Hello! My name is Alison. I am 27 years old and I'm an aspiring Expat. I grew up in the United States, but moved to Oaxaca, Mexico when I was 17 to attend a missions training school. I ended up living there for a year and a half, and still visit back to see my friends. I studied Bilingual Education in Union, NJ as well as a second major of English Writing. I acquired the Chinese minor due to the opportunity to study abroad while in school. I spent four months in Wenzhou, China as a fully scholarshipped student due to my experience as a Writing and ESL tutor. Apart from those experiences, I have also had the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong, Cambodia, and Vanuatu (in the South Pacific) for various missions or ESL opportunities. I absolutely love interacting with people from other cultures. My hope is to one day work in immigration and refugee services, either in the US or (preferably) Southeast Asia. I find I have a knack for communicating despite language barriers. To me, communication is so much more than language, and I don't see why friendship can't start before language barriers are overcome. I've been in the US working in the Dental field as a Treatment Coordinator for the last 3 years after graduating college. There have been health issues holding me back from moving fulltime into overseas work. In the meanwhile though, I trust that God has me where he wants me, and I'm invested in the work and the friendships I have here in NJ until the opportunity to travel comes again.