Adjusting to Expatriation

Per many requests, I am starting a new blog. If you'd like to check out my old one (glamgrandmahouse.blogspot.com), go for it.  At first I didn't really want to do it but I suppose this is the easiest way to share my experiences with all of you back home.

Let me start out by saying that as spur of the moment as this decision to move to Shanghai seemed to be from the outside looking in, it was anything but a quick decision. The process of moving here actually started all the way back in college.

In 2009, I was a member of the Concordia University Chicago Wind Symphony. In May of that year, we did a concert tour in China including a stop at the school I am now working at. After our concert, the head of school took us on a tour and since then I thought, I want to work here some day. Now, I'm not sure everyone is aware of this but music teaching jobs can be hard to come by...especially full-time music jobs in international schools. In trying to get back to this school, my first attempt was to try and get a student-teaching placement at CISS but at the time Concordia Chicago was not sending anyone to student teach outside of the Chicagoland area. My second attempt was in applying for a middle-school band director position 2 years ago. My third was applying for an elementary music teaching position last year. -- Three attempts, three fails. I had given up. I wasn't even going to look or apply again. I had to admit, it mostly had to do with my pride. It was broken.

A little over a month ago I received a message from my friend Martha letting me know that there was a last minute opening for an elementary music teacher at CISS. I couldn't really bear the thought of making a fourth attempt at applying/interviewing/grieving and I had kind of put the dream behind me and started looking for a new dream. No more than 30 minutes later, I had an email from the principal asking if I would be interested in the position an hour after that I had a Skype interview and an hour after that and Assistant Head of School called me. The next morning I had a contract in my email inbox.

This couldn't be happening...it was the end of July. I would have to go back for inservice at my previous job within two weeks. I can honestly say it was the easiest difficult decision I've had to make. I left behind the house I had been working on for a year, family, friends, dog, all the comforts and certainty of a life that I had come to know. God in all his vast and infinite wisdom had a different idea of what my life was supposed to look like now and in looking back I can definitely see why things happened the way they did; all of the events that had to occur, the people I had to meet, the experiences I had to gain in order to prepare me to follow life in this direction. Within three and a half weeks of accepting the job, I moved to the opposite side of the world.

Now I have been here a week. What an exhausting, emotional, exciting week it has been.

A little over a week into this and I am starting to adjust. Of course, I haven't really been sight-seeing or anything...mostly because I've been falling asleep around 8:00 every night. First week of school tired combined with the effects of jetlag has been no joke. Thankfully my apartment is really nice and my classroom is organized enough for now...we have 'Fall Break' the first week of October. Six weeks--then I feel like I can maybe catch my breath (depending on the air quality)...maybe I'll just hold it.