Thankful

Last night I celebrated my very first Thanks-Christmas – the second annual in Papua New Guinea.  Thanks-Christmas could possibly be the world’s best holiday.  It is a combination of Canadian and American Thanksgiving, sprinkled with Christmas traditions from around the world.  I do believe the only way to improve upon this new found “Papua New Guinean” tradition would be to sprinkle a little Hanukkah in there and celebrate for days on end.  Oh, the wonder of living in an international community!  Celebrating with good food, good friends, and good wine got me thinking about how much I truly have to be thankful for, especially this year.

I have had a lot of change in my life in the last year and a half – the majority of it self-induced.  Between the springs of 2010 and 2011, in no particular order I:

·   sent out a million, well nearly 200, copies of my CV to every DoDDs principal and a multitude of international schools sprinkled around the world

·   quit my job, without any new employment officially lined up

·   packed up my condo in Florida and moved all of my personal and professional belongings into a basement in Maryland (with a massive amount of help of my fantastic parents, thanks Bob and Pammy!)

·  loaded my little blue Sunfire with Charlee (the world’s best dog/dingo) and Ashlee (my brother’s, then my, and now my mom’s cat) and eight years of memories in St. Augustine and bid a bittersweet farewell to a life, friends, and family I had created over the last eight years there

·   celebrated as my baby brother married his childhood sweetheart (not that they were too far removed from childhood!)

·   moved in with my aunt and uncle and their two amazing children in south Jersey – first sharing a room with a then ten year old, then taking over their den

·   interviewed with six different schools/districts – a school district in the Middle East, a school in Papua New Guinea, a flurry of emails with a school in Costa Rica, two DoDDs schools in Guam and Japan, and an American school in Barcelona

·   lived (and regularly partied it up in the kitchen) with my very best friend in the whole wide world

·  drove across the northern United States with my new sister-in-law and her seven-months-pregnant belly

·   travelled around the northeastern United States many-a-weekend to be with old, but very true, friends from Belgium

·   loved the opportunity to work beside, teach, and learn with my wonderful mother as a supply teacher at her school

·   accepted a position teaching at the Ela Murray International School in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea – a country in which I knew nearly nothing about, but seemed to promise the greatest adventure – and spent many, many, many, many hours getting to know the staff at the US-based embassy before once again moving my entire life, this time to the complete opposite side of the world

The change definitely kept rolling in once I arrived in my new home – and Port Moresby truly has become my home.  I have made friends who will last a lifetime, attempted to learn a new language (attempted being the key word here), and tried all kinds of new things including getting involved with the theatre and learning to scuba dive.  I have added a plethora of Australian words and phrases to my everyday lingo.  I reveled in the opportunity to travel to new continents, countries, cities, and villages.  I hesitantly learned to drive on the opposite/wrong side of the road.  I stretched myself professionally after having been welcomed with open arms by a staff and faculty who had to step up and cover for me while waiting month after month for me to arrive.  I planned and orchestrated a massive Independence day celebration with a very steep learning curve with the help of some beyond patient Papua New Guinean colleagues.  I jumped four grade levels and dove into a grade six curriculum and a classroom full of grade six drama.  I lived by 100% by myself for the first time in my entire life (no Charlee and Ashlee to come home to like in the condo in Florida).  The list of changes could go on and on and on. 

Through all of this change, I have had the opportunity to realise what a wonderful group of people I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by.  I am truly thankful for all the love and support of my amazing family as I prepared for and dove into this life changing move to Papua New Guinea.  Not everyone has an extended family who is so supportive and encouraging - for this I am thankful.  I am genuinely thankful for my wonderful friends around the world who have put forth such a great effort to keep in touch despite that fact that I ditched them and moved to the other side of the world.  I am thankful for my new friends here in Papua New Guinea who have helped me find a wonderful home and life in Moresby.  I am beyond thankful for my parents who have whole-heartedly supported every decision I have made in the last year and a half (and all of the ones leading up to them).  I am more than thankful for my brother and sister, the two best friends anyone could wish for, who have always been there for every laugh, every tear, every bump in the road, every celebration – no matter how near or how far.  

I am just thankful.