It has been a long while since I’ve last blogged! If you follow my Instagram (TeachingWanderlust) then you probably have a good idea why. I’ve become a mom! I will now have a baby boy to bring with me on my adventures around the world!

Baby and I on our first long walk

Finding out that I was going to be a mom has changed my life in enormous ways. Since this blog focuses on international teaching I will keep my attention on those changes for now.  I’m not sure how much my blog will change in the future, but I do foresee a more family-focused approach in my travels rather than staying in hostels and taking cheap buses everywhere.

What have I been up to?! I was supposed to go to Bahrain to teach at a great school, only to discover that single moms can’t sponsor a visa for their children. The admin was wonderful since I informed them of my changed circumstances right away, and I still fully recommend working at that school if you are a single person.

So instead of going to Bahrain for my eighth year of international teaching in August 2017, I went home to Oregon for the school year. I didn’t want to find a teaching job to only have to take a maternity leave right in the middle of the year, so I’ve dipped my toe into the special education world. For about six months I’ve been a personal support provider (basically a life coach) for adults with disabilities. Instead of going back to work after three months of maternity leave (and dealing with the astronomical costs of daycare for infants in Portland) my job has allowed me to take as much maternity leave as I want …, which will probably last until I start my next adventure in July!

Which brings me to my next piece of news: after many very early applications and interviews starting in November I’ve accepted a second-grade PYP teaching job at Surabaya Intercultural School in Indonesia! I signed the contract in early January, got baby his passport, sent in all of our visa paperwork mid-February, and have our flight tickets purchased for mid-July giving us plenty of time to settle in and visit Bali before the school year starts.

I’m super excited about this next international school for a variety of reasons: 1) Indonesia has been at the top of my travel wish list for a while; 2) SIS is an International Baccalaureate school where I will finally be able to gain the PYP experience that I’ve been missing; 3) The school is extremely helpful and has already found me a well-regarded nanny for my son and put me in touch with several other teachers at the school (one of whom is from Portland and another who is a single mom!); and finally 4) this small school is a place where I can see my son and I comfortably staying at for the next 5+ years. There are many other reasons that I decided to take the position, but the fact that it is also only a 45-minute flight to Bali didn’t hurt either!

So until July, I’m going to hang out in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest and enjoy spending precious time with my son.   I promise to try to post more frequently. I hope to go on a couple of local adventures while I’m here… and in between naptimes I hope to finish some posts that I started over the past few months.