Introducing Bart
Hi,
I don’t know how many of you are ATCKs, but that’s what I am. I grew up in Japan as an MK. I was born in Texas and went to Japan at the age of 6 months. In Japan, I lived in Matsue (Shimane ken) when I was really young, and we moved to Itami (near Osaka) when I was about 7, after spending a year on “furlough” in Kentucky. I attended Canadian Academy in Kobe, returning to the US for my 7th grade year (Muskogee, OK — hated it), and my Senior year (Knoxville, TN — totally lost). I never forgave my parents for not letting me graduate from CA!
I attended the University of Tennessee for 3 years, got bored, and joined the Navy. The Navy sent me to Russian language school, and I ended up stationed in Japan for 3 years. I Stayed with the Navy for 10 years, “seeing the world,” and finally settled in the Washington DC area.
I never wanted to settle here, but now I’ve been here longer than I lived overseas. I do take every opportunity to travel internationally, though. Last year I went to Australia for three weeks, and I’ve been fortunate to have travelled on business all over the globe (I once went from Washington to Singapore to attend a two hour meeting).
I’m probably a geezer compared to many of you, but I still don’t feel comfortable calling the place that I currently live (Manassas, VA) home.
Glad to find this site!
-Bart
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:08 am
I was at CA, not CAJ (different schools, similar acronyms. CA = Canadian Academy, CAJ = Christian Academy in Japan). I started there in second grade (1966?) and left after my Junior year in High School (1975).
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January 2nd, 2008 at 6:14 am
Bart, kudos for adopting those cats!!!
I think I like you already.
Ah that’s interesting, some TCKs are always restless and others prefer to settle.
In my case, I prefered to settle and travel *sometimes* but not move continually, it’s just way too much stress and I think I’ve had enough!
Ooh btw, since you’re a ‘geezer’, perhaps you could offer some thoughts on this question from an army brat!
http://www.tckid.com/group/do-tcksarmy-brats-from-the-60s-have-a-never-give-up-disease/
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January 2nd, 2008 at 11:13 am
Hi Bart!
I just joined as well and I also lived in Japan, from the time I was 9 until almost 16. We moved back to the States right after my brother graduated from ASIJ (in the Tokyo suburbs). I understand about you still being angry about not graduating in Japan, I know I often am. My father’s company even wanted him to stay longer, but they didn’t want to. Grrrr….
Anywhoo, Japan is awesome and I will be going back for a visit, the first time since I left, next August!
Funny, that you mention CAJ, I knew a bunch of kids from there.
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January 10th, 2008 at 7:59 am
hey, I thought I was the only one who had a crazy breakfast!
I have varied kinds of breakfast, from fruit, to toasts, to cereal, to pizza, to sandwich… depends on the day, I’m really crazy!
Nice to meet you Bart!
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May 13th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Hi Chryss, i have a couple of friends from CAJ too ^-^ but then…i lost contact with them since like 10 years ago >_<
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