The Journey Inward

In analyzing the draft to this point, the latest chapter of my narrative was foreshadowed earlier on, and One had only to pick out the moments and start to connect the dots to predict this coming story arc.  A cursory skim and scam might indicate that this seed was planted just over 5 years ago, but that is conservative really.  Because couldn't it have found fertile ground while I was in utero and my mother dreamt of travel and adventure?  Wasn't it fed by the exotic artifacts in our house, brought back from my grandfather's travels overseas and my mother's post-college trek cross country?  And how about all those encyclopedias I read as a kid, working my way through the alphabet and discovering a world that stretched beyond the confines of our little town? Or the National Geographic magazines my dad and I devoured together.  Certainly it was fertilized as I watched my sister join the Foreign Service and move from country to country.  And germinated as my brother joined first the Peace Corps and then the Foreign Service, raising his children in international schools around the world.  No doubt studying abroad in England and the 9 countries I visited while there allowed the seed to sprout.  And these are just the influences I can name.  What of my ancestors and their experiences?  Surely they contributed to a bit of wanderlust and restlessness within me.  This origin story has parts known and unknown with more depth and breadth than I can lasso into an introductory post.  But I will start with February 2020, just before the world got so small.

At that time, I attended the 54th Annual Leadership Conference in New York City hosted by AAIE at the invitation of my brother.  My daughter and I both came and sat in on some thought provoking and challenging courses presented by talented speakers and educators.  It was at this conference, or conversation as they called it, that I met Laura.  Laura was introduced to me by my brother and we hit it off immediately.  She listened to my experience and assured me there would be a place for me in the world of international education when I was ready.  (With one in college and two in high school, this was not that time!)  I took her business card and kept it on my bedside table for almost a year, at which time I transferred it to the drawer for safe keeping.

Fast forward to 2025 and a going away party for my brother thrown together hastily by my sister, as he had very little turnaround time for this new opportunity that would take him out of country for several years.  My youngest and I had various tasks to complete in the morning, including having her car weighed at a local trucking weigh station in preparation for her cross country trip to Oregon to begin her Coast Guard assignment.  We set off a bit later than planned, then stopped in Baltimore to pick up Gabrielle and Amil and encountered quite a bit of traffic, so arrived about three hours after the start of the party.

Most of the attendees were family and close friends, but there were a few unknown faces.  I made my way over to a man standing on the back patio and asked how he knew my brother.  He told me they were colleagues at the State Department and he worked in the Office of Overseas Education.  When he asked my connection and I identified myself as sister, he immediately asked if I was the teacher who wanted to transition into overseas teaching.  We had a lively conversation about teaching and our experiences, and when he had to leave 20 or so minutes later, he took my email address so as to provide further information about international education.The past two years have been difficult ones in my district, with serious budget cuts resulting in job loss and program loss.  My Gifted and Talented/Literacy Coach/Intervention Coordinator position had been chopped up and meted out and I became a Literacy Interventionist.  Another round of cuts meant that this position, too, would be eliminated, and so after 12 years, it was back to the classroom for me.  Whether it would be 3rd or 4th grade was TBD.  Serving as a building co-rep for the Union, my partner and I had our share of stress, sadness and frustration over what was happening.  Without realizing it fully, I was feeling stuck.  This conversation on the last day of May got me excited and reinvigorated.

Two days after that party in Alexandria, VA, my new friend from the party wrote with his contact information.  Two days later, he wrote again to say that the department would like to extend an invitation to join the summer institute they were hosting in Georgetown.  I couldn't imagine it would work with my three weeks of summer school and my three weeks out to the west coast, but I opened the attachment anyway.  My school year ended on Friday, June 20 and this institute ran from Sunday through Friday of the next week...and I had nothing planned!

Upon registering for the conference, a woman reached out to welcome me as a fellow New Jerseyan and said she looked forward to meeting me at the conference.  I saw her signature line and ran across the hall to my bedroom, digging through my bedside table.  I pulled out the card I was looking for and it was the same woman.  I wrote back with a little story of a teacher dreaming about international teaching meeting a woman who encouraged her and sent along a picture of the card.  Laura was thrilled and so was I!

Conference week came and it was exactly what this school year weary teacher needed.  The Professional Development was compassionate, inclusive and uplifting.  The 150 or so educators from around the globe were so welcoming of a public school teacher from NJ with no overseas experience and shared their stories.  By week's end, I had met most of the participants or recognized them.  I had learned about the process of looking for jobs in the fall, hopefully earning one by winter and beginning the following summer.  I had also met a handful or so of heads of schools.  Each day found me excited to attend the day's workshops and chat with educators and each evening found me chattering excitedly with my sister about the day.

It was the closing Friday of the workshop when I met the head of school for AISJ.  He asked about my experience, shared about his school, then leaned forward and told me that he had several openings for this year.  I can't imagine how my fact contorted at the shock of that suggestion.  I hadn't planned on doing anything right now!  He told me to take notes and explained the roles, benefits and structure.  I left feeling a bit numb and when I returned to my table (13, my favorite number!), my colleagues all thought this was a done deal and I should apply!  I cautioned them on getting too excited, but my entire drive home that night was building excitement at the idea!  I called a few family members and friends to be thought partners and it seemed that any potential obstacle was easily cleared.

I asked my niece, who grew up attending international schools, to tell me what she liked about the experience.  She said, "I had an incredibly strong community.  International schools are like small towns where you know everyone.  Being in a new country can be overwhelming, but international schools provide a central community that helps everyone navigate."  This concept of community was so appealing to me and highlighting again the importance of teachers in a child's (and sometimes family's) life.

Fast forward a few days and the head of AISJ was back home and set up my first round interview with two principals.  We connected on July 3 at 7 am my time and the conversation just flowed.  On Monday, July 7 I met with some of the learning leaders and again, felt very comfortable.  A contract was extended to me by week's end!

The contract arrived in my inbox as I was driving to Virginia to visit family for the weekend.  I forwarded it to my oldest brother, who read it to me over the phone as we discussed logistics.  I printed it at my sister's house and she and my brother in law signed as witnesses.  I scanned it at my niece's house the next day as we celebrated my great niece's first birthday.  It was a family affair!

I got busy not just submitting a letter of resignation to my district, but researching retirement because that was what I would be doing.  Our state education association was tremendously helpful and so I resigned on Monday, July 14th with the purpose of "retiring."  Retiring from public education in the state of New Jersey, anyway.

And so the journey began.  I met with HR people, awaited an assignment and school, and began to think about what to pack.  Friends would be moving into my house, my brother and sister in law would take my car, and my pups would go live with my daughter and son in law in San Diego.  Family and friends recommended contacts to me who either lived in South Africa or had lived there.  I read up on history, travel and crime, as well as the school and its philosophies.

I had been marveling at how the Universe had worked in and around me to make this dream come true, but then Shari sent me a wonderful quote that felt quite empowering and gave me some credit for taking this leap.  My friend Mark has called me a risk taker, and that certainly doesn't describe me in all situations, but I'm wrapping my arms around that idea in this one!

My friend Kristin sent me a beautiful email, saying, "...it seemed to me you were somewhat restless...But within that, there was this steady spark that something else was possible and you were fully invested in your process to discover it."  Her observation and those words meant so much because she sensed something inside me I hadn't gotten in touch with yet.

So now it is time to turn the page and put ink to paper on my next chapter.  It is unknown to me what I will experience, who I will meet, what I will discover about myself and others, and where in the world I will travel.  But that's what makes it so very exciting.  I believe with all my heart that South Africa is calling me to spend time with her and so I will.  I will go and pay close attention to her lessons, stories and songs.  I am ready to co-write this next chapter and bring some serious main character energy to it!