This first paragraph is for you parents looking to move overseas with little children.
One of the great parental challenges is understanding and empathizing with your children. Guided by what you remember from that age’s memories which have grown hazy and contextualized over time, you are also faced with the differences of personality and circumstance of your children. The process can be quite a challenge, and it can also bring about some interesting surprises. We’ve been talking to Aria (our oldest daughter) during the process of preparing to move and trying to figure out what her concerns and anticipations are. First, foremost, and repeatedly cross-examined was the issue of birthdays. Aria’s sixth birthday is in October – would she still have a birthday? Would there be balloons? Presents? Cake and candles? (in that order :)) Only after many reassurances that she would have a birthday with all the trimmings did that over-riding concern get laid to rest. We were packing up Christmas boxes for storage and we asked Aria what she thought was the most memorable thing we had in the house at Christmas time; the answer, no matter how we asked it, was always lights. I remember being in love with the interwoven shadows cast on the ceiling by our Christmas tree’s lights when I was a kid, so I suppose hers wasn’t as unusual an answer as it first seemed to be. She’s excited about starting school, and probably won’t realize for years how unique her first year will be – kindergarten in Montenegro! She’ll be attending the QSI Montenegro international school (http://montenegro.qsischool.org) with a class of about six! Many thanks to QSI Montenegro’s board for awarding her a very generous scholarship to help with the tuition costs!
My Fulbright paperwork finally came a few days ago (via email, to my surprise). A few forms to sign and fill out, but not much in the way of new information. The Fulbright people are putting on a pair of online webinar-type events next Monday and us English Teaching Assistants meet here in DC in a couple of weeks for three days of training. It definitely seems that the Fulbright program is pushing to conduct the vast bulk of its orientation and training online – presumably a cost-savings measure. This de-personalization of the process is one more reason to make sure that you reach out and try to talk in person with current or past Fulbrighters or others who have lived in the area to get as much first-hand knowledge as possible before leaving. As they say, knowing is half the battle!
fulbrightinmontenegro 