The deep breath before the plunge
Well...NaNo's finally over. Not that I did much with it at all the last two weeks or so. Life decided it would rather implode than leave me in peace to write. Don't you hate it when that happens?
Thankfully, I've managed to stay on my feet through most of it. My student teaching was thrown around a bit, but I'm pretty sure we've finally get it all settled. The biggest thing is that I decided to cut one of the last ties keeping me in this country (yes, it was a boy, how'd you guess?) and while there was a suitable amount of angst which went along with that, I really do believe it's for the best. (He was a jerk anyway.) Which means that I'm now free to move abroad like I've always wanted to do...
Funny, isn't it, how you can want something so terribly, fight for it year after year, and once it becomes possible, it scares the crap out of you? Part of me is terrified. I'm looking at going to a non-anglo or francophone country (looks like I'll be in Asia - more on that in a bit) so I won't even be close to proficent in the language. I won't know the culture. I'll likely stand out like a sore thumb anyway - I'm nearly 5'8", rather pale, and have light brown hair and green eyes. It's not like you're going to lose me in a crowd.
On the other hand, maybe that will help. Random people on the street might not expect me to speak perfectly or know exactly what to do. And a lot of the jobs I'm looking at include things like airport pick-up, which may sound really stupid, but think about it - I've never been to (whatever country), don't know where I am, don't know where the school or my housing is, don't know what kinds of transportation are available, don't speak the language to ask for help, can't tell a taxi driver where to go even if I magically knew where the school/my housing was...if the school's willing to solve all those problems (and a few more, such as meeting my co-worker(s)) by picking me up at the airport, why would I ever tell them no?
It looks like I'll be in either China, Japan, or Korea. I want to switch back into Asian languages for a few reasons, both personal and for my career, and frankly, I'm sick and tired of the worthless foreign language educational system we Americans suffer through. I promise I will leave that rant for another day though! Anyway, a friend of mine from my Foreign Language Methods class (one of the required education classes) is in a similar boat, and he gave me the link to Dave's ESL Cafe, a completely awesome website that helps match ESL teachers to jobs abroad. The jobs listed are mostly in China and Korea (not sure if that's on purpose, or if that's just where all the jobs are), but I'm fine with that. I pulled about 18 jobs from there that I'm going to apply for once I fix up my resume and all that; I also posted a short description of myself to their teacher resume board. Less than 12 hours later, I already have two e-mails from Korean schools asking me to send them my paperwork! I really want to get this all figured out and settled as soon as humanly possible, but I also want to make sure I make the right decision. Don't get me wrong - I'm going, no matter how scared I get between now and then. But there are a lot of different schools, different cities...I just want to find the best place for me. That's perfectly reasonable, isn't it?
Thankfully, I've managed to stay on my feet through most of it. My student teaching was thrown around a bit, but I'm pretty sure we've finally get it all settled. The biggest thing is that I decided to cut one of the last ties keeping me in this country (yes, it was a boy, how'd you guess?) and while there was a suitable amount of angst which went along with that, I really do believe it's for the best. (He was a jerk anyway.) Which means that I'm now free to move abroad like I've always wanted to do...
Funny, isn't it, how you can want something so terribly, fight for it year after year, and once it becomes possible, it scares the crap out of you? Part of me is terrified. I'm looking at going to a non-anglo or francophone country (looks like I'll be in Asia - more on that in a bit) so I won't even be close to proficent in the language. I won't know the culture. I'll likely stand out like a sore thumb anyway - I'm nearly 5'8", rather pale, and have light brown hair and green eyes. It's not like you're going to lose me in a crowd.
On the other hand, maybe that will help. Random people on the street might not expect me to speak perfectly or know exactly what to do. And a lot of the jobs I'm looking at include things like airport pick-up, which may sound really stupid, but think about it - I've never been to (whatever country), don't know where I am, don't know where the school or my housing is, don't know what kinds of transportation are available, don't speak the language to ask for help, can't tell a taxi driver where to go even if I magically knew where the school/my housing was...if the school's willing to solve all those problems (and a few more, such as meeting my co-worker(s)) by picking me up at the airport, why would I ever tell them no?
It looks like I'll be in either China, Japan, or Korea. I want to switch back into Asian languages for a few reasons, both personal and for my career, and frankly, I'm sick and tired of the worthless foreign language educational system we Americans suffer through. I promise I will leave that rant for another day though! Anyway, a friend of mine from my Foreign Language Methods class (one of the required education classes) is in a similar boat, and he gave me the link to Dave's ESL Cafe, a completely awesome website that helps match ESL teachers to jobs abroad. The jobs listed are mostly in China and Korea (not sure if that's on purpose, or if that's just where all the jobs are), but I'm fine with that. I pulled about 18 jobs from there that I'm going to apply for once I fix up my resume and all that; I also posted a short description of myself to their teacher resume board. Less than 12 hours later, I already have two e-mails from Korean schools asking me to send them my paperwork! I really want to get this all figured out and settled as soon as humanly possible, but I also want to make sure I make the right decision. Don't get me wrong - I'm going, no matter how scared I get between now and then. But there are a lot of different schools, different cities...I just want to find the best place for me. That's perfectly reasonable, isn't it?