About Me

Thailand, 2014

So, tell us about yourself?
I am a big sister.  A daughter.  A reader and a teacher. A traveler and a writer.  A recovering blondie now brunette.

What about your teaching?
I've taught on three continents.  I've taught in cities with 14 million and in the western burbs of Chicago.  I've learned a lot from the friends I met in those four diverse places.  They helped me grow into the educator I am.  They taught me reading strategies, allowed me to visit their writing workshops, gave me permission to steal their ideas, shared ideas for building communities and helped me solve the problems I struggled with along the way.  The boring stuff?  I've taught second and third grades for eight years.  I've been                                                          a reading specialist and a literacy coach going on eight years.

Why travel?

Festa Junina  2011

It's just in my blood.  My parents were married and lived in Germany while my dad served in the Army.  As a kid, I spent at least one week each summer in Lincoln, Illinois with Gram, G.A.D. and G.U.E.  We'd swim at the Elks, visit Abe's Carmelcorn and spend time reading after we slid around the wooden floors in our footy pjs.  The Looneys also started taking road trips around the U.S. when I was a child. I remember trips up the St. Louis Arch in the tiny rotating elevator and enjoying the third bench seat in the tan mini-van listening to my Walkman as we drove to California.  I first went overseas to visit my sister in Seville, Spain in 2000.  I caught it bad in Spain and Paris. My diagnosis?  Wanderlust.

Why India?
Well, after Brazil and South Korea, why not India?  I wanted to be a lit coach again.  I'd planned on moving back to the U.S.  A breakfast between a friend and a new colleague brewed the possibility of India.  We talked.  We both decided it was a match.

Why blog?
I love to write.  My mom loves the photos and learning about life especially when her daughter tells her she's moving home and then decides to move across the globe.  I love having her and others feedback.