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ABBY KRSTULIC

Editor in Chief

     In May 2010, Communication Arts teacher Joseph Geist told all of his classes that he would not be returning to BV West for the 2010-2011 school year. Instead, he would be traveling down to Rio de Janero with his wife, Katie, to teach at an International School.

     "My wife and I have been in Kan. our whole lives," Geist said. "Neither of us were able to study abroad, so it always had been something that we were interested in but never had the chance to do."

      In Feb., a job fair is held at the University of Iowa. The job fair hosted representatives from around 200 international schools that had openings for the following year. When Geist and his wife went down, they had a variety of options that awaited them. 

     "Athens had openings for us," Geist said. "We were really excited about that one. Rio was always in our top list, and actually Shanghai was one that we had some pretty serious interviews with. But it just ended up that the way the chips fell, Rio was the only one that offered us a real job."

      In July 2010, the Geists boarded a plane to Rio de Jarniero, Brazil. After spending two years teaching and making memories in Brazil, Geist and his wife decided to come back to their lives in Kan. 

     "It was more like a fantasy that we would stay or go somewhere else," Geist said. "It was never a real thing." 

       Although the language barrier presented many struggles, coming home to their families was what drove the Geists to ultimately decide to come back to Kan. for good.

     "The hardest part (of the change) was being away from our family and friends for sure," Geist said. "When I explained to my students about coming back I said, 'I just miss going to soccer games and going to my family's house for dinner on Sundays and just little things like that.' I didn't want to miss those types of things anymore."

      On June 17, 2012, the Geists returned to Kan. filled with a better understanding of Brazilian culture and the experience and memories to last a lifetime.

Go to the "more information" page and click on the pictures to read more about the different aspects of Geist's experience. (Photos courtesy of Joseph Geist.)

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