I’m a 2006 graduate from Eastern Mennonite University, looking forward to teaching a fifth grade LEAP class (made up entirely of ELL students) at Waterman Elementary School in Harrisonburg this coming year. The job feels like a good fit, allowing me to use my Elementary and TESL training as well as my Spanish and traveling knowledge. My own elementary years were spent in a small village on Lake Victoria in Tanzania. My siblings and I attended a small mission school in the compound before going to boarding school in Kijabe, Kenya. When I was ten years old, we moved to a small town in Western New York and remained there for ten years. My parents and younger brother are now in the middle of a four year term in Tanzania where my dad is setting up HOSPICE programs. Besides Tanzania, I have also lived for extended periods of time in South Korea, Ecuador, and Spain, enjoying the opportunities that I have had to travel and know peoples of other cultures and backgrounds. Like many other TCK-ers, I have a difficult time connecting “home” with a place and most life stages, phases, and places feel very temporary.
In my family, our vacations and extracurriculars often center somewhat on physically challenging activities. Climbing mountains, running marathons, and participating in RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) are a few of those and have been, at least for me, extremely gratifying experiences. I enjoy the feeling of pushing myself to my limit and being a part of a group who is striving for the same thing. Along with the physical challenge, I also look forward to the conversation and discussion which is to be a big part of the trip. More than sharing my own ideas and thoughts, because they seem to change so often, I enjoy listening to others’ understandings of the world and their convictions. I anticipate many opportunities to tackle some of the world’s biggest questions and hope to come away from this journey with new understandings of myself and what I believe.
