In the spring of 1994 while working on my M.Ed., I was approached by Dr. Frank Pajares, an Emory University professor. Dr. Pajares explained to me that he thought I was a good candidate for a teaching position in international schools. He had served in the past as a school director for a school in Brazil and shared with me some of his reasoning for pulling me aside.

I was taken aback as I had never heard of international schools nor had I thought to leave Gwinnett County, Georgia. I considered myself a small-town boy from a nowhere town in Tennessee. Why would I want to live abroad?

I will admit that a seed had been planted. I was familiar with international travel as I had travelled with People-to-People Student Ambassadors Program to Australia and New Zealand. In addition, I had always idolized my maternal grandfather who had travelled the world through his work as a reporter for the Nashville newspapers. He had travelled the world extensively as a reporter and had even attended multiple presidential inaugurations and the balls that followed them.

At the time, I shrugged off the suggestion that I would be suitable for international education. It was hard enough for me to leave Tennessee back in 1987 to move just four hours away to Atlanta, GA. The only language I spoke was English and I did not see myself ready to learn a new language.