你好.Hello! Let the Mandarin Lesson Begin!

As I wrote in my last post, I'm leaving Tanzania in June and recently went to an international school job fair in Boston. On my way to Boston I received an e-mail from representatives at a school in Shanghai, China saying that they had decided not to attend the job fair but that they would still like to have a Skype interview. I was a bit upset because this is the school I had felt most drawn to and I was weary of interviewing via Skype.

The night before the fair started I had the interview with them, and I (still!) don't think I presented myself in the most stellar way possible. I stumbled my way through some answers and probably said 'ummm' about 20 times in the first 10 minutes. In addition, the connection was bad, so they turned their webcam off but asked me to keep mine on. It was SO difficult interviewing with three men who could see me but all I could see was a little green webcam power light and a box showing me how I looked to them. Talk about nerve wracking! It was challenging not being able to play off of their facial and body cues, while at the same time trying not to look to the bottom of the screen to make sure I looked okay myself!

I really liked everything that they had to say and felt even more like it would be a great school for me, but I thought I just did an okay job at best. After the interview I immediately Skyped Mom and Dad and began telling them about it. One minute and thirty-two seconds into our conversation we were interrupted by a return call from the recruiters. They had already come to a consensus and decided that I was the candidate they wanted, so they immediately offered me the job! All modesty aside, people usually have a pretty good idea of how interviews go and can more or less guess the outcome. This one truly blindsided me though. I was so thrown off guard that I didn't know what to say! They asked for my response within 24 hours, but I negotiated for 37 hours by arguing that they are thirteen hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time! This gave me more time to think about it and to have more interviews for which I traveled halfway around the world!

The next day I had a series of other interviews but none compared. Going into the fair, I was very open to wherever God wanted me to be, but I had been hoping for and assuming that I would get the big flashing lights, horns, and all other manner of mayhem pointing me in the right direction. This didn't happen in the way I had anticipated, and it took me a little longer to notice it, but I actually got a much bigger sign of assurance: peace. Peace is not a word I would usually associate with myself. I am a lot of things, but peace-filled is not always one of them-especially when in the midst of decisions like these. More closely associated words are usually stressed, anxious, and freaking out, just to name a few. This was different though. I was completely at peace with moving to Shanghai and taking on this job from the moment they started the interview with a prayer (and when I found out I can still access Facebook and YouTube from there!). I accepted the offer on Saturday morning and celebrated with two days of play in Boston since I'd finished my job hunt earlier than expected!

Concordia International School is wonderful. It's a Christian school with an American curriculum. The majority of teachers and the 1,300 students are American too. I'll be teacher 2nd grade, which I've done for a few years in the past. Technology is integrated into the teaching in an extraordinary capacity, with Macbooks and iPads in the classrooms as well as an abundance of other electronic devises. Check out their website at www.concordiashanghai.org.

One of the buildings at Concordia

I'm excited to live in Shanghai too. As the largest city in the world with a population of just over 23 million, it's got many of the western things that I miss. Culture, arts, dining, and shopping as well as stable infrastructure are just a few things I'm looking forward to. The school and many local churches provide an active Christian community and large number of expats will make for a well-rounded social life.

Shanghai, China

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and encouraging messages as I went through this process. I look forward to sharing many more stories with you over the next few years. For now though, I will continue to to focus on these precious days left in this beautiful country of Tanzania.

A Little of This and a Little of That

Hello! I cannot believe that this school year is already half over and it's 2012! It has flown by before my eyes, leaving great memories and creating personal growth. With a lot of hard work and careful time management I successfully finished my first semester of graduate school online. I am loving the program (K-6 Math Specialist) and finding it incredibly useful in my daily teaching.

Over the Christmas holiday I was blessed with the resources to be able to come home. This was a very chill trip. I stayed at my parents and a few special people from Orlando either came down to Venice to meet me or met me in Tampa. I spent a lot of time at home enjoying friends, family, and the wonderful relaxation.

On the way back to Dar I made my layover in Turkey an extended one and got to explore Istanbul for a few days. The city, which lies partly in Europe and partly in Asia, is a beautiful dichotomy of the Muslim and Western worlds, of Eastern Europe and of the Middle East. A lot of the architecture of the buildings was quite European as was the dress of many young people. The older women looked very Eastern European too. It was neat to see a city that has been under both Orthodox and Muslim rule and the remnants of history that it has left behind. One historic site I visited, the Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), was built in A.D. 360 as an Orthodox basilica and was used as such until 1453 when it became a mosque under the Ottoman empire. For four short years it also served as a Roman Catholic church. Then, in 1931 it was secularized and has become a museum and landmark since. The result of multiple rulings has had a huge impact on its interior design. Biblical frescoes and murals were covered up when it became a mosque, most of which has now been restored. I spent a lovely afternoon touring this breathtakingly beautiful piece of architecture and history, learning about all of its symbolism and admiring the art, down to the colors of marble and symmetry at every turn. At the end of this post I have attached multiple photo gallery links for different events. Be sure to check out my pictures of Istanbul to see the Hagia Sophia and many of the other wonders of Istanbul.

December is a short rainy season for Tanzania. It often rains for an hour or two in the afternoon most of the month before drying again until the longer rains in April. This month, however, it rained...and rained...and rained. My apartment complex is in a flood plain that has been created since the building of these apartments. In addition to Dar's terrible drainage system (there basically isn't one), some infrastructure and flood walls failed and my housing area had flash flooding. Within two hours we had more than 1 meter of water! Thankfully, my apartment is on the 3rd floor and I did not receive any direct and serious water damage. Most of my neighbors were also out of town for the holiday when it happened. Many things in homes were lost and a great amount of damage has occurred. The bridge that connects a large part of the city to our neighborhood was washed out and the sewer main on our property broke. =/ The school did an amazing job responding quickly and appropriately, bringing in many cleaners and groups to help control the flooding and begin the clean up process before many of us arrived. Our housekeepers spent their holidays cleaning and preparing for our arrival. Seven or eight of my colleagues are still not able to live in their homes and we are still experiencing many water outages and mold problems.

This is the view of my front yard. Notice the SUVs on the far right.

The surrounding neighborhoods were also severely damaged and over 3 dozen people lost their lives. The Tanzanian meteorological society said that this much rain has not been seen in over half a century and the infrastructure here is developing, to say the least. Having said that, as is the case in many disastrous situations, we have seen people give so much to help and there has been an outpouring of support from the school community.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have decided not to resign my contract here at I.S.T. for the following year, so I will be moving when school is out this June. On February 1st I will attend a job fair in Boston, MA and spend four nervous, exciting, grueling days interviewing and hopefully will make a decision then. I'm seriously contemplating large Asian cities (Shanghai, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, etc) but am also open to moving back to the states or wherever God leads me! Stay tuned for news in the next few weeks!

Photo Galleries
Istanbul
4 Day Weekend in Zanzibar