Teacher to call Belgrade home for next 2 years Tuesday, May 29, 2007 • By DANIEL HAUSMANN • The Express-Times LOPATCONG TWP. | Melissa Roosen is trading in her bucolic, suburban life at the middle school for the classrooms of Belgrade. The 26-year-old Spanish and English as a second language teacher will resign at the end of this school year. She'll pack up her Staples "Easy" buttons -- labeled in Spanish and English -- and relocate to Serbia in August. "I've always wanted to live abroad," Roosen said. She's foregoing her tenure status and signing a two-year tax-free and rent-free contract to teach in the Serbian capital. Roosen will teach English to kindergarten and first-grade students at the International School of Belgrade. Her students are the children of diplomats and workers rebuilding the city after years of violence and the ouster of former president Slobodan Milosevic. She doesn't know how to speak Serbian but is trying to brush up on the basics. The school has an American curriculum. Roosen, who's lived abroad in Spain for a couple of summers, found the position at a job fair. "Serbia was the most interesting and hands down the best opportunity," she said. Roosen describes herself as an adventurous person and said Serbia is pretty peaceful now after splitting with Montenegro last year. "They're trying to move on from the war," Roosen said. She will have three weeks off at Christmastime to come home. The school will find her an apartment in Belgrade. She said her salary is going down but with a low Serbian exchange rate and a tax-free paycheck, it's close to evening out. Roosen started to laugh when asked how her parents reacted to her trans-Atlantic career shift. "They were really unhappy with it," Roosen said. "They're supportive; they're getting used to the idea." Best friend and fellow teacher Kimberly Norton is sad to be losing her. Norton and Roosen started out at Lopatcong Middle School together four years ago. "I was happy for her but, of course, selfishly I didn't want her to go," Norton said. "I still don't want her to go." Other than her family, Roosen said she's going to miss her students the most. "I'm going to be really upset," Roosen said. "I'm so upset to leave." Reporter Daniel Hausmann can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at dhausmann@express-times.com.