Saturday, July 11, 2009

The Story so far...


  • April 14, Our dog, Joey, goes for his first interview at Oceanview Retirement center
  • March 6, Submitted my letter of intent to retire to Lincoln County School District
  • March 5, Signed our contract with GSIS
  • February 15, Had our first Korean dinner at a restaurant in San Francisco
  • February 14, Called Dr. Penland and told him we would accept the jobs at GSIS
  • February 13, Traveled to Search Associates Job fair in San Francisco
  • February 2, Spent one and one-half hours on the phone with Dr. Penland in Korea in a very promising interview
  • November 23, 2008 Submitted material to Search Associates to begin the job search process

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

How do you know you're doing the right thing...

Well in this case we truly believe God has opened the doors for us as all the many pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place so perfectly. One of those pieces being finding a new home for our 11 year old yellow Labrador retriever who has been such a big part of our family. Not only did God provide our beloved "Joey" a new home and family...but a perfect home and family. He is now the resident house dog of a local assisted living facility. Never again will Joey be left behind, lonely, and wondering if anyone loves him. He now has 70 senior friends who adore him and who he responds in kind. After only a few weeks in his new home he was able to sense that one of the residents needed some extra attention and insisted on being by her side for two days. While Joey was with her during that time, she unexpectedly died during the night. Did he actually know something was wrong with her...well that may be up for debate. We do know, however, that he was able to provide great comfort to this woman's daughter in her early hours of grieving.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

How The Journey Began . . .

For those who are following this blog intentionally or may have stumbled upon it by chance, a brief introduction to who we are and what this blog is all about. Allow us to first introduce ourselves...we're Brian and Sandra (Sandy) Montgomery. We have lived on the amazingly beautiful Oregon coast for the past quarter of a century (25 plus years) and have loved being part of this small community. During those years Brian taught at Newport High School (chemistry, biology, theory of knowledge) and Sandy focused most of her time on raising our two sons. After teaching 30 years in the American public school system, Brian had been feeling for the past several years a need for change. Little did we realize just what that change would look like or where it would take us. Last spring a fellow colleague of Brian's decided she and her husband were going to go teach in Korea. After several exciting emails and glowing reports of their experiences in Seoul, we began tossing around the idea of striking out on a similar adventure as well. By October of 2008 we were seriously looking at international schools, by Christmas had decided we would throw our hats into the ring, and by Valentine's day 2009 had accepted jobs at Gyeonggi Suwon International School. The rest is yet to come. We hope to share our experiences in Korea with our friends and family through written word, photos, and occasional videos.