August 1997 was the beginning of my 11th year in education. It was also the start of my international school career. I loved everything about it from the start.

I will start with the people. The teachers with whom I worked were amazing. Their passion for education was contagious. In the beginning, I was teaching math in the middle school. I worked alongside Alan Anderson who was the science teacher with Vasili. Amy Croot was the computer guru and Terri Sue Liford, now Terri Sue Monark, taught English. Alan had worked at the school for a while, but Vas, Amy, Terri Sue, and I were new to the middle school. Vas, Amy, Terri Sue, and I became fast friends and inseparable over time.

One of our funniest experiences came early on in our time in Duesseldorf. The new teachers had to go to the gesudheitscheck for a physical, blood work, hearing test, eye test, and chest x-ray. Upon arrival, we were taken to a waiting area. Terrie Sue and I took seats next to each other and suddenly this young boy started freaking out and shouting, “Das platz ist besetzt! Das plazt ist besetzt!” We had no idea what he was saying and suggested he thought her seat was possessed. Actually, he was trying to tell us that the seat was taken.

Over the next couple of hours, we were each called back for our tests. In the eye exam we were to look into a lens and tell the nurse which way the “E” was pointing. I did not know how to say up, down, left, or right in German so I just pointed. If I got it wrong, she shouted, “Nein!” and I looked again. The hearing test was a breeze because I could see when the doctor was pushing a button and on which side of my head I should hear the noise. This was a good thing because my tinnitus does not make a hearing test easy!

For the chest x-ray, I walked into the room with my shirt off and listened for the instructions which were in German. I did not understand anything the doctor was saying. Finally, he was so bothered by my lack of understanding that he grabbed the front of my jeans and threw me into the spot he wanted me.

The school had helped me locate an apartment. It was a one-bedroom apartment in a lovely house about a kilometer from the school. Every day I would walk to and from school. It was a lovely walk and many mornings I would stop in Kaiserwerth and buy something from the local bakery. On the way home, I would often stop at the Kebab guy on the corner in Kaiserswerth. I had to pass his cart to get home. Oh, how I miss those doner kebabs he made!

Since my apartment had TV and cable, long before the days of Amazon Fire and the Google stick, it was no wonder that everyone came over to my place on that fateful night in August of 1997 when we lost Princess Di. I remember Terri Sue, Vas, and Amy sitting on the couch watching the news reports, wondering if she had survived. It was a difficult night for us all and a tragic loss.

I volunteered to coach volleyball and wound up with the boys’ varsity team. These guys were incredible. They played at a very advanced level for any boys’ team I had seen before. They felt I was beneath their ability and had nothing to teach them, but they were wrong. I was able to point out their mistakes and work with them to improve despite their feelings about me.

One of the things I enjoyed about coaching in the international circuit was the travel. Once a month in the fall, we would pack up the boys’ and girls’ teams for soccer and volleyball and we would leave school around noon to drive to the International School of Brussels. We would play a game upon arrival against their teams, then the players would go home with the home teams’ players for the night, and we would meet up Saturday morning to play again. After the Saturday games, we would drive back to Duesseldorf.

The most exciting part of coaching the boys’ varsity team was the tournament. That year, the tournament was to be held in Zurich. I boarded a train with the boys headed to Switzerland. Zurich was beautiful and the boys played so hard. In the end, we went home with the first-place trophy which I had managed to get into a duffle bag. However, in the quick changes between switching trains, the duffle bag with the trophy in it was left on the train.

The team captain was on it. He contacted the train company and had them confirm it was there. He and his mom made sure that the duffle bag was returned just in time for the fall sports banquet. I caught a lot of flak for the error, but in the end all was well.

In November, my mom called to ask if I could come home early for Christmas. Apparently, my youngest sister had been in the hospital much of September and October and was in the hospital again. When I left for Düsseldorf in July, my sister had three small tumors in her neck. You could not see them unless she turned her head a certain way. She had been dealing with skin cancer for three or four years already.

Again, one of the greatest things about international schools is compassion. The school readily agreed to let me go home December 1st instead of waiting until the 15th.

When I arrived home and was able to get to the hospital to see Kimberly, I was shocked and dismayed. My mom could never have prepared me for the shock I received. The tumors had spread and were even one the outside of the skin. Kimberly’s left side of her head was covered in tumors which were creating the cauliflower effect of her left ear.

Kimberly was able to talk, and we had several long conversations in that first week. However, in the second week I was home, she was reduced to just “uh huh” and “eh huh” to communicate. To make things worse, the tumors in her neck had grown and were making it difficult for her to swallow. To make matters worse, the main medications she had to take were all pills and tablets. It was a real struggle for her to get them down.

I will never forget the Sunday evening, December 14th, when the phone rang late at night. The hospital was calling to tell my parents that they needed to get to the hospital right away as Kimberly was slipping away. My mom came into the room to tell me to get ready and I told her that I was too tired from jet lag, but I lied. There was no way I was strong enough to go watch the end.

After Kimberly passed away, I reached out to the school to ask if I could stay a little longer in January to grieve with my family. The school allowed me to stay a couple more weeks before returning to Duesseldorf. I could write an entire blog about all the events surrounding Kimberly’s death, but I will not do it here as this is about working in international schools.

In my absence from Duesseldorf, my landlord had sold her house. The new owners wanted to open the upstairs to the basement where I was living and asked that I move into the studio unit next door to my apartment. Since I was away with my sister’s death, my friends from ISD moved me into the new apartment. They had to disassemble my wardrobe from Ikea and reassemble it in the new apartment. I was so moved by their generosity giving up their time to help me when I was away. Another reason to love international education.

Upon returning to school, the field trip coordinator for the annual ski trip in the Alps found me to ask if I would be a hotel chaperone. He explained that the hotel chaperone could enjoy the slopes unless a student was injured and had to stay in the hotel for recovery. At that point, my job would be to place nursemaid. He asked me if I had ever been skiing before and I said that I had. I lied. I had never been on a ski slope in my life! But, I was going to be the hotel chaperone, right.

I was amazed at the speed at which these high school kids could enter and exit a train with all their equipment. They worked like a machine with precision handing ski equipment out the windows of one train and into the windows of another to transfer trains quickly on our way to Crans-Montana, Switzerland. We always travelled there because it was made up to two small towns. The students were allowed to go to Montana to drink at night and the teachers stayed in Crans. Parents were required to sign a permission form giving their children permission to drink or not to drink.

On the first day of the trip, everyone loaded the transportation to the slopes and got their equipment and took the lift up to the bunny slope. Here the head chaperone would judge students and chaperones as they came down the bunny slope to place everyone into a group. After everyone had finished, it was my turn. I told them all to go on, I was just the hotel chaperone, but alas, they waited for me. Of course, I spent most of my time on my bottom sliding down the slope instead of skiing. Story of my life!

On the second day, I had been told about a ski called the big foot. Using the big foot was supposed to be more like ice skating. Now, I am no expert, but I can at least stand up on ice skates. I arranged for a pair of the big foot skis and tried it. I loved it. I could ski in these skis, and I had the best time! I spent the entire day up and down the bunny slope! I did not dare anything more challenging.

Once we returned from the ski week, it was time to start planning for Tanzania. ISD had a sister school in Monduli, Tanzania. Every summer a group of juniors would travel to Monduli to teach English, math, and science to the students at the school during their break. The school would send us past national exams that the students had to pass to continue with their education. We would use the tests to create a curriculum.

During second semester, the students going to Tanzania along with the chaperones also worked to raise money. We wanted to buy medical supplies for the school as well as classroom supplies. ISD also donated some computers which we hoped to use to set up a computer lab for the school. I do not remember if they would have internet access or not, but at least they could have word processers and a printer or two. We were also fully aware that not all the items we packed would make it through customs. There were bribes to pay with the customs officers.

Our final fundraiser was Tanzania night. The community could purchase tickets for a meal and drinks, and the organizing team would put on a show. The highlight of the show each year was the beauty contest where the school director, high school principal, and other male staff members including myself this year, would dress in drag and perform for the audience. This year Dominic Colenso and Terri Sue were our hosts.

As the travel dates approached, we started to double check everything and make sure everything was in place. One decision ech student had to make was what to do on our fourth week in Tanzania. The first three weeks would be spent living at the school in the dorms with the selected students. The fourth week was a choice to be made by each participant. During the fourth week of the trip, students had to decide whether to go on a week-long safari or to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. In the end, Eva, Anne-marie, Dominic, and Puddy decided on Mt. Kilimanjaro. None of the chaperones wanted to climb the mountain, so, as I always do, I relented and agreed to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro with the 4 students. The teip to Tanzania will be its own blog coming later.

In my second year at ISD, things became heated between the board and the director. Part of that disagreement came as a result of the board telling Bob to inform teachers like me in our second year, that a renewal of our contract was not a given. Traditionally at ISD, if you completed your two years of the initial contract and things were going well, you would automatically be guaranteed a position in the following years. Bob was not a fan of this new decision and refused to follow through on the board’s request.

As a result of this disagreement and others that followed, some of the second-year teachers, me included, decided to look for new jobs for the 1999-2000 school year. I decided to reach out to ASL after the successful interview two years earlier. The principal was happy to hear from me and asked if they could fly me over to meet the team. I was happy to do that and so I flew to London.

I stayed the weekend with the principal and her partner. I visited the school and met the 6th grade team. ASL is an interesting school. As it was built in the 70’s the sixth grade was an open octagon reminiscent of the days of open classrooms. Two of the classrooms had been enclosed with big glass windows looking out into the rest of the pod. The other three classrooms had walls to give them three walls with the back wall open. I liked the team and hoped they liked me enough to hire me. In the end, a job was offered and I accepted.

As my second year at ISD closed, it was brought to my attention that an elementary aid and her husband had a flat in London that they rented. The current renter was German and was moving back to Germany because of health reasons. I spoke with them about renting the flat and we agreed on 1,ooo£ a month.

Before I left and he graduated, Dominic Colenso came to me to ask if he might share the apartment with me in London. I was surprised at his request and asked if he had spoken to his parents about this idea. He had and they were all for him living with me in London as they know and trust me. We agreed it would be OK and Dom became my flat mate in London.

As an important side note, Terri Sue and Shiela Wyatt left ISD to more to Caracas, Venezuela. They had been offered positions teaching at Escuela Campo Allegre.