CHAPTER ONE
Creative,Not Crazy
Our family’s story
FOLLOWING OUR INSTINCTS
If we did all the things we are capable of,
we would literally astound ourselves.
T h o m a s A . E d i s o n
In the summer of 2005 my husband and I decided to sell everything
and move abroad. There’s nothing too unusual about that
these days—except that we had four teenage daughters at the
time, and the youngest three were about to enter their freshman,
junior, and senior years of high school.
This book is about the lessons we learned—and the loopholes
we discovered—while shepherding our kids through high school,
into college, and beyond. Luckily, we stumbled upon a number of
affordable, accessible, and stunningly advantageous strategies
that American parents anywhere can use to help their
kids get both an enriching education and a perspective-shifting international
experience.
Sweet bonus: We saved a couple hundred thousand dollars in
the process.
MAYA FROST
We were not on a crusade of any kind and never once waved
a flag bearing the name of a particular educational movement.
Our exodus wasn’t spurred by fear, exasperation, or legal problems;
it was simply a matter of following our instincts in order to
give our kids what we felt would be a series of amazing opportunities
for more learning and creativity.
When others hear our story, they can’t help but make assumptions
about us. Some we find hilarious.
Assumption 1: We had a ton of money and/or serious
connections.
Hoo-boy! That’s a good one.
Let me be clear:
We did not have a corporate cushion or support system of
any kind.
We had never received a bonus or stock payout in our lives.
We didn’t have a windfall from a business we had sold or
an uncle who had died.
We did not know anyone who had done what we were
considering.
We had no contacts where we were going.
We did not speak the language.
We were staring at multiple simultaneous college tuitions.
Need some numbers? Our annual income was firmly planted in
the five figures—together. We weren’t exactly swimming in cash, but
we were more than comfortable. Our lifestyle was lean by design—
we were choosing to work less than we could have because we valued
our time with our kids. Or at least, that was our story.
Anyone looking at our tax forms would have said we were
wildly optimistic (that being the polite way of putting it) to entertain
the thought that we could move abroad, figure out how to
make a living, and afford college for our girls.
THE NEW GLOBAL STUDENT 5
And yet we had this feeling that not only could we continue to
make enough to live well but that we’d actually save more money
for college by living abroad than we could by staying in Oregon.
(Juicy details later, but suffice it to say that this turned out to be
a fantastic college-savings plan that only the most astute and
progressive financial adviser would recommend.)
Assumption 2: We were oddball parents.
Quirky. They think we must have been the kind of people you
whisper about at parent meetings or avoid when you run into
them in the grocery store.
The boring truth is that we were nice, normal people leading
ordinary lives.
There was nothing particularly noteworthy about us. We weren’t
wild-eyed survivalists seeking a place to hunker down and wait for
the Big KaBlooey, nor were we adrenaline-junkie adventurers off
to scale the highest peaks. We didn’t have a dream of sailing around
the world; nor did we have an irresistible urge to go out and save it.
Reasonably well mannered and inconspicuously attired, we did not
embarrass our kids in public—unless my husband wanted to have
a little fun, that is.
You wouldn’t have looked twice at us at Starbucks, I swear.
Assumption 3: We were disconnected or just plain miserable
where we were.
Well, no more than most people living in suburban America.
We didn’t rant about the failings of our education system or
launch into tirades about the decline of modern civilization—at
least, not in mixed company or without provocation (or a few
beers). Staunch supporters of the public schools, we had a tremendous
amount of appreciation for the many caring teachers and
conscientious administrators who were so committed to our kids
and their classmates.
continuation next week, or please ask for the full text to durval.olivieri3@gmail.com or david.ferrell@gmail.com
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