So here I am.

Posted by morgan on February 13th, 2008 | Categorized as Introduction | 228 views and 5 Comments

A year ago, I vowed to do anything I could to avoid going to college in the US.  I hated the US.  I hated Americans, who I saw as shallow and ignorant.  I new that if I went to college in the US, I would probably end up not making any permanent friends, suffering through classes and jobs that seemed unimportant, and missing what I’d left behind.  So here I am, now, going to community college in Meridian, MS.  My classes seem unimportant.  My job doesn’t pay well and really is unimportant.  I haven’t made any permanent friends, and I miss what I’ve left behind. 

Let me start at the beginning.  I moved to Ecuador when I was five, I think.  I can’t really remember, it was a long time ago.  My dad was a bush pilot for Mission Aviation Fellowship, and my mom kept the house from falling apart.  I went to a school for missionary kids in Shell Ecuador for most of elementary and middle school, interspersed with the occasional furlough.  I learned Spanish reasonably well, though I spent most of my time with fellow missionary kids, so I had less contact with Ecuadorian culture than I should have.  Furloughs were mixed blessings.  I got to eat American hamburgers and ride on American roller coasters, but I had to endure all the cheek pinching and patronizing by strangers that go along with the MK life.  I had little opportunity to make friends on furloughs, since I was busy going from church to church and homeschooling.  I did have an opportunity to see that there was something different about American kids.  I looked like them, but for some reason, I wasn’t one of them.  They acted funny.  They had different priorities. 

Then came highschool.  The first two years were spent at Alliance Academy, in Quito, Ecuador.  For the first time in my life, I came in contact with large numbers of TCK’s.  It was great.  I got to live in a dorm.  That too was great.  I was all settled in to have a great high school career when my parents decided to move on.  They’d seen enough of Ecuador, and wanted to leave. 

So, at the beginning of my junior year, I found myself in a private, Christian school in Meridian, MS.  We were only staying for six months, then moving on to some unknown foreign land, but I knew I wasn’t going back to Ecuador, at least not for many years.  It was hard.  The school I was going to was full of rich, irresponsible kids who I couldn’t identify with (think “wealthy rednecks”).  That’s when I decided I didn’t like the US.  I’d seen enough, and I wanted out. 

My parents moved to Afghanistan in the beginning of 2006, or the middle of my junior year.  I didn’t go with them.  I ended up in boarding school in Kandern, Germany.  For those of you who know Black Forest Academy, you know what I’m talking about.  Basically the school is perfect for TCK’s.  I fit right in and found that I could relate to the people there extremely well.  They didn’t get bored of my stories from the past, and I never got bored of theirs.  And, of course, we made a few memories of our own.  Actually, we made a lot of memories, and I met a lot of people I hope I never forget. 

Of course, the joyride had to end somewhere, and it did when I graduated in 2007.  I found myself unable to pay for the private, Christian education most of my classmates opted to get, and I was unwilling to go into debt just to go to a good college, so I ended up moving back with my parents to Meridian, MS.  I go to the community college here, and take their pitifully easy classes, while looking for places to travel to as often as possible.  So far, I’m the only tck I’ve met at that college besides my older brother, so I’m feeling a bit…misunderstood.  I should transfer into a 4 year university next summer, which will hopefully end up being more cosmopolitan, but until then, I guess I’ll talk to the fine folks here on this site for my “tck fix.”

Its not all bad.  The government is literally paying me to go to school there.  If I plan it right, I should come out of college completely debt free, even after transferring to a 4 year college. 

Well, that’s me.  I probably wrote a bit too much, but there it is. 

Morgan Holland

I moved to Ecuador, SA when I was 4, and lived there until I was 16. I attended Nate Saint Memorial School for most of elementary and middle school, then Alliance Academy. After a brief hiatus in the US, my parents moved to Afghanistan and I moved to Germany, where I attended Black Forest Academy, graduating in 2007. I now live in Meridian MS, where I go to the local community college. I like chocolate, Spanish, computers, photography, and swimming, not to mention travelling, of course. I intend to see as much of the US as I can in the next 4 years, but I don't intend to stay after I graduate from college.