Where It All Began

How on earth did I end up here? I have very recently uprooted my all too comfortable life, rid myself of the majority of my worldly possessions and moved to a developing country. Is this my version of a mid-life crisis?!

I guess I should go back to where this all began.

For the past few years my life has felt very stagnant. That’s the only word I can use to describe it. I was growing increasingly dissatisfied at the school where I was teaching. Once upon a time it was a really fun place to work. It was exciting, it was challenging and it felt like the whole school was making amazing progress educating kids. That started to change over the last couple years due to many factors. It came to a head when many teachers left the school just over a year ago. At that time I told myself that I would give myself one more year at the school and then I, too, was going to move on. At the time I didn’t know if that would mean moving to another school in the same district, moving to another district in the Los Angeles area, or maybe even leaving California.

I was also somewhat dissatisfied in my personal life. I have friends I love and care for very much. But I felt like I was spending too much time alone and my life felt exactly like the movie “Groundhog Day.” Many of my days felt exactly the same. I got up, I went to work, I came home. I made dinner, cleaned up and sat in front of my computer or the TV. Day after day after day. A part of me wanted to take my life, flip it on its head and really shake things up. I felt like I was just coasting through life and that is NOT how I want to live.

As the 2011-12 school year ended I began to explore my options knowing that the following school year would more than likely be my last year at that school. As I began exploring options I thought, “What about teaching internationally? I mean, if I am going to shake up my life, why not REALLY shake it up?” So along with searching for possible options a little closer to home I also began looking at the idea of international teaching. Almost immediately the search was overwhelming. As with many Internet searches I found many, many recruiting agencies for international teachers. It was difficult to tell which companies were reputable or not. Fortunately, a friend of my sister has done quite a bit of international teaching with her husband. She gave me the names of some companies she had used before. I found a company I liked and began the process. I had to do many things I hadn’t done in years, like create a resume, ask for letters of recommendation and write cover letters. That alone was a hefty challenge! I created a profile with all my uploaded documents and began sending out letters (well, emails) of interest to schools all over the world.

As the 2012-13 school year began I continued exploring the idea. Since I needed letters of recommendation from my current administrator and others in similar positions I had to let a few people know what I was thinking early in the process. I also told some of my closest friends that this was something I was considering. Since it was early in the process it all felt very tentative.

Then in February I attended a job fair with my recruiting agency. It was held over President’s Day weekend in San Francisco. The job fair was a crazy experience! I had about 10 interviews in 2 days! I interviewed with schools from all over the world, including a school in Ecuador. After I got home from that fair that I had an interview with the director of the school. It was my first ever Skype interview; a rather humorous process because I wasn’t sure what to wear or what should be in the background. Eventually I got offered a job! After some serious consideration I accepted a job at Colegio Menor San Francisco de Quito. I was moving to Ecuador!