Canada Born-Alaska Grown-On The Road

 In 2006 I got placed at NPHS to do my student teaching - a year of going to the high school from 7-3, then my own university classes from 5-8, and school grading and planning followed by academic homework afterward. It was a horrible set up with the professors proudly claiming that it weeds out the weak and incapable. I was living in Fox at the time, a 34 minute commute if the roads are good and this is Alaska so the roads are rarely good. I was mad about getting placed at the furtherest possible school, wasting gas while not getting paid, and the extra hours in a vehicle in a schedule already designed to make me fail.  It was the biggest blessing possible. Under the guidance of the best mentor teachers, I quickly made NPHS my professional home. The education world was a different place than today. It took four years of subbing before getting my own classroom - whereas today we are hiring non certified teachers to just fill positions - and I made my professional career two do...

 From June 1st to Nov 13th the "we are moving to Italy" felt like a bit of a hypothetical - a maybe.  While Facebook reminds us of 9 years ago when the house was being built it went up for sale! Later in the day it snowed. The reality check came as we watched our belongings - things we won't see for five years and things we we won't see until March - be packed into crates, nailed shut, and driven away. This is just one moment in a string of moments leading up to us boarding the airplane and looking down at Fairbanks for the last time for a long time. But this was a pretty big moment in that string of moments. In typical of our DoD international move experience, the date of our move changed. Apparently the contracted moving companies don't care that I literally wrote the second quarter lesson plans around the two moving dates that we selected months earlier. My Type A, planning, organized, and practical self is learning to be more flexible which, apparently, is an ...

 Good Morning November!  Precisely 5 months ago we woke up in someone else's world which, somehow, is simultaneously a glittery fairytale and hellacious fire laden journey - yes, glitter 🧚🏼‍♀️ and fire 🔥 all rolled into one, giant, overseas move! 🌍 As we wake up to November, with its below 0 Alaskan temperatures, Halloween candy hangover, and a calendar with every weekend already booked, we THINK we can say, "Next month we move to Italy." MAYBE. There are a lot of moving parts, but if the behemoth that is the military industrial complex bureaucracy continues to turn as it should, we are expecting to leave Alaska on December 11th - as in NEXT MONTH . Per typical of the DoD we are waiting for someone, somewhere, to put a second picture in a red passport and stamp that picture with a magical seal, which most people call a visa, that qualifies us to be in Italy for more than 90 days. (then apparently upon arrival there's another process to get another piece of paper t...

                                                                               ❓We've been getting a lot of questions, obviously!  So here's a common Q&A! Q: When are you moving? A:  Good question and we aren't really sure! The DoD is anything but transparent and expedient! Our best guess right now is sometime between Thanksgiving and mid Dec. At one point we though mid Oct so the timeline changes a lot and quickly. We are waiting on paperwork at the moment. We need the official orders to get our official non tourist passports. We need those official passports to get visas. Q: Will you sell or rent the house? A:  We will be selling the house and it will go on the market as soon as we have those elusive orders in hand. It's a good ti...

 We are moving 5,000 miles away from home. There is bound to be frustrations but this morning I feel a bit incensed. According to NATO SOFA rules and regulations, I cannot be gainfully employed in Italy in any capacity that isn't on the military base. That means I can't teach or tutor online. I can't work in the Port of Naples for a cruise company. I'm not even supposed to have an Etsy shop or Ebay store. 🛑🙅‍♀️🚫  We are waiting for the official "orders" to arrive from the Navy. Without orders we can't get our official passports. Without the red passports we can't get our Italian visas. Without visas they can't book plane tickets. Everything depends on those orders. August is a month of vacation in Italy and apparently most of the HR department in Naples are Italian nationals so they are on vacation this month. They are the ones who issue the orders to get this ball rolling.  RIDDLE ME THIS : why can Italian nationals work on base, in positions t...

 We found out about this job opportunity in early June. We've both had some time to process. That alone has been a process!  The largest obstacle for me has been my job at NPHS. For those that don't know, I've wanted to be a teacher since I was little. I never sincerely considered other career paths. I did my student teaching at NPHS in 06/07 and then waited five years for someone to die or retire so I could have their classroom.  (Side note, what a different time that was! Today, states are finding ways to fill thousands of vacant teaching positions while simultaneously thinking they can attack and attract teachers to our profession. In the five years I was subbing, only two secondary social studies positions came open in the district. While I processed the news of leaving my position, there were over 6 similar positions posted in the FNSBSD this summer. A micro example of how education has changed in the decade and a half that I've been an educational professional.) L...

 The Calgary Zoo holds a lot of memories for me and Brian has loved going each time we've traveled to see my Dad. Our summer 2022 trip was no different. While eating breakfast and prepping for our day at the Zoo one small email seems to have changed our course. "HOLY FUCK!" Brian yelled while looking at his phone. I remember staring daggers at him for using that language in Dad and Lanie's kitchen and at breakfast! One rule in the Chacho house is no f-bombs in the kitchen! Turns out his sudden expletive was warranted. I assumed someone had died but as I read his phone, which he had outstretched to me with shaking hands, death was most certainly not the cause.  It was from the US Navy. I didn't really have to read anything else.  Brian has been applying for GS DoD positions overseas for sometime. Since previous military experience bumps you up the list, we've never scored an interview or thought that an international move was realistic. He had an interview on t...