Hi everyone! It's been a while since my last blog post, about 13 months to be exact! After being evacuated from Indonesia last March due to COVID-19, I took a break from blogging. The main purpose of starting my blog back in September 2019 was to document my Peace Corps experience teaching in Indonesia. However, things obviously didn't go according to plan. However, I have decided to start writing blog posts again! Although my time teaching in Indonesia came to an end in March 2020, my international teaching journey was just beginning.
After being evacuated, my partner, Dan, and I decided that we wanted to continue to teach internationally together. The job search began in April 2020 and ended with two signed contracts with Ayeyarwaddy International School in Mandalay, Myanmar. We were so excited to get back to Southeast Asia and have our very own classrooms. At the start of the summer, it seemed hopeful that we would be able to get to Myanmar in time for the school year to start. The borders were closed due to COVID-19 but they seemed likely to open in time for an early to mid-July departure. If for some reason they didn't, the school was working hard to get us on relief flights. However, nothing went according to plan and we began the school year in August teaching remotely. Since there is a huge time difference between the US and Myanmar (around 10.5 hours depending on where you are in the US), most of our lessons have been recorded beforehand. We both teach first grade with around 21-22 students in each of our classrooms.
Since I was living with my family in Illinois and Dan with his family in New York, we spent the first two months of the school year traveling to see each other. We traveled to see each other and our families in Chicago and New York. We went to South Dakota, Virginia, Colorado, Boston, and more. Wherever we went, we worked remotely and explored. We made some incredible memories.
Although we were so grateful for the adventures, there were always a few things missing. First, teaching kids in person. Second, teaching and living in a new country. And third, living with each other. After our trip to Boston, we received one of the kindest gestures I've ever received in my life. Dan's cousin and his wife offered us their second home in Dallas, Pennsylvania to live in and work from for a while. The 'big house' as some like to call it, was the perfect escape in the woods. We arrived at the end of September and stayed until Thanksgiving. Our days consisted of teaching, running, hiking, and exploring the great outdoors. Both of us went to our respective homes for the holidays but were reunited in California at the start of 2021.
After our trip to California, we moved back to Pennsylvania. Our days remained similar to the ones in the Fall. However, a major change occurred at the start of February. On the morning of February 1st, a coup began in Myanmar. Elected members of Myanmar's National League for Democracy were detained by the military. Since the start of the coup, peaceful protests were carried out. The protests turned deadly in mid-February. Over 700 people have died in these protests and many more have been detained. To say this has greatly affected our school community including my 22 six and seven year olds would be an understatement. It's been quite the year working through not only a global pandemic but also a military coup. If there is one thing I have learned it is that you should never underestimate the resiliency of children. My students have proven to me again and again this year how strong, brave, smart, and resilient they all are. I am so thankful for them.
With the ongoing pandemic and military coup, it did not look like Dan and I would be moving to Myanmar anytime soon. Our school gave us the idea of continuing to teach remotely but move abroad perhaps to a country in Central America to explore a new country and help lessen the cost of living on a Southeast Asian salary without actually being in Southeast Asia.
We took that idea and ran with it! After only two weeks since we began thinking of this as a possibility, we left from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on a direct flight to San Jose, Costa Rica! We had found a month long rental through AirBnB in a little beach town on the Pacific side of Costa Rica called Esterillos Oeste. We arrived on Saturday, February 20th and have been enjoying every minute of the Pura Vida life. We have continued to teach remotely and support our students in Myanmar as best as possible. Both of us have enjoyed working on our Spanish skills and learning how to surf. There's a lot to talk about Costa Rica wise so I will save all of that for later posts. Overall, I have learned so much over the last year including how life can change in the blink of an eye and how it's so important to lean on the ones we love.
The school year wraps up on May 28th and our time in Costa Rica is coming to a close. We are coming back to the United States for the summer. I'll be back on here soon with more highlights from our time in Costa Rica, what it's like to teach remotely for an international school, and some more life updates too. As always, thank you so much for reading and for supporting me. Pura Vida!
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