Well, now I’ve done it.  I’ve crossed over to the other side.  Broken the barrier.  Embraced my inner artist.   Yep.  I got  mac.  A macbook to be precise.  Jess and I got it as a shared computer since both of our other ones are fading.  Plus we wanted something small and new for when we travel.  I also picked up a Western Digital 1TB My Book, which is pretty sweet.  I’m going to put all the movies on it, and also use it as a backup.  It’s a ton of space, but we’ll probably use most of it up relatively soon.

Anyways, I’m still getting used to the mac, but I like it.   I’ve wanted a mac for a while now.  I like a lot of things they do, so I figure it’s about time.  I’ll probably post more about it at some point.  But right now, I have gadgets to play with. 

I installed a new photo gallery.  I put a lot of work into the old one, but I haven’t updated it in a long time, and the scripts are currently broken.  Given how busy I’ve been, I felt this would be the best way to handle it.  Plus I have TONS of server space, so why not?

Well, this was an unexpected decision. With all of the places we thought we’d go, Poland wasn’t even on the radar, but it’s off to Warsaw we go! I’ll back up and explain.

This weekend, Jess attended a job fair in Cambridge, MA for International Schools. These are usually American, but not always, but are all English Speaking. These are the schools that traveling businesspeople, diplomats, and other expatriates send their children to while they are living abroad. They are typically well-funded private institutions, and Warsaw is no exception!

Anyways, at this job fair, Jess received 10 offers! This may not seem like much, but when you’re trying to decide which foreign country to spend the next 2 years of your life in, it’s pretty huge. Not to mention that the organizer Jess was working with had never in 30 years heard of someone getting that many offers. He could have been flattering her, but the impression I got was that most people got maybe 3 or 4 offers on average.

Well, after hours of deliberation and research, we had narrowed our choices down. But here is the full list:

1. Cambodia – Phnom Penh
2. Thailand – The Prem School (near Chiang Mai)
3. Thailand – Bangkok
4. China – Beijing
5. China – Suzhou
6. Japan – Tokyo
7. Poland – Warsaw
8. The Philippines – Manila
9. Egypt – Cairo
10. Panama – Panama City

The decision was very difficult. The school in Manila had an excellent package as far as salary and benefits. Probably the best of them all. However, the location and job were less than ideal (though not bad by any means). As much as we wanted to go to Japan, it would be too expensive to live there (at this point), and the job wasn’t a perfect fit. We really wanted to go to the Prem School in Thailand, but were very intimidated by being so immersed. Additionally, the job was not as good of a fit as the Warsaw school. But we really hope to go there at some point in the future, if only to visit. Bangkok was a little too overwhelming for us, being simple rural folk.

Little by little, our list shrank to Manila, Thailand (Prem school), and Warsaw. Of the three, Warsaw was the best fit for the job, with good pay/benefits, as well as most likely being the easiest transition to living abroad. Plus it’s centrally located in Eastern Europe, and gives us some travel opportunity. To give you an idea, it is as far of a drive to Paris and Milan as it is to the beaches of North Carolina. Maybe even a little closer. But definitely quicker travel, since we’ll be able to take a train.

Ideally, we will be saving my entire paycheck, and a good chunk of Jess’, since housing is paid for. And that’s if we live frugally. We can also travel relatively inexpensively and see everything we’ve ever wanted to see! Not to mention learn languages and culture right up close. It is going to be an adventure, and I can’t wait!

I’ll be working from home, telecommuting with my current company. I need to work out all of the details, though, but it is going to be really awesome. Difficult, for sure, but I have no doubt it will be worth it.

[edit] The school Jess will be teaching at is the International American School of Warsaw. Here are some more informational links:

US State Department on the International American School of Warsaw

I just got a text message from Jess this morning – She got the job in Japan!  This is pretty exciting news.  She will most likely accept this position, but she still has other interviews to attend, and we have to compare the offers before a final decision is made, but Japan is where she wanted to go most, and it’s on my top 3 list, too, so I think that’s going to be our destination.

But before we can do that, I need to do some research, and take care of our housework.  I’ll post any updates as I get them.

I set myself at ease beneath
My favorite hunting tree.
Across my lap carefully lies
My chosen weaponry.

The sun had yet to climb atop
Yon eastward peaks of birch
When from above descended dove
Whom on my hat did perch.

"Does he not know that I am foe?"
I asked to none by me.
That bird, he heard, and then replied
By chirping merrily.

Then all at once from over hill
There came a mighty breath.
The trees around me then began
To whisper songs of death.

The chill ran up and down my back
But shivered not my bones.
Unlike my face, my heart was warmed
Thanks to the dove’s fair tones.

Though shadows short I stretched my jaw.
It was the song that lulled.
Then I, the hunter, proud and strong
From hunt to dreams was culled.

While in my dreams there came a stag
Who stood before my gun.
With nothing but a gentle squeeze
I’d have my trophy won.

But something stayed my trembling hand
And calmed my ragged breath.
I could not interrupt the flute
Of life with horns of death.

Instead I voyaged throught the lands
Untouched by hands of men.
Where if some day I get the chance
I’d like to go again.

The dove continued singing though
His song fell on deaf ears.
The duet played of flute and horn
Is not what it appears.

Now if you travel to that spot
And look beneath that tree.
A monument to nature’s might;
A statue you will see.

This is the last one to transfer over from the archives. I wrote it in January of 2004. It was partially inspired while I was out hunting, where I pretty much always fall asleep. The idea is that the hunter decides he feels safe and comforted by the dove, and while dreaming realized that nature is too beautiful to introduce death. But in reality, he was being killed by nature, and freezes to death. It seems like I’m a fan of the irony, and I guess that’s true. There’s parts of this that are pretty hokey, but also parts I like.

Let not your anger pass to me
With my own eyes I, too, can see
And what they miss my ears will hear
For unlike you, my thoughts are clear.

Disturb the nest and bees will sting.
Upon yourself this pain you bring.
Sweet honey you cannot resist
Though desperately the bees persist.

But under different circumstance
And looking more than at first glance
I think that you will come to find
The two are of a common mind.

For if you were in your own house
And came upon invading mouse
Why would you share with him the meal
That he had come intent to steal?

I wrote this one in December 2003, and it’s a fairly obvious "practice what you preach you hypocrite" type deal. It was also a little bit of telling people to mind their own business. Also a little about greed.

Sweet summer smells, Milk-Butter swells
As bee returns to flower.
Cock early crows, the farmer knows
Mid-morning it will shower.

He lifts his head off of the bed
To take a look around.
No time to wait or hesitate;
His feet are on the ground.

Without a thought as he’d been taught
On instinct he reacts.
The coming rain releives the strain;
Today he can relax.

The seeds are sewn, though not much grown
God’s work has just begun.
The cooling mist is to assist
The warming of the sun.

When skies are grey, there’s time to play
No chores hang overhead.
A bluer sky makes spirits high
But work is done instead.

Ironically this balance be
Required for all life.
To work in light and sleep at night is
Man’s eternal strife.

This one is one of my favorites to date. It went through several iterations, and inspirations before it became what it is. I wrote it while I was in Ithaca, and it was inspired a lot by the influence of nature and farming that is prevalent there. Milk-Butter is actually supposed to be Buttermilk falls. And the "Cooling mist" line came to me in the shower. I ran to write it down as soon as I got out to be sure I wouldn’t forget. Kind of silly. It’s basically a commentary on the paradox of life, how we take advantage of the nice weather to get work done, and then when we can’t work, we can’t play either. Oh well.

Let forthflow from in to out
Let demons pass without a shout
Let fade into the failing light
Let darkness overcome the night

When pain of mind makes body weak
When mouths of coming shadows speak
When chill-bumps rise on still warm skin
When clockwise the waters spin

Then shall you sleep and not awake
Then no longer dreams be fake
Then discomfort is no more
There upon the tiled floor

This is one of the more dark and depressing things I’ve written.  It was supposed to be  about a suicide, but it could also be about throwing up.  It’s really up to you, anyways.

I rode the train out to the end,
Got off and then got on again.
But now the train is going back
The way it came along the track.
I pass the stops I did not take
To find where I made my mistake.

Around me always something new;
An everchanging point of view.
The people come and then they go.
No time to stop and say hello.
They run to places I have passed
While sitting still, yet moving fast.

I do not understand the way
They go about their lives each day.
When there is so much they don’t see,
How can they live so carelessly?
They fear of things they do not know
While running fast, yet moving slow.

Until they try to figure out
Those things that they have come to doubt,
And they go back the way they came
To see the world in different frame,
All by myself I shall remain
Among the faces on the train.

I wrote this one in Boston, back in 2003. I went to visit a friend, but was early, so I took the T and did some sightseeing (and writing, apparently). It is a bit of a commentary on rushing, and how, for all our frantic efforts, we really don’t accomplish any more than if we would take the time to enjoy and savor life. It was also about how we really don’t notice or appreciate the things right next to us on a daily basis.