An Introduction

My name is Lazaros. I was born and raised in the north of Greece. Not the part with the white and blue houses found I most cards. The part with the dry mountains and coal burning factories, that gets very depressing during winter and you the only chance you had to see a new face is to watch a new TV series.

After finishing high school, I moved to England. After studying English and A-Level for a year I was accepted by the University of Sussex to study Biology. After graduating I moved to university of Hull where I received a MSc in Biology. That was an eye-opening experience. The country, the people, the education. But I could not remain there, I had to go back and do my military service so I could keep my Greek passport. I got a crew cut, wore the fatigues and went to become a soldier. Do you recall where you were when the new millennium (then) began? I was at a guard post in full fatigues with a loaded gun guarding an ammunitions storage and looking at the sky to see if any airplane was falling.

Finally, after 18 lingering, bizarre months my military ordeal was done.  I decided I was in need of a holiday in a far away, exotic land. I ended up visiting Beijing. I had met some people from Beijing during my studies in England, that had invited me to visit. It did not take long to fall in love with the place, the culture, the people. To make sure that I was not going anywhere fate gifted me with a great opportunity. I got a researcher’s job in Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) researching the neurobiological pathways of learning and memory formation using fruit flies. It was excited, it was new, it was what I wanted. Therefore, I stayed. 5 years and a published research article later and while the love for the science was there, I realized that was not where I wanted to be. I had to change direction; I needed something more rewarding.

At that point I had been living and working in Beijing for almost 8 years. One night the only other Greek I knew introduced me to an amazing Chinese woman that had just returned to China after working for 5 years in Athens. 12 years later, we are married and we have one amazing 7-year-old lad that brightens our lives and drains our energy.

Meeting Lilian was not the only marvelous occurrence that happened at that time. I also decided to become a teacher. It was the second-best decision of my life (You have read about the best in the above paragraph). I have been teaching high school Biology for 10 years now and I relish it. The school I work in is an independent international school following the American education system. The curricula were developed by us teachers using NGSS and common core standards. And I realize that I have found my niche. I enjoy tremendously being in the class with students, facilitating their learning. I enjoy giving them ideas about solutions to problems they found. I feel emotional when I see them growing into life long learners. Lilian finds it very bizarre that every morning I am excited to go to work, or that I have decided to spend more time and energy in improving my professional abilities by entering a Master’s Degree in Education.