What ifs...

Sometimes I have difficulty sleeping because I fall into the what if while I am trying to drift off. The what if game goes something like this

What if I don't get a teaching job overseas this year?
What if I have to work here this year?
What if I don't even get a job here? What will I do?
What if I had gone to the international recruitment fairs? If I went would I have gotten offered a job overseas?
What if I had graduated two years sooner or even last year? Maybe I would have a job or at least a bunch of prospective offers for employment.
What if I never finished school and just stayed overseas way back when I first went?
What if...

I know its bad to get stuck in this game as it messes with my head and even my heart to some extent. It makes me loose sleep. It makes me feel ill. It makes me mad. It makes me sad.

I try to remain positive but the window of overseas opportunities continues to shrink at an alarming rate. I wish I had better news. All I can say is there are only 7 countries left. Only 8 more schools. And then I have the answer is it there or here this year. Then I begin living in some of those what if's...

Funny story #1

After sending a resume/cover letter to one school in a time zone 11 hrs ahead of ours. I received a response about 30 minutes later. The email said:

Please come and meet us with a hard copy of your resume in person on any working day between 1200pm to 0200pm. Please check the address at www.**********.org or you can call us at XXXXXXX for confirmation.
Thanks and Wishing you all the best!!!!

Unfortunately it was not possible for me to travel 24 hrs with a few stop overs to make it to the school.

The End of Era or another check on my Bucket List

Practicum has now finished except for the looming pile science projects that still need to be marked (only 23 has 4 students were absent). The last days were almost surreal passing by at quick speed. And now it is finished. Only one more hoop remains before graduation.

A few months ago after speaker's corner my students asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up? I confidently replied 'A teacher of course' the responses came back 'So you get to be what you've always wanted to be' 'yes' 'You get to do your dream job' to which I could only respond yes again.

This has been the dream that started as a small seed back when I was 9. Now I am find myself here with a small seedling. But the dream doesn't stop here in fact in some ways it is just beginning.

During one of my classes the professor told us he had accomplished all the goals he had set out for himself. Every single one of his goals and dreams had been accomplished. I asked him how long his list was to which he replied 20 things. My list has about 45 things on it currently and it just seems to keep growing as I get older, so much so I don't see how I will be able to accomplish every single one of those dreams before my time on this earth finishes.

Lately I have been thinking about what happens with dreams over time- some shift or transform to become something more grand in scale, some become more important where as others lose meaning entirely. Or dreams will begin to conflict with one another. What happens when the dreams conflict? In the end which dream will win out or will they both die and be replaced by something else?

And the answer is...

No. I did not get the job in Kenya.

We were quite disappointed to hear that but when things are meant to be they happen and when they don't they weren't meant. Now the waiting game begins with the other schools I applied to. Two have already written back to tell me they have filled the vacancies for this upcoming year.

Have we considered the option we may be here for a year? The answer to that question is yes. This answer saddens us as we have been working towards Africa for so long. Timing is everything though...

In the meantime I am focusing on completing my practicum as I only have another 5 teaching days left. I will miss my grade 4/5's tremendously. I have learned so much from them about teaching, homework, classroom management and life in general. When I think back to my grade 4/5 teachers I don't remember much about them negative or positive but one thing I hope is that I made a positive impact on these students-that I inspired them to reach for the stars and beyond, that I encouraged them to try their best and that I made them work hard. A professor at school said that as a teacher, students may not remember much about their teacher but they will remember if the teacher cared and how the teacher made them feel. I hope these little guys could feel that I put my heart into teaching them and helping them to the best of my abilities.

Criteria for a school

So what is the criteria D and I are using to choose a school? Should there really even be a criteria?

To answer the second question first, yes there needs to be a criteria otherwise it becomes very difficult to navigate. That, and the fact that by deciding that we would settle for just anything would impact our future in numerous ways. All that being said the criteria looks like this

• Is this school in Africa?

Africa is a place that has been on my heart since the age of 10 and a place I have wanted wanted to return to since 2006. D having been there 3x as well can not wait to get back and fully embrace the role of documentary photographer/photojournalist and explore the infinite video possibilities.

• Can Daniel come with me?

We want to go somehwere together not seperately. In interviews this question comes up all the time. "Will you be coming alone or will your partner be accompanying you?"

• Does this school pay or provide benefits?

Certain schools require you to pay or fund raise in order to teach at them. While this may seem like an ok way to do things, it is not very practical. We could easily work with one of these schools as they are always in desperate need for someone to teach at them but at this current time it does not suit our future plans/goals.

• Is this an accredited school? Or a school in the process of seeking accreditation?

This also is something that needs to be considered when applying for shcools overseas. Will this school be recognized if I were to leave it and attempt to gain employment elsewhere. If not then that could be a wasteful few years.

• Is there any literature on this school? Have they been reviewed on International School Review? If so what do the reviews say?

I was made aware of the ISR website through a seminar at school. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking of working overseas as it helps give a clear picture of what certain schools are like.

There are a few other considerations as well but these 5 are the major questions that we are asking before we seriously consider the possibilities.

Where in the World is Moses?

Since we are getting ready to embark on an adventure halfway around the world we figured we would adopt a mascot who would come with us. The mascot's name is Moses and he is a sock monkey. I received Moses as a gift from one of my violin students. He came with a different name but we have decided to make it his second name so Moses the Jazz monkey he is.

Over the next few months we will be taking pictures of Moses in some of our favourite or memorable places. Then when I have my own class we can make up stories about Moses and his travels around the world.

So here is picture #1 taken during a snowstorm that left 10 cm of wet snow outside of house and blanketed the rest of the city as well.

Life in a Nutshell

School is going well. I am really enjoying my grade 4/5 class. The kids are so much fun to be around and at times it feels like I am learning mroe from them then they could ever learn from me. They challenge me constantly to think in new ways and present information differently so they remain engaged. I love the challenge of it. I love how each day is different. There is no getting bored as the day flies by to quickly for that. In fact, it's hard to believe how quick this practicum is moving. In less than 4 weeks I will be finished practicum with only one large research project standing between me and graduation! The date for university grad is June 10th.

Still waiting to hear back from Kenya. Will let you know as soon as I know what's going on.

Skype Interview

A few weeks ago D & I received word that I had an interview for that school in Kenya. We were both super excited about the news and then spent some time gearing up for it. I was getting over a nasty cold bug and getting used to being at a 60% teaching load at school. It was a crazy week leading up to it. The day of the interview I had the faculty adviser come in from the university to observe me in the morning followed by the school district psychologist in the afternoon. By the end of the school day I was exhausted. So exhausted that when I came home, I took a 2.5 hour nap.

When I got up I had 1.5 hour to go before the interview. I spent that time brushing up on key teaching words/ phrases. D practiced asking me a few questions to help me get in interview mode. The interview was keyed to start at 9:30 in the evening (this is due to the timezone difference. Kenya is 11 hours ahead from where we are located) over Skype.

I don't think I have ever been so nervous for an interview before. Even though the interview was conducted over Skype it didn't help settle my nerves. When the ring tone came in for the interview to start my throat closed up. D got me a glass of water which helped alot.

The questions they asked for the interview had to do with the following:

• What do I know about the school & how I heard about the school.
• Why Africa? Why Kenya? Why Nairobi? Third culture aspect of the school.
• What grade was I willing to teach?
• Longevity-how long could we see ourselves spending there?
• How did we feel about living on campus?
• Extra curricular activities-what would I be willing to get involved with?
  
• Work Permits-have we looked into the details of getting one?
• How do our families feel about us moving overseas?
• How would I manage as a new teacher in a country in a different culture?

Overall the interview went quite well. There was only one answer I wished I could have answered differently as it caught me off guard. The interview concluded with them saying they would be in touch within the next 2-3 weeks.

So in the meantime we wait.... and wait....