I suppose I’ll start off with a brief biography of myself and the purpose of this blog. I grew up moving all over the US and wound up in Fairbanks, Alaska during my last two years of high school. Not knowing what in the world I wanted to do with my life, I stuck around and attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Still not knowing what to do, I chose a major that straddles the sciences and the arts: HISTORY. I love it, I really do, but after earning my degree I still had no clue what to do with it. So I stuck around a little longer, got married to the love of my life, and decided to earn a teaching certificate (high school, duh) and a Master’s in Education. Eight years in Alaska, 5.5 years of post-secondary schooling, and yes, I still have no idea what I’m doing. 

So what do I do? Apply to teach English overseas, DUH. It’s something that’s always intrigued me, and now I say, “Why not?”

I’ll fast forward and skip the hairy, boring details. 

I’ve received an offer to teach English at a University in Turkey for one year, and I leave sometime in August. I’m way stoked, but if I think too much about it I do feel slightly nauseous. I’ll be teaching English in a different country. A new language, new customs, new food, new driving rules, new money… I could go on. But, at the same time, in the words of Mr. Mark Twain, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do…”

So, this blog will essentially track my teaching adventure. I also hope to be of some assistance to any other nomads out there who wish to teach overseas. I relied heavily on blogs when I first began researching the where, when, and hows of teaching in a different country, so hopefully I can pay it forward. Any questions, any at all, go ahead and ask! 

BUT FIRST. I have to leave Alaska. Alex and I are first driving to Iowa to visit his family and go to a wedding, then to Minnesota to visit his friend, then St. Louis area to visit my friends and attend a second wedding, and then Alex and I will part ways for a bit 😥 as he will fly back to Fairbanks, and I will visit my parents for a few weeks before departing for Turkey. You follow? Grood. 

Here’s an oldie of my sweets and I, waiting to catch a plane to Austin (irrelevant context, but I don’t care).

PS: I have an odd sense of humor; please don’t cry or whine about anything I write.