| Aloha, Bitches!

The short version: I am slipping the surly bonds of Redondo Beach and moving to Maui.

The long version: I have always been half-assed searching for a teaching job in Hawaii, ever since I first went there 5 years ago. I felt a kind of spiritual connection to the place that I can't explain. I love it there- the culture, the people, the slow pace, the weather, the water... it is amazing.

I always told myself that if I moved there, it would have to be the perfect situation, because let's face it, I kind of have it good here. I have tenure at Torrance High School (job security in this day and age is valuable), I love the kids where I work both when I coach and teach, I pay a mere pittance in rent thanks to Heather's generosity, my family lives 6 minutes away, I have a strong friend base, and truthfully, southern California ain't all that bad for my lifestyle. The perfect situation in Hawaii to me was: something comparable in pay, at a private school (the public schools on Hawaii suck ass), on Maui, teaching middle school English. The other part was that I had to feel comfortable with the people and the students. Basically, the stars had to align.

The perfect situation presented itself about a month ago. From time to time, I check this website called www.hais.com, which is an independent schools site with a jobs posting on it. There was a job posting on it for a school on Maui called Seabury Hall Academy teaching 7th and 8th grade English. On a whim, I sent out a cover letter and my application, fully not believing that I would get a call of interest, let alone a job offer. Two weeks later, I got a call from this woman who was the head of the middle school (the school is grades 6-12) who said she loved my cover letter and was intrigued by my resume. Still, I thought that it was almost a courtesy call, until she called me the next day (Friday) that the headmaster would like to have a conference call with me on Monday.

The conference call went very well and they asked me to film a class that I was teaching and send it to them, which I did. Long story short, they offered me the job. This was not an easy decision for me to make. I have never lived more than 45 minutes away from my parents' house, and it is scary stepping out of my comfort zone, and taking a leap of faith. I am not much of a risk-taker.

To make my decision easier, I decided to actually go there (they paid for it!) and experience the school, meet the staff and some of the kids, and see if it was something I could do. I was almost in tears while my mom was driving me to the airport, as I was wondering what the hell I was doing. Once I got there though, all anxiety went out the window.

The school is amazing. It is up-country, which means it is up in the base of the volcano on the edge of a rain forest. When I go out of my classroom, I can see the ocean. The school has everything that a school should have: digital projectors, smart boards, four computer labs, they issue me a Mac Book, the feed me breakfast and lunch every day for free. The kids and the staff is amazing, and I can develop my own curriculum since I am not confined by state content standards and compulsory novels and other requirements. I feel as though I have been liberated. I even got hooked up with a place to live. A teacher is moving to Peru, and is leaving his cottage apartment that has an amazing view, and I will be paying less than $1000 a month.

Everyone says how expensive it is to live there, but day to day life is no more expensive than living here. Sure, gas is more expensive, and eating out costs more, but there is a Costco where you pay mainland prices, and I will save money by eating at school twice a day. I will be fine.

I am going to take a break from coaching if I can afford it financially. My life will slow down considerably. It will be a major downshift, comparable to taking a handful of Quaaludes, I hope. It is something that I have to do, and as the end of July approaches (that is when I am moving), I am getting more and more excited. Even though it is a long shot for action team members because of jobs, families, fear of traveling too far away from home, fear of the sun, etc., any AT member always has a place to stay if they should come to Maui. My next step is starting to ship my crap.

By the way, if you haven't tried the mini-sirloin burgers from Jack in the Box, do yourself a favor and try them. Delicious.