We tend to agree that the Houston International HR Roundtable is an excellent resource for “all things international HR.”  As part of our new membership program,  “Get a Membership – Give Back in the Process,” if you join in December, a percentage of your membership dues will be contributed to FIGT.  FIGT stands as the global leader in providing educational resources and support for families, as well as other international organizations and service providers.  Join the Houston International HR Roundtable today and help us support our global community.

FIGT will hold their 2010 Conference here in Houston and has announced a truly stellar line-up of speakers and sessions.  The conference provides a truly unique forum where members of internationally mobile families gather with those who assist them: human resource personnel, relocation experts, educators and counselors.  Together they develop strategies for dealing with the challenges of cross-cultural living.  Please visit them online at www.figt.org for additional information, great resources on families in transition, and to register for the conference.

My sons had a unique experience as TCKs.   They had to deal with at least three very different cultures when we lived in Hanoi, Vietnam.  They attended the French International School in Hanoi where the teachers only spoke French (they really only spoke French), the classes were all in French, and the “culture” of the school was French; they were in the capital city of Vietnam and everyone around them spoke Vietnamese, e.g., they took Tae Kwon Do in Vietnamese and the driver who took them to school only spoke Vietnamese (Mr. Tam); and their “family” was American.  Attend the conference in Houston and you’ll learn how to best handle these types of situations as an expatriate and also as an international HR professional.

This is the future of communication for international assignees!  OurWorldConnect is the world’s first private social network designed for people moving overseas. Specifically built for companies and organizations, OWC’s software platform delivers tools and resources for their international assignees in addition to the networking interface. Relocating someplace where you do not know anyone can be traumatic. Assignees tend to join work-related social networks, but spouses and family members have a much harder time making local contacts. International assignees and their families can connect to others moving to or living in the same destination and use the latest in online social media to get and stay connected. Like college students who know their classmates and roommates before showing up for school, connecting in advance of a major relocation can benefit the whole family and lead to a more successful assignment.

TCKs are defined as someone who, as a child, has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture.  Barack Obama is probably the most famous TCK in the world. My own children are examples of TCKs.  I was born in the US and their mother was born in Vietnam.  My sons were two and a half and eight months old when I moved from Houston to Hong Kong in 1992.  During the time I lived in Hong Kong, they attended the Peak School (following a British curriculum) and Carmel Day School.  Then in 1994 I moved to Hanoi, Vietnam where they attended the French International School (French Curriculum “en Francaise”).  Well, after they were settled in Hanoi and fluent in French and Vietnamese, we moved to Kobe, Japan in 1997, where they attended Canadian Academy.  After that, it was back to Houston to finish elementary, middle, and high school (well almost).  Today, both of my sons have a global view of the world.  In honor of my sons, I’ve created a webpage just for TCKs and their families.  Let’s hear your stories too!