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WSJ Expat: How Was Your Child’s International Teacher Hired?

LONDON--Sonali Banerjee Hutchison is still unpacking boxes from the move she and her family made from Manila, in the Philippines, to Dhaka, Bangladesh, earlier this summer.

Having lived in the Philippines for 11 years, where she and her husband, Dale, worked for international schools (he as a high school history teacher and she as a guidance counselor), they decided to make a move last year, wanting a change of pace and new experiences for themselves and their two young boys. Though Mrs. Hutchison describes their move as “exciting but frustrating,” the American couple are looking forward to their new jobs at the International School Dhaka and getting to know their new city. Read more

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First Person: IVF and Booting Bitter to the Curb

Every time I have done IVF, it has shattered me a little on the inside. It shatters—and exhausts—me because I know for the next four weeks, Bitter and Hope will be coming to stay as houseguests. Hope is great—she really makes such an effort, is so encouraging to me with gentle words and whispers like, “it’s okay that you have to cancel your plans to go to that wedding—remember the big picture is that you could be pregnant in a month.” Read more

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First Person: Europe’s Refugee Crisis, “I Will Follow the Light”

BELGRADE, SERBIA–We first met Sayid* under the blazing hot sun in the park near Belgrade’s main railway station last Thursday. My friend Maja and I had decided to go down to the park to hand out milk, fruit, crackers and juice to refugee mothers, children and families who were in transit from southern Serbia to the Hungarian/Serbian border in the north. While talking with a fleeing family from Damascus—who had been on the road for the last month hoping to get to Germany— Sayid sauntered up and began helping translate. His English was pretty close to perfect, with a light accent, and so I asked him if he and I could speak when I finished the interview. He agreed. Read more

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International New York Times: Weekend Courses Encourage Female Conductors

OXFORD, England — Dressed in shorts with tights and sneakers, her brown hair pulled back, Charlotte Lynch looked like any other 25-year-old graduate student when she stepped to the podium in front of the eight-piece string orchestra. Read more

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Wall Street Journal: How to Start Asking Questions About Adoption

adoptionIF YOU ARE an American who has contemplated adopting, don’t fret just because you’re currently living overseas. For expat Americans interested in starting or adding to a family, adopting—whether from the country you are living in, from the U.S. or from a third country—is definitely still possible.

“We tell people, you do it one step at a time, but then you always have a few more steps being a foreigner living overseas—whether it’s your taxes to going back home to visit family,” says Carol Albers, the founder of Adopt Abroad, a nonprofit agency that helps American expats with adoptions. “It is a little more complicated but obviously in the end it works and is worth doing.” Read more

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