dinner with sasha, marykay and jerry from qsi

tonight we were invited over for dinner at marykay and sasha's house.  jerry, who is one of the big wigs at qsi, was in town and marykay thought that it would be a good chance for us to get to know him more and vice versa.

early in the day at school she had put me in a room with him and said "david should be a director... you guys talk".  i think jerry and i were both taken off guard but ended up having a really good conversation.  he is in charge of the curriculum for all 35 qsi schools (in 25 counties) and is one of the five people who makes up the senior qsi board (aka - the people who hire directors).

all of this corresponded with our intention form being due.  the intention form is our request for posting for next year.  as second year, married teachers we are suppose to have a really good chance at ending up at the school(s) of our choice.  we requested one of five schools:

Malta -a very small school but in a great location and a wonderful place to be a first time director.  we would love to be in malta as we could take a short ferry ride to italy... greece... and northern africa.

Vietnam, Haiphong - small school with not many kids. considered an entry level school director's position. clean. safe. we would eat noodles everyday!

Slovakia, Bratislava - our first choice if we don't get a school director's position.  we would also move there just to teach.  located in the heart of central europe.  bratislava is close to everything.  1 hour to vienna.  4 hours to munich.  three hours to prague.  three hours to budapest.  i have applied to be the athletic director.

Ukraine, Kyiv - 600 plus students.  an amazing city to live in from everything we hear.  i have applied for the athletic director position.

China, Shekou - located right across the bay from hong kong... shekou is suppose to be one of the nicest and cleanest cities in all of china. folks who live and work there call it "china lite" as it is very americanized. the school has over 900 students and i have applied for the athletic director position.

i am sure you noticed that we didn't list anything for jennifer on our intention form.  the BEST case scenario is that i get a director's position (which means more money, a house with a yard, etc) and jennifer doesn't have to work.  as a teaching couple... she has to work or we lose health benefits for her and the baby.  but as a director... she can be a stay at home mom or at the very least work part time in the office (with olive and future babies in tow).   our ultimate goal is for me to get something where jen is able to focus only on being a mom.

it is all kind of nerve racking.  we just go here and already have to consider next year.  maybe a director thing with qsi isn't even an option although marykay thinks it is.  sometimes i think she is in the know and then other times i am not so sure.  either way... she is a big advocate for us and that means alot.

i have also applied for athletic director positions (which are lead ins to being a director at a larger international school) in bangladesh and south korea. 

and of course coming home to the right job is always an option.  or we could end up staying here in bishkek as we really, really like it here.

anyway...dinner was nice.  i think we made a good impression on jerry.  and april made a plug for her and nick teaching overseas next year.