contracts

it is official.  today we signed new contracts to remain in bishkek for another year.  i thought i was pretty content with the decision until we actually had to sign the contracts and then i got all panicky thinking we should have gone to montenegro instead of staying around central asia. 

i know that we are making the right decision with staying.  what my hesitation comes down honestly is that i have a hard time with long term commitments (don't tell jennifer) - hence my resume looking similar to that of a transient, migrant worker.  one year in houston.  three in southern california.  three in austin.  three in harrisburg.  one in houston.  five in alaska.  plus you could break each big move up into smaller moves.  we have lived in two different places while here in bishkek.  i lived in five (yes... five) places in three years when i worked at csusb.  two places in austin.  two places in pennsylvania.  a dorm, a basement apartment, a cabin, a vw bus and a house share in alaska. 

i think the "problem" (if we were to call it that) is a combination of wanderlust (the world is so small... it is a shame not to go, go, go) and the lack of a long term plan.  i was fairly clueless after graduating high school on what i wanted to do long term.  i "found" camping in college (who knew you could major in camping?!) and i guess in fairness to myself i am still following the outdoor recreation career path on some levels.  but i have been kind of aimless with it.

i don't think i started to gain a sense of "i need to have a long term plan" until last summer when dad was dying and jen was close to giving birth to olive.  the combination of those two life events was a huge reality check for me.  i realized that i needed to focus more on the long term and expand my goals to include more than just me, myself and i.  i have jen to take care of.  i have little olive to take care of.  i had my dad to help take care of.  in the future (hopefully the distant future) i will have my mom to take care of.  in order to be that person - i need to have some long term commitments.   financial goals.   best for my family goals. 

as a result my wanderlust and personal goals have to take a backseat to my being a husband.  father.  son.

if it was just me.  or just me and jen.  we would have gone to montenegro in a heartbeat.  but with olive in our lives now.  being here.  being able to save money for all of our futures.  having nina.  having a supportive community of friends.  staying in bishkek for another year is a good long term decision for my family. 

three years counts as long term, right?

short week

we have a short week of school - only monday through wednesday with kids as the school has parent/teacher conferences scheduled for thursday and friday.

so while jenny and i are both excited about the short week - i think i am less enthused about spending two days talking to parents about how great their kids are when in reality i want to run over most of them with marshrukas!

staying put

we have decided to stay put and not accept the transfer to montenegro. i am throwing up in my mouth as i type those words. it wasn't an easy or popular decision to say the least.

the mature, responsible grown up in me doesn't rear his ugly head often - but when he does i feel obligated to listen. especially now that i have a loving wife and little girl which i am responsible for taking care of.

montenegro would be amazing... an experience that we will most likely never be able to have again. living in a part of the world that is still part of 'old world' europe yet more developed and civilized than what we live with here in central asia would be an upgrade. unparalleled travel opportunities. higher standard of living. easier access to medical care. a whole list of reasons why we might be better off on a day to day basis.

better off maybe... but i am not sure about happier (ok... the travel to italy and greece and croatia would be so much better than traveling to almaty or tashkent).

life is here in bishkek is really good. we have an amazing community of friends - most of whom are going to be here for the next two years as well. we are able to save (now that jenny is back to work full time) loads of money, pay off bills and save for important grownup things like retirement and olive. nina the nanny is a god send. she loves olive like she is her own daughter and takes such good care of her. we always know that our daughter is safe when she is with nina.

sure... bishkek has it's down side. the gross winters. the trash. the pollution. the rude (it's a culture thing) people. the traffic police always squeezing money.

but it is also an amazing adventure. we love the bazaars and markets. the outside cafes are lovely in the spring, summer and fall. the city is so green and lush during the non winter months. we are learning the language (slowly). we are learning to be more accepting and understanding of different cultures and religions. we are growing as people. oh... and we both really love grilled mutton.

i guess it all comes down to attitude. there are times when we have felt trapped here... that we would never find a job outside of bishkek. last year when dad was sick and dying it was the worse. it felt like a prison here... so far away from family and friends back home in the states. it has felt less that way this year. less stress. i have jennifer. olive. boone. we are making our own little go of it as a family in a land that is both foreign and familiar at the same time. we have a good thing going here.

staying here and not moving to montenegro is a good decision (i didn't throw up as much in my mouth that time).

it is official

we showed up to work this morning to be told by marykay that if we want it... the transfer is official.  we can move to montenegro!  after learning about the option on saturday we spent a good part of sunday researching the school, the city of podgorica, and the country of montenegro.

the school is small... only about 50 students.  the montenegro only became a country a couple of years ago - so the normal embassy/ngo crowd that brings students to international schools is growing.  if we accept - jen will be teaching the 5 and 6 year olds.  i will be teaching pe to all levels and middle school math/science.

the school is located in podgorica.  here is the best site we have found so far about the city...  http://www.podgorica.travel/.

as you can tell from the pictures... the country is amazingly beautiful and the location is amazing.  we would be able to drive to croatia and greece.  take a ferry to italy.  take the train to the rest of europe.  a two hour flight from istanbul and northern africa.

our only hesitation at this point deals with the cost of living.  being in central asia has allowed us to pay off bills and save a bit of money.  and with jennifer now working full time it is really going to put us in a good position financially.  we aren't sure they same will be true living in europe as things there are so much more expensive.

we are suppose to talk to the director of the school there later this week and we hope to get some more information then.

but needless to say we are overly excited.

bishkek anyone?!

doesn't look like we are going to receive a transfer from qsi to another one of their schools.  a director's position and elementary position opened up in malta (which was on our wish list) but the feedback we are getting is that we need more experience first. i need to finish my masters and jen needs to get her credentials.

the tanzania dream job fell through. they hired someone at a job fair. the director of the school said that he really liked my application but they had to go with a sure thing and that most people get hired at job fairs. hmmm.

it won't be a bad thing to be back here next year. we have a great community of friends. a great nanny. and we are slowly starting to save money/pay off bills. but the travel is great. and we like bishkek for the most part.

i think the biggest frustration is not having options. being overseas is great for us... but we are finding it hard and very competitive to land jobs elsewhere. i think we were pretty lucky to get these positions to start with.

job interview

christmas is the season of giving. it is also the season of applying for jobs next year if you are a teacher at an international school.

this morning we had a video skype interview with larry, the director of the american community school in amman, jordon. i had originally applied for the athletic director position but as it was already filled... they wanted to talk to us about teaching middle school math for me and second grade for jennifer.

the interview went well and jen is confident that we will be offered the positions. we have some friends at the us embassy in bishkek that use to live in amman and they loved it. we are still waiting to hear from qsi regarding what our options will be with them next year.

back to our vacation... we are heading out to explore the jewish district today.

the first half is over

the first half of the school year is over. i think you would be hard pressed to find a kid who is more excited than me that we don't have school for the next three weeks. for the record - teaching ended for me not today but on monday as i proceeded to show "it's a wonderful life", "gremlins", "miracle on 34th street", and "doctor horrible's sing-along blog" in class all week to my kids.

love the holidays!

winter program

last night was the school's winter program.  it took place at a music school right around the corner from our apartment.  jen opted out as olive was taking a nap but she made me wear a sweater vest even though she wasn't going.  the first thing one of my kids said was "you look like a dad".  i was offended at first but then i realized that was a good thing... i am a dad!

outdoor adventure club

friday night i took a group of bis 12 and 13 year olds on an overnight trip to the alpine fund dacha just outside of ala-archa national park.  ten kids total with myself and two other teachers from the school (mr. victor and mr. wes).  this is second year that i have taken a group of kids up to the mountains (jen went with me last year... boone replaced her this time around).  the night started with a great dinner of plov (courtesy of nina) and salad.  shortly after dinner one of the kids got really sick (not from the plov i hope) and i ended up driving him home back down the mountain in the dark and snow.  as it was so late by the time i got to bishkek i ended up staying home with jen and olivia.  no complaining on my part.  i got a nice, quite night's sleep while victor and wes were up all night with loud, hormonal kids.  oh... and the power went out for them at midnight so other than a very modest and fast burning fire in the stove... they froze all night.  i pretty much made out on that one.  thank you nurtay for getting sick.

i drove up early the next morning to meet the group and hike with them to a nearby hill for sledding.  boone was pretty much in heaven.  we returned back to bishkek around 100pm.

tuesday night with vicktor and family

tonight we went to dinner with vicktor, his wife and his two year old son.  vicktor is the 'teaching aide' in my class.  calling him a teaching aide is a joke as he is a master teacher and more than able to teach all my math and science classes by himself without my help - while in turn i often need his help.

most of my classes are split level.  instead of just teaching 12 year old math to eight kids...  i have to teach 12 old math to eight kids and 13 year old math to seven kids at the same time.  same with science (life and earth at the same time).  same with algebra/geometry.  incredibly hard work juggling everything and keeping each subject straight in my head.  sometimes i give math 13 answers to a math 12 kid and vice versa.

so having vicktor is amazing.  he is a good person. funny.  and a great teacher.  he pretty much has taken over teaching the math 13 and the life science.  allows me to focus on the kids that need the most help.

one of my students have me a gift certificate for two to the new mediterranean place in town (if you remember... we went there a couple of weeks ago for the first time with some embassy friends) so in order to thank vicktor for everything he does, we decided to all go together.

it was our first time to meet vicktor's wife.  super nice and sweet.  she only spoke a little english so it was fun trying to understand each other.  of course olive was the belle of the ball as usual.

name in the hat

i got an email today from qsi saying i was being considered for an administrative position for next year. it could be a director of curriculum (kind of like a vice principal back in the states) at a bigger school or the director at a smaller school. we are hoping we are offered the director position in either vietnam or malta! keep your fingers crossed for us.

fall festival at bis

wow... hard to believe it already been one year since our first 'we can't call it halloween at the school but we want everyone to dress up so we are going to call it something else' fall festival.  kind of silly but the younger kids really love it and get totally dressed up.  we start the festival with a costume parade and then the kids go around to different stations.  mine is the melon relay.  yes... kids racing with melons.

my favorite part of the day was olive dressed in her pumpkin outfit.