The Real Adventure is About to Begin

I am very proud of the fact that I have been able to travel at a pretty young age. I did not do this on my parent's money either, it was all on my own finances, because I have wanderlust. There is something truly amazing about exploring and seeing other parts of the world. About a year ago I wrote a post about wanting to take a trip around the world for a year. I would even be happy with teaching abroad. Mostly I just wanted the experience of living abroad for a long period of time. My boyfriend and I have had many discussions about this and although we like the idea of getting up and traveling for a year we also realize that financially it will take all of our savings (which is meager to begin with). So we started talking about working overseas and I began to research companies that organize overseas placement for teachers.

This past weekend we attended the University of Iowa overseas placement job fair in Waterloo, Iowa. There were about 150 schools present and at least 600 teachers all looking for the perfect placement. Boulderin' Boyfriend and I were among the masses looking for the perfect place to be a teacher. As a way of introduction a few administrators and two teachers spoke, to give us council for the busy weekend. The one thing that was repeated by everyone was, "Keep an open mind." The two educators both mentioned that they went to a place that they had least expected and loved the experience. I found it interesting, because I knew that we were being picky. Boulderin' Boyfriend would not be content if there were no mountains to climb. That seemed to narrow down our options consideribly. In addition we both teacher History, which also narrowed down our options as well.

There were a few schools that we were still interested in though, as well as a few schools that were interested in us. We loved the two schools from Switzerland, but then again so did everyone else that was at the job fair. Our competition would be fierce (and they only had one history opening at each school). We also liked two schools in Mexico, but both schools were being selective since we had not taught Model UN classes. We even thought about Luxembourg, but they filled the two history positions before we even started the fair. It was going to be tough. Yet there was still hope. We liked a small school in India, which was nestled up against the Himalayas. They have an extensive outdoor program and they teach environmentalism in all the classrooms. We also liked a school in Columbia. The location sounded like paradise. Seventy degree weather all year long, with mountains and beaches within an few hours drive. After our first interview we felt really good about the school. The administrator liked us and we thought we would be offered a position the next day.

Another school that was interested in us was in Kosovo. This school had not been on our radar. In fact, neither was Columbia. If I had asked Boulderin' Boyfriend about going to either of these schools just a week before he would have shot them down and said, "I do not want to go there." We decided to interview with Kosovo, for practice really. Fortunately we are good interviewers and we knew that we needed to do some research beforehand. In the process we found out some interesting information. Not only would we be able to save a lot of money, but it is completely surrounded by mountains and Albania (just west of Kosovo) is a world known alpine stop.

Friday and Saturday were two long days of interviews. On Friday night we fell asleep thinking we were going to Columbia, because the administrator really seemed to like us. In fact, we had a second interview with him at 9am. Unfortunately he put a damper on our cheery moods. After speaking with his director he would not be able to offer us the jobs, because the director preferred a teacher with a Language Arts background to teach the 6th grade Social Studies/Language Arts position. He would have to continue to search for other candidates that might better fill the position, but if nothing panned out after this job fair and another on the next weekend, then he was going to offer us the job. This was no guarantee and definitely not what we wanted to hear. It left us a little bummed as we prepared for several other interviews that day.

To our surprise, we happened to really like the administrator from Kosovo. He seemed laid back and gave us some insight into the new school. It has only been open for about five years (Kosovo is still in the process of rebuilding after a war). We felt good after leaving that interview and thought that perhaps we might get an offer. Within a few hours the Kosovo administrator found us and offered us the contracts. We had a few more questions and continued our research. I just wanted to make sure it would be safe and find out if I could get to church while I was there!

We met with him again to ask a few more questions and he showed us a slideshow of pictures from the school and the country. The pictures were enough for Boulderin' Boyfriend and he wanted to sign. I needed a little more proding. I am still in the process of finding out about church services, but I think I will find other Mormons at the army base. Needless to say, we accepted the contract and are anticipating our upcoming placement in Kosovo.

The first day was a bit somber for me, but with each passing day my excitment grows. I have not really experienced Eastern Europe. In addition, I am excited to approach an area that most people would deem dangerous. We have decided not to focus on the "CNN Factor" and rather take the experience. There are no travel warnings for Kosovo and we look forward to helping a new school. Our classes will be small and it will be a new experience to help others who have lived a completely different reality that ours. There is so much that we can bring to the table and we both know that there is so much that we can learn from the students.

I can't wait to get started and make the move, but there is a lot that needs to happen before. I will have to sell my car, decide what to do with my belongings that are not going with me, find out how to bring my cat with me, update my teaching liscense, and probably get married! It is definitely an exciting year and I feel like the adventure has just begun. Just imagine how the travel adventures will grow...I might take a weekend trip to Greece, a honeymoon to Italy, or perhaps avoid land mines on the hiking trails in Kosovo. I must say, this is truly an exciting time in my life.

For more information about the school that I will be teaching in, check out their website:
http://www.askosova.org/