The Adventure Home and Questions Answered

I have been MIA for a few days as we were traveling from Germany to the states to spend the holidays with my family. Unfortunately for us, we had the first snowfall of the season in Germany (besides some flurries in October) and we were not sure how our travel would go due to the weather. We left around 6:30 am on Saturday because we drove 2 hours to the Frankfurt Airport and by the time we arrived, it was no longer snowing, but our flight was delayed three hours due to the weather. We were set to fly to Dulles airport in Washington DC with a second flight from DC to White Plains New York, which is a smaller airport. We found out before we even left Germany that due to a very bad snow storm in DC, our second flight was cancelled. We were just happy that we would at least make it to the states and figured we would play it by ear once we arrived in DC. As we were approaching Dulles and about to land, we started to fly higher and the pilot announced that Dulles had closed due to the weather (they got about 2 feet of snow) and we were re-routing to Chicago! When we landed in Chicago, we were informed that no flights were taking off and that we would get out on Monday at the earliest. They said we could go standby on Sunday and they would try to get us on a flight, but there was no guarantee since many flights were being cancelled and lots of people were trying to travel. So at about 9:00 pm, we decided to just rent a car in Chicago and drive through the night all the way to CT. I had slept on the 9 hour flight from Germany, so with the help of a little coffee, I was okay to drive for the first 5 hours while my husband slept and then he drove the rest. It took us about 14 hours and we arrived around 12:30 on Sunday. So in total, we were traveling for about 36 hours. LONG day! We are very happy to be home, but still recovering from the time change and the exhaustion!

Ok...on to a few of the questions asked in my last post....

How did you meet your husband?

We both went to college at Villanova University in Pennsylvania and we were in the same dorm freshman year. Although we had many of the same friends, we were never friends and actually took somewhat of a disliking to each other at first. I was in a long distance relationship at the time with my bf from high school. We were placed in the same dorm again sophomore year and right before school my bf broke up with me, so John and I started to hang out and became friends. He was interested in me first, yet I was still hung up on my bf. BF and I had been together for about 4 years at that point so it was tough getting over my first love, but eventually I did with the help of a very sweet guy who showed me that my bf had not treated me the way I should be treated. We didn't officially start a relationship until junior year of college, but we have been together ever since.

This past November marked 7 years together and we have been married for 2 years.

What brought you to Oregon?

We moved to Oregon in 2005 because my husband got an offer to work for a company in Portland. Aside from college, I had never lived outside of CT, so it was a big move for me, but I loved it! I tried to get a job teaching public school, but was unsuccessful, so I worked for a bilingual Head Start Preschool program that served migrant families who were in Oregon seasonally. I really improved my spanish speaking skills during that job and although it was not my ideal job, it was a great learning experience.

How did you end up teaching overseas?

Again, it was my husband's job that pushed us to move. He grew up living in several different countries abroad, so it was an experience he really hoped to get as part of his own career. At first, I was not really excited, because I had just gotten my master's and I was really getting into the groove of my job teaching first grade. I would love to say that I was totally up for the adventure or that I had the drive to teach in another country, but it was just because of John's job circumstances. His company's global headquarters are located in Germany. He got a great opportunity and I was lucky that his company helped me get an interview with the international school. I do not speak German (yet), so the options for teaching were quite limited. The international school was pretty much my only option. At first, there were no openings for classroom teachers, so I accepted a job as a teaching assistant so that I could get my foot in the door. It only took until October for a few positions to become available and I was able to get hired on as a Support Services teacher which is a "real" teaching position. Although, I was hesitant at first and nervous about living in Germany, I am SO glad we decided to go for it. I love my job, the friends I have made, and how much I am growing as a person. We have only been there 4 months, but it has been a fantastic experience so far!

I got a few more questions and I am going to save those for tomorrow!