106. Full Immersion: Navigating That Initial International Transition -- With Limited Support: Meet Author and Former International School Head, Janet Flaugher

What would it be like for American educators to relocate to China for a few years? And in what ways would doing so in the early 2000s have increased the level of challenge?

With 1.5 billion citizens at the turn of the millennium, China represented a fifth of the globe’s  population. It also brought with it suspicion as a human-rights depriving, communist country,  and curiosity, with its rich cultural history that dated back thousands of years. There are historic landmarks such as The Great Wall, Peking Man, and the Forbidden City.  

Janet Flaugher and her husband accepted the opportunity to live in Beijing for three years when  she accepted a position in 2002 as the superintendent of a prestigious international school. 

What resulted from her experience two decades later is a multi-award-winning book, Two  Bottles of Water. It is an engaging and zany exposé about what life in China is really like for a  couple of immigrant newbies. It’s always something, from kitchens that smell of sewer gas, to  surviving mystery meat stew, to underappreciated efforts at communication in Chinese. The  book follows the misadventures of a pair of Americans plunked down in an alien environment  they struggle to comprehend. Her stand-alone essays collectively tell the story of an impactful  adventure. 

“It was a difficult, confusing, sometimes unfriendly, place for any westerner, and especially for  one plunked down in a totally unfamiliar setting, unable to communicate, with a minimal support  system,” writes Flaugher in her book. “In spite of all the difficulties we encountered in our stay, I'm glad we did it. It was the experience of a lifetime to be an immigrant and learn firsthand what  it was like to be a stranger in a strange land. It also provided great insight into culture shock,  unconscious bias (mine), and racism (theirs).” 

Our guiding question for this show was, “What lessons did you learn during your 1 ½ year relocation to a school/city/country that was completely unfamiliar to you?”

Some of the topics covered include:

• Acknowledging unconscious bias
• Navigating culture shock
• Coping with isolation and the daily challenges of living as immigrants in a country where nothing was familiar
• The realities of learning a difficult language in real time
• How the Chinese view outsiders – and what Americans can learn from them. 
• Lessons learned from leading a school in another country
• Lessons learned from taking all over the world 
• Broadened perspectives on immigration, identity, and belonging.

Resources Mentioned in the Episode: 

Janet's website: www.jtalespinner.com  

Two Bottles of Water on Bookshop.org

This episode was recorded on May 19, 2026.

Categories: Transitions | Culture Shock | Travel | Language Learning