Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called (Ephesians 4:1)

"So yeah, you got a job at a school in Israel, but what exactly will you be doing?" you ask. It's rather mundane, actually. I will be teaching two of the same classes I teach now: AP Language & Composition and Newspaper. The third class will be Yearbook, which I fought like hell not to do at my current school but I accepted at my new school because, well, I will have only three preps ... and I thought it a worthwhile sacrifice for achieving peace in the Middle East. My new school is on a block schedule, which means I am expected to have five "duties," one for each day; three of those will be my classes. My other two duties (heh, heh duties) will be acting as technology consultant and department chairperson.

My consultant position is somewhat nebulous, but from what I can gather, I'm supposed to help encourage the staff to incorporate the wonderful world of computers into the classroom. I'm more than the Luddites and less than the IT guys. I just hope I don't turn into point woman on PowerPoints. I guess I qualify because I helped my students build a Web page, and I started this blog. You, too, can be a technology consultant in just two easy steps! As for department chairperson, my responsibilities are to do all the lame, boring tasks that no one else wanted to waste their time on, like the budget and the annual speech contest (just joking on the latter). I qualify because I reorganize book rooms in my spare time.

And now for the more frequent question: "What exactly will Tim be doing?" Well, he'll start by doing what he has been doing here in D.C.: looking for a job. The Catch-22 of working overseas is that most places won't give you a job until you get into the country, but it's hard to get into the country unless you have a work visa. Nonetheless, we both have confidence that he can find some sort of ESL (English as a Second Language) job. But just in case, he has been working on setting up telecommuting opportunities. Plus, he's just self-published his first book, and I'm certainly encouraging him to work on a second one ... you know, with computers. Hey look, it's my first official act as a technology consultant. If all else fails, he has maintained his beard, so he can provide the most authentic "walk in the footsteps of Jesus" tour in Israel. At the very worst, he gets to hang out on the Mediterranean for three months at a time before being required to travel outside the country for one month, per regulations of a tourist visa. It ain't so bad.

Coming soon: "What exactly will your dog be doing?"