More than ready for a new adventure

Well, I just got a journal for a grad present. It’s a rather nice one, too. It’s cover image is The Spirit of Flight by Josephine Wall. You know the one – the rainbow lady flying through the sky surrounded with feathers and butterflies. It really is a gorgeous picture and I actually have a poster of it on my wall. Just happy chance that it’s on the cover of the journal. I’ll be taking it with me to Japan or whatever country I end up teaching English in. But the journal also reminded me that I haven’t blogged in ages. Mainly that was because I had nothing really to blog about. Life right now at home is rather tedious and I don’t intend to go on about it. I can only write so much about Gaia because my own spoiler gerbils will come and eat me alive. So, I’ve been rather quiet.

Now, at the moment I am unemployed and living at home with my parents. No hubby, no kids, no car. Hell, even the dog and cats are family pets. At my age that all could be more than a bit depressing. It is at times and for awhile I was getting a bit down in the dumps about it. My family is great and all but I REALLY need to get out of Cleveland. But, I’ve recently come to see it differently – as a good thing instead of bad. I don’t have any of those things that tend to plant people in one place. I am completely free to move where I please when I please and do what I please as long as I have the money to pay for it and enough leftover to pay the school debt. I don’t have to worry about anyone else. I don’t have a dedicated career or home and kiddies to tie me down. If I want to find a job in Japan, Italy, Brazil, Africa… wherever… I can as long as it pays enough to cover living expenses and school debt with a bit left over in the bank to pay for the next adventure. Quite a liberating way to look at it and it’s gotten me quite excited, really.

Recently, though, some exciting possibilities have come to light. Over the last month I’ve been chattering away with David Ault – well, I chatter and he nods in the right places, really. Anyway, he pointed me at Google for some of the places he finds his overseas jobs and I started searching just for the hell of it. It turns out that there are a lot of jobs out there all over the world to be found on the internet teaching English in foreign countries. All you need is a Bachelor’s degree and a taste for adventure. I have the Bachelor’s as of this May. As for the taste for adventure… well… I have that in excess. I also have another nice ace up the sleeve in the fact that I have about 95% of a dual major in Elementary Education and Special Education. That’s just icing on the cake and makes me even more qualified.

Why isn’t it 100%? Let’s just say that Edinboro’s program and I didn’t work out and I went back to Ohio. Ohio’s education programs didn’t over the Ele Ed/Sped dual major lined up like Edinboro did and I was rather burnt out on education so I switched to Anthropology/Archaeology instead. I was planning on going to grad school for Archaeology but I am REALLY burnt out on school in general.

Now, why would someone who was burnt out on school want to teach school in a foreign country? Simple, it’s in a foreign country! I wouldn’t want to teach school in the US even if I were qualified – which I’m not. Well, I would substitute teach but not the big thing with my own classroom. Mainly, because bloody Bush completely screwed the US education system over with No Child Left Behind. Really, don’t get me started on THAT fiasco. Anyway, it’s a foreign country and I’ve been living quite the boring life for far too long now. Last time I had a real adventure was my last time in Alaska back in summer of 2005.

Teaching’ll be a good way to get away and have an adventure in a time when the economy and job market pretty much stinks. I couldn’t find anything good around here except perhaps substitute teach and I REALLY don’t want to stay here any longer than I absolutely have to. So, the plan is to put together a good resume and then fill out apps online in a bunch of different countries and see what comes up. So far my favorite one I’d like to get is http://www.amityteachers.com/ over in Japan. There I could make $3000 a month US and after rent (my own little apartment instead of dorm or basement living) and other expenses I’d still have about $1500 a month to use to pay off school debt and buy my dream laptop and travel through Japan. Plus, any of you who know me know I am absolutely ADDICTED to sushi.

The Japan job would be a really nice starting off point. They are year contracts with decent money and living expenses are reasonable. If it works out well they’ll probably give me a chance to renew my contract. Maybe I’ll do that but most likely I’ll get that TEFL certification (can get it online for a few hundred bucks for the class) and it’ll mean I’ll be more employable with better money in other countries. I can country hop all over the world teaching English for as many years as I please. All I need is my laptop and internet access (for calling home via skype as well as keeping up with Gaia and mixing Doctor Who and blogging), perhaps a bike, and a few bags to hold my gear and I’m good. Oh and a very nice digital camera and hopefully someday a video camera. I go rather photohappy on adventures.

I’m hoping that after this first job away I can line up another job perhaps somewhere else that would start a few months after the first one ends. I’d take those few months to make my way all over Europe as cheaply as I can and visit all my friends over there. That could be a lot of fun.

Of course it’s all dreams and ideas at this point but my parents are both agreeing that it’s a very good idea that I go. I plan on typing up my resume and showing it to a family friend who is a VERY good judge of resumes for her to go over. I’ll apply to Amity and perhaps a half dozen other places and see which comes up trumps. Then I want to get a temporary job to start saving up some money til school starts and I can hopefully do some subbing and make $100 a day to save up money to pay for my plane ticket to wherever I end up teaching. Hopefully, by the start of 2010 I shall be on the other side of the world from Cleveland, Ohio, and not likely to go back for a VERY long time. I know this feeling. Last I felt like this it was when I was bound and determined to spend a summer in Alaska and I made it happen. I’ll make this happen too.