Life in Tahoe

Whew! It’s been a while since giving you an update on my newest adventure- life in Tahoe as a private educator! I started this new position on January 3rd and originally signed a contract until April 8th. I have two students that are incredible competitive downhill skiers. In the winter season, the main focus is bettering their skills for competitions.

Because the kids are training 5 days a week, I don’t work normal school hours. During a typical week, I work about 30 hours but must be very flexible incase the kid’s skiing schedule changes at the last minute. I work two long days a week, and then split up the day the rest of the week. I have weekends off, so I try to use them to explore this area.

As far as teaching, I love the flexibility of it! I’m able to teach what I want (based on a basic curriculum outline) and when I want to teach that subject/topic. It’s really nice to have the ability to do more hands-on projects and focus on topics that the kids are very interested in. Because I haven’t taught higher than 2nd grade, it has been a little challenging to relearn 3rd and 5th grade content (some of that 5th grade math/history is a doozy) but it’s been a good challenge for me. I can feel myself growing as a teacher because I’m having to reteach myself information I haven’t used in a long time.

Unfortunately, there’s no perfect job in this world. Every job is going to have good days and bad days, whether they’re talked about or not. Just like every job, this position has a few downfalls too. The month of January was hard for me, and I really struggled.

I was trying to find my place within the family and navigate what life would be like living with my students. Like most families, they had established routines, certain ways they do things, and I was trying to figure out how to fit into my new home. Living with a family included having family dinners, wearing pajamas around the house, and just being around my students from the moment the sun rises until it sets. Although the family has been incredibly welcoming and so helpful, they are also living their busy lives!

There have been days that I felt like moving to Lake Tahoe has been more difficult than moving to Thailand. Although everyone speaks English and there’s no culture differences, I struggled a lot. When I talked to my friend about my struggles, she reminded me that when I moved to Thailand, I automatically had a community of teachers that I became friends with. Even though we weren’t best friends, I did have a community. I had someone to grab dinner with, go on a walk with, and be social with. Here, I don’t have that community and many days, it’s been lonely. Making friends is hard when you get older and aren’t familiar with the area. There have been days that I feel very confident, but there are also many days that I drive somewhere and end up sitting in my car crying because I can’t find the courage to go experience something new by myself.

Moving to a new city, both Bangkok and Tahoe, has provided some of the strongest spiritual growth in my life. God doesn’t expect me to have my life figured out. It’s the moments when we feel that we are way in over our heads, that God does His best work within us. When we feel like things aren’t going the way we want them to, that’s exactly where God has called us to be. During the seasons we feel like we don’t have control, we have a choice. We can rejoice in the suffering and know that God’s plan is bigger than ours or we can wait in frustration. God is always at work, and He never wastes the time we wait. While we are waiting, He teaches us to be patient, to have faith, and to be dependent on His timing. He doesn’t want us to expect us to have everything figured out and sometimes that can be a hard concept to grasp, but during those times, He does want us to call on Him.

My original contract was to end on April 8th, but the family has graciously asked me to go to Hawaii with them for a week and continue working until May at their home in San Franscisco. The end of February and beginning of March have considerably better! Some days have been hard, but I know that God has placed me with this family for a purpose and I will continue having confidence in Him knowing that this is part of my plan for this chapter of my life! I’m extremely thankful for this opportunity because I’m learning to get out of my comfort zone and be more confident in myself, both professionally and personally.