A Little Bit About Myself & Why Becoming An Expat Was An Easy Decision.

I love Asia because I grew up in the Philippines. Asia is comfortable to me. I love being surrounded by Asian's. I love their unique mannerisms. The Philippines will always be home to me. Specifically Manila will always be home to me. My parents were missionaries in the Philippines. I attended the largest missionary kid's school in the world. I lived on a compound our mission organization had built. Growing up, my life was immersed in the evangelical missionary community.

In some ways a missionary's life is quite similar to that of an expat. Transition is a huge part of both a missionary and an expat life. We are used to having people walk in and out of our lives. Our family moved every four years, however at the end of every school year I was always saying goodbye to someone. Friends that were only assigned to the Philippines for a year or two. Friends who had a different four years service schedule than our family. As a result of my background, my relationship roots don't typically run too deep. I did not graduate from high school with any of the kids I started out with in elementary school. I have a handful of deep lifetime friendships that have lasted over my thirty years.

And then I met my husband at university. I moved down to Myrtle Beach after I graduated in 2001 so we could be near each other. He was born and raised here. Except for the year he spent in Virginia when we met, he's never lived anywhere else. It's 2014 and for the next two months I will still be here in Myrtle Beach. Thirteen years of living in the same place without changing zip codes. This is the longest I've ever spent in one location. Every four years of the past decade I would get antsy. I would have this overwhelming sense that I needed to pack up and move. 

It is my life experiences from the past that make picking up our family and moving overseas to become expats easier for me because I've had exposure to a similar lifestyle when I grew up as a missionary kid. However, I do have to say that going through this as an adult is a whole new ball game, so to speak, as opposed to a child who could just rely on her parents to work out all the details of housing, visa's, packing, etc!