The Next Step: South America

Tomorrow I leave for a year in South America, but I will always be a Rembrandts teacher 7-3 in my heart.

During my send-off, I received these touching words of encouragement from my boss:  

" Frances, I speak for so many when I say we cannot thank you enough for your time at [redacted for privacy]. You have really touched so many lives here and only 1/3 of them are under 5 years old! You will do great things in your life and I am so proud our paths crossed (for 3 years)! Come back to say hi and keep J. and me updated on you!"

Since updating this blog, I have finished my Child Development Associates, completed my contract with my preschool, wrapped up my life in the States, (literally wrapping up the contents of my apartment for storage), and made arrangements to study and teach in South America for a year. 

I have neglected this blog again, I'm afraid.  It is the paradox of this internet age of documenting our lives that the times when there is the most to document, those are the times when we are least free to take time to document. But here are my plans: first I will spend four months in Guayaquil, Ecuador, learning and practicing Spanish in immersion. Then, armed with my improved Spanish proficiency, I head to Trujillo, Peru, to teach English at Universidad Cesar Vallejo. 

It would be a lie by omission if I didn't say I'm nervous about this big change. Moving to another hemisphere when I have found so much to be grateful for at home can be a terrifying prospect. But I am confident that where I choose to apply myself I will succeed, and I see no reason for this adventure in South America to be any different.