2008-2009 Academic Year

A major event of the year was the death of my grandfather--it was nice we had this year to spend some time with him.

Here is Emily with a friend from TTCS. Yu-chia studied at Princeton this year.

Here I am, a happy employee with baby in tow.

Sam enjoys life outside the bookstore.

We loved the campus community. It was fun to be part of a school so committed to student learning.

This was probably the most challenging year we’ve had, even as it contained much joy. The joy came on several fronts: Sam, academic progress for both us, work experience for me, a new town to explore, possibilities considered and reconsidered. The challenge was, predictably, in the moving. I think of the year as a transplant which didn’t quite take.

To recap, late in the academic year I received an offer to teach at a small college in NJ. I would be the third historian, teaching world history. The school was primarily professionally focused, with programs in areas like criminal justice, education, and communication. In the history department, we fed primarily to education students. There were a number of students from China, Korea, and Japan, which was fun for me. On the other hand, students in general were not very academically inclined (probably this is a perennial comment of teachers).

My first semester I was given (for me) a challenging teaching load. I taught first and second Western Civ and then a survey course for first year students. For some topics, I had a fair amount of background (the Hebrews, the fall of Rome, Augustine , Aquinas, the Reformation, etc.). For other topics it was more of a stretch. I also struggled with how to reach students who were usually taking the course to fill a distribution. And I struggled with all of the problems new teachers face: cheating, the grading curve, which assignments work best, how to handle group work, etc. I found that I liked this type of teaching (college, liberal arts, professional studies), but that I was still longing for something more. I think I realized that my language skills would never come up much. I think I could have become a more knowledgeable person, and in the spring I enjoyed my broad surveys of Africa and East Asia. I admired my colleagues tremendously, and felt at home at the college. But somehow it was a life that did not look sustainable for us, and I don’t think we could see ourselves there for the longterm, as I had perhaps hoped. We struggled to make friends our own age. We continued to be involved in our home church in Trenton. We liked the local congregations, but never felt at home. This was a transplant that didn’t take. It was a good year, but an interim year, and one that challenged us.
Along the way we began talking to PCUSA about going to Taiwan. Our predecessor, John McCall, had decided to come home for family reasons. The school in Taipei was beginning a center on mission and pluralism and upping its commitment to international education. Funding was rebounding for cross-cultural work in the denomination, and the way became clear. We interviewed and talked with the new area director, who had experience in Korea, Pakistan, and India.

During one of our conversations, we were asked how we felt about going. I hemmed and hawed and said something about being excited and nervous. Emily said just “returning home.” I think that wrapped things up for us. It confirmed that this was where our call would be in the years ahead.

The interim has been challenging. I finished out the year (with a few stragglers completing papers). We boxed up our small apartment with the help of my heroic mother-in-law. We sent 62 boxes to Taiwan, with the help of my old friend Ming-wei.

As I write this, we are in Louisville, beginning our orientation. Things look bright ahead. We have a long ways to go, but we are not along and the road is clear.