My residence history is somewhat complex, and there is often some misconception about where I have lived; namely that my childhood was spent in South Africa.  To help understand what actually happened I have listed in stylized form the broad outlines of my residence history in the table below.  This makes clear that I have only lived in South Africa for four years beginning when I as age 31.  I was born in Kenya and my childhood was for the most part spent in East Africa and northeast Oregon.  As of about now I have lived roughly fourteen years in Africa (blue) and 25 years in the United States (black). 

Along a similar line there is often confusion about my family.  My wife Clarissa is a dual citizen of Brazil and the United States.  She was born and spent her childhood in Brazil and moved to the United States to marry me in 1992 when she was age 21.  She speaks Portuguese and English and our children are bilingual in those same two languages.