Why Jakarta, Indonesia?
This is probably the easiest question to answer: Because we were offered teaching jobs here. Had we been offered jobs in Dubai, Kosovo, China, Honduras or Bahrain, we probably would be in one of those countries instead. We interviewed with a school(s) in each of these countries at the 2011 UNI Overseas Recruiting Fair in February and came out empty-handed. This was our 2nd time at UNI, and 2 years earlier in 2009 when Dennis had less teaching experience and I was not even certified, we had more interviews and almost landed jobs in Cairo, Egypt. It’s not to say that we were complete failures (some organizations were ready to hire us but couldn’t find positions in the same school or country), but we won’t deny that it was a bitter disappointment.
The optimist in us (or perhaps out of sheer desperation) applied to practically every school with opened positions in History/Social Studies and English/Language Arts. We found that there were limited schools that had openings for both. Maybe it was just wrong timing, the fact that more teachers are becoming aware of the opportunities abroad, or the deep cuts in education which left many qualified and experienced teachers seeking jobs abroad—whatever it was, we almost lost all hope that 2011 was the year for us.
Long story short, we got lucky—and by that we mean VERY lucky. We found a small school in Indonesia that offered us contracts that were more attractive than some of the contracts we were willing to sign back at UNI in February. On top of that, the school’s mission of holistic education matched our education philosophies, and our interactions will the school were very positive. It seemed like a perfect fit.
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