Rocking that *International* Paradise

I’m a pretty happy person all the time.  I’m optimistic and tend to find the bright side in life.  I have also been incredibly blessed with fantastic opportunities, and I think my life is pretty great. This December, though, I’ve been consistently happier than I can remember being in a long time.  Things have lined up well for me, and the next year will bring me a lot of good things.  So of course, my time home for the Christmas holidays has been filled with lots of happy.  I mean, come on…the good things started with the flight home.  Somehow when I booked my flight, the website put me into first class (without any price increase).  It’s the first time I ever flew first class, and I love it.  I’m probably spoiled already; flying coach is going to seem shabby after this.  So, even though last Saturday I spent 14 hours traveling, 6 hours sitting in first class made it all worth it.  I love being home for the holidays.  My family Christmases are steeped in tradition,

Sunday night, I lay in bed at 11pm, having a stern talking with my brain, telling it to stop thinking about how great life was and to please let me sleep.  My brain had been refusing to listen for the past hour, and I was a bit frustrated with it.  And then my phone buzzed.  Normally when a friend asks “what are you doing?” at 11pm on a school night, I would be tempted to reply with “Sleeping. Go away.” or just not replying.  And in fact, my answer Sunday night semi-resembled the former.  However, my friend replied that he was going to parrandear , and asked if I wanted to come along.  Well…I wasn’t sleeping anyway, and the chance to experience a Puerto Rican cultural event really shouldn’t be passed up.  Parrandas are sort of a funny tradition.  It’s basically really obnoxious caroling.  You stand outside someone’s house in the middle of the night, and then loudly bang on drums and sing Christmas songs until the residents wake up, let you in, and share their food and dri

There are so many reasons why I love my life right now.  The sun is shining, there’s a warm breeze blowing, I have 3 half days of school left before Christmas break begins, I live on a beautiful island, I have fantastic friends and a wonderful family, a great job, and there are—as always—travel plans in my future.  And I got to go to an amazing concert last night. I sort of decided to go to the Calle 13 concert on a whim, because Jenni, Kelsey, and Kezia were going, and I didn’t want to be stuck at home alone on a Saturday night.  Excellent choice on my part.  I didn’t know much about Calle 13 until the past week or so.  I’d heard a few of their songs and liked them, but that was it.  Once I’d purchased my ticket, I started listening to more of their music—and found I liked it.  I also found out that in 2009, the group was banned from performing in Puerto Rico by the then-mayor.  With San Juan under new leadership, they were allowed back for the first time last night.  25,

I don’t always believe in fate.  But there are some things that happen, and the odds just stack up against you.  And you can’t help but think nothing you could have done would have changed the outcome.  You can’t change your fate.  Saturday morning, I had a goal: get to the beach as early as possible to enjoy the day.  Amanda and Josh also had a goal: avoid a flat tire.  We both took measures to make sure our goals would be reached.  But fate had other plans.  Saturday, because six of us were going to the beach, we took two cars.  Because I wanted to spend as much time as possible in the sun, I went in the early car with Amanda and Josh.  We left Guayama by about 8:30am, right on schedule.  Amanda and Josh, likewise, tried to avoid a flat tire by going to get new tires on Friday evening.  They purchased used tires and were pleased with the speedy service of getting them changed.  We both thought we’d achieve our goals. Nope.  At about 9:45am, we felt a familiar

Sometimes, I admit, I write a blog post simply because I’m out with friends and they say, “Take a picture!  For the blog!”  And then, well, I feel I’m obligated. Even so, my first ever baseball game should probably merit a post anyway. Friday afternoon, Sonja texted me and said they were going to a baseball game in Ponce, and stopping at Chili’s before, for an “all-American night.”  Funny thing is, before I came to Puerto Rico, I had never been to a baseball game OR to Chili’s!  So for me, I guess perhaps both “American” pastimes may be tinged with Puerto Rican flavor in my memories.  Still, I was all in for the evening. The evening went just exactly according to plan.  Our waiter at Chili’s was from Connecticut, and from out seats the view through the window was of Burger King…we could have been in Anywhere, USA.  After dinner, we headed to the game: Ponce Leones vs Santurce…somethings.  We paid $7 for our entrance tickets and took our choice of seats.  We sat on the fir

I may have a problem.  International teaching job fairs are addicting.  After I finish one, I find myself thinking how amazing the next one will be and the things I will do differently.  I had such thoughts after the UNI fair two years ago.  Now, my plan has long been to end my international stint after my next placement—Guatemala, as it turns out.  But after this fair, I find thoughts, unbidden, coming to my mind such as, “In two or three years, I’ll have a masters in International Education and 4 or 5 years of international experience.  I’d have a free ticket to practically any school I wanted to go to.  The job fair would be excellent.”  Oh dear.  My family and friends back home would not be happy to hear these nasty thoughts!  But the fact remains…these job fairs ARE addicting.  There are a few reasons why.        1.  The people International job fairs are always filled with great people to talk to and get to know.  I think it takes a special breed of person to be a

I'll give you a hint...this post ends well!  Oh, what a difference two years makes!  If you’d asked me two years ago, I wouldn’t have said I was particularly unconfident or scared at the UNI Overseas Job Fair—where I landed my job in PR.  But after my experience at the AASSA fair this weekend, I look back and realize that I was nothing more than a scared little puppy at the last fair.  Of course, I had reason to be.  I was fresh out of college, no experience, only my student teaching and a few references to back me up.  It’s AMAZING what two years of international teaching experience will do for you at a job fair, and the doors it will open.  But more on that later. Thursday morning, I left my house bright and early (okay, dark and early) at 6:15am.  I hoped to make it to the San Juan area by about 7:30, so that I’d have a little time to find the park and fly place I had researched and get to the airport by 7:45—2 hours before my flight.  I hit San Juan traffic ou