ITP - 53: Teaching Through Crisis in Beirut

Greg: All right, welcome to the International Teacher Podcast. This is Greg, the single guy, and I am alone today because my two co-hosts are off on vacation for the spring as we're recording this. And I have a wonderful guest today coming to us from Lebanon. I’d like to introduce Mary. Mary, where in Lebanon are you? Can you give us a little introduction to your journey to where you are now?

Mary: The journey to international education—I think everyone can remember the person who kind of opened the door and said, “Hey, you know how you always dreamed teaching would be? With lots of resources, respect, autonomy, mastery, adventure, great colleagues—everything you imagined when you got into teaching? You can actually have that in certain places.”

That person for me was a man named Drew Alexander, who I met when I was teaching in Alaska in the late 90s. He and his wife were working at the Juneau School District, and he did a presentation one night about Singapore American School, where they had been before. My jaw kind of dropped. I was like, “Holy mother of Thor, this is all possible.”

I really didn’t know international schools existed or that this whole world was a possibility. Being a teacher in Alaska has great benefits—pensions, support, strong systems. People who got in at the right time retired well. So it was hard to walk away from that. But going into international education has not been a regret at all.

It was after 9/11. My daughter was 14 months old, and my then-husband had actually grown up partly overseas. His father was a professor at the American University of Beirut, and he lived here as a child before moving to Yemen. So he was also interested in international experiences.

We both felt like the U.S. after 9/11 wasn’t where we wanted to be. We didn’t want to stay, pull the window shades down, and disconnect from the rest of the world. That energy didn’t resonate with us. We wanted to be out in the world, and we wanted our daughter to be out in the world too.

So that took us to Thailand when she was 14 months old.

Greg: So you went from Alaska, hung up the snowmobiles, and went all the way to Thailand. Was it Bangkok or somewhere else?

Mary: It was south of Bangkok, a smaller school—International School Eastern Seaboard—which had been modeled after ISB. It was a great place to land.

My then-husband was a trailing spouse, so that was my first international posting. I remember saying, “I will never teach in the States again” after just a couple of weeks. I fell in love with Thailand, the lifestyle, and the ability to wear so many hats at the school.

In four years, I taught fourth grade, then moved back to middle school, and then worked as an assistant principal in the secondary school because it was such a small school. I also taught IB courses and got IB training. It gave me a really broad range of experiences.

Where else can you get that kind of opportunity?

Greg: The opportunities overseas are amazing. You go into one role, and the longer you stay, the more opportunities open up—sometimes even moving into admin, which I never wanted, but I had similar experiences. When I went to Honduras, after the first week I was like, “I’m never teaching in the States again.”

Mary: Yeah, exactly.

Greg: And let’s be honest—there are perks. Did you have a maid in the U.S.?

Mary: No.

Greg: That’s one of those little secrets. I call international teaching the best-kept secret in education. Having help at home, especially with a young child—it changes everything.

Mary: Absolutely. We had incredible support. It made life manageable and joyful.

Greg: That was Thailand.

Mary: Yeah. I got divorced in Thailand, and then I had a doorway to walk through. I had just returned from Bali for spring break—it was our spring break here as well—and I hadn’t been there since 2005, which was when I got divorced. That was kind of the moment where I had to decide what was next.

I could go back to the States, stay in Bali, or pursue something else. I had an opportunity to help develop a homeschool community in Ubud, which later became part of what turned into the Green School. That was tempting, but it also felt uncertain—especially with a five-year-old.

At the same time, I had gone to job fairs in Bangkok and had offers from two schools: one was Canadian Academy in Kobe, Japan, and the other was Cairo American College in Egypt. Both were strong schools.

Greg: And you had your daughter and a golden retriever at the time, right?

Mary: Yes. So going back to the States wasn’t appealing, and Bali felt too uncertain at that stage of life. Japan was intriguing, but having a big dog in a small Japanese living space didn’t seem ideal. So I chose Cairo American College.

Greg: That’s one of the top schools in the region. CAC is well known.

Mary: It was a fantastic experience. I stayed for four years. The colleagues were great, the support was strong, and I loved living in Egypt. My daughter did kindergarten through third grade there, and it was a really special time.

Greg: I’ve got to try a little “six degrees” moment here. Do you know someone named Dolly? She was a secretary at CAC for years.

Mary: Oh my God—Dolly and I went to college together. We graduated together from Lawrence University and lived together in Minneapolis for a year.

Greg: That’s amazing. Everyone knows Dolly.

Mary: She’s incredible.

Greg: Cairo is such a unique place. I remember the expat life, the social scene, the community—it’s unforgettable. But I also know not every school experience there is the same.

Mary: CAC was really positive for me. I taught middle school humanities and health, and it was just a great professional and personal experience.

After four years, though, I started to feel the pull of family back home. My parents were getting older, and my daughter was growing up without having them nearby. My parents never traveled outside the U.S., so it was always us going back to them.

So I made the decision to return to the States. Unfortunately, my dad passed away two weeks after I started my new job back home, but I was able to be with him, which mattered a lot.

After that, we moved my mom out to Oregon to be closer to us, and I stayed in the U.S. for about seven years. During that time, I wanted my daughter to have a sense of home in the States—to have that grounding, ride her bike to school, have a yard, that kind of experience.

Greg: So that was Egypt, and then you went back to Oregon for seven years. Your daughter had more of that grounded upbringing there, right?

Mary: Yes. And then we went to Dubai—to the American School of Dubai. That was super fun for me, but it was a challenge for her. She was going through a tough transition in high school, and Ashland, Oregon is very different from Dubai.

Ashland is a very progressive, arts-focused town. There’s a big emphasis on non-material things—farmers markets, art, alternative lifestyles. It’s kind of a small, artsy, almost hippie town.

Greg: So you went from that kind of environment to Dubai. That’s a huge shift.

Mary: It really is. Finding her sense of belonging there was challenging, and that affected me as a parent. We stayed for two years, and then she wanted to come back to the States to be with her friends, so we did.

Then the pandemic hit. We ended up staying back in Oregon for three years, doing online learning.

Greg: And that’s when everything went crazy, right?

Mary: Yes. My very first day of online teaching, we had a massive wildfire come through and destroy our valley. About 5,000 homes were lost. That was September 8, 2020—the same day we started online teaching.

Greg: You can’t make that up.

Mary: No. I remember finishing my first Zoom class, checking my phone, and seeing an evacuation alert. I packed the car with camping gear, food, water, the dog—everything—and got ready to go. We didn’t end up evacuating, but nearby towns were completely destroyed.

Greg: That’s unbelievable. We had our own version of chaos too—pandemic, locust swarms, everything at once. It felt almost apocalyptic.

Mary: It really did. And at the same time, Lebanon was going through its own crises—the revolution in 2019, the currency collapse, COVID, and then the Beirut explosion in August 2020.

Greg: That’s a lot happening at once.

Mary: Yes. So when the opportunity came to go to Lebanon, it wasn’t a simple decision. But I had a connection to the country from earlier in my life, and I had visited before. I loved it.

Lebanon is incredibly underrated. It has mountains, the Mediterranean, amazing food, and an incredible spirit among the people. Despite everything, there’s dignity and resilience here that’s really powerful.

I also wanted the leadership experience and the opportunity to be part of rebuilding something meaningful at the school and in the community.

Greg: I have a common theme that I’ve always felt when teaching overseas, especially in places people might consider hardship locations. When you go to a well-established school, it often brings you into a kind of community that takes care of you. It’s almost like they circle the wagons around their staff.

I’ve worked in places that were considered dangerous, but within the school community, you feel supported and protected. Is it like that at ACS?

Mary: Actually, there’s not really a need for that in the way you’re describing. I think there’s a perception about Beirut that doesn’t fully match the reality.

In terms of personal safety as an expat, I don’t feel unsafe. I walk alone on the Corniche regularly. Of course, you use common sense like you would in any city—don’t walk alone late at night in unfamiliar areas—but I’ve never had an issue. No aggressive interactions, no theft concerns. Personally, I feel quite safe here.

That said, it’s a very different situation for Lebanese people. There are real hardships. There’s a shortage of medicine, and when I traveled back to the States, I brought back prescriptions to help support others.

There are also infrastructure challenges. Electricity from the state is inconsistent, so many places rely on generators. Teachers living off campus have to plan their schedules around when electricity is available, or they might be climbing many flights of stairs because elevators aren’t working.

Greg: I can relate to that. I’ve experienced similar situations in other countries—power outages, water issues—it’s part of the reality in some places.

Mary: Exactly. But at the same time, there’s a beauty here that’s hard to describe. The culture, the resilience, the community—it’s powerful.

Greg: We’ll take a quick moment to remind listeners how to reach out to us. You can find us on Instagram and Twitter at ITPExpats, or email us at [internationalteacherpodcast@gmail.com](mailto:internationalteacherpodcast@gmail.com). You can also visit our website.

Back to the show—are there a lot of French speakers in Lebanon, or is it mainly Arabic and English?

Mary: It’s a mix of Arabic, French, and English. It’s really beautiful. You’ll hear conversations where all three languages are blended together naturally. Our students study both French and Arabic.

Greg: That’s what I remember—it felt very much like the Paris of the Middle East. You’ve got the Mediterranean, the city, and the mountains all close together.

Mary: Exactly. People often say you can ski in the morning, go to the beach in the afternoon, and be out enjoying the nightlife in the evening. There’s a real energy here.

One of my favorite things is walking along the Corniche in the morning. There’s a group of older men who go out and swim in the Mediterranean every day. They’re laughing, cheering each other on—it’s such a joyful scene. It really captures the spirit of Lebanon.

Despite everything, there’s a deep sense of community and joy here. At the same time, there are significant challenges, including a large population of Syrian refugees and disruptions in public schooling.

But being part of a school like ACS, which is rebuilding and growing again after the crisis, feels meaningful. Enrollment dropped significantly, but it’s coming back, and there’s a strong sense of purpose in being part of that.

Greg: That must feel rewarding—to be part of rebuilding something positive.

Mary: It really does. That’s a big part of why I’m here.

Greg: So that’s one of the reasons you went—being part of something that’s rebuilding and meaningful. That’s a strong pull.

Mary: Yes, definitely. It feels good to contribute to something that matters.

Greg: So let me ask you this—where do people go for vacations from Lebanon? I know it’s your first year, but what are you hearing?

Mary: Greece is a big one. It’s close and easy to get to, so that’s a popular option.

Greg: Have you been yet?

Mary: Not yet—it’s on my list.

For school trips, we had plans for different grade levels. Sixth graders were going to go to Turkey, but that was canceled after the earthquakes. Seventh graders are doing more local trips, and eighth graders are going to Greece. I’ll be going to Jordan with one of the groups.

Greg: Jordan is incredible. I still need to see Petra and more of the country. Living in the Middle East gives you access to so many places.

Mary: Exactly. It’s one of the great advantages—you can travel to Europe, Asia, or Africa pretty easily.

Greg: You’ve had such a wide range of experiences—teaching internationally, going back to the States, raising your daughter across different countries. What’s your favorite part of international teaching?

Mary: I think it’s the variety. That’s what I thrive on. My career started after the Peace Corps—I was in Mali, West Africa, and then I joined a program that placed me in inner-city Detroit while I completed my graduate studies.

I was teaching seventh grade science with no formal teaching experience. They basically handed me the keys and said, “Good luck.” At the same time, I was doing graduate school at the University of Michigan.

In two years, I completed elementary and secondary certifications, a master’s degree, and taught full-time. It was intense but incredibly formative.

Greg: That’s a serious start to a teaching career.

Mary: It really was. And from there—Detroit, Alaska, Thailand, Egypt, Dubai, Oregon, Beirut—it’s just been this incredible range of experiences.

What other profession allows you to live and work in so many different places, with so many different communities?

That’s what I appreciate most—the variety and the privilege of working with diverse students and colleagues.

Greg: I completely agree. That variety is what keeps it exciting.

Mary: Yes, absolutely.