As most of you have heard by now, Jay and I decided to apply for international teaching positions after much deliberation about what we wanted our lives to look like once he completes his teaching certification. We filled out applications over Christmas break and attended an interview fair this past weekend in Boston at which we received several offers. Having carefully considered the offers and weighed many, many factors, we have decided to commit to two years at the American International School of Lesotho (pronounced Leh-sue-too) in Maseru (pronounced muh-SAIR-oo), Lesotho, Africa. It is a very small school (150 students total in grades K-8) and we will most probably be a middle school teaching team with Jay taking on math and science and me language arts and social studies. It seems like a lovely place for Jay to start out, and the opportunity to teach together is appealing to us. We are expected there in the middle of August (the end of their winter!).
Lesotho is a very small country completely inside South Africa. It is poor and has a high HIV/AIDS rate, but the people are solid and their united ethnicity means that the political front is relatively stable. In addition, it is mountainous (the whole country is basically within the Drakensberg mountain range (called Maloti mountain range in Lesotho)), so that the weather is not unbearably hot and the scenery is breathtaking. The weather is also advantageous when it comes to infectious disease since Malaria and Yellow Fever are less of a problem than in sub-Saharan areas. To get a sense for what the area is like, check out some of these links:
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/
http://saharanvibe.blogspot.
http://www.travelpod.com/
In addition, here is the link to the school's website (which is a little disappointing, since some of the internal links are broken including the virtual tour!).
http://www.aisl.co.ls/index.
While we know we not all of you will be sold on this idea right now, we encourage you to be positive about it. It is true that there are many fabulous things we enjoy about life as it is right now that are going to be left behind for a few years. We will also miss family and friends dearly. However, we have chosen think of this as an adventure that will change our lives for the better, and we have thrown our hearts and minds open to everything this experience has to offer. Please join us in spirit.
We would love to hear from you soon!
Love,
Sarah and Jay
