Greetings
Bumping another old post. But it's a new one for me.
I lived outside Detroit Mi until I went to college at Michigan State Univ. Graduated with my BA in Sec Ed (Math/Vocal Music) in '75. Spent the next few months hitchhiking from Lansing MI to Colombia, South America (flew from David, Panama to Bogota)....and back. Joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to St Vincent in the West Indies ('76-78). Returned to Colombia and taught English for a few months.
Returned to MSU and got a 2nd BA in Spanish. Joined the Peace Corps again (jobs were scarce in teaching at that time) and got assigned to Kenya (since I had studied Swahili while doing my 1st degree). Spent the next five years there ('80-85)...loved it! Married my Kenyan girlfriend and I sent her to the US so she could go to university. I spent 6 months travelling across Africa (Uganda, Rwanda, what was then Zaire, Togo, Ivory Coast, Morroco) and Europe.
Back in the US, I accepted a job teaching Spanish in St Croix in the US Virgin Islands for the next year. And then moved to New York to do my Masters in Math Educ. at Columbia Univ, while teaching full time in the South Bronx. ('86-88)
My wife (who incidentally is related to Barak Obama) and I realized our lives were going on different paths...she wanted to stay in the US to study and I wanted to continue travelling...so we separated and eventually went through a do-it-youself divorce.
I took a job teaching in Monrovia, Liberia and lived there from '88-90 until the civil war broke out and Americans were evacuated. Then moved to Istanbul, Turkey and taught there from '90-93 until I realised I was starting to dislike teaching (at least in Turkey), so I took a year sabbatical to travel around the world. (Greece, Egypt, Israel, Bulgaria, parts of Europe I'd never visited before, Iceland, then across the US and Canada to Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji....on to Hawaii, and back to the US)
In '94 I accepted a job teaching in Guam and have been here ever since.
Love travelling (have been to 104 countries) and studying languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, Swahili, Giriama, Dholuo, and Turkish...but am only fluent in English, Spanish and Swahili).
Where am I from? Good question! I've lived out of the US more than in, so am not sure of the answer to that question.
Ever forward