Reply to Trailing spouse in the Foreign Service when you already have an internationally focused career?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is our profile. My husband does international banking (wb, iadb) and i do child protection. In our last posting i was not allowed to work under the visani had so i netwoled like crazy anf got an offer with somebody who was willing to wait for my papers to be processed. It was great but highly unusual. I did work with a juge international ngo and if we had moved to another country i would have stayed with them. [b]I was not going to be an expat Wife![/b] You have to figure out what skills are the most in demand and build them as well as language skills. Try to be an expert in something and not a generalist as most countries have local talent to fill the generalist spots![/quote]

Judge much? What a nasty attitude. Not every trailing spouse is able to keep their career going and having to deal with people like this just adds to the stress of being one. [/quote]

Its also very much about ego. My DH would be an "expat husband" for me in a minute if it meant the boon to my career that our 2 year stint abroad meant to his. He would probably love it actually. Life and marriage are a marathon partnership, not everything is about both people being maximized all. the. time.

Granted, we were on one of those golden packages that don't exist much anymore (private sector) so our rent was paid fully and had some small travel bonus/stipends, etc. But there are worse problems in this world to have than to not feel important or have a resume gap while living in a new (and hopefully exciting place) and getting a cultural experience that most people never get an opportunity to have.

Sure I was bored sometimes or lonely but you know what, I took all the master's level classes I could (was already enrolled in a program when I left) online, found an amazing organization that was happy to have me in their office 20-25 hours a week, met some great friends (I was the only "expat wife" or even married one! in the group, so I'm glad my friends didn't see me that way!) and traveled ALL over the region with my DH since he got holidays off and I probably wouldn't have if I had just started a new position.

Life is too short to define success or fulfillment so narrowly![/quote]

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