Wednesday, August 4, 2010

The end and yet just the beginning

Hi everyone.

It is now August, which means summer will slowly start coming to an end. For some students the summer already ended and they are back in school. Others are squeezing the last out of the few weeks they have left before classes start again. Even though the summer only lasts three months the memories will last forever. In the same way that is how it is with my experience in Slovakia.

I left for Slovakia in August, 2008 shortly after receiving my Master of Arts in Mission and World Christianity. Many people ask what brought me to Slovakia and the answer is always the same. I was looking for what to do after I finished my degree and found out about the Teach in Slovakia program and thought it would be interesting, a new experience and a place I haven't been. All of those were true and ended up staying true throughout my two years in Slovakia.

I taught in a town that was in a beautiful location, among the High and Low Tatras of the Carpathian Mountains. The people I met in Slovakia are all great people. I made some good friends that I hope to stay in contact with and see if we can visit each other sometime. I learned from my fellow teachers and I learned from the students. I hope to be able to share with others what I learned about the real Slovakia and the people. Slovakia has changed from what people may know of it 15 years ago, it changed in the two years I was there and will continue to change. Change is inevitable and some changes happening now are hopefully for the better.

I went to Slovakia with the idea I would be there for one year and see what happened. I ended up returning for a second year. However, I decided that after the second year it was time to come home. It is not because of not liking where I was or the people, it was simply time for me to move on. I will miss the school, my colleagues and the students; but I will not forget them. My students have great potential and they grew throughout our two years together. I am excited to see where they head in life. One class I worked with both years will graduate this coming school year. I know they were sad to hear I would not be with them through their leaving exam (Maturita), but I will be thinking about them. The other classes I worked with are part way through their high school experience or still at the beginning. I am sorry I cannot be with them at EGJT through the rest of their years there, but I know they will do great and have wonderful resources available to them through the teachers and lecturers around them. If any of my former students read this please feel free to send me questions you have about things or just notes to say how things are. I'll be happy to help you how I can and let you know what I am up to. For anyone who wasn't a student of mine but has questions please feel free to ask. I would be happy to try and answer the questions you have as best I can.

Now comes the big adventure for me of adjusting to being back in the United States, reverse culture shock. I have gone through reverse culture shock before so have an idea of what to expect, but also know it will be different than when I came back from living in Germany four years ago or when I was home last summer. While going through this I will also be doing a job search. I am trying to give myself sometime to adjust while still doing the job search but it can get a little overwhelming. Thoughts or prayers during this time of transition would be appreciated. I hope you have enjoyed my blog over the past two years. If there is interest I could continue writing during my time of transition. If anyone wants to know what it is like to go through reverse culture shock send me a note or leave a comment.

Once again thank you to everyone for the support over the past two years. They were a great experience I am glad I had and so thankful I got to meet the people I did.