Finding a New Normal

Normal doesn't typically describe my life. Nor does it now either. I've been back from Africa for a few weeks, purchased a new car, living at random places, & finding a job. Many of you have asked, what's going on, so here's a brief update . . .

I'm working ... all the time. I am currently subbing in Scott County. Thanks to the quick admissions process of some wonderful people there I was able to jump right into subbing when I returned. I've been called everyday & have spent the majority of my days at Southern (where I taught last year).

I also have a job at Homewood Suites by Hilton in Lexington. Do I like it? No. Do I love it? YES! I simply walked in one Thursday, handed them my resume, got offered an interview Friday, & began working the following Tuesday. I'm completely blessed that God opened this door to work with such a fun group of people. I love being able to say my job is fun! Really, it's fun! I work here in the evenings, after I sub. My typical shift will be from 3-11PM.

I'm also starting a 3rd job soon at Baby Bundles, just part time, here and there. I'm happy to be beginning this as well. This is a shop that sells baby clothing in Lexington Green.

I did buy another car. Everyone has been asking, were you sad that you sold your other car? My response: do you know me? I obviously love change, having to go car shopping did not hurt my feelings one bit. I'm now the happy owner of a Toyota Camry & I LOVE it!

As for my condo. I have wonderful renters whom I'm super thankful for! I can only hope that they are enjoying living there. As for when their lease is up...well, that's a long time away & I'm in no way ready to make a decision about what I will do then. So, for now, thanks to them! I appreciate knowing it is well taken care of. :)

Now the question everyone has been asking....are you missing teaching? & in fact my answer is .... no. Yes, you heard me correctly, I'm not missing teaching. I currently have no plans to go back into the field. Obviously life has not been what I expected so I dare not say I will never be a teacher again, but as for now I'm perfectly happy not being one & don't plan to look for a full-time position anytime in the near future. My entire former classroom is stuffed into a storage unit & I don't plan on opening the door anytime soon. If next fall I still decide that I have no desire to pursue a teaching career, then I will open the door & allow all of my fellow teacher friends to dig in. :)

A brief glimpse into the life I live ... & currently love. :)

Blessings sweet friends!

Operation Re-Do!

Umm ... let's just say life certainly has some unexpected events, obstacles, turns & twists. I'm back in the USA, figuring out where to go from here. After some bumps in the road in Tanzania I decided it was best to terminate my contract. I'm thankful that I did but now completely lost & confused on where to go from here. There's no need for any long, drawn out explanation, things just didn't work out. I'm currently in the great (incredibly HOT) state of Texas, visiting family. I'll be flying back to KY on Monday to begin the job search. I suppose it's only right that I change the title of my blog to "Lost & Confused" rather than "Teacher Traveler" since I am neither at this point in my life. Right now I'm not really interested in stepping back into the education realm but ready to pursue other options and interest. However, I'm also open to the idea that the job market isn't exactly wonderful & I need to be open minded about where I could end up. Just resting in the fact that even though I thought my life was all figured out & I'd be 1/2 way around the world for at least 2 years I'm simply clueless as to where my life is going or what I'm suppose to be doing. So, here's to new beginnings & finding a new path in life . . .

Questioning

Thank you again for all of your sweet encouragement as I decide what to do with my future. I have had a great experience here so far. I have a great apartment (minus the no hot water thing, haha!) & a great roommate. I've enjoyed seeing the city thus far and the few people I've met that I will be working with have been great. Stacey & I were even able to have a few relaxing hours on the beach today, which I wanted to use to hopefully clear my mind & rejuvenate my heart!

I simply question whether my heart is in teaching, which many of you know I've questioned a lot. I'm praying through the wave of emotions that have hit me within the last 24-48 hours. I only want to give students my best & if my best isn't here then I'm not willing to put them through my regrets.

I have told my wonderful friend Stacey & director that I will be making a decision within the next 48 hours as to what I will be doing, whether that be continuing on with this journey or finding a new road. Lots of conflicted feelings right now but I know God has a sweet plan for such a crazy mixed up heart like mine. I simply hope that my prayers & heart will focus on His plan & be at peace with whatever He should ask me to do.

I appreciate all your friendly & wonderful insight! You are great people with tremendous hearts.

Love you all!

Today is Rough

So, today I was super pumped about seeing my classroom & visiting our school. I wish I could say that I ended the day on just as good of a note.

I'm tremendously grateful for all of your prayers of well wishes & your sweet comments as today I've had a "pity" day. I saw my classroom, but it is not yet finished. My classroom was the former art teacher's classroom. It was not what I expected.

Well . . . maybe I should just say today is a day that has made me realize all the things I'm grateful for back home. A place I thought I wanted to give up, now there's nowhere else I'd rather be. It's crazy how coming 1/2 way around the world showed me that a Saturday night sitting with the sweetest princess in the world, is a huge blessing. That even though I can't stand packing, moving, & unpacking a bazillion boxes every school year, at least I have those things to help make my classroom what it is. My furniture might have splotches & cuts but I have a great home. That although I do not always show them the love & respect that I should I have great family and friends.

I'm struggling today . . . & hoping & praying that the days get better. :) Thanks for your prayers too!

Arrival in Tanzania

Well, for the most part we had an uneventful trip. (Praise God!) Other than a slight downpour during our layover in Ethiopia where our bags got soaking wet, all flights were on time, all luggage arrived, we made it to our apartment, we got some shopping done, & finally we slept for 13 hours, so I'd say we're doing much better!

Funny thing, we got to the airport in Cincinnati only to realize that one of my suitcases was 14 lbs overweight & the other was 18 lbs overweight! Yikes! So, thankfully at the last second I had thrown an old suitcase into my Mom's car to take just in case. Well, thankfully I did that (definitely just God looking out for me). For my overweight suitcases to come it was going to cost $210 PER SUITCASE! But, to add an additional bag it was just $150! So grateful. Of course, Stacey packed 3 suitcases, 2 of which were exactly 50 lbs & 1 that was only 53 lbs! I'm notorious for overpacking. Although, I don't really feel like I overpacked, since we're here for quite sometime. I think what made my suitcases way overweight was that I used vacuum packs, which although it is great for space conservation it also allows you more space to pack which adds weight.

I have taken lots of random pictures of our apartment so you can see where we live. Pre-decorating & post-decorating. We brought a few items from home to help make our place a little more home-like. We love our kitchen tablecloth, it's very girly but also very colorful (& our apartment definitely needed that!).

We have met our landlord, she lives directly below us. She's very nice & thankfully her children speak English so we are able to communicate with her. She has cute little grandchildren. I'm sure we will be loving on them soon. However, I met Natianela today (her 3 month old granddaughter) & realized I wasn't totally ready to start loving on those children yet. Gave me a big lump in my throat when I was talking to her, I miss my Mary Emily like crazy! The day & time will come when I am ready for that but having only been here a little over 24 hours I'm not there yet. The other good thing about where we live is that directly next door to us is a teacher that works at the same school that we do. She's currently in the U.S. for summer break but will be back at the end of August. We're excited to meet her. Our bathroom has been interesting, there's no rod for a shower curtain so it is currently draped across the room using sticky tack & a push pin. Check our my FB soon for some interesting/innovative things we've done since coming here. Something we've had to adjust to is, outside of our window at night we can hear a Muslim worship service. We're not sure if that's just during Ramadan (sp?) or not. Reminds me of Haiti, except there it is Voodoo.

We also met a guy at the airport that we quickly became friends with. He is here with the University of Minnesota working on a project to eliminate blood born pathogens (I think!?!), he is the country manager. He has spent time in Tanzania before, except in Arusha. He is now in Dar (the same city we live in) for about a year. He does however live in a different part of the city & because of the traffic & bad roads we are about 2 hours apart.

We haven't had much of a problem adjusting to the time change. We got here Thursday afternoon (Thursday morning in the U.S.) & we did a ton of shopping, set up our internet & a few other quick things before making it to our apartment. It was totally dark & early evening before we made it here. So, after unpacking a few things & showering we slept for the next 13 hours. Then, today we got up & got to it with other things. So, the transition went quite well.

I must say, I'm so thankful that I came with a friend. Having Stacey here has helped a lot with the transition. We are able to do our shopping together & get our house in order together. She even made a yummy spaghetti dinner tonight! Otherwise, I'm not sure I'd be coping as well. Especially considering upon arrival we found out our apartment does not have air conditioning or hot water. Ugh! What a bummer but so far we have managed. We are buying additional fans for our rooms but it has actually been a bit chilly here at night. This is their "winter", summer will not be until December or January.

We will hopefully see our classrooms on Monday. We have not been to the school yet at all, but we also haven't really had time. I'll update you on that soon. We have gotten to meet a couple of people that work at our school & they have been very kind. In fact, one is coming tomorrow morning (Saturday) to take us shopping again! We've been told tomorrow we are going to the "Wal-Mart of Tanzania". I'll let you know what I think. Haha! Our school did not have a moving allowance, which we were somewhat disappointed about, but after arriving we are able to see why. They purchased brand new beds, mattresses, double hot plate (we don't have an oven), & refrigerator for us! We were also each given $200 upon our arrival to use to purchase household items (mainly kitchen items as our kitchen had nothing in it). So, they have been very accommodating and helpful since our arrival.

I'll post pictures soon! Please keep the prayers coming that things continue to go well here. :)

Saying Farewell to the Princess

1st I must say a HUGE thank you to the many people who came to my going away party last night. Wow! I felt loved! Thank you! Thanks to my Mom for the yummy treats and being the work-a-holic of the event. Thanks to the Stephen's for allowing us to take over their home. & thanks to Derek for being the "wine expert" that purchased the wine for the evening.

Then . . . on to the question I've been asked 10,000 time since announcing I'd be moving to Africa. How are you going to cope with saying goodbye to sweet Mary Emily (my niece)? YIKESS!!! My heart hurts just thinking about leaving my favorite princess. But, through a few tears and lots of prayer, God revealed something I totally didn't expect.

As I spend every precious moment I can with the cutest princess in the world...God laid it on my heart that Africa isn't just a selfish dream I've had for so long. Instead, it can be a teachable journey for my sweet niece. Through my journey/adventure she can see that sometimes dreams are hard to follow, but with God all things are possible. Although, the world thinks you're crazy or seems to provide every reason why you shouldn't go follow some crazy dream, my God is far more powerful than any silly distraction of this world. I hope that as Mary Emily grows older she can see, yes, her aunt is insanely crazy (& crazy about her!) but if you have a little faith & a heart for the Lord, you can do absolutely anything.

There's nothing I want more for this sweet princess than for her dreams to come true & for her to love Jesus! & I simply hope, that though I'll miss her more than ever, she can see that her Aunt Shannon, had a dream & a love for the Lord....& she got to live a dream & serve the Lord.

Mary Emily - Aunt Shannon loves you to the moon & back! & here are some of my prayers for you: - that God gives you a heart of adventure & faith on fire, - that you may know God so intimately that upon every heartbreak/tear/frustration/fear you can know that you are NEVER alone & He LOVES you like crazy, - that your every dream comes true, - that you have the faith to seek out what God has in store & the courage to achieve all that He has planned for you.

Africa bound in just 2 short days ....

The Journey Will Soon Begin

Since the word is out I decided it was about time (after more than a year) to finally update my blog. Especially since I've told many of you that I'd do that during my time abroad for the next 2 years. It's true, in just over 3 weeks I will have 2-50 lb bags packed to board an airplane to spend the next 2 years in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, East Africa. When the opportunity 1st presented itself for me to go, I thought, there's no possible way. I talked with my Mom about it, since she's known for a long time this is something I've dreamed of! She encouraged me to apply and simply see what happens. So, I did. After much prayer and thought, I applied & then....heard nothing. For those of you who don't know, one of my good friends also applied for a job at the same Academy. She applied & immediately had a returned e-mail. I began to think, this just isn't what God intended for me. Days passed by & then I finally got an e-mail from the Elementary Director, that said ... Shannon!!! We've been trying to reach you for days, your e-mail is account is blocking all of our e-mails. So, after thinking this simply wasn't God's plan for me, I had to then begin rethinking the whole situation. I turned off all of the security settings on my e-mail, only to soon realize that still, for some reason, all e-mails from the directors at DIA were being blocked. I finally solved this problem by opening a gmail account. Within hours I had scheduled my 1st interview. Following my 1st interview I thought things sounded good. I couldn't wait to begin this new journey in life. Then....I began to allow the world sink into my brain & to believe this was still completely impossible. I drove down the street in front of my condo that day & it seemed every house on the street was for sale or rent. I nearly started crying in my car, as I thought of all the things that were standing between me & pursuing a dream. Then, a sweet song came on the Christian radio station I listen to. A song that encouraged faith and perseverance, a song that reminded me, I have no control. I decided to pursue the opportunity & let God take care of the details, & that He did. About a week after my 1st interview, another interview/meeting with the director, & a contract, I accepted a position to be the newest 2nd grade teacher at Dar es Salaam International Academy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I didn't know how God was going to work out all the details, but I knew He would. Soon after my house went up for rent/sale, I had renters within a week. I sold all of my furniture & put the rest of my belongings in storage. I resigned from Southern Elementary & packed my classroom into a storage unit. As the crazy frenzy to get everything done ensued I had a complete sense of peace that God was in total control & had a perfect plan. Months ago, before really beginning my search for a job abroad I knew God was calling me to downsize. To realize that it's not "things" that make life worth living & to put those things aside & focus on what is really important in life. I did just that, as I watched each piece of furniture leave my home I felt yet another sense of relief, knowing that to the world my life & ideas were completely crazy but for me, God was just removing the obstacles that I had allowed to come between me and Him. I've known since my 1st trip to Africa in 2005 I wanted to go back, yet I kept allowing the world to get in the way. But now, God has the reigns for an amazing journey that lies ahead. Thank you for all the sweet well wishes & prayers for the journey ahead. I'm excited to see what God has planned & am happy to soon be serving Him in Tanzania.

Take my life and let it be

All for You & for Your glory . . .