Almost Local Episode #1 - Intro with Maria

Welcome to Almost Local! In this kickoff episode, Maria shares the story behind the podcast, what inspired her to start it, and what you can expect in the episodes to come. From cultural shifts to personal growth, this is a space for honest conversations about the messy, beautiful reality of life abroad.

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Got a voice, a story, or just a love for mics and meaningful chats? You could co-host an episode with Maria or share your journey on the blog! Slide into our DMs or visit almost-local.com to pitch your idea.

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Episode Transcript

Maria Barciela (00:07):
Hello everyone, I'm Maria.
And this is Almost local, thepodcast that it's bringing,
stories and conversations aboutliving your life abroad.
And for the expat communities.
I'm, as you can see, located inthe Netherlands.

(00:28):
I live in the Hague.
I've been here for the pastthree years.
I'm originally from Argentina.
From Buenos Aires.
So I left Argentina about 10years ago in 2016, and before,
relocating to the Netherlandswhere I'm right now, I was
living in New Zealand, where Ispent, about six, seven years.

(00:52):
So welcome to the podcast.
I know that some of you havebeen, listening, a lot about
this community coming along.
And I'm really happy that I'mintroducing you to almost local,
the podcast where we are aimingto have.
Kind conversations aboutstories that bring us together

(01:15):
about life abroad, about expatexperiences.
And the idea with the podcastis that we will share our
experiences and especially ourups and downs and, the
unfiltered truths around lifeabroad.
We all know that, life, abroadin our countries, when you are,

(01:39):
looking from outside, it lookssuper glamorous.
But as an expert, as someonewho left, home a while, I know,
from experience that this is notas glamorous as, one might
think, life is not as simple andperfect as everyone imagine.
So the idea with the podcast isthat, we'll be sharing these

(02:03):
experiences and differentdilemmas around life abroad.
almost local is a community.
We are building a community,where we aim to share all our
experiences, our apps and downsabout, what brought us to leave
our countries to explore newplaces If it was because of

(02:24):
adventure, if it was because ofprofessional goals, family,
whatever reason.
We want to understand, what wasyour experience?
We want to share andcollaborate and see how, at the
end of the day, we all face thesame challenges.
So grab your coffee and join usfor kind conversations about

(02:45):
life abroad.
We also have our blog where weare, already posting some blog
posts about, different, dilemmasthat we are going to tackle
during these conversations inthe podcast.
Some of these dilemmas aboutlive abroad, are, where is home
now?
After leaving your homecountry, you have this sense of

(03:08):
not belonging to one place, notbelonging to the other place.
So you start wondering, okay,where is home now?
Another dilemma is about,cultural exchange and how do you
become this new person whereyou are not as you were before,
and you start becoming someonedifferent.
And how these new cultures, ina way, changes you.

(03:30):
Another dilemma that, Iparticularly enjoy talking a lot
about is raising kids, abroad.
In my case, I have two kids,Amelia and Antonio, who are 14
and 12.
They grew up.
Out of Argentina.
So they were born in BuenosAires, but then we left.
And so we are raising theseglobal citizens who have friends

(03:54):
from different parts of theworld and they are really,
growing up in a reallydifferent, set up as they
would've if we were back inArgentina.
So these dilemmas, we are also,tackling them in the podcast,
together with me.
I'm happy to have, in the team,two collaborators, who are
Anita and Andrea.
Anita.

(04:15):
will meet her soon.
She's going to co-host thepodcast once in a while.
Together with me, Anna is fromChile.
She's also here in the Hague,in the Netherlands.
as for Andrea, she is our,beautiful storyteller.
Andrea is a writer.
She has just launched herfirst, novel.
We will share more about thissoon.

(04:37):
Andrea is from Canada and she'sgoing to be, putting into
words, in our blog, all that wewill be sharing here in the
podcast.
So super excited to beintroducing, almost local to the
community.
We are aiming to grow a globalcommunity.
So if you want to participatein the podcast, just, to share

(04:58):
your experience, to talk aboutwhat.
What challenges you're facingat the moment.
We are, welcoming you to,participate in the podcast or
even write in the blog.
this is just a casualconversation, so you are more
than welcome to send us amessage through Instagram or, go
to our website, almostlocal.com, send us a message

(05:22):
through the form and, let usknow if you're interested in
becoming part of this.
Podcast and community, Again,thanks for, listening and for
starting to be part of this,beautiful and global community.
I wish I had, a place where Icould have connected when I
left.
So as to have people whounderstand, the challenges we

(05:46):
all go through.
And that's the starting pointof almost local that, that's,
why we're here.
Thank you again.
I'm pleased to be, introducingyou to amongst local.
This is not about me, this isabout us, all of us together.
let me know if you'reinterested in participating.
You will be, reaching out to alovely community and, at the end

(06:08):
of the day, It's good to knowthat we are not alone, facing
all these challenges.
Pleased to meet you again and,cheers.
And I will be enjoying mycoffee now.