This is our last year in Taiwan. Initially, we only signed up for a two-year stint in Taiwan and are now finishing up the end of year three. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great place to live, but we knew coming into living here that our time abroad is limited. Family and D’s career as a scientist are factors we have considered. Ironically, after we made the decision to move and signed a new contract in a new country D began volunteering in a lab at one of the local universities. C’est la vie.

Teaching abroad gives a flexibility and ease of travel that has allowed us to see parts of the world in a different context. You truly begin to understand a culture when you live there. It is also easy to fall into the going to work-coming home routine and often, I forget that we live in another country… until I don’t have the vocabulary to communicate… then I remember 😛

It is interesting to think about how I have changed since leaving Seattle in July of 2016. Driving a scooter is second nature. I don’t even notice the Chinese subtitles on TV and at the movies, and taking the garbage out to the musical garbage truck are all “normal” parts of life. It is not until friends come and visit that I reflect on the realities of my own transformation.

Not only that, but Seattle has changed too. The city is more crowded, friends have moved away, buildings are being sold, and the comforts of home are evolving with the growth of the city. If we were to return it would be a new start regardless of all the familiarity.

After much debate, prayer, and “adult conversations” D and I decided to try at least one more country. Despite the differences, life in Taiwan is easy, so part of our discussion was maybe we are ready for something a little more difficult. Working at an international school gives us many advantages that we take for granted, housing, visas, healthcare (refer to previous post lol), etc.… all these perks are areas of life that others must figure out when they move abroad, but we were provided, hence the idea of trying something that is a bit more challenging.

In January, there was a job fair in Bangkok. It is one of the biggest international teaching job fairs in Asia and an exhausting weekend of school presentations and job interviews. There are the schools in Middle Eastern countries with flashy salaries and benefits packages. The plethora of schools in China with promises of high salaries in exchange for certain individual freedoms. The highly sought after Japanese and European schools where salary is high, but only to match cost of living and many other schools in between.

Truth be told, I did not have an agenda when I was there. I had been contacted by a couple schools in Vietnam that I had scheduled interviews with. I also had set up a meeting with a school superintendent from Nigeria. D initially said that he wanted to stay in Asia, but if something interesting came along he would keep an open mind.

Over the weekend, I interviewed with schools in Vietnam, Nigeria, South Korea, & China. I received a few job offers and had a few follow up interviews. When I got back to Taiwan, we were pretty sure that we would accept an offer to a school in Hanoi. So, am I telling you I am moving to Hanoi? Sadly, no. It would have been a cool experience, but it just did not work out like we wanted.

So, Chinese New Year comes and goes (mid-February), and I still do not have a job. The teacher that they hired in December to replace me here in Taiwan decided not to accept the job, so I was offered my job back. However, my job had morphed into teaching two more classes and taking leadership of the Model U.N. program. It is not the same as saying you can have your job back. We declined the offer. Not that I dislike Taiwan because I do like it here, but we had labored over our decision of whether to stay or leave, so we felt like we needed to be true to our original decision.

Strangely throughout this whole process I was not worried. I know that I am a control freak when it comes to certain things. Major life decisions, like where I am going to live after June qualifies as something to be anxious about. Even D expressed his surprise on my calm and relaxed demeanor. One of the friends encouraged me by saying that patience would allow for us to have an open mind about possibilities that we may have at first been quick to rule out.

By middle to late February I looked to see if any new jobs were posted. We were still waiting to hear from the school in Hanoi, which kept telling us to be patient. At that point, I was convinced that the school in Hanoi was not going to open next year like the school’s original goal, which is a true statement. I applied to a few more jobs just to see if any school was interested in the meantime. All the schools listed at this point were not in places we had originally considered moving.

Within 24 hours or applying to a school in Morocco I had an interview. Within 48 hours of the interview I was offered the job. Morocco, while a place on our want to vacation list, was not on our move to and live list. We were however trying to be open minded and listen to what possibilities were presented to us.

We then spent the next week talking to people who work and live there and writing to the branch that supports work there. We had excel spreadsheets detailing savings goals, student loans, and life expenses. While not as cushy a living situation as here in Taiwan, we will be able to manage. Besides, I did not get into teaching for the money. We also heard back from the branch and were given an okay, which was comforting to us both. As of late August 2019, we will officially be residents of Marrakech, Morocco.

North Africa! I know… it was not on my radar either, but sometimes an opportunity presents itself and you must listen to the answer you have been asking and looking for. What do I know? Not much, yet. I do know I need to learn French and Arabic, possibly brush up on my Spanish as we do not know which language our new friends are going to be speaking… yet. Soon. It is a monarchy… never lived in one of those before. An Islamic country that has a protected Jewish population, not something you hear about often in the context of Islamic countries; the protection of certain religions. It is going to be a very different experience from our life in Taiwan. Expect better blogging from me as we navigate a new country.

But remember, I still have time left in Taiwan and as always, I have lots to say. Not that you would know it from the frequency of the last year on this blog, but that is not the point I am trying to make. I am going to try to post once a week now that the school year is winding down, but my juniors have their last essay due next week, so we will see how that goes (already with the excuses)😊! We are looking forward to coming home to visit our friends and family in the states and introducing you to our little piece of Taiwan; Sesame. That’s all for now, until next week… maybe I’ll catch you up on our last trip to Tokyo or something else about life in Taiwan… we shall see what inspires me this week.