Faith

So far, this year has turned out to be pretty great for Matt and I. We are 5 days into the new year, by the lunar calendar that is, and we landed ourselves jobs, starting in the 2012 school year. Kuwait or Bust!!! Just kidding, but really, that is where our offer is. Now, we have not signed contracts yet, and I have another interview lined up, and possibly more, but this signifies to us that there is the promise of employment after Beijing. The thought of not having work lined up was starting to scare us. We'd rather work "almost" anywhere, than not at all.

I have been offered work as a middle school art teacher and department head for grades 7-12. Matt has been offered work as a middle school science teacher. The school is called Al-Bayan Bilingual School. The children are all Kuwaiti and spend 60% of their day in an English classroom. The children study a combination of the American Curriculum, Local Curriculum, and in High School--Advance Placement courses are offered. The school director originally started talking to Matt about a long term sub position, but got turned on by his pre-school teaching experience, coaching, science degree, and enrollment in a masters program in teaching, learning and curriculum.

This school has 2,000 students, Nursery thru grade 12. There are 251 faculty members, many of which are Kuwaiti, British, American, Australian and other various third-country nationals. This school would be a step in the right direction for us. By working Middle School, I am opening the door to high school and leaving it open for elementary. Also, department head is not a bad thing to have on my resume. And then, Matt would be going from an assistant teacher to a lead teacher. I'm very proud of him.

In a few weeks, I'll be flying to San Francisco to attend an International Recruitment Fair, and to make sure that this is the best offer that we're going to get, although I have a feeling it is. I do have an interview lined up already with a school in Saudi Arabia, the draw to that school is the IB curriculum. But, it'd be a smaller school again, which I'm not so sure that we are interested in. Also, I don't know if they have anything available for Matt.

The worst part about this process has been feeling unwanted, and not having anything lined up to save us from that feeling. We were going back and forth, feeling like we made the wrong decision to throw the towel in, in Beijing. But now, it is just such a relief to know that there is an option out there for us. It's a great feeling--very encouraging, and a testament to faith. We're just going, somewhere, Kuwait or maybe somewhere else. Call it an adventurous spirit or whatever you will. We'll call it faith.

Our life abroad: it is what it is.