A couple weeks ago, slipped in the far reaches of my mailbox, I found a note that took me back to the good ol' days of elementary school.
You know what I'm talking about. Remember how you would just be sitting at your desk, one leg pumping back and forth, pencil eraser nudging your bottom lip, as you tried to puzzle out those mind-boggling multiplication tables? And then, out of the corner of your eye, you would see Andy passing a note to Melissa, who would then pass it on to Mark, who would then palm it off to you right before Mrs. Nelson turned around from the blackboard. Your name would be written all in cursive and curly-q's on the clumsily folded paper. Carefully, stealthily, you unfold the paper to find:
Well, InterAmerican sent me a 'check yes or no' note, and it raised the same sensation of anxiety that those old love notes of yesterday used to inspire. Instead of the traditional, "do you like me?" question, it was the "will you continue to live in the hottest place on earth and work to the point of exhaustion?" variety.
Hmmm.....what to do?
My type A husband suggested a pro/con list (anyone surprised? Yeah, I didn't think so).
Pro's:
*Education. The school is currently helping both of us to take on-line classes. One of us to pursue our teaching certification, the other to keep our teaching certification.
*Job. I have 28 students this year. Total. And my biggest classroom management problem is telling R to stop singing back everything I say. Seriously.
*13 weeks of vacation with the husband. At first, I thought this was an awful lot of together time, I'm not going to lie to you. But, when you are married to pretty much the most fun person in the entire world, it turns out to be pretty awesome.
*Housing, insurance, and a pool are included. I know that there is housing and insurance in Boise as well, but there is no pool.
*Traveling opportunities. This is something Dave and I have noticed lately...we really have been taking vacations of a lifetime, seeing and doing things that a lot of people only read about in National Geographic. Adventures like Machu Picchu, mountain biking in the Andes, deep sea fishing off the coast of Ecuador. This coming year we have plans for Colombia, Argentina, Panama, and the Amazon. I'm always amazed to realize that this is our life.
*Tickets home. Have you checked airfare from the states to South American lately? Insane. The school would provide our tickets to and from the states this summer.
*Spanish. Dave and I are becoming bilingual! How cool is that? Okay, so it is going pretty slow, but still! We're getting there.
*Carmen. I'm a little in love with this woman. Mainly because she makes it possible for me to never have to clean my house. Don't judge me. I'm a teacher who will never be able to have this experience in the states; I'm going to enjoy it as long as possible.
Con's:
*Family. Man, do I miss my family. It is hard to know that we aren't going to see our beautiful nephews and nieces for another seven months. I want to hold those babies!
*Friends. I miss my small group, my lunch buddies, and my teaching team. Those people, irreplaceable.
*Java. I can't help it, I miss my coffee shop.
What to do? Family and friends are big one's, but they have this tendency to stick with us no matter where we are at (have I mentioned how much I love you guys for that?). And Java? Well, sacrifices must be made.
And so the adventure continues...