When I first decided to start blogging, I had trouble thinking of what to write for my first blog post. Fortunately, I got a little inspiration from some of the swimmers I coach: Why Turkey?
Why Turkey you ask? In December, I came across a website that one of my professors had recommended to me, TIEOnline.com (The International Educator). See at Roanoke College, I had the opportunity to work in and experience a few international schools from all over the world: Monaco, Nice, and Philadelphia. One of my professors had taught in Germany for a number of years so I knew this website he recommended would help me teach abroad. After creating an account on The International Educator's website, I immediately saw the hundreds of teaching jobs listed from all over the world. My next step was to upload my resume so I could start applying for these jobs. Not only could I apply to these jobs, but schools could look up my resume if they were looking for something specific. Within a few weeks of applying, I received an e-mail from an international school in Izmir, Turkey. They saw that I majored in Economics and were very interested in hiring a high school economics teacher.
For me this was a dream come true. I loved studying economics at Roanoke, but I had received my teaching license in elementary ed. Once I graduated college I was torn whether to pursue economics or to go into teaching. Luckily for me, I now had the opportunity to do both. After having an interview through Skype, I was offered a job as the Secondary Economics and Middle School Mathematics Teacher. I accepted with great enthusiasm.
Outside of economics and teaching, another one of my passions is coaching. I have been the assistant coach for a summer swim team for the past 3 summers and have been coaching lacrosse since my senior year of college. After doing some research, I saw that lacrosse was becoming quite popular in Turkey. I reached out to the head of Turkey Lacrosse, telling him my interest in coaching. He responded with not only an opportunity to coach lacrosse in Izmir, but to play as well. Turkey is not yet part of the FIL (Federation of International Lacrosse). Meaning that Turkey's international team does not need to be comprised of only Turkish players. For the World Championships, the team cannot place higher than 24th, but it would give me an opportunity to play and to play in the World Championships in Denver next summer, if I make the team.
With all this said, I hope this gives a little insight on why I have decided to head to Turkey. I will be taking my knowledge of economics, teaching, coaching, and probably rainbow looms to a different part of the world in a once in a lifetime experience. Be sure to check in every now and then for updates on work, coaching, and life.
~Tyler
