Road Trip USA: Houston - Seattle

I did not blog while on my road trip from Houston to Seattle but I thought that I'd re-cap a few of the highlights along with posting photos.

Day 1-July 8, 2009: Houston, TX - Los Cruces, NM. This leg of my road trip was actually one of the best because my Dad was along for the ride. For some reason I thought that I would be bored. I was anything but bored. With my father I and both "talkers" there was not a moment of boredom in my 2006 little white Nissan Sentra. Even as we set the AC blasting to the max we were still sweating and hot. After San Antonio, like most Texans warned me, there is not much out there. However, surprisingly I found the landscape quite scenic. I had envisioned a brown desert like setting but it was green and became rockier with more hills and mountains as we traveled West.

I enjoyed the massive windmills an hour outside of El Paso.

My Dad and I passed two Airstream trailers (we are both huge Airstream fans).


Last the sunset in Los Cruces (40 miles north of El Paso) was spectacular. We found a La Quinta to crash for the night and while talking on my cell phone outside I learned that the beetles and bugs in Los Cruces were unfamiliar. "Texans are nice" my father observed and I was a little sad leaving the lone star state. The drive that first day was enjoyable: catching up with my Dad, listening to old school Michael Jackson, reading my travel magazine and enjoying the humidity one last time! :)


Day 2-July 9, 2009: Los Cruces, NM -Anaheim, CA

My Dad accompanied me all the way to Anaheim where his parents (my grandparents) live. That is why we did not drive to Seattle on a more direct route, say through Denver, CO or the Rockies.

Day 2 was enjoyable as well although I began to get a little restless in Arizona. Southern New Mexico is quite uneventful. Finally we reached Arizona and made Phoenix our lunch stop. My expectations for Arizona were much higher than the end result. Perhaps all the beautiful cactus landscape roads I had witnessed on movies were not filmed along highway 10? Instead the dry, brown desert did not impress me whatsoever.

Traveling twenty miles off of highway 10 to a suburb of Phoenix called Gilbert, my Dad and I sought out a diner that has appeared on his favorite television show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives or triple D. The diner is called Joe's Farm Grill.




The Fontina Burger and Mexican Vanilla bean shake were incredibly delicious! The restaurant sat on land that used to be a farm owned by the Johnston family. My Dad believes that most likely the farm land was sold to developers and the owners used the profit to build the restaurant. Next to Joe's Farm Grill, there was also a Coffee Shop that had adorable cupcakes and next to the coffee shop was a scooter shop. So cute, modern and hip!

We finally reached the California border! From one of the US's largest states (TX) to another (CA). I was really looking forward to California because I have fond childhood memories of visiting Grandma and Grandpa and going to Disneyland.

I thought the windmills set up for wind power just east of El Paso were spectacular until just past Palm Desert we came upon hundreds upon hundreds of windmills. Nestled just inside a valley to catch the Santa Ana winds were at least 500 windmills. I was blown away by the number of windmills in California. If Texas is number two in wind power California has got to be number one!

Finally, Dad and I arrived in Anaheim. My Grandma was patiently awaiting our arrival. Doris is the cutest woman ever! She had her hair done and was so excited to see us!

My Dad stayed in Anaheim a few days before departing home to Seattle! I must say, he was probably the best partner in crime for two 12 hour days of driving. We had fun! He made me laugh quite frequently. I have never met anyone else who is so friendly to everyday people at gas stations, etc. He is very knowledgeable and informative on the trucking lifestyle, roads, highways, etc. Thanks Dad! Let the journey continue!

Can't Sleep so why not blog

Instead of lying in bed trying so hard to sleep this morning, I gave in, woke up, made myself a cup of coffee and I am sitting here at 5:30 am Friday, July 24th blogging. I have a lot on my mind these days. In twenty one days I will be boarding a plane for Dubai, U.A.E. to begin working. Where has the summer gone? With this departure comes all sorts of loose ends to tie up and all kinds of preparations. I will share with you a few things on my mind in hopes that this will relieve a few anxieties and bring a better night of rest later this evening.

First of all, I am really not that nervous to leave the U.S. for Dubai. People ask me this question quite frequently and I ponder as to whether I really should be answering the questioner or wonder what they are expecting as a "normal" reply. I am really not that nervous. I am more concerned as to what should go in my suitcase! aka what clothes and shoes to pack. Perhaps this anxiety or nervousness will arrive a few days before departure but I only envision myself becoming more and more excited! I look forward to the change in pace, being surrounded by Europeans, Asians and others. Meeting the girls, my new students. The fun things that arrive with a fresh new school year. New co-workers (not that I did not like my old co-workers) but the women who, like me, move abroad to teach I bet have some amazing histories and stories that I cannot wait to hear about.

Second, maybe the insomnia and anxiousness for my trip is a good thing. After all I am leaving some amazing friends, colleagues, my love and so many others so it might as well be worth all of this work. To be honest, I have not been dealing with the whole visa process just yet. I have renewed my passport (have you noticed the US Visa resembles the Colbert report with eagles and such?) and I endured the long process of getting my diploma and transcripts approved by four different offices ( I swear Hillary Rodham Clinton hand signed my documents:))

Last, maybe the lack of sleep is a result of too many Diet Pepsis or caffeine? I doubt it considering I drink quite a lot of caffeine on a daily basis but regardless it was just another option to throw out there! Okay, I'm going to end this rather lengthy entry and let you know that I am alright and will be fine. And no, I am not nervous about Dubai! :)

Garage Sales, Garbage and Getting Rid of Things

Since school ended on June 5th, I have realized that watching the Today Show, The View and Ellen is much more desirable than doing what I am supposed to be doing or organizing my life. I knew that I needed to be moving all of my things out of my apt. one way or another and boxing items that I wanted to keep but watching television and lounging by the pool proved much more fun!

Instead of throwing away all of my things or donating them to the Goodwill, I started by holding a Garage Sale (which I learned should have been called a Yard Sale) on my good friend Aimee's front lawn. Making a few dollar bills is always nice too! Too prepare, I spent an entire week gathering items that I knew would not be going in the suitcase to Dubai or stored at la casa Caskey in Seattle for 2 years. Here is a photo of my garage sale pile! Yikes!
The Garage Sale brought me a few hundred bucks but the effort and work to hold the garage sale was rough. I did not even have to post the signs and people starting hovering over the tables, bargaining, grabbing, etc. I sold everything from old work clothes, a guitar with an awesome pink case, I mean you name it, it was probably there! I also managed to donate a few things to Goodwill which is also nice!

Next came moving out of my apartment and cleaning the entire place. It was only a one bedroom but geez, I spent all of last Saturday, June 27th mopping, sweeping, dusting, scrubbing ... all in hopes of getting my deposit fully reimbursed. Now I know why people just pay people to clean. If I learned anything from moving out of my beautiful apartment on Commonwealth it is not to move in or out in June or any other time when the thermostat reaches 100 degrees!

Last but certainly not least, I am currently staying near downtown Houston in Melanie's town home on the bottom floor. It is a nice location and all my things are in her garage waiting to be piled into my car for the road trip home with my Daddo to Seattle. Since I arrived here last Saturday, I have combed through my goods a second time only to release more items to the recycling, Goodwill or garbage gods!

Getting rid of "stuff" can be an wonderful feeling! I have been evaluating in the past few weeks all of the essential everyday items that I truly need. Because otherwise it is most certainly not coming along with me half way around the world!

Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.

June 6th through the 9th I visited a good ol' friend John who recently relocated from Seattle to Denver (technically Arvada a suburb of Denver). I decided to take off right when school ended for a little rest & relaxation and explore Denver!

Upon arriving after my early flight on Frontier (I was not impressed with their customer service but loved the leg room ;-)) I arrived at the Denver Airport. What's amazing is that you land in a dry flat field but there are mountains on the horizon only 30 minutes or so from the airport. Walking to baggage claim, there was a little Museum of Denver over the sky bridge. I was drawn in by one of the displays that asked, "Why Denver?"
I thought this question was a good question because why is this rather large, attempting to be metropolitan city which actually has a NBA team (unlike Seattle) doing in the middle of the middle of the Western half of the US. After all Colorado is a square. So how did they choose where to place their largest city and capital? Do people place the large cities and create metropolitan areas or does the city just grow miraculously and mysteriously over time?

The suburbs of Denver are beautiful! The airport may be a flat prairie field, however, as you approach Denver you see the mountains which are called Flatirons. We spent my first afternoon chillin' by the pool (forgot about altitude and was a wee bit sunburnt). That afternoon we explored Boulder. On our way to Boulder we passed Broomtown which I was rather impressed with. It used to be a field but has grown in the past 5 years into a suburb where technology companies have settled. The Silicon Valley of Denver if you please! Now Boulder, I was told by a fellow Houstonian is where people value their several thousand dollar bicycles over their cars. I was expecting Bellingham but instead found a cute, small and darling little town on the frontier of Colorado. I love Pearl Street! The vibe was very pleasant. For having such a liberal hippy town, the woman were dressed quite well and the boutiques full of beautiful summer dresses. Of course, the largest University of Colorado is located in Boulder so it sends off the college vibe. The book store was phenominal and the coffee was great! Did you know that Celestial Tea is from Boulder?

On Monday afternoon, I explored Downtown Denver as well. The folks working during the week dress a lot more casual than in Houston. I liked the downtown area. It was very clean and they have converted many old historic buildings or kept several of them alive. Men playing chess on 16th Street Mall (no not a mall but the name of their main street)

The Court House across from the Capital Building

Exploring Arvada was fun as well! Arvada is about 15 minutes North West of Downtown Denver on your way to Boulder. John works for the City of Arvada so I got the inside scoop of all of the up and coming projects. There is an old town Arvada ... and a new town Arvada where they have built quite a nice and modern combination of town homes, condos and apartments. There is a train track which seperates the old and new town that John explained will eventually serve commuters who wish to find alternative means to travel downtown for work. I found that Colorado was very progressive when it comes to their energy reforms which could possibly explain why Obama has visited Denver a few times! As you are driving away from the airport on your left there is a solar farm.

All in all I enjoyed Denver! How fun it must be to work and drive under an hour in the winter time to go play: ski, board, snowshoe. Texans have called Colorado their playground. I think the city is nice but a little too small and slower paced for my taste. It is definitely more affordable than Seattle and there is a lot more to do outdoors than in Houston!

The last place I would like to mention is the Tajik Tea House located in Boulder called Dushanbe. According to our server, all of the pieces were imported from Tajikistan and assembled by Tajiks from Boulder's sister city. In exchange, the city of Boulder gave them a wireless cafe. It is exquisite and unlike any teahouse I have visited anywhere in the U.S. Their teas are potent and deserts rich. So check it out next time you are headed to the mountains for some winter or summer outdoor fun!

Love 2 Laugh

I love to laugh which is perhaps why I teach 7th grade. Everyday, when I think of all of the little mundane administrative tasks that I have to deal with one of my students will shout out the funniest comment like...
"Ms. Caskey, why do you recycle paper so much?" I replied "Well, I am a tree hugging environmentalist" Ha! "Ms. Caskey are John & Kate going to break up?" Or when I have the most serious frown upon my face, I look up at my audience (class) and just crack up which than makes them laugh. One time a student had turned the spandex fabric green book cover over his entire head/face and put his glasses over it, the whole class broke down laughing so hard we almost cried (you also just have to know this student to perhaps laugh as hard as we did)...the future of America! Needless to say, in a very stressful, long drawn out end of the school year, I have been putting forth the greatest effort not to take myself so darn seriously and just laugh!

I hope y'all are enjoying this blog so far? I even emailed the URL to my Grandma and she read it. She followed up with an email saying how cool the blog was! When I told my co-workers about my blog today one proclaimed that she is too old. As I tried explaining that all she has to do is type in the URL I could not help but think that if I got Grandma to do, anyone can do it ;-)

What I know so far!

People keep asking me the same set of questions when I attend parties or when I'm catching up with people so I thought that I'd post a few bits of information on my blog and try to write on here more often.

Who: Me
What: Going to teach High School World History for 2 years
Where: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
When: I leave Houston, TX for Seattle after the 4th of July and I leave Seattle for Dubai, August 14th
Why: Experience the Middle East and expand my career as a teacher

I've been getting a lot of the same reactions when I inform others of my move to Dubai...

"Wow, I've heard that place is amazing", "Where is Dubai again?" and "The richest people in the world live there" a lot of responses re: gold, the Burj Al Arab (the building that resembles a sail boat).


I am unsure regarding what life will be like in Dubai but I do know this...

Housing: I will live in an apartment my school sets me up with. Other faculty members live in the same building but I will have my own apartment. I get a certain amount of dirham (UAE currency) to furnish the apartment.

Transportation: I will have to catch rides to school with other teachers until I can lease or purchase my own car. This is one bummer about the two years abroad: moving from one non-pedestrian friendly city to another.

School: I will be teaching at an all girls school Al Mizhar American Academy for Girls (www.aag.ae) which is part of a group of schools called Taaleem (Education in arabic). I will be in the high school section of the school.

Once I learn more I will let you know but this is what I know so far! I am so excited and nervous about moving away from Houston where I feel so established and connected. I am really attached to my friends here so I really hope everyone being more connected via iPhones, laptops, webcams, etc. helps.

Big dreams!

Hello everyone! This is my first time blogging and I'm really looking forward to it. I always have a lot on my mind and I will be having even more exciting thoughts to share in the next year so I will be putting everything, photos, thoughts, stories, travel journal entries, etc. right here on my blog.

The purpose of this blog is to share with you my journey. I left my hometown of Seattle, Washington in January 2006 having no idea where my life was going. After some time I came to the conclusion that I wanted to become a teacher. It had always been lying in the back of my mind, and I had done some ESL tutoring but really, I became a teacher rather quickly. I began my Alternative Certification Program in May 2007 and landed a job and began working as a teacher by August 2007. Unfortunately, the downside to the ACP program is that you do not get to spend a lot of time in the classroom before you have your own. Lets just say that it has been a long road but I am finally starting to get the hang of it.

In November of 2007, I had the option of staying in Pearland for an in service day. Boring! I chose instead to attend the Middle School Conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. I met Sally Jo Gordon and her husband Bob at their Search Associates booth. Sally told me about how her first time teaching abroad was in Iran. The revolution set off in 1989 and she witnessed the entire thing. After she told me this story with excitement and enthusiasm I thought, "I want to do that". Here I go!

This fall I signed up with Search Associates. Basically I created a resume and profile including recommendations from co-workers, former parents and administrators. I also decided set off to Cambridge, Mass. for a job fair Search Associates puts on annually where International School headmasters go to find qualified teachers. The lucky teachers offered positions sign two year contracts (some extend the contracts). The fair was unlike any experience I had before. First off, there were a number of married people all over the place and they made me a bit pissed off. Usually a school will hire a married couple over single candidates because it is "cheaper" to say the least. Sally warned us that it would be a bit competitive. With the economy the way that it is around the world, EVERYONE was searching high and low for jobs. This year proved to be really competitive. Sally also told us that you do not usually find a job at a fair but the contacts and connections you make are priceless! My goal was to keep away from the European schools since I have lived in France and Czech Republic and try to find a job in Asia (Taiwan, China or Japan preferably) or the Middle East/North Africa/South Asia (my dream). Having just come off my Slumdog Millionaire high, I thought that it would be awesome to work in India. However, Search Associates always stresses that we remain "open minded" and not focus on one particular country. I tried to begin this process with an open mind and fixate on a particular school or country (sort of like my love life:)!

I loved meeting Sally! She remembered me from the Houston conference. She loved my energy and handbag. I nervously but confidently interviewed with the American School of Moscow and a Catholic school who's name I still can't pronounce in Bangkok, Thailand. Let's just say, I feel into the average category of those who did not find a job at the fair. 

Here is what I learned at the Cambridge Job Fair: Boston is freezing in the winter (it was 12 degrees), the Charles River can freeze over, MIT is huge and its buildings offer some amazing a architecture, Sally is amazing, give a teacher or a headmaster a drink and you can have a good time, it is possible to make it through a job fair sober, the movie Twilight was made for 13 year old girls, and international teachers no matter their age are amazing, adventurous and extremely supportive of one another! What an amazing weekend!

While I was in the lobby at the Cambridge fair, I saw a job posting on the Search Associates site for an opening at a girl's academy in Dubai. What would make a girl interested in such a position you ask? First, I have always dreamed of living and traveling to the Middle East. Second, while I studied abroad in France my junior year of high school, I studies in a class with only girls. The experience was priceless and I learned the benefits of learning in an environment where you are not worrying about the boy sitting next to you. I strongly believe that in most cases seperating the genders is key at the secondary level.

The weekend after Cambridge, I returned to Houston and John came to visit. The headmaster of the school requested a phone interview that weekend. We talked for over an hour which is always a good sign. I had a follow up interview, passed my History grades 8-12 exam and was offered the position Monday, March 9, 2009. Woo hoo! Awesomeness!

What does this all mean?

This August (2009) I will be flying to Dubai. This is going to be interesting folks because Ramadan will be taking place (a month in which Muslims fast). School instruction begins in September. I will be teaching in Dubai for two years. I will be teaching High School history courses in World History along with a section of Sociology. I will live in an apartment in the same building as the other teachers. I will visit Seattle in the summer time. 

Right now, this whole thing is still setting in. I am SO SO SO excited to be traveling again and living abroad. I have checked out a few books on Dubai from the library and have begun reading about the Middle East, Islam and I will start teaching myself Arabic shortly.