In the continuing theme of education ... a little about life long learning

The dual shock of the American school system compounded by American culture.

My worldwide education - the pre-University years

My stay in Finland. Lots of pictures.

A brief sojourn in Estonia ... maybe I need to revisit in the summer

A brief tale of my trip to the Baltics. A brand new destination for me. Two new countries and a bit of cultural shock.

Sage words about how to present information to others

We have come together not because of blood, but because we share bonds of a common outlook on life, a customary way of treating people with respect, and mutual values that resound within all of us - something which unfortunately does not always seem to happen in families related solely by blood (at least in my observation)...

The experience of being exiled ... to one's birth country

People that come to someplace to stay to live, work, or both have the same thing happen, but they don't leave. And this is where the CURVE shows itself. Because after the initial enthusiasm of the “The Peak”, comes the valley.

I was speaking with one of my close friends, and we started talking about being embedded in a location versus being a nomad. I feel it is germane to being a TCK, a minimalist, and/or, a digital nomad.

I am a local. I am multi-local: I am or have been a local of London, Lahore, Dacca, New Delhi, Kuwait City, Dhahran, Manila, Bangkok, Pattaya, Tokyo, Salt Lake City, Evanston (Wyoming), Istanbul, Saigon, Hong Kong, Toronto, Freetown, Addis Ababa, Singapore. It seems like a lot but it's kind of a blur.

However probably the one that I have enjoyed the most is the concept of ‘magic time’. I have consciously changed my schedule so that I now wake up generally between 4 - 430 a.m. every day.

... It really hit me. I have a serious blind spot as a TCK. And I think I've had it my whole life, and it has unwittingly gotten me into trouble many times.

Genetically I appear to be a white male. However, growing up as a TCK, I have a very checkered cultural makeup. I can discern five or six major cultural components to my personality.

Road To Buenos Aires – I (¡Voy a ir para Argentina!)

I will be going to my penultimate continent, South America. The only continent that I won’t have been to then will be Antarctica and I think I will get that too before too many years pass. I hope to be adding at least four or five countries to my tally, which is kind of cool for me personally.

My father was a civil engineer,  and, in his early years, a Wyoming cowboy who fought in WWII. He started going overseas, I believe, in the 50s. Certainly before I could walk he had taken his family to Europe on the Queen Mary, and I remember from stories that I was not yet speaking when we moved to Bangladesh (it was East Pakistan then). He worked on numerous projects all over the world, improving roads, dams, bridges, etc. And on average, up until I was 17 or so, we averaged a different country every 2 - 3 years. 

As part of my minimalism kick, over the last year or so I have been going through what few mementos I still had. Most of my keepsakes burned up in a storage unit fire in the year 1999 - lost everything from my childhood and the military and family (very liberating in a way). But I still had stuff that I carried with me.

Minimalism. What does it mean? At the risk of sounding vague, this absolutely depends on the individual. However I am approaching it from the point of view of a serial expatriate, and as a TCK. And I'm sure other serial ex-pats and TCKs will be able to relate to this.

I work out very regularly. There have been times in my life when I don't work out as often as I should, when my commitment has fallen by the wayside, but following the downward spiral of my health some years ago I have been quite, I hesitate to use this word, "religious" about it. Particularly since I had gained a lot of weight and I wanted to lose it. But of course losing weight is mainly diet and not exercise (but that is another story)