Hello? Anyone still there?

...just in case, we decided to post an update on our post-Colombia life.  Remarkably, we've been back in Texas for three weeks to the day- time that has passed incredibly fast.  Our first days back were consumed by Thanksgiving in New Braunfels with our incredible family, and the marriage of our dear friends, Jack and Kelsey.  Less than a week later, we were on a plane to Atlanta, Georgia for an international school recruitment fair.

The view from our hotel room.  The room might have been the best part of the entire weekend.

The three days we spent in Atlanta felt like weeks.  We arrived mid-day Sunday and immediately began attending information sessions and signing up for a few interviews.  By all standards, the fair we attended was small - there were probably no more than 40 schools - and only a hundred (two hundred?) applicants.  Our immediate impressions of the fair were disappointment and foreboding.  Of the forty schools, there were only five or so that piqued our interest, and only three that we met the requirements for.  (Two schools actually handed our resumes back, we were so under-qualified) We had been looking forward to the weekend for so long that it had come to symbolize all the work that we had put in over the past few months, as well as all our plans for the future.  That evening we spent a lot of time questioning what we were doing with our lives, and watching football.  Heavy stuff.  

The next morning, everything changed.  We awoke to a job offer (entirely unrelated to the recruitment fair) from a school that we had been in talks with for over a month.  This school, AIS, was perfect for us in every way except for one teeny tiny issue: instead of being located in a lovely Spanish speaking country, the school is housed in Vietnam!  They generously gave us four days to accept their offer.  

After hearing from AIS, our moods were considerably improved.  Instead of arriving at our next two interviews despondent and/or prepared to beg, we actually managed something approximating enthusiasm, and the two interviews we had resulted in two jobs - one in Quito and one in Mexico City.  We had less than 24 hours to respond to their offers. 

Because we are unable to accept good news, these job offers (and the impending decisions we'd have to make about the next two years of our lives) transformed us into a messy blob of distress and confusion.  We decided to do nothing, and walked to a historic home in the area and then treated ourselves to a great Southern dinner.

The Swan House

These sheep were not nearly as excited to see us as we were to see them 

By the end of the night, we had eliminated Quito (I would have been teaching primary and the school paid very very little).  And then it was Mexico vs. Vietnam.  Mexico had the benefit of absurdly high salaries, and being located in a Spanish-speaking country.  Vietnam had the benefit of not being in Mexico (jokes) and being a near perfect ideological fit.  

We ended up eliminating Mexico the next morning.  As one of my intelligent friends pointed out - the Spanish language isn't going anywhere and again, we really really liked the school in Vietnam.  Instead of immediately accepting a position in Vietnam, and ending our confusion/distress blob, we decided to go to an art museum!

The High Art Museum - was full of great surprises including one of our favorite pieces of art : The 40 Part Motet 

After the museum, we walked around the Midtown area of Atlanta and somehow managed to almost miss our flight home, arriving at the airport about 5 minutes before boarding began.

We prolonged our decision for two more days, had some family argument time (in public. at our favorite Mexican restaurant.), and made lots and lots of lists, before we ultimately decided to take the job in Vietnam.  So, starting at the end of July, we're going to be teachers in Vietnam for the next two years.  I'll be teaching high school Social Studies and Matt will be doing High School English.  While the staff is predominantly western, all our students will be Vietnamese.  If anyone wants to spend an incredibly long time getting more information, you are welcome to visit their painfully slow internet site here.

Now, we've just got to figure out what we're going to do until then.