By Kevin A. Duncan
The earth has journeyed around the sun once and already started another orbit since Matty O’Minor and I were “talking smart” on that balcony in Colombia. During that time, talk of a book went from a fanciful dream to a reality. Starting with friends, then moving to friends of friends, and then expanding even further afield, we’ve felt fortunate to have so many people, thirty-five to be exact (living in eighteen different countries), contribute stories from Turkey to Thailand, Morocco to Mexico and beyond.
While collecting stories, editing, and doing other book-related tasks, we’ve continued to experience the roller coaster ride that is international teaching. Nine months after spending my Chinese New Year break flying from Guangzhou to Medellin to visit two of my closest friends—Matt and his wife Cailin—I landed a job at an international school in Buenos Aires for the upcoming school year. Finally, after 5 years on different continents, I would be living near the Minors again! Two weeks later, Matt and Cailin accepted jobs teaching in Shanghai for the next school year, only a mere two-hour flight from my current home in Guangzhou. Ouch. So much for the reunion.
On a positive note, I’ll be able to reconnect in South America with former colleagues from my China and Korea days while Matt and Cailin will get to live in a city with friends they met in Korea, Colombia, and the US. In the meantime, we’ll make the most of our final weeks in our respective schools and countries, perhaps squeezing too much into a short amount of time as the process of procuring visas, downsizing, packing, crossing off bucket list items, and saying goodbyes compete with our professional responsibilities. Preparing to move to yet another country and school where we’ve never visited is now par for the course. This isn’t unusual anymore. It’s our new normal.
The earth has journeyed around the sun once and already started another orbit since Matty O’Minor and I were “talking smart” on that balcony in Colombia. During that time, talk of a book went from a fanciful dream to a reality. Starting with friends, then moving to friends of friends, and then expanding even further afield, we’ve felt fortunate to have so many people, thirty-five to be exact (living in eighteen different countries), contribute stories from Turkey to Thailand, Morocco to Mexico and beyond.
While collecting stories, editing, and doing other book-related tasks, we’ve continued to experience the roller coaster ride that is international teaching. Nine months after spending my Chinese New Year break flying from Guangzhou to Medellin to visit two of my closest friends—Matt and his wife Cailin—I landed a job at an international school in Buenos Aires for the upcoming school year. Finally, after 5 years on different continents, I would be living near the Minors again! Two weeks later, Matt and Cailin accepted jobs teaching in Shanghai for the next school year, only a mere two-hour flight from my current home in Guangzhou. Ouch. So much for the reunion.
On a positive note, I’ll be able to reconnect in South America with former colleagues from my China and Korea days while Matt and Cailin will get to live in a city with friends they met in Korea, Colombia, and the US. In the meantime, we’ll make the most of our final weeks in our respective schools and countries, perhaps squeezing too much into a short amount of time as the process of procuring visas, downsizing, packing, crossing off bucket list items, and saying goodbyes compete with our professional responsibilities. Preparing to move to yet another country and school where we’ve never visited is now par for the course. This isn’t unusual anymore. It’s our new normal.