AmsterDowd

Fred the Friendly Cheese Man

2013-04-29T09:18:00.000-07:00

The first time I went to see him he gave me a little Amsterdam house on a key chain. He told me it was my first house in Amsterdam

The second time I saw him he gave me a small wheel of young cheese to share with my class. I didn't share it with my class. I used it for cooking instead.

The third time I saw him. This is what he told me...

Advice from Fred:

The first thing you need to know about your boyfriend is that he needs to be good in the garden, a good cook, and have a good job.

The second thing you need to know about your boyfriend is that he is there to support you when you need it.

The third thing you need to know about your boyfriend is that he should make you laugh.

The fourth thing you need to know about your boyfriend is that he should be good in bed.

And the fifth thing you need to know is not to tell your boyfriend about the other four guys.

Then he gave me some free Camembert to share with my girlfriends.

If you happen to visit Nieuwmarkt Square during the week, be sure to stop by and see Fred. Picture coming soon :)

The Year of the Snake

2013-02-10T08:38:00.002-08:00

February 10, 2013 marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Snake. Good bye to the year of the dragon. Today, I went down to Dam Square where there were supposed to be some festivities going on. By the time I got there, however, all that remained were some milling tourists and red remnants of fire crackers. It was said that there was more going on in the Bijnkorf Department Store, so in we went to see some dragons and dancing. What I found was three people dressed in Chinese costumes standing on stilts sort of dancing to some Cirque du Soleil music. It wasn't what I was expecting for ushering the new year. After watching the short performance, my friend and I went to a great cafe nearby for lunch and chat. This, in my opinion was a much better way to spend the afternoon.

But that snake continued to linger, so I decided to find out what was in store for this new year since my current one was a turning out to be one long roller coaster ride. Snakes have a tendency to instill fear, discomfort, mistrust. Images of slithering and sliminess come to mind for me as well. Could this be what the next year of life will be like? Surely not. If you think about it, a snake periodically sheds its skin. This inspires thoughts of change for me, opportunities for growth and new life.

"At the Temple of White Snakes in suburban Taiyuan county, director Lo Chin-shih presided over a glass-encased display of dozens of slithering snakes, replete with flashing pink tongues and slowly molting skin, a symbol of change, renewal and hope for a better future." Read More

The article also recommended wearing a monkey pendant around the neck because the monkey is the only animal who knows how to handle the snake. Perhaps I will be taking a trip to my local Chinese store (I do live in Nieuwemarkt, otherwise known as the Chinatown of Amsterdam, you know) to get outfitted with the appropriate neckwear.

While I do think that life is what you make of it, it's nice to know that there are some bright possibilities ahead for the new year of the snake.

Christmas in Amsterdam

2013-01-26T12:54:00.002-08:00

Portugese Synagoge

Amsterdam is a great place to be in the winter holiday season. The weather is crisp, the canals are glistening, and the whole city is lit up with twinkling lights. Each section of town even has it's own theme.

There are all sorts of events going on if you know where to look. The best place to start is with www.iamsterdam.com

There were all sorts of concerts and canal lightings. One of the interesting things I was able to find was the Grachten Festival. It takes place two times a year, once in the summer, and once in the winter. The Grachten Festival was a series of classical concerts in various locations around the city. The one that I chose to attend took place at the Portugese Synagoge. The building was beautiful with gilded chandeliers and the soft glow of candlelight all around. The building had no heat, so we were offered a blanket upon arrival. The concert was an hour of beautifully haunting music played by musicians with instruments I had never seen before. It was an unconventional way to spend an evening, but in a strange way it got me in the holiday spirit.

But of course I couldn't forget a couple touches from home like Bailey's and a little Christmas tree. Thanks to Tim, when I got home from my last day of work before the holiday break, I found a decorated tree and a cozy apartment. While I couldn't be home with my family, this was the next best thing.

Fireworks and Festivities for the New Year

2013-01-26T12:20:00.004-08:00

What do you get when you pair a bunch of expats and one Dutch guy on New Year's Eve? A great time had by all. Celebrating the New Year, Amsterdam style is feared by some, avoided by others, and embraced by masses. I decided that I had to see what it was all about. After spending a quiet Christmas in Lisbon, I was ready to come back and see what all the fuss was about.

Well, the fuss started at about 8am with booms and pops that echoed throughout the streets. At first I didn't know what it was. I thought it was something from the construction site down the street banging. I was wrong. It was the beginning if a day's worth of fireworks. I know what you're thinking, it's daytime. You would be right, you can't actually see any of them, but you can hear them. It sounds like a war zone. I was starting to get a little nervous.

It was a rainy, miserable day, and public transportation was set to stop early that night. Tim and I took a cab to a friend's apartment to begin the festivities. We had all of the necessities: an ample spread of food, copious amounts of booze, an assortment of friends and friends of friends, and lots of silly crowns and noisemakers for all.

It was nearing midnight, and the fireworks became louder and closer. There was no way we wouldn't be participating in the fun, so in walked Jeroen with a giant bag full of all sorts of roman candles and other things that could be set on fire. We all went out into the rain and acted like the locals. Well, maybe not so much like locals, but a bunch of Americans with fireworks. There was a lot of yelling and singing of Auld Lang Syne. The locals continued to set off their fireworks in virtual silence.

All throughout the city of Amsterdam, people were in the streets getting soaked by freezing cold rain setting off fireworks. There are no regulations, no restrictions, and it is nothing short of a miracle that more people don't get hurt. The sky was full of smoke and the popping and booming continued throughout the night. The streets were littered with red, pulpy paper, and I must say I was happy to get to my bed safely after a long walk home.

The next morning, the first day of the new year when resolutions are being made (or broken) and hangovers are being nursed brought the memory of a conversation from the night before. We had agreed to go to the beach. The beach? In Holland in the winter? Yup, it seemed like a great idea at about 1am. I have no idea what beach we ended up at, but it was stunning.

It was a great idea, and while it was freezing, it was the perfect place to begin a brand new year.

To Skype or Not to Skype

2013-01-25T08:37:00.000-08:00

I don't know about how others feel about this, but Skype interviews make me much more nervous than face to face interviews. Why you may ask? For me, there are all sorts of things that can go wrong that you may not think about until they happen. For example, even with a strong internet connection calls can still drop, the picture can be fuzzy or delayed, or the sound may not work. All of these things have happened to me, and while they are normal occurrences, I know that I felt as though it reflected poorly on me at times.

As frustrating as it can be though, it is a necessary part of finding a job overseas. While it may seem like a more informal way to interview, don't be fooled. This is very much an interview and all of the usual standards apply like professional dress and prepared questions. One of the things I have done is write down answers to possible interview questions ahead of time and keep them next to me. Then there is always something to refer to if you get stuck.

I have done several Skype interviews for jobs in various places around the world. It is nerve wracking, but the best thing to do is to try to be yourself. Set up an area with good lighting and a neutral background. Make sure that there won't be any interruptions like people walking into the room or phones ringing. Most importantly though, relax and be yourself.

I always take notes during interviews and Skype is no exception. Because you are talking to people from different parts of the world, you may be interviewing early in the morning or late at night. Notes are very helpful. One piece of advice: if you get an offer during your interview, get all the facts and tell them you will think about it. Then give them a response within a reasonable amont of time.

Be aware of expenses that you have in your home country and if they will follow you to your new country. Then take into account the local currency and if you will have enough money to live. I had to turn down a great job in Indonesia because while I would have been living like a queen on the local currency, I had two hefty student loans that were going to follow me. I wouldn't have been able to afford to live there.

If it doesn't feel like the right fit, then it probably isn't. There's always another job around the corner.

The International Job Fair Experience: The Inside Story

2013-01-25T08:23:00.002-08:00

Roller coaster is probably the best way to describe what the 2012 Boston International Recruiting Fair was like for me. There were twists and turns and a wide variety of characters who entered the scene. Maybe it was more like a very strange movie. By the time I was able to reflect it was Wednesday, February 8th, but the fair started for me on Monday. Things were winding down, so I was able to unwind my brain.

Offers were being made, people were either excited or heartbroken. According to some of the administrators who I had interviewed with there were tears, but not from me. While I didn't know what to expect going in to this experience, I developed a strategy pretty early on. One of the best pieces of advice I could possibly give is to do your homework. Like an athlete you need to train for this event. I took on the role of the interviewer for schools and not the other way around. I knew which schools I wanted to target, and I didn't waste time on schools I knew I didn't want.

The morning of the first day is very intimidating. It consists of waiting in line to enter a very large room lined with tables of school representatives ready to sign up only their top candidates for interviews. Yes, that's right, just because you have made it there doesn't mean you are guaranteed even one interview. I thought that it was first come, first served in terms of interview times. Schools chose who they wanted. They have access to a database ahead of time, and they choose their favorite candidates.

So there I was, waiting in line, talking to other nervous candidates. Some were older couples looking for a place to retire, others were straight out of college looking for an adventure. Then there was me, ten years into my career looking for a change. My strategy was to start at the beginning of the alphabet and stop at all of the European schools. With each stop I had less than a minute to convince the administrator or director that they wanted to interview me for a position at their school. I had my speil down noting important experiences and training. It worked. I got every interview that I wanted. This was not the case for many I spoke to. There was one girl I spoke to who was hanging all of her hope on one interview. I had choices, and I was beginning to realize that I was among the lucky few.

I was also unprepared to find that each school and candidate has a "mailbox" where notes can be deposited. This can be anything from a school brochure, an invitation to interview, or a job offer. I was happy to see that my mailbox was consistently filled with notes, but I soon learned that this was not the norm. Experience, particularly with the IB is very important and can quickly place you at the top of any school's list. It is also helpful if you are willing to sponsor after school activities or sports. While this may be a thrilling new adventure for you, it is a business deal for the school.

The interviews took place in the hotel rooms of the administrators. This was another thing I was unprepared for. It was intimidating to say the least. Other than that, the interviews are just like any others. After the first one, everything became a blur. Interview after interview I tried to keep all of the information straight and process everything logically. It's not possible. I went back to my sister's apartment that night and tried to sort everything out. I had more interviews the next morning, and I knew offers would come. I had to be ready. The truth way, there was nothing I could have done to be ready. I had to go with my gut.

If they like you, they offer you a second interview. Sometimes that second interview is the same day. Then the tricky part really kicks in. Schools won't offer you a position unless they are pretty sure you are going to say yes. They may also put a time limit on your decision. Some of the best advice I got was from a school director I interviewed with. She told me that I shouldn't feel pressured and that I should play my cards close to my chest. Doing that, I was able to see which schools were desperate and which schools were more confident. This whole experience is something like a chess match with rules that can change on the fly. You have to be flexible and poised at all times; it was quite a ride. After weighing my offers and possibilities, I went with what felt like the right decision. I was moving to Amsterdam.

After talking to many other fellow teachers after arriving at my new home in Amsterdam, I quickly realized that my experience was the norm. So if you are truly ready to change your life completely in the period of a couple days, take the plunge and experience an international teaching job fair.

Lessons Learned:
1. Do your homework: make a prioritized list of schools you are interested in, and contact them prior to the fair.

2. Be ready to make life altering decisions at the blink of an eye.

3. Have someone on call to run decisions by before you commit to anything.

4. Sometimes things don't work out the way you expect, no matter how much planning you have done.

5. The international community is a small one.

Do You Have to Ride a Bike in Amsterdam?

2013-01-12T10:50:00.002-08:00

Do I have to ride a bike in Amsterdam? That is one of the questions that I asked myself before moving here. At first, I was excited to be able to get around town by just my own leg power. There was a romance to having a shiny bell and a basket to carry things like bouquets of flowers, wooden shoes, or miniature windmills.

When I arrived, however, the romance was still there, but the reality also hit. Amsterdammers were very serious about their biking. While it is fun to do and a great form of exercise, riding a bicycle is the primary form of transportation in this city. So it can be a little intimidating hearing ringing bells and watching people fly down the paths darting in between other riders.

My first bike riding experience happened yesterday (January 11) after almost 6 months of living here. How could I have managed for so long? I asked myself the same question. Was it laziness? Was it fear or intimidation? What ended up happening was that I had built up the bike riding experience as something that was more than it was. Because I didn't buy a bike right away, I began to put it off. I had put it off for so long that I learned other ways to get around, and soon, riding a bike snowballed into something that began to feel like an insurmountable task.

The time had come. I was going out with friends after a training workshop, and I was the only one without a bike. The brewery was too far to walk to, and there wasn't any direct public transportation that I knew of. One of the girls offered to let me take her bike while she rode on the back of another. The first thought that entered my mind was that it had probably been almost two decades since I had been on a bicycle, and this made me very nervous. Luckily it wasn't raining, and there was no ice on the paths. I hopped on the seat and gripped the handlebars tightly; I was off. I was very careful and a little wobbly, but riding a bike was what they say, just like riding a bike. I pedaled hard, feeling the icy air in my face and feeling as though my hands were becoming numb. My bag slowly slipped down my arm, but I couldn't stop; everyone was getting far ahead. My legs soon started to burn, and muscles I hadn't used in years were beginning to scream. I was cold yet sweating, and about ten minutes later I was there with the waffled handlebar pattern in my hands from holding on so tightly. I felt both a sense of accomplishment and relief that I didn't cause any accidents along the way.

Will I be buying a bike as a result of my first ride? That is still undecided at this point, but I did prove that I could do it. So do you HAVE to ride a bike in Amsterdam? No, you can absolutely get around without one, but it definitely makes you feel like more of a local if you do.

Oliebollen and Gluhwein

2012-12-18T14:31:00.000-08:00

The time has come that both locals and tourists alike look forward to all year. While most tourists probably just stumble upon this gastronomic delight, the locals get excited at the mere mention of the word. That's right, I'm talking about oliebollen. What a funny word it is, but oh what a delicious treat. I had heard talk of these donut-like creations at a get together with some other expats. With excitement in their voices they spoke of two things that marked the coming of the holiday season. No, not Sinterklaas, not the lights throughout the city, it was oliebollen and gluhwein. For that moment I looked forward to trying both, but quickly forgot about it. Then one day while walking down the street from Dam Square I caught sight of a sign. I remembered the word, and thought I would see what all the fuss was about. The fuss was rightly made, and I became a fan right then and there. These little balls of joy are basically fried dough with raisins and currents all around. Finished off with a dusting (or a heaping amount in my case) of powdered sugar, you just can't go wrong. I was hooked, so now whenever I see a sign for oliebollen, I have to get in line because they don't last all year.

Gluhwein is also quite lovely, but it isn't for everyone. It's basically mulled wine most commonly served at the multitude of Christmas markets scattered all over Europe. My first taste was at the Christmas market in Antwerp, Belgium, and it was delightful. Walking around in the freezing cold air, looking at all of the random wares for sale you need something to warm the insides. Gluhwein is just the ticket. Sadly, both of these lovely holiday finds will be gone as the new year starts, so I will be indulging as much as possible until then. Proost!

Hagelslag and a Snow Day in Amsterdam

2012-12-07T07:32:00.002-08:00

I had the best intentions of documenting my expat experience here in Amsterdam and what it was like to get a teaching job overseas. But the reality is that life is crazy. It is a roller coaster ride, one of the loopy, make you want to throw up ones. It's not an easy thing to completely uproot your life no matter how much you may want it. And I wanted it. I still want it, but it is different than what my expectations were. The blog is going to take a different direction. Yes, I will still give some tips about getting a job abroad (it is recruiting season again after all). Yes, I will tell some good stories and post great photos, but I will also be honest.

That said, the reason I am able to sit an write this post is because I am sitting in the comfort of my apartment overlooking the brown waters of a canal enjoying a snow day. This is one of the benefits of working at a school. Since safety is the number 1 priority, school gets cancelled for things like snow, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. Today was predicted to be a gnarly storm of a day, but as it turned out, it wasn't bad at all. I spent the morning experimenting with hagelslag which is part of a Dutch balanced breakfast. Hagelslag is basically sprinkles, yes like the kind you would put on a cupcake. The Dutch do it for breakfast on top of buttered bread. This was an amazing thought to me, so I decided to try it out. You can't really go wrong with chocolate, butter, or bread, so my hopes were high. It didn't disappoint. While I couldn't see eating this for breakfast everyday, it was a nice chocolaty treat that sort of tasted like eating a piece of cake.

Breakfast was a success, so I moved on to mailing a package to send to my family for Christmas. I had been scouting out how to do this for quite some time, so I felt confident in following this through. I went to my local Albert Hein grocery store where they proudly displayed the PostNL sign. From what I understand, any shop that has this orange and white sign will be able to act like a post office. It was a success, and my package is on its way to New Jersey (I hope). I went around and did a couple other things while I was out and sort of enjoyed the chilly air and the crunching snow under my boots. The bikes were all covered in snow, but that doesn't stop people from hopping on and moving on with their day. Getting on with my day involved some Kraft Mac and Cheese that I got from the expat grocery store, Kings Almarkt. I never thought I would miss something like mac and cheese, but I had a nostalgic moment at the store and had to pay the price. The merchandise is expensive, but when you are feeling in need of a piece of home, it is well worth the extra euros.

After several hectic months, this snow day was a bright point in my roller coaster expat life.

Update

2012-11-29T12:23:00.002-08:00

Hi All,

I have been doing an absolutely terrible job keeping up with this blog. The good thing is that since I have been living in Amsterdam I have amassed a nice collection of stories that I can't wait to get posted. I will be doing some writing within the next couple days, so please check back often!

The International Job Fair

2012-05-01T16:55:00.001-07:00

Making the decision to attend an international teaching job fair is not something to be entered into lightly. In my opinion, when you decide to go to a job fair, you decide to take a job abroad. There are several different options in terms of the international teaching fairs, and they take place all over the world. One of the most popular organizations that hosts these fairs is International School Services (ISS). Before you can register for a fair, however, you must become a candidate which requires a fee of $185. Attending a fair will cost you an additional couple hundred dollars. You will also have to consider hotel and flight costs. I spent about $600 to become a candidate and attend the fair. Luckily, my sister lives in Boston so I didn't have hotel costs to contend with. ISS has already posted the fairs for the next recruiting season (2013-2014 school year), and they are in some great locations.

Nice, France, November 21
Atlanta, USA, December 2
Bangkok, Thailand, January 4
San Francisco, USA, February 10

Sometimes they will add a last chance fair that will not cost any additional registration fee like the one in Philadelphia starting on June 15. The problem with waiting for this one is that it is late in the season, and most of the good jobs are taken. There are very few schools represented, and it may not be worth the time or cost especially if you are a qualified candidate.

I opted for the Boston fair that took place at the beginning of February of 2012. While it is later in the season, it is the most highly attended of the season. This may not be true for 2013, so it is important to check the website www.iss.edu often to see which schools will be recruiting. It is also important to note that these services prescreen candidates by requiring an online portfolio. This will consist of your resume/CV, letters of recommendation, personal statement, teaching qualifications which include transcripts and certificate. This allows recruiters to see your whole profile before they decide to meet with you. It's a good idea to get your profile completed early in order to maximize your time during the recruiting season.

There are many other fairs that other organizations and companies host, and they tend to run close together. If you play your cards right and plan ahead carefully you may be able to go to a couple different fairs within the same week. Many schools attend many different fairs, and it's a small world in international eduction. Be advised that each service charges their own fees and have their own requirements for attendance and registration.

Search Associates: www.searchassociates.com
Kuala Lumpur (leadership fair) November
Johannesburg, South Africa, December
Melbourne, Australia, January
Bangkok, Thailand, January
Hong Kong, China, January
London, England, January
Toronto, Canada, January
Cambridge, USA, February
San Francisco, USA, February
Bangkok, Thailand, March

UNI- University of Northern Iowa: http://www.uni.edu/placement/overseas/osfair.html
This is one of the country's biggest fairs, but there is only one with limited spaces available. Registration begins at the end of November or the beginning of December.

Council of International Schools: http://www.cois.org/page.cfm?p=4
They host their fairs in London, and the next one will occur in January of 2013.

There are many other options for recruitment and other fairs to attend, but these are the most widely known.

I'm in Control

2012-05-01T16:07:00.002-07:00

I get a little frustrated when people say that they are not in control of their own life, that events of the day merely happen to them, that they are passive while there is something or someone else driving the bus. While I believe in a higher power, and have great faith in that which I don't understand, I do believe that I am the maker of my own destiny. I truly believe that where I am in my life is a direct result of the choices I have made. By saying that I want my life to change or that I would like to move abroad does nothing but share a thought. In order to make something happen, one must take action. I have finally started the process of packing. I know I am jumping ahead out of order of how things actually happened, but I'm living in the moment. I'll fill in the holes later. I have submitted all of the paperwork necessary to procure my visa, and that is another blog post in itself. I have told my bosses that I will not be returning next year, and I have begun the task of starting a to do list. There are so many little things that have to be done, but can't necessarily be done ahead of time. Things like canceling the cable and electric, changing my address, selling my car and all my furniture, or packing the rest of my belongings cannot be done until right before I'm ready to leave. I wish I could do it now, but I still need a bed to sleep on and a car to drive to work. It is also challenging because I haven't told the people I work with although I think they are starting to suspect something is amiss. The rumor mill has been churning, and the most recent addition is that I am running away to France to get married. While I am going back to France, I will not be getting married while I'm there, and I will be returning next week. My life is amazing because I have made it that way through hard work and dedication to fulfilling my goals. The best things in life are not handed to us while we sit idly by, they are the things that we have to work hard for.

How to find a teaching job overseas.

2012-03-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

There are a multitude of really excellent resources online dedicated to teaching abroad. Some are obviously better than others, and they offer very different services. I can only speak from my own experience, but what I will say is that taking the time to research is a must.

I started with teachanywhere.com which is a free recruiting website. I was matched with a recruiter, and I was very impressed at the individual attention that I received. It was through this site that I interviewed for a school in Indonesia. It was a unique opportunity at a small school with lots of opportunity to really make a mark on the local education system. I was intrigued, but it wasn't the right time for me to make a move like that. I soon learned that any of the other job opportunities that came my way from this recruiting site were similar, small schools with development opportunities. It wasn't a good match for me because at this time I realized that I really wanted to pursue opportunities at IB World Schools.

This is when I found ISS (International School Services), and I realized that I had to make a critical decision. ISS is pretty expensive to join, but once you pay the annual fee, you have access to hundreds of jobs at some of the best schools in the world. It's not enough to just join and search the postings though. The head's of these schools want to meet you in person, and one of the only ways to do this is through a job fair. The drawback is that there is an additional fee and of course the cost of travel. There are several of these job fairs each year, and they are held in various locations throughout the world. This year, they were held in Atlanta, Bangkok, Boston, London, and San Francisco. I opted for Boston because I was able to stay with my sister in her lovely North End apartment. It is always a bonus when you can work family into a job search.

Something else to note, and this may seem like common sense, you need to do your homework. It is important to research the schools and the areas that you are interested in. My list started with about thirty schools focused on Europe. I sent individual email cover letters and attached documents to each of them. I personalized the emails to highlight the aspects of the school that I liked and why I thought I was a good fit. Most of the responses I received were generic responses from the HR departments, but there were some that contacted me directly, and it helped me move to the top of some recruiters' lists at the job fair. I will also say at this point that I have 9 years of professional teaching experience, three years with IB (2 of which are at the coordinator level). I have been to three official IB trainings, and I have a master's degree in Global and International Education.

TIE (The International Educator) and CIS (Council of International Schools) are also great places to look. TIE has a significantly cheaper membership fee too if you are short on cash.

The best thing you can do is keep an open mind, and don't focus all of your attention on one country or one continent. Some places are easier to get jobs than others, and some schools require very specific experience and training. Most of all though, don't give up. If this is something you truly want, the right job will come your way.

More on the job fair experience in the next post...

How do you change your life?

2012-03-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

Decision to Change

Is it a moment of inspiration? Is it a long and drawn out process? Does it take a lot of thought or little thought at all? Is it influenced by outside forces or is it an internal experience? How does a person decide to completely change her life? Why don't more people do it?

I think it is a combination of all of those things. I think for successful, meaningful change to happen it has to be a combination of impulsivity and careful thought. In the beginning when I first decided I wanted a major life change I didn't know where I wanted to go or what exactly I wanted to do. I started to hunt for jobs all over the internet and all over the world, contact recruiters from various international teaching websites, and even had a couple of Skype interviews. I was dipping my toes in the water to check the temperature. This was a year ago, and I wasn't ready to just pick up and move when I got an offer in Indonesia. I had also just gotten a promotion of sorts at work here in the states, so I was reluctant to just abandon all that I had worked for.

My life was progressing nicely last spring. I had plans to go on a trip to Eastern Europe to present at the BCES conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, my job was locked in for next year, and I had an entire summer in front of me to be on vacation. There was also the hope of a September interview for an amazing school in Thailand. My summer proved to be much more than a string of destinations, it allowed me to have some time alone in a foreign land to reflect on who I was, who I wanted to be, and what I wanted out of my life. It was then that I realized that my life was my own and that there were no limits on what I could do. It sounds so simple, but in a way it was.

I started the school year with a focused motivation and overall calm. I also had the interview with the school in Thailand, and I got the job. I fretted over what to do. There were times where I felt that I would definitely be moving to Bangkok, and there were other times that it was the furthest thing from my mind. What I did discover, however, was that I was on the right path, that I needed a drastic change. It was a combination of things that prompted me to change, and it was the support system of family and friends who helped me realize that moving on and moving away would be the best thing for me. From that point on, it became my mission to find the most perfect job in the most perfect place. It wasn't easy, it wasn't cheap, but it was so worth it.

Where does inspiration come from?

2012-03-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

Inspiration

What causes a person to be inspired, to be truly motivated in life? For my Uncle Leo, it was my Aunt Ginny. Inspiration for him was a time where he could forget about war and flying planes and think about the woman he loved. Uncle Leo died when I was very young, but that didn’t stop Aunt Ginny from living her life. She continued to travel, enjoy life, and build a foundation for me to dream big.

For me, inspiration comes in many forms and in many places. A long time ago, I’m not really sure when, I decided I wanted to live a big life, one full of inspiration and adventure like my aunt and uncle. I didn’t realize, however, how much of a motivating factor these two people would be in my life until I got a bit older.

I’m a bit of a loner, and I have always done things just a little bit differently and in my own time. The first time I traveled it was completely on my own to live on a small Greek island for a summer. There have been many trips since then including volunteer work in Tanzania, conference presenting in Bulgaria, vampire hunting in Romania, and finding myself in Turkey. It was never enough though. Every time I came home I wanted to be somewhere else. Sure I missed my family and the comforts of home, but I felt like something was missing.

Taking on the adventurous spirit of Aunt Ginny, I took the bull by the horns (I really may do that someday) and set a goal to change my life. The thing that had been swirling around in my head for the past couple years finally found a place in the forefront of my mind and became a tangible goal. I was going to move to another country!

This new blog is starting as a "secret blog" for the people closest to me or the people who happen to stumble upon it. This is my journey of the ups, downs, and unexpecteds of drastic life changes.

Thank you for joining me on the journey!