Spring Orientation

This last weekend I headed off to Denver, Colorado with Bryan Carter to attend the spring preparatory meeting. It was a great opportunity to meet fellow Fulbright teachers who are headed off to India, Hungary, Switzerland, Mexico, the Czech Republic, and of course the United Kingdom. Hearing from past alumni and current teachers from abroad in the U.S. was especially helpful. Even though the paperwork and logistics often seem overwhelming, I'm starting to feel like its all coming together. There is one remaining orientation in August for all the foreign and U.S. teachers. It should be a lot of fun, and then it will be time to go!

The third time is the charm....

After two previous attempts, we found out on March 25th that I was awarded a Fulbright Teacher Exchange to Scotland. I was convinced it was not going to happen, but the much-anticipated e-mail finally arrived. The initial excitement of getting the exchange was followed quickly with, "how on earth are we going to pull this off?". Things have started to settle down as we get the kids school arrangements made and wade through the logistics of living overseas for a year. Leaving friends and family behind will be hard, but we're so excited about this amazing opportunity.

I'm a wee bit of a caveman here (like the "wee"?), but we've set up our first blog to document and share our overseas adventure. A year seems like such a long time, but I know it's going to go by very fast. In addition to keeping our own dairy of the trip, we hope that anyone who wants to keep up with our year in Scotland will be able to keep tabs on what we're up to through this site.

So it's a little over two months and counting.....the next step is my orientation in Denver this weekend. I'm looking forward to meeting more of the Fulbright teachers and hearing more about the exchange process.

On a side note....

Here is a picture of the kid's new school, Masterton Primary. Wearing school uniforms will be something new for the two of them, but they're very excited.