Dueling Vacations

One reason I finally decided to take the plunge and become a teacher was vacations. The two-month vacations my wife annually took seemed beguiling when compared to the short times I managed away while in business. Better yet, we thought, how about being able to take lengthy vacations together? Even travel extensively together! How cool is that?

Travel? Check with places like Colombia, Mexico and of course our current location of Ecuador. The problem we has was our positions at two different schools. You see, Lisa teaches at a true international school, one that is accredited in the US system and follows the American-typical schedule of classes August-May. My school is more of a high-level Ecuadorian school which follows the typical South American schedule of April-January. Of course, this means no shared vacation times.

Except this week, since I am still in the waning days of my "summer" vacation, while her school is out for a week for Spring Break. We've actually had time to do some things together. Granted, it is amazing how much we are actually doing on school stuff. She is getting ready for class Monday, while I have to start thinking about what I am doing for "next year."

Funny about that. I had lost my passport during a recent trip - something which deserves its own blog entry and I hope I get to it soon - so I needed to stop by my school so they can get the new passport information. While there I stopped in to chat with MariaLaura, the school's International Baccalaureate (IB) Coordinator. She mentioned classes "next year" and I teasingly replied, "you know that 'next year' is in three weeks, you know."

"Don't tell me that!"

So yeah, the days are counting down until March 23 and I have to be back to work.

I have been monitoring the job listings at The International Educator and right now there are over 1100 teaching jobs posted there. We have to make a decision soon if we want to remain here another year or to look for a new place. We will have to see.