Making the Decision to Take an International Teaching Job

"Each indecision brings its own delays and days are lost lamenting over lost days... What you can do or think you can do, begin it. For boldness has magic, power, and genius in it."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I suppose I better answer the question asked the most, "why are you doing this?" My answer is, "why NOT!" I'm a performer turned public school music teacher. I LOVE teaching (surprisingly because I hated public school as a student), but miss the excitement of the performing profession. I've been blessed to blend teaching with performing the last 5 years, but it hasn't quite fulfilled my passion for adventure. I'm also not getting any younger....
A good friend took a position teaching in Romania after 10 years of public school teaching. When he told me about his new job, it was like a switch was turned on inside me. "YES" was what I kept feeling. "THIS IS IT, THIS IS NOW"!! Understand that I've NEVER been out of the country. I spent one year in NYC (which can feel like a foreign country), but that is it. So this was going to be a huge undertaking for me. Life changing.
Lets clear up a few things. First of all, my employer at the time knew I was looking into international teaching, so there was no "weirdness" and I was able to ask supervisors to be references. Also, I have had to slowly introduce this idea to friends and family, whom have had mixed reactions to this decision. Let's face it, some of them are merely tolerating this. They are probably saying I'm going through an early mid-life crisis or some ridiculous phase. They may be right!!
I've also had to downsize my possessions, refuse gigs and voice students, and leave a really good job here in the states. This was not an easy decision and once you've decided to follow through with it your life shifts in every way.
Sitting still and not moving forward has never been an option for me. That is how I have felt the last couple of years; stagnant. When life starts to feel like that, I move. That is who I've always been. That is my reality.
This blog is about my mountain dog Henry, a 70lbs lab, and I taking on this adventure together. He has been welcomed by my new employers and we are moving to a lovely, pet friendly city. I hope to explain this process (international teaching) from the beginning, offering some insight to how it works (or at least how it worked for me). I am sure this will be a beautiful comedy of errors that I hope will prove to be insightful and entertaining for you.