A Fulbrighter's Dictionary

All of the ETAs traveling to Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Central Asia.

ETA: English Teaching Assistant
That's me. And hundreds of other American young adults being sent throughout the globe to teach English in a variety of settings thanks to the U.S. Fulbright Program.

PDO: Pre-Departure Orientation
That's what I was doing in Washington D.C. last week. The orientation was an opportunity to network with ETAs going throughout the world; it was especially wonderful to meet the other eight grantees headed to Nepal. It was also a rude reminder that I am now quite used to standing/walking at the front of a classroom all day, and rather unaccustomed to sitting still for long periods of time. I suppose it's always helpful for teachers to remember how hard it is to be a good student. 

ECA: The U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
This is the department responsible for developing resources related to teaching English and sharing information about American culture in foreign countries. They are the people who sent me home with so many books that my suitcase split open. We'll see whether I have room for all of those things in my one suitcase for Nepal.

There are lots of other abbreviations -- ASPE, RELO, ELF... -- but I won't bore you with them all. For now, I'm working on collecting all of the supplies I will need to live in Nepal for eight months. Once that is done, my next job will be finding a way to eliminate half of it so that I can pack it all in a suitcase.

I'm in the states until mid-July. Drop me a note if you'd like to get together before then.