Over the past two and ½ years our overseas adventure has been centered in Alexandria, Egypt. In a few months, this will all change. Next August our travels will take us farther East to Tokyo, Japan. We will be joining the staff at the International School of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic all-girls school with a rich tradition of over 100 years. The decision to leave Schutz was not an easy one to make. We truly love the country and the people of Egypt. The culture is so fascinating with such a rich history. The locals have taken us in and treated us with such warmth and respect. We will truly miss them. When we started teaching overseas three years ago, we weren’t sure how we would enjoy it or how long we might do it. But we felt that we did want to experience another part of the world before we finally unpacked our suitcases for good and settled back in the great Hawkeye state. Last spring, we traveled to Thailand for the NESA conference and really enjoyed our visit to Asian culture. In addition, there have been two couples and one single teacher who have taught in Japan that we have worked with. They spoke very highly of their Japanese educational experience. When the opportunity came up just a little over a week ago – we talked it over and decided to accept the offer to move east.
It will be a new position that is being created in the school (Head of the Department of Media). This position will oversee a combined computer technology and library departments. In addition, there will be a position for Pat (we are not sure what that is yet). It will be a very interesting adjustment. Unlike Schutz, we will not be living on campus – instead we will be living in an apartment nearby. This will give us a chance to embrace the local culture perhaps more than we have here. The school is located in an older established area of Tokyo where many of the embassies are located. The student population is more international than we have here. We are excited about the new adventure but we realize we still have a lot to do here.
The weather today was probably the worst we have experienced since we have been in “paradise.” The temperatures have cooled down to the low 60’s but it seems much cooler as the winds have been very high and throughout the day we had several torrential rain showers. It reminded us of those early weeks in April in Iowa when it would rain cats and dogs. We had almost as much rain today as we have had over the past month. Of course the streets are a mess as most do not have storm sewers and the water flows down the streets bringing traffic to a snails pace. Hopefully it won’t last long.
We are doing MAPS testing in grades 3 through 6 this week and next. Pat is playing a key role as a Procter. In addition to monitoring the students during the tests, she also sets up the computer workstations for testing. It is our first attempt at this type of standardized test and the students seem to be really focused on doing a good job.
Tonight, we ordered a traditional Indian meal for supper from one of our Indian staff members who have started a catering business. Being our first foray into Indian cuisine, we asked for mild dishes (as traditionally dishes are hot and spicy). If what we had was considered mild – we are not sure if we ever want to try anything hotter. We had chicken curry, daal makhni, onion parata and peas palao (I think I have the spelling right!). It was very good but both of us thought our mouths were on fire – yet strangely enough it was hard to stop eating. We will probably do this now on a weekly basis – if our mouths cool down!
