Two weeks away

In two week's I'll be in Panama. That's crazy.


To bring you up to speed, I am moving to Panama for the remainder of the year to teach high school English. I don't yet know what city I'll be in, and thus what school I'll be at, so I'm trying to practice a healthy level of patience and cautious excitement. I don't want to get too excited about any one location, only to learn that I will be working at another.

I'm hoping this blog will be an effective way to keep everyone updated on what and how I'm doing. I also hope that it has the possibility to help prospective teachers looking into this program get a glimpse into daily life as a foreign teacher, as a similar blog I found really helped me make the decision to bite the bullet and move abroad for a year.

I've thought about doing something like this for years, and can't believe I finally committed to it. I'm excited about the challenge that faces me, and look forward to proving to myself I can move abroad alone, and successfully create a community around me, and effectively become a classroom teacher.

I recently spent a weekend in Chicago, for the first time in six months, seeing all of my friends before I move. I felt so surrounded by love and support and FUN those few days, and am so grateful to have such a solid home-base. A friend later commented about what a great circle of friends I have, and it's true. I really do. Growing up on Lopez, community has always been the most important part of creating my life, and that weekend in Chicago showed to me that my five years there really lived up to the standards that Lopez set in terms of that. I'm really interested to see how I mesh into my school, home and city community in Panama. It will be a struggle for sure, but I am energized by the idea of being around a whole new group of people and beginning to forge those relationships in a new environment.

In some of the information the program I am working through sent me, there was a section called "The Myth of the Personal Journey." I was really impressed by this; it was essentially a section saying, "Don't approach this experience as this time for you to go through a personal metamorphosis. You are going to be the same person you leave as. The purpose of this move is to effectively complete a job." I love that they named that because it is so important to keep in mind. I mean, I'm sure the experiences I have while I'm working in Panama will shift things about me, but my core will remain. All of the things I have problems with will still be there, as change takes a real concerted and lasting effort. That's not what this is about; this time is about being the best teacher I can be. I know the quote at the top of the page might seem contradictory to this whole outlook, but I am constantly discovering myself, and I'm sure this chapter of my life will be no different. The thing is, "finding me" isn't the focus. I'm simply open to being introduced to me anywhere I go. Another thing I really appreciate about the organization I am going through is the process in which the partnership with Panamanian schools begun.

I am very wary of "international volunteerism" because often times it can do more harm than good, and can be very selfish and unsustainable in nature. What I appreciate about WorldTeach is that they were approached by the Ministry of Education in Panama, because the government saw a gap in their English curriculum. They saw that a lot of conversational skills were being missed in the high school level because there was a dearth of native-English speaking instructors. They reached out to several international organizations asking for native speakers to come and partner with Panamanian English teachers to supplement the curriculum. It was really important to me that I wasn't going to be going to a school and taking someone's job because my status as an American made me somehow "more desirable." I will be partnering with skilled Panamanian English instructors, and co-teaching and developing curriculum.

Anyway, I'll update when I know more about my specific placement - town, school, homestay, etc. My official take-off date is February 6th! If you have a google account (ie: gmail) I think there's a way to "follow" the blog. If not, I'm going to email out the link to everyone eventually. Thanks for caring to stay posted on what this next year has in store for me.

Love and light.