Saying Farewell

"Hold on a sec...," you may think, "isn't Ben leaving in September for Korea?"

Well, yes I was. But you see...this week has been one of the all time top five "craziest weeks" of my life. I have been rather stoic about the whole thing and not react too dramatically to anything, but to take one step at a time and not get worked up about things.

It started when I got a phone call on Saturday telling me that the school in Korea had been canceled unexpectedly. So one minute I had a job...the next I was unemployed.

The rest of the day I kind of staggered around in shock trying to figure out what had just happened and trying to come up with a plan B.

The next day I sent out a mass email to every possible school I could think of: International Anglican schools, local Christian schools, Christian schools in the South, Classical Christian schools in every corner of the globe. It was a 'hail Mary' moment.

The next day I got a sea of "sorry we do not have any position openings at this time". But there was one email that simply said, "Please call". So I called and it was a little school in the Bahamas. I talked with one of the administrators named Marleen for about 40 minutes and really enjoyed her and her vision for the school. She was looking for someone to teach 6th grade, do teacher training, and be a parent liaison.

The following day I spent 6 hours feverishly completing their very thorough application, and emailed the whole thing. The following day they received my letters of recommendation, and I was offered the job!

The next couple days we worked out how we were going to get a work visa. And then I bought a ticket to Nassau.

The following day I had a going away party. Here's a few pictures from my goodbye party on Bainbridge Island.

A driftwood jungle gym.