Chapter I: In the Beginning

In the winter of 1988 Patti and I decided that we wanted to experience another culture as a family. Our family consisted of Patti, our two sons Nathan and David, and me, a recent administrator who had returned to the classroom after realizing that administration was consuming too much time away from my family.

I was at the time teaching the most difficult class I had ever encountered. They were a class of teacher-eaters. Only one teacher had survived a full term with them and when his term ended he had quit teaching. They were the neediest children I had ever encountered and there were 34 of them, 7 girls and 27 boys! The girls, while few in number, made up for lack of numbers by matching all the boys in daily altercations and problems. The students all liked me and almost all had perfect attendance records because my classroom was a haven of refuge from what they had to deal with on a daily basis outside of the school. They were so demanding of attention and had so few social skills and they were draining me of energy. If I survived these children I knew that I would need to do something in the next year that would energize me and revitalize my creative teaching juices! We decided that we would try what we had for years talked about - teaching in another culture! 

Initially we decided we would accept teaching positions to teach in a rural school in Zimbabwe. Patti and I would teach the English half of the school day to students aged 6 to 16 at a small agricultural school. When we realized our sons would not be able to attend the school but would have to attend a boarding school in Harare, we shifted focus to another country.

I had always loved the sound of the name Guadalajara. When we learned that a teacher friend of ours had spent a few years teaching at the American School of Guadalajara and when he raved about the experience, we decided to write the school and send them our resumes. This was in March. We received a reply that the school had been to a teachers’ job fair in Kingston, Ontario and had hired their complement of Canadian teachers for the coming year. The director of the school did say that he would keep us in mind because there was always movement in an International School.

We decided we would try again next year but that it might be more difficult with our older son, Nathan, preparing to enter junior high. However at the end of May the director phoned me from Guadalajara and offered me a job teaching English (grammar, composition, and literature) at the high school level. I tentatively accepted with the proviso that unless Patti also was hired, I could not take the contract. He assured me that he would definitely find a position for her. Near the end of June he phoned offering her a teaching position at the elementary level. We were in!

After successfully seeing most of my class entered for next school year in the bilingual program at the neighboring junior high school where the class sizes would be smaller and there would be teaching assistants to help with the class, Patti and I proceeded to put our moving plans into action. We secured tenants for our home for the next two years. It was a pastoral couple from California with two young children. They were on their way to Germany but they felt that they needed to enroll their children in a German/English bilingual program here in Winnipeg so that they would be adequately prepared for a transition into the German culture and language. Our agreed on rent was the amount of the mortgage and their accepting looking after our beloved dog, Boots, while we were gone. They would pay the utilities and any upkeep. In return we would allow them full use of all we had in the house – furniture, dishes, TV’s, etc.

The hardest part of getting ready was convincing our elder son that a move to Mexico would be a life-changing positive experience. He was having none of this. Our younger son, while probably thinking the same as the elder son, acquiesced quietly to our wishes. Right up until the day of departure Nathan balked at going and I know that he was going to leave all that was familiar and dear to him behind for up to two years and that was proving very difficult for him. At times I had my doubts whether I was ready for the transition.

We all got our medical shots, our visas from the government, and made sure our passports were in order. We laid in money in the form of travelers’ checks in enough denominations to help in any emergency. We secured addresses, said fond farewells to family and friends in the last few weeks, secured our flights, and watched departure day appear much too soon!