Now, we do have direct international input. Malcolm McIvor moved to Japan in 1991 to get experience working overseas. “Lived in Tokyo and taught English for nine months while studying Japanese. Landed an entry-level job in Pfizer’s marketing department and worked there for two and a half years. Also met my future wife, Rico. We married in March 1994 and left for Portland, Oregon, that fall. We take our daughters back every June to visit the relatives in Kyushu. My father-in-law still goes swimming for octopus on Kyushu’s beaches. He will dive down and pull one out of the rocks, then grill it on the beach. Even better than lobster!


“Lessons learned: 1) It was hard. Culture shock and Tokyo’s dense urban environment took a toll. 2) It was fun. Made friends with whom I am still in contact, both Japanese and American. 3) The chance to see the inner workings of a Japanese company, and how they affect the culture of entry- and lower-level Japanese employees is rewarding. My entry-level work gave me insight that was different from that of higher-level expatriates. 4) Life in the United States is awesome. We have so much space, freedom, variety and abundance. Life in Japan is crowded, expensive and homogeneous. I definitely prefer the States.”


Lee Merkle Raymond writes from Palo Alto, California, of her 18 months in Sydney, Australia: “The people are notoriously friendly! Our girls adjusted to wearing ties and uniforms and we figured out driving on the left without any accidents. I miss taking the ferry to work. We traveled as much as possible, diving in the Great Barrier Reef, glacier hiking in New Zealand and camel riding in the Australian desert. As my ninth-grader wrote: ‘Moving to Sydney was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Moving back was the second hardest.’ The kids have school; a non-working spouse has no community to automatically fit into. If you go with kids, I recommend Third Culture Kids, which highlights what to anticipate with an international relocation.” 


In San Francisco, Sam Hartwell is CFO of KickStart International, a nonprofit dedicated to helping Africans build their way out of poverty. Sam spent three years in Nairobi, Kenya, helping productive and entrepreneurial people in Kenya, Tanzania and Mali create and sell new technologies.


One of our longest-running ex-pats is Sam Lardner. He and Katherine have lived in Spain since 1997. “Our four kiddos are all navigating Catalonian culture and education pretty well. We recently saw Kris Hagerman and then had an excellent re-encounter with Doug and Jessica (Cohn) Healy. We expect a fun visit from Peter and Laura Ramsden in July and I see Todd Beane regularly in the coastal town of Sitges, Spain.” Sam just released his seventh album, a Spanish fusion project called Out Of The Blue. “It is great to see classmates when I am on tour. The Bay Area and Fairfield County tend to produce major Big Green turnouts.”


Wade Manaker remains in South America. He’s an M.D. serving in with the U.S. armed forces. That “completes” all continents except Antarctica. You with Antarctica news should upload videos (show penguins!) to the Dartmouth ’86 website.


Finally, I include transnational news: Gabrielle Whelan adopted Paul Denis, a now-6-year-old boy from Chita, Russia. I will always highlight classmates bringing people from worse places to share in what’s still the greatest country ever known, and I relish news of ’86s making the world better while abroad. 


—Mark Greenstein, 1106 Fienemann Road, Farmington, CT 06032; (860) 224-6688; msg@ivybound.net; Davida (Sherman) Dinerman, 12 Kings Row, Ashland, MA 01721; (508) 231-8813; davida@ dinerman.com