It's settled (I just now got my flight itinerary!): I'm coming home July 2, which means I have but twelve days left here in Turkey! Every day I'm hit with the reality that my time here is all but over, and the memories and my enjoyment of my time here leaves me with a nearly overwhelming feeling of bittersweet. I've been trying to see as many friends and say goodbyes, shoot as many photos, eat as much Turkish food, do as much shopping, and wander around the streets as much as I can. Forget sleep.
In the meantime, I'm continuing with little success to find a Stateside teaching job. A few possibilities lie in Stafford and Henrico Counties (Virginia), charter schools in Charlotte and Chicago, and a smattering of high schools around Michigan. I have tons of applications out, but I never hear back from any schools. We'll see. I'm not necessarily worried at all about not finding a job, but I just don't want it to be a last-minute thing where I have only two weeks to move to a new city (or even a new state), adjust to life in a new area, prepare my classroom, and plan at least two subjects' worth of lessons.
Two questions keep popping up in all this decision making: (1) Which is more important: the school where I'm teaching, or the city where I'll live? I want to teach high school biology in a mixed-race school if at all possible, but usually one of the two isn't an option (usually the former). A few interesting openings have popped up, but in less than desirable locations, chiefly in the boonies somewhere with few good churches or social activities. I really want to live somewhere I can meet people my age who share my faith in Christ.
(2) Should I aim for teaching in an urban area? Normally I would want to have easy access to open country roads for cycling and forests for hiking and mountain biking. Without nature, I go nuts. Yet urban schools often get the short end of the stick when it comes to dedicated, talented teachers, and I think it could be a unique way to trust God with the next few years of my life to live in a lower-income area and continue learning to work "cross-culturally"--after all, I'm about as Suburbian White Boy as you can get.
2 comments:
Yep, I hear inner city Chicago just calling your name - and no shortage of places to bike either - the shore of the lake is quite substantial and there are bike racks on the trains!
Seriously (well, the other part was mostly serious - I do think that there are lots of bike trails around here), trust God, even for the short term, rapid moves - there are awesome churches and awesome believers everywhere you go - you just have to be looking for God to reveal them.
can't remember exactly the time difference, but it should be about time for you to board an airplane - be safe and well - and if you happen to get this direction, let me know and I'll feed you - halfmom's are good at that!
hope the job market is coming along better than before - continuing to pray here
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