At Balzac Bar
Located at Rua de Arroios 156, 1150-056 Lisbon. Balzac is close to the Arroios metro station on the Green line. From 16h00 - 16h30, participants will be able to order drinks, including cocktails, and small plates such as spinach dip with truffle oil, duck or shrimp bruschetta and ceviche. The Speaker will present from 16h30 - 18h00. Limited to 25 participants.
The Importance of Being Curious… cultural understanding from the inside out
by Lisa Besso
We are all living a delightful and delicious international living experiment, with results and learnings revealing themselves to us nearly every day. We are surrounded by ever increasing circles of friends from different countries and even different cultures within our own birth countries together with people from our collectively adopted new country, Portugal. Successfully navigating all of this monumental change is helped by curiosity about ourselves, how our assumptions were shaped and how we’ve gotten to where we are.
In my work, I’m fortunate to be able to travel to countries that are significantly different from my own. Most recently I’ve been spending a lot of time in Saudi Arabia, a country that has drawn some significant reactions from people, none of whom have actually visited there.
This talk will present some situations to consider and discuss together, from our experiences and from our assumptions.
Lisa Besso has worked in international education for most of her career. She has held executive leadership positions with multinational education providers. Her international career began as an English teacher in Florence, Italy where she lived for 4 years and met her husband, Giorgio. She worked primarily in the USA but also spent several years living and working in Australia, managing a chain of schools in Australia and New Zealand. Currently she has her own non-profit consulting company, working with educational providers globally. She also does project work for an American education accrediting body, which accredits schools in Egypt, Jordan, Belgium, Canada and Saudi Arabia which keeps her on the road, and on planes, a lot.
She and her husband have lived in Lisbon for more than 5 years. They also have a home in Asheville, North Carolina, where they spend their summers. They are currently working with their neighbours and community there to rebuild roads that were washed away with hurricane Helene.
Contact the Captain - Wendy Shapiro
