August through January has been a blur of milestones, because of travel and life changes. I will attempt to recap, but I'm already looking forward to another good year of more changes!
August involved a flurry of a new roommate in the apartment (my mother), new ESL classes, a new baby in the family (my cousin had a sweet little girl) and beginning to work on developing a proposal for my thesis project (a requirement for graduation). I blissfully reduced my employers to one!
September proved more memorable. I clarified my thesis topic, deciding that I wanted to create an English program for teenagers that would teach peace and conflict resolution through English lessons. Another cousin (Havenbird!) got married in a beautiful ceremony on the family farm and a day later, I left for the Middle East to begin work on my thesis in an appropriate context.
October was spent in a little town called Beit Sahour, which is adjacent to Bethlehem, in the West Bank. I helped to run a coffeeshop, learned how to make a killer Caramel Latte, baked sweets for the coffeeshop and hungry friends, taught a lovely group of guys to play Dutch Blitz, enjoyed falafel for dinner on a regular basis, went to weddings, and danced and laughed until the days blurred together. The intersection of identity and language became a little clearer and a lot more complex through conversations with Palestinian youth.
In the midst of it all, I interviewed (Skype) for jobs in China, Taiwan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, and viewed countless other job offers. Completion of my project meant that graduation would become a reality in December, and my plans included a job in a nice warm climate. None of the jobs seemed quite right. The job in Taiwan was at a language institute and would include teaching a lot of young learners. The job in China was with a new program and they wanted me to assume the head teacher position, which would include massive amounts of program planning as well as teaching. The job in Turkey was unpredictable hours. The job in Saudi came with a number of perks meant to counteract the restrictions of the culture, but I was still unsure.
In the quiet of a Bethlehem afternoon, I read a staff email from my teaching job in the USA, announcing a new position that would opened in November. This position offered more hours and would involve teaching an intensive English class for newly arrived refugees. After an email conversation that lasted about a week, I surprised myself and submitted my updated resume and letter of interest to my supervisor.
Around the same time, my 3 1/2 year old niece announced during a 1 a.m. Skype call (1 a.m. for me!) that "Mommy and I are getting a new baby!" I squealed at a volume that rivaled the squeal of my apartment-mate in Beit Sahour when she found out earlier that evening that we had a mouse. (The mouse became known as LeRoy and he was relocated successfully to the garden after several weeks.) Th news that there would be another baby in the family filled me with excitement and added to my growing sense that maybe I shouldn't take a job overseas just yet.
I left Palestine at the beginning of November. I'm not sure if I left part of my heart there or if I brought part of Palestine home in my heart, but regardless, the six weeks I spent there had an incredible impact on me. I flew via Frankfurt, Germany, and arrived later the same day in Rome. A friend had spent a month in Italy studying Italian and we had planned to spend the last few days of her time in Rome together. I arrived around midnight at a gorgeous apartment, a few hundred feet from the Spanish Steps.
The next few days were spent revisiting Rome. I enjoyed a coffee at a coffeeshop founded in 1760 with a long history of famous patrons. I wandered with camera in hand to some of my favorite sites. Meredith and I window shopped and savored gelato and delicious meals at some of her favorite spots. We talked as I struggled to begin to make sense of my last two months, trying to understand freedom, injustice, reconciliation, and peace. Our trip culminated in a fantastic morning vespa tour of the "hidden" history of Rome. Valerio and Ipazzio were excellent tour guides.
On November 9th, I left Rome to fly back to D.C., flying again through Frankfurt. I sat an airport coffee bar, struck by the irony that as I left one place divided by a massive wall, I was watching news stories on the 25th anniversary of the collapse of another wall. Berlin's wall may be history, but the wall cutting through Palestine still stands.
I arrived in the USA later that day, a Sunday, and my new position officially started on Monday. I burrowed under my blankets to keep warm as I tried to plan a multi-level ESL class for refugees who had been in the USA less than a month and simultaneously finish my project. Cold, gray November days blurred together as my eyes became strained from endless hours of looking at a computer screen and reading about teaching strategies.
December 8th was the first day of my new class. December 13th was the deadline for my capstone project and the deadline for proposal submissions for an ESL conference. December 21st was the due date for my comprehensive exam. In any spare minute, I searched for possible apartments to rent (My parents are now both back in the USA and living in their apartment, which I had been renting in their absence.) December was a month were every minute counted and if I wasn't editing my thesis or writing a lesson plan, I was thinking about what I still needed to do.
Miraculously, I survived. My supervisor accepted my thesis, my comprehensive exam completed on time, my classes stopped being quite as overwhelming to plan, and the committee for the ESL conference accepted my proposal without revisions.
My diploma arrived in the mail in January. It's official! I will walk in our graduation ceremony in May but it was celebration enough to finally see that piece of paper announcing that I am FINISHED! And now, one week remains in January! Although it still seems surreal that I don't have to do homework, I already find myself thinking about other ways to continue academically. My advisor and her husband were traveling in January and offered me the chance to house-sit for them, since I have yet to find an apartment that fits my budget. As I look around, their tables are decorated with my Arabic flashcards, International Phonetic Alphabet flashcards, printouts relating to teaching pronunciation and developing literacy, and a stack of library books.
As I think about what I've just written, I'm amazed. I am blessed. In 2014, I visited Tanzania, Brazil, Palestine, and Italy. I turned 30. I graduated with a M.Ed TESOL. I started a new job. I learned more about my strengths and grew in some of my weak areas. I stopped caring about some things and became more passionate about others. I've been encouraged and supported by friends and family around the globe (literally!). It has been an incredible year. 2015 holds a lot of promise as well!
My new position unfortunately meant that I needed to surrender my old class, the one I have been teaching since July 2013. I stopped back to visit my class when I returned from the Middle East. It really brought so much joy to my heart to sneak into class and hear eruptions of excitement from my students. I got hugs and handshakes, compliments and a whispered "Teacher...do you have a boyfriend yet? No? Ok, I'll keep praying." 
