HERE WE ARE & THERE WE GO: Teaching and Traveling With Kids in Tow

An account of our family's 10 years of living and working overseas in four different countries and the crazy, hilarious, and sometimes scary adventures we found ourselves in.

Traveling was my dream and I vowed I would make it

happen. After growing up in a small, rural town in Wisconsin,

I yearned for excitement and adventure. I wanted a life that

was different from the usual scenario of graduating high

school, getting married, and having babies. I looked forward

to a life where I could visit faraway places, eat exotic and

strange foods (well, maybe not that so much), learn to speak

other languages, and engage with and live among people of

all different cultures. I knew I never wanted an ordinary life.

In May, 1987, I graduated from college with dual degrees

in sociology and education, anxious and ready to begin my

dream of traveling the world. However, to my astonishment

and dismay, I found myself married and already pregnant

with my first child.

It was an auspicious beginning to a life yet to be

lived. Unbeknownst to my new husband and me, we would

eventually embark on that life of travel that I continued to

dream about. With Dan, I found my dream man (I literally

dreamt about him before I even met him), my soul mate,

and my best friend. He is passionate, humorous, and has an

adventurous spirit. I felt that I had hit the jackpot! On our

wedding day he didn’t exactly promise to show me the world,

however, he did make me laugh and I thought what better

way to traverse the unknown paths of the globe than with

my soul mate and kindred spirit by my side.

And then our adventures began. Together with our two

very young children, both under the age of two years, our

own wide eyed innocence, and a curiosity for the world, we

embarked on the journey of experiencing new cultures and

seeking out new adventures. We wanted this as much for

our children as for ourselves and we thought long and hard

about taking Ian and Ali away on this major adventure. Dan

and I were very much aware and excited for the important

lifelong lessons that our children would be learning about

the world and the different people in it. However, we were

also very aware of what we were taking them away from.

x • Jill Dobbe

Despite all of the planning, researching, and explaining that

we found ourselves doing, deep down in our hearts we knew

that seeing the world through traveling and living abroad

would be one of the best things that we could do for our

children and for ourselves. We found a way to make it all

happen as we joined the ever-exciting lifestyle of overseas

international educators.

As Dan and I began our first overseas teaching posts,

we found ourselves part of a huge and dynamic network

of educators who were also teaching and experiencing the

world. We found that we also had many things in common

with these teachers�"a love of travel, a willingness to learn

about the world and other cultures, and a desire to see and

visit the unusual sites of the world. We wanted our children

to experience a true multicultural education where they

could learn and play alongside children from Asia, Africa,

and Europe.

We eventually learned that there are international

and American overseas schools in just about every country.

There were also teachers like us who were ready, willing,

and able to move to the remotest parts of the world to take

on those exciting teaching assignments. We made many new

acquaintances as we met up with fellow overseas teachers

and then left them behind as we moved on to other schools

in other locations. Such was our way of life and the way

of life for many overseas educators. Individually, we would

rack up a list of countries we had lived in and regal each

other with all of the places that we had conquered. Together

we compared the schools we worked in and discussed which

ones had the best social life, the best financial package, or

the best travel opportunities.

This was the lifestyle that I dreamed of living; the one

that gave my family and me many years of unforgettable

memories. Thirty plus countries later I am writing my story

and the story of my husband and children as we survived

the numerous water and power outages, the hurricanes and

PROLOGUE • xi

rainy seasons, and the death defying traffic of third world

countries.

My dream, and this story, happened mainly because

my husband, Dan, agreed to help make it happen by carrying

our baggage (literally and figuratively) to every country

we traveled to, by dealing with the innumerable tasks of

relocating his family, and by learning to drive his way around

countless cities so that we could always get where we needed

to go. Our children were forced to go along for the ride as

they were much too young to realize what their parents were

getting them into.

I continue to experience my dream of seeing the world

not only through my eyes, but through my children’s bountiful

curiosity and my husband’s willingness to continue with the

adventure. Together, with my husband and children in tow,

is the only way that I could have ever imagined living and

experiencing this dream of mine; this dream of ours