February 3, 2008
It is with mixed emotions that I write
this announcement. I have been teaching for 29 years, 24 of
those years in White Salmon. For as long as I can
remember, I have wanted to teach overseas. I decided
last summer it was time to either give up this dream, or go for
it. Being a person who does not 'give up' anything, I went
for it.
I have spent many, many hours working
towards this goal. Yesterday, I signed a contract for the
2008-09 school year. I will be teaching in Bratislava,
Slovakia. It was my first choice of places to teach and
I can hardly believe this is actually happening. I
may never sleep again!
In case you don't know where this is, look
on a Europe map. It is east of Austria and Czech Republic,
south of Poland, west of Ukraine and north of Hungary.
Bratislava is on the western border of Slovakia on the Danube
River. I will be 1 hour east of Vienna,
Austria; about 5 hours southeast of Prague,
CR and 3 hours northwest of Budapest,
Hungary.
I will be learning to speak Slovak, although the
school is an International School and I will be teaching all
subjects in English. As for grade level--I will be
teaching 1st grade! This adds to the adventure. I have
always taught 5th or 6th grade, and this gives me a chance to
try a new age. I picture these little kids knocking on my
knees! Kathy Hunsaker is already getting things together to
help me prepare!
As part of my contract, I have to supervise an
after school activity 2 days a week. Yep, you guessed
it--square dancing. I will have kids of all ages,
from
K-12th grade.
It will be REALLY hard to leave at the end of
this year. White Salmon has been home for me for so
long. I want to take all my kids with me. It is
one of those bittersweet moments--I'm excited to take on this new
challenge, but leaving all my friends will be very hard; good thing
we have the internet! Amy
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