Ozark Profile : Couple call Fayetteville home after worldwide search
Posted on Monday, June 23, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/66476/
Despite many experiences living in and visiting countries around the world, Fayetteville resident Marianne Hauser has relatively few souvenirs from her travels.
“ I’m not a collector, ” she said. “ I never visit a place with the thought that I won’t go back someday. ”
She and her husband, Mike Macauley, most recently lived in Riyahd, Saudi Arabia, before moving to Fayetteville about four years ago. Hauser said they don’t plan or want to live anywhere else.
“ As far as quality of life, I think Fayetteville has everything, ” she said. “ We’re 100 percent delighted with Fayetteville. ”
Currently the professional development coordinator of the Fayetteville School District, Hauser has previously worked as a teacher at schools in South America and the Middle East.
As a child, she moved about every couple of years because of her father’s service in the military. In the first and fourth grade, she lived in France. She also lived in Rhode Island and Virginia growing up.
Hauser graduated from Balboa High School in the Panama Canal Zone. However, she said, she doesn’t consider herself a “ Zonian, ” a term used for U. S. citizens who lived in the Canal Zone, because that term generally applies to civilians. She lived on the military base.
After graduating high school in 1968, Hauser moved with her family to Fayetteville, where a relative lived near Wilson Park, and began attending the University of Arkansas. She first majored in pre-med but changed it to physical education.
“ I decided to be a PE teacher, ” she said.
After college, she was able to get her first teaching job at the American School in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
It may seem like an adventurous step to move that far away after college, but Hauser said she didn’t think it was a big deal at the time because she was used to moving around and traveling.
“ To me, it’s normal, ” she said.
Since the school in Bolivia was small, Hauser said, she was responsible for coaching most of the girls’ sports teams in addition to teaching PE. This was also true at her next job, when she taught at a private school in Venezuela.
Hauser then went on to teach at a private school for Americans in Riyadh, the capital and largest city in Saudi Arabia, during the 1980 s.
“ There were rules (for women ). You dressed modestly when in public, ” she said.
It was an interesting time to live there, she said, because of the way the city was beginning to grow and develop its infrastructure.
“ Living overseas is quite different, ” she said. “ You get to meet the people and have an appreciation for the culture. ”
After teaching there for several years, Hauser decided she wanted to try moving back to the states to work in the private sector.
This time, she moved to Lexington, Mass., and got a job as a technology manager for a Boston real estate firm. She also earned a master’s degree in computer science from Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass.
The best part about Lexington was the rich history and being able to live where important historic events took place, she said. The town is known as the site where the Revolutionary War began.
“ It’s really cool living in a historic place, ” she said.
After leaving the Boston area, Hauser moved to Cairo, Egypt, where she worked for Cairo American College. Despite its name, it was actually a K-12 school, she said.
One day, while on a community bicycle ride from Cairo to the Great Pyramids, she met her future husband, who was also living in Cairo at the time.
“ He was studying physics at American University in Cairo, ” she said.
Her husband also has a background as a frequent traveler, Hauser said. His family moved from Los Angeles to Australia when he was a child.
They ended up dating long-distance for a while when he moved to Ireland for two years. After getting married, they moved to Riyadh for Hauser’s second stint in the city.
“ He was working as a defense contractor, ” she said.
When they decided it was time to move back to the states, they chose Fayetteville even though their new jobs weren’t lined up yet, she said.
“ We’ve never had jobs ahead of time, ” Hauser said.
With her background in computer science and education, Hauser was able to get a job as the technology professional development coordinator for the district. Her husband also works for the district.
“ It is the kindest, most personable place I have ever worked, ” Hauser said.
It is also her first job in public education, she said.
Since moving to Fayetteville, Hauser and her husband have purchased a house on Mount Sequoyah. Her husband’s mother also lives in a house right across the street.
Hauser said her home is a unique house built into the hillside near the top of the mountain. The house features a metal exterior and is five stories tall.
There is a great view of south Fayetteville and the countryside from the topfloor windows and patios, she said.
“ It’s awesome. We can see (the Ozarks ) here every day, ” she said.