Hello to all TCK and all TCK supporters!

My name is Andres Catlla. I am 24 years old and I was born on December 6th of 1984. I was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia however I have never lived there and I am a citizen of Spain and I speak Spanish, English and Portuguese fluently.

My Father was born in Bordeaux, France and is a citizen of Spain but moved to bolivia with his father at a very young age, after his mother passed away. My mom was born in La Paz, Bolivia and lived in Bolivia until she was about 18 yrs old.

I am the youngest of 4 brothers and my parents started moving around long before I was born, when my mom was around 17 she married my father who at the time was in his early 20′s and their first move was to Nicaragua. This was during the Sandinista revolution, my brothers and parents told me stories of nearby bombings and bullets flying before they were eventually evacuated.

Then we moved to Brazil exactly two weeks after I was born in Bolivia. We lived in Recife, Brazil for two years, that is where I imagine I learned Portuguese. After two years we moved to Trinidad & Tobago, two beautiful islands in the Caribbean, we lived in Port-of-Spain for 5 years and lived through my first coup de etat where a muslim radical group help the government hostage. From there we moved to Paramaribo, Suriname and lived there for 4 years, I did learn a little Saranan Tongo but I do not recall much of it now. From there we moved to Lusaka, Zambia and lived there for four years and this is where I lived through my second coup de etat and where I learned a little of Nynaja, a Zambian dialect. Then we moved to Mexico City, Mexico where we lived for 3 and a half years, and I attended the American School Foundation which was the first American School founded out side the USA. Then we moved to Bangkok, Thailand where I attended the International School of Bangkok (ISB) for my senior year, this is without a doubt the best school I went to. After Graduating from ISB I went to Bradenton, Florida to the IMG Soccer Academy for one year, then I got recruited to Lander University in Greenwood, South Carolina on a Soccer Scholarship where we managed to win the SE Regional Championship and got my first NCAA ring and made it to the “Elite Eight” and then the Peach Belt Conference and the Peach Belt Conference Tournament where I got my second ring. I graduated form Lander University may 10th of 2008 and I am a Marketing Executive for Marriott Vacation Club International on Hilton Head Island. I was to be relocated to Aruba last month but I decided to stay due to my girlfriend at the time and now I am happily married and currently undergoing the process of changing my immigration status from a student visa holder to a permanent resident.

So when someone asks me: “Where are you from?” I always respond with: “You got a minute?” they always laugh at that comment… , I usually answer that question with: I was born in Bolivia and I am a citizen of Spain however I have never lived there and the US is my 7th country that I have lived in.” Usually a surprised look takes over their face and they proceed to ask more questions and a simple question “where are you from?” turns into a conversation that blows the other persons mind.

I am proud to be a TCK and I plan to continue moving and to keep learning what our beautiful world has to offer. I also believe that as TCK’s we hold a competitive advantage in the business world that no one can ever take away from us. I understand that TCK’s can have issues such as not knowing where they are from, or not having an answer to the question”So where is home for you?” I remember feeling that way at times, but I know where I belong, and I belong here, and here is where I am at that particular moment. We are advocates of diversity and teachers of the world and we can arouse curiosity in people who we have never met before and we can impact a human being who will probably never see us again in a way that would cause to wonder “what else have I been missing out on?”

If anyone has any questions or needs any help, you can contact me at any time. Just comment on this and we can communicate via email.

Andres Catlla

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