life before & after Kenya

Looking backward

I just heard from Carolyn, my co-teacher from last fall: massive changes have entirely shifted the role of foreign teachers at TESS. Six of the long-term expat teaching staff were relocated from our apartment complex into the dormitories. The two teachers from the Philippines, who were generally agreed to be the two best teachers, will not be asked to return next year. The two Canadians who led the public school English department and International Student Section (both of whom have been in China for several years and have Chinese wives) are both leaving in June. My co-teacher John, at the International School, has already packed up and moved back to NYC.

My insight into the situation is limited, as I know only the facts and nothing of the background forces that have prompted an overhaul in the entire school dynamic. I had really considered staying for an additional semester - to the point of recurrent fleeting regret that I did not - and I was shocked and disappointed by the news. I do feel lucky that I was able to be there when I was, but regret that (1) my friends who are still there will be leaving with a dark shadow cast across their teaching experiences, and (2) a little window seems to be closing on future opportunities for others to experience what I did.

Looking forward

Now that my financial aid package and New Haven lease are making everything a bit more real, I am officially getting excited for law school in the fall. Especially the housing component: I will be in a 4-bedroom house with three other first-year law students, one of whom I became friends with during admit weekend. They graduated from Harvard together in 2008, so they are already well-acquainted, and I am definitely looking forward to imposing my Bucky-loving self on them in the fall.

It's going to be hard for any group of girls to live up to my Madison roommates, but so far it's looking hopeful. We are currently scattered across the world, enjoying a collective year of a deferrral: Japan (or somewhere in Southeast Asia, by now), the US, Australia, and of course Kenya. August 15 will bring us to a little yellow house in New Haven for a new adventure. Life is looking pretty good.