Let's Get Caught Up!

Hey Family! I know I know, it's been awhile. My last post was in July 2020 and it's now April 2021 😩. Back then, I was still in the U.S., stuck outside of China's borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I left China on February 1, 2020 for what I thought at the time, would only be about 3 weeks. We were on CNY holiday break so school wasn't an issue. In fact, I was enjoying traveling in Bali then next, Cambodia. Bali was heavenly and I can't wait to go back. I enjoyed Cambodia, but not as much as I really wanted to. Bali wore me out and I won't lie and say that the virus had me wanting to stay within my own resort.

By this time, the Corona virus was rearing its ugly head all throughout Asia. I was faced with the dilemma of extending my vacation, but my wallet was like, "Go home child." So I headed back to Shenzhen, just long enough to unpack, wash clothes, and pack again. I decided to go home because the city was pretty much a ghost town due to the holiday festivities and I didn't want to get stuck if the city shut down. So I purchased a ticket and went home. I was nervous all the way to the airport because airlines begin shutting off flights from China. I had to fly from Shenzhen to Tokyo, then Tokyo to Newark, NJ. The flight from Tokyo was fully booked as everyone was trying to leave. By the time I landed safely in the US, my returning flight had been cancelled. Maybe about a week of returning, Shenzhen was put in lockdown. I'm thankful I left when I did.

Throughout it all my school was very supportive and kept us well informed. We were told to stay put and not travel back to Shenzhen until further notice. Around March, the HR Department was trying to make arrangements for teachers outside of China to return. They were fearful that China would close its borders. March 26th, I was in the middle of making arrangements with the school's travel agents, set to depart on April 5th. Then it happened, China announced that they were closing their borders effective March 28th. I was honestly relieved because traveling during that time period was very scary to me. Add in the fact that everyone had to quarantine at hotels, some of which were very unpleasant (I heard the stories on Facebook), I was in no rush to get back.

In the end, I stayed in the U.S. until November 13th. After 9 months, I was finally on my way back to China. It was a very long process. I went through just about every emotion with this trip. I know God was tired of hearing from my confused self. I was nervous about traveling back. But I met up with 2 of my colleagues at LAX and traveling with them helped my anxiety a great deal. We landed in Guangzhou on November 15th and spent 2 weeks in quarantine. I spent Thanksgiving stuck in a room by myself with less than desirable food. All in all, other than the food, quarantine wasn't bad. The hotel was nice and clean, although you could't tell from the outside (I was ready to tell them that I wasn't staying). We received 3 meals a day, along with temperature checks twice a day. Before I left the U.S., I had to take a Covid test as well as a blood test to determine if I ever had the virus. This had to be completed all within 48 hours of my departure. It was not easy. After arriving in China I had to take a second test, and on the 14th day we took our 3rd test. After we were cleared, my school sent a car for us to bring us back to Shenzhen. I thought we were done with testing but we had to take another test a few days after arriving in Shenzhen. So within 4 weeks, I took a total of 4 covid test. It's almost 5 months since returning and I have taken a test since. Praise be!

As you can see, so much happend in 2020 and there's still so much I left out. I really didn't mean for this to be so long. I should have vlogged this whole experience. Hopefully I'll do more blogging in the future, I have so much more to share with you all! Stay tuned for me!

Until next time...

Why China?

Hi All!

As you all know, I left UAE for China last July. Although I loved living in UAE, I was unable to secure a teaching position in a timely manner. I often receive emails/messages from schools in China, so I thought, why not go to China? When I first begin thinking of teaching abroad, China was my first choice but then I learned about Abu Dhabi, and you know the rest of the story. 

During my job search, I was offered two positions, one in Beijing and the other in Shenzhen. I was originally headed to Beijing and was excited to be able to experience the 4 seasons again. You know Abu Dhabi has hot and hotter. LOl! Just kidding! The school in Beijing offered me a lead position in the KG Department if I accepted the role of KG teacher (I interviewed for grade 1). Overall the package was good, the only negative was that I had to find my own accommodations with the school's help. After traveling for several hours with lots of luggage, I'd rather go straight to my apartment than a hotel. Then came the other offer from the school in Shenzhen. Again, the package was great and I also liked the location. It's about a 20-minute ferry ride to Hong Kong. The weather is similar to Abu Dhabi but with more rain. Unlike Beijing, the school would handle the accommodations. I weighed the pros and cons of both schools and ended up going with the school in Shenzhen. It hasn't been an easy adjustment by far, but I'm dealing. Besides, I've only spent about 6 months in China due to Covid-19, so I guess I can say my first year in China was a success.

Until next time...

On To A New Journey

Hello Family & Friends! I'm not sure who is still keeping up with me since it's been almost two years since my last post. To bring you up to speed, in my last post I stated I was 98% sure that I was leaving either my school or UAE altogether. Well, exactly one year ago today, I turned in my final clearance forms and left my school as well as UAE. I returned home to the US for approximately 3 weeks then I was off to my next destination.

Yes, I left UAE and went to Shenzhen, China. It has been quite the experience. As I come up on my one year anniversary of moving, I'm going to revisit what it was like getting ready for and arriving in China. I hope you're interested in reading and catching up with me. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Until next time...

It's a Recruitment Season!

Hey All! Sorry for the long break and thanks to those who still keep up with me.  I'm now in year three teaching in Abu Dhabi.  I'm currently teaching grade 1 and still at my school.  I'm 98% sure that this will be my last year at my current school and I've begun my search for my new home/school.  

This past weekend I attended my first job fair and it was an experience.  There were about 75 schools there and they were looking to fill 700 positions.  I was totally overwhelmed with this experience.  There were so many educators present searching for their ideal school.  Most of the schools that I were interested in either had long lines, no vacancies for my grade level or required PYP experience.  I did manage to secure 2 interviews for that day.  The first interview went well and I was told that I passed the first round.  I'm disappointed that I missed the second interview, I couldn't find the meeting room and there was no representatives present to help me out.  I immediately emailed the head of recruitment of the school to inform them of the situation.  But we'll see how everything goes.  I would love to stay in UAE but if the right school comes along with the right package, I'm leaving.  My ultimate goal is to save money.  Although I managed to save some money at my current school, I know I would be able to save more in different locations.  

But anyway if you're looking to teach overseas, now is the time to start sending out your resumes or sign up with a recruitment agency.  Over the next few months there will be several job fairs where many teachers will be hired on the spot or immediately after.  You can try applying directly to schools or sign up with Teach Away, ISS/Schrole, Search Associates, TIE and many others. Many schools use specific agencies to recruit teachers, however you may still have luck contacting schools directly.  

I'm a member of ISS/Schrole and these are the upcoming job fairs:

Good luck on your job search!

Until next time...

End of Year Two

Well hello out there!!!!!!!!!  I know, I know, I don't have any excuses 🙅 but I'm here!  Thank you to all of those who follow the blog, I apologize that my posts are so sporadic. 

Last Day of School Happy Dance

I'm now in NJ on summer vacation.  Tomorrow will mark three weeks since I arrived home.  I had another successful year at my school and I am returning for year three.  I originally signed on for two years but decided to extend my stay.  For the 2018-2019 school year, I'm moving on to first grade.  So if you're keeping up with me, I started off in KG1, the following year KG2, now onto grade one. I'm looking forward to the grade level change.  I'm P-3 certified, so I'll now have experience in each grade, except for grade two.

This has been my mood since July 5th! 😂😂😂😂😂  I don't have any summer travel plans, just enjoying my time off.  Today I ordered some books for professional development that I plan to read before returning to work on August 26th.  Although, this is vacation time I can't seem to turn my mind off from work.  I have so many goals that I want to implement this year.  I think I'm going to dedicate two days out of the week to concentrate on work. 

I'll try to give updates during the rest of the summer.

Until next time!

Parent Teacher Conferences/New Team Member

Hello All!

Well it's not Friday, but in the Middle East, Thursday is the new Friday for me.  We just finished week two of term two and we're already tired.  After being on vacation for 2 1/2 weeks, we returned back to work with Parent/Teacher Conferences the same week.  I'm not sure why we started the term off with conferences, but I hope this is the first and last time doing so.  I was able to meet with 15 out of 22 families.  All were pleased with their child's progress, as was I.

The following week we earned a new member to our KG Team.  My principal asked me to meet the new KG1 teacher at the airport and take her to her new apartment.  I've spoken with the teacher over the past few months via Facebook.  She's was in search of job and I informed her of an open position at my school.  Fast forward a few months later and she's now the newest addition to our school.  She's living in one of the areas I would like to move to next year.  I was glad I was able to get a tour of the place before I request a housing transfer.  The apartments are spacious and it looks like every one has a balcony.  The complex has a pool, basketball court and gym.  I've grown to like where I currently live but I'm open to moving.  The downside to that complex is that it's not a lot of  stores/shops in the area.  I was thinking of returning my rental car at the end of the school year, but I may need to rethink this.  Anyway, I have until April to make a decision about housing.  I'll keep you posted!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!

I truly didn't realize how long its been since my last blog.  I know I say it often, but I'm going to do better with updating this blog.  I don't have many new year resolutions but updating my blogs is one of them.  I say blogs, because I have another teaching blog that I haven't updated since 2015 😞.  But it's a great tool to have for self reflections as well an added resource for my teacher's portfolio.  But enough about that.

I finally traveled over the Christmas break and I absolutely enjoyed myself!  We traveled to Thailand (Bangkok & Phuket).  I had such a great time that I started looking for teaching positions in Thailand.  Lol!  I will definitely visit again.  Traveling was what I needed since I didn't return home for the holiday.  We kept busy so our minds wouldn't be on our families back home.  I can't wait to travel again for Spring Break, I'm thinking of visiting the Philippines.  

On the work side of things...
I had my evaluation a few months back and everything went well.  The Head Boss knows that I'm searching for a new teaching position and asked that I reconsider staying.  She also said that she received so many phone calls/emails from parents about me.  It really feels good to hear positive feedback and have your hard work recognized.  I told her I'm open to staying but I also would like to open myself up for other opportunities.  Some of my current and former parents are already asking me what grade I'm going to be teaching next year.  I don't have the heart to tell them that it's a possibility that I might not be there.  They (parents) either want to move up with their children or move down for the siblings who are starting KG1 next year.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.  Although I'm looking elsewhere, I'll most likely stay at my current school.  As I've mentioned before, I really like our new principal and would like to be a support to her and the school.  Who knows, I might even put myself out there for a leadership position.  Before I left my school in the States, my principal did talk with me about this.  Maybe it's time I step out on faith and give it a try.


Until Next time......

Before you go, check out a short video of my trip to Thailand