clear stages - leavetaking and departure, the 'honeymoon', reverse culture shock and readjustment. He provides practical suggestions for successful repatriation, looking at the issues most returnees face.

Craig Storti looks closely at issues faced by returning employees, but also examines the issues spouses, teenagers and young children encounter and offers advice for dealing with re-entry both before departure and after arrival home.The Art of Coming Home will give anybody - those already returning, those who are about to return, or those who are just thinking about moving overseas a much-needed perspective on this highly-charged and complex experience.

Craig Storti directs Craig Storti and Associates, a cross-cultural training firm. He specialises in the design and delivery of seminars in cross-cultural adjustment, repatriation and diversity, and has written for The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, as well as many other publications. He is also the author of The Art of Crossing Cultures, now from Nicholas Brealey Intercultural, and Figuring Foreigners Out, published by Intercultural Press and available from Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

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