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💜🎙️ In this week’s episode, Margaret Özemet shares her essay, “To Mi or Not to Mi, My Turkish Conundrum,” reflecting on her adventures as an expat in Turkey, navigating language barriers, love, and the humor found in cultural mishaps.

During our conversation, Margaret spoke about her whirlwind romance, her decision to move to Turkey, and how she navigated language barriers and built relationships with her husband’s Turkish family. As an expat in Turkey, she stressed the value of building strong bonds with other expats and creating a community when living abroad. Margaret also highlighted the value of living in different countries to broaden your perspective, understand what it means to feel limited in your communication skills, build empathy for others, and experience as much of the world as possible. She encourages everyone to take risks, trust their gut, and stop waiting not to wait for the “right time”' to pursue their dreams.

Margaret Özemet is a teacher, writer, mother to two boys, former expat, and intercultural wife, all of which give her plenty of material for her humorous tales. Her work has appeared on numerous online sites and print journals, including New Letters, Hippocampus, Red Fez, Scary Mommy, and many more, as well as the anthologies, Knocked Up Abroad Again, Once Upon an Expat, and the upcoming Bigfoot Country to name a few. Tales of her crazy life can also be seen on her blog, Laughter is Better Than Prozac, or on her shared book podcast, Two Lit Mamas. When she’s not teaching, she can be found writing stories about tough GenX women saving the world, on the sidelines as a rabid soccer mom, talking her Turkish engineer husband out of another ‘great idea,’ or trying to exhaust her hyperactive corgi, Atilla.

Experience the Podcast: Listeners can watch the full interview or read the essay.

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