NICS Fall Gathering

Friday was our first official professional development day. We all know what a joy those can be, but this one was different than any we had ever experienced. 

First of all, it was combined with our NICS Fall Gathering which means that the two other NICS schools here in Korea came to our campus to give us an opportunity to get to know each other and network. We had a huge home-cooked breakfast that I had been helping to prepare the last couple of weeks in the middle school cooking class (days when I don't have someone to cover for, I can go help in any class, and this is one of my favorites!). The food was great, but I'll admit, there wasn't too much mingling with staff from other schools from what I could see.

This event includes families, so they provided childcare for the kids all day which is unique. We started the day off with prayer and worship and reports on the different schools. Then the non-working moms got to take off and go have coffee while the rest of us sat through meetings. The school brought in a speaker to talk to us about aligning standards, curriculum, and assessment. And, honestly, that was pretty similar to the PD you'd get in the States. We took the kids out to lunch with us with a big group to one of our new favorite restaurants, Petra Palace, which has Turkish food. Then headed back for another hour of work before ending the day early. They arranged for an earlier than normal release because they organized different outings and games afterward. We'd planned on going to Insa-dong, but Eric was too tired by the end of the afternoon. All in all, it was a good non-student day.

Thank You NICS!

Let me just say again how amazingly blessed we are to be having this overseas experience with such an awesome organization and such wonderful people. We have built some awesome relationships in the last two weeks and we are so excited to be a part of something so much bigger than us! We had a banquet tonight where we got an opportunity to see all of the people that donated their time, cars, money, and houses to PFO, and it was amazing to see how supportive this community really is! We have taken over the Lively's house the last two weeks, someone had loaned us their car for the last two weeks, and we have had every meal as well as two snacks a day provided for us for the last two weeks. Not to mention the people that volunteered to take care of our children taking them to the zoo, to the movies, and to the pool nearly every day. We have had an awesome couple of weeks building relationships and learning and preparing for our future, and we couldn't have done it without NICS and their amazing support!

TCKs, CCKs, and on and on and on

So, I’m a reader (I know, you already knew that, too). I can read just about anything. I did read a book a few years ago about being a reader. It told me that I don’t have to finish every book I start. There is a certain freedom knowing that I don’t have to finish every novel that I start. So, sometimes I don’t. But, I’m also a teacher. And, as a teacher, when I am given an assignment, it is my duty to complete it.
Well, we were given some assigned reading from NICS. As soon as the books arrived in the mail, I started the first one—the biggest one. It sounded really interesting: Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds. It is really interesting, and I know that it’s all information that I am going to want. It applies to me, my kids, and the students I will be teaching in an international school, but I just can’t get into it. I constantly find myself re-reading paragraphs and sometimes entire pages because I get to the end and I realize I didn’t comprehend a word of it. As someone who loves to teach “Advanced Reading” (a speed-reading course), I can’t get over my inability to read this book!! So, I just want all of you to know, that I am trying my best, I am going to complete the book, and in the end it will become a resource for me, but right now I’m getting nothing out of it….

Countdown to visas!

Today was a productive day! We finally sent off our visa paperwork to NICS. It was scary because it included originals of a lot of important documents, not to mention 11(!) passport pictures for each of us (x$4 per picture). That envelope is worth a lot of time and money to us!! What a relief to have that done, though. Now, we wait...it will take the Korean government about 4 weeks to get back to us with our certificate numbers, and then we can go to the Korean Consulate in Seattle to get our visas stamped into our passports.
I also accepted the middle school substitute position that will allow me to job share and stay home with Cade two days a week. I've been busy putting ads on Craigslist for a babysitter in Seoul and responding to emails and ads. We'll see how that goes...
All of that, in addition to cleaning the whole house (again!) and baking cookies with the kids. Just when I'm starting to get the hang of this domestic housewife, I'm going to start working more again! Can't wait!

Losing Time

So, it's the 27th of April, and I just realized that two months from today we'll be at our Pre-Field Orientation (PFO) for the Network of International Christian Schools (NICS) in Mississippi. That means that in less than two months, I have to have the garage cleaned out, the wall and shelving built, the furniture moved out of the house, and all of the rest of our belongings packed!! Somewhere in the back of my mind I know that in less than three months, we will be in Seoul, South Korea, but I didn't realize until yesterday that even though we don't have to be in Seoul until the middle of July, we still have to be moved out of the house by the third week of June. I feel like I just lost an entire month in the course of a couple of hours!! The panic is starting to set in. Lord, please give me peace!