Starting at the Beginning

Okay, here we go! Let me catch you up on my professional life...

I am a college grad in a dead end job. Period, end of story- no fancy font on "The End." I work as a data processor in a position with no hope of advancement, no tie to anything I studied in college (except maybe that I work at a college and I went to a college) and no personal satisfaction. I haven't been out of college for quite two years yet, but I'm pretty sure there's no light at the end of this particular tunnel. 


You see, about a year and a half ago I made a huge mistake: I walked away from teaching, the thing I have known I had wanted to do since I was about 6. You played house? I played classroom... And I made this huge decision  just in time to secure my desk job and watch the economy really tank. About five months in to this job I knew it wasn't for me, all I wanted to do was teach! And there I was, sitting with the rest of the college grads who had no experience and no majorly marketable skills in the worst economy any of us could remember. I was a kiddo with a great education, a highly qualified status in social studies, teaching licenses in both Alaska and Colorado... and no teaching job. 

Fast forward to yesterday...

From my fortune cookie at lunch yesterday

I left my job freaking out about my future. After months of job searching, I still hadn't heard from any school districts. I had no leads on even a prospective contract and a strong urge to quit my current job despite my inner  Jiminy Cricket telling me that now was not the best time to be unemployed. Little did I know that my phone was sitting in my purse, begging for me to pay attention to my four missed calls and listen to the message it had for me (I have a hard time remembering to turn the ringer on after work). 

Less than 12 hours after I listened to my message, returned a phone call and had a quick conversation I was signing a single piece of paper and faxing it over 3,000 miles northwest to officially accept my position as the high school social studies teacher in Scammon Bay, AK. Scammon Bay is on the south bank of the Kun River, one mile from the Bering Sea. It lies to the north of the Askinuk Mountains on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. There is one school for all K-12 students and a high school team of four teachers that I will be joining. The village itself is tiny, .6 square miles, with about 500 people. There are no roads, no shopping centers, and no recreational buildings (that I can find). It is completely different from anything I have ever experienced and is absolutely terrifying in the most exciting sense of the word.

Abject horror aside, I am very excited to be on my way and to start this next adventure in my life. I will miss my friends and family here in Colorado, but I will still be fully equipped with internet, Skype, email, and this blog to stay in touch. So, here's to a brand new adventure! Kanpai!!

... and yes, for now I still am at my same dead-end job until July 15th. But now there's a really bright light a the end of the tunnel =)