Expect the unexpected

No, it’s not just a tagline from a cheesy Hollywood horror film, it’s what I have discovered about the world of employment since graduating. First China didn’t happen and now Malaysia is on the backburner as I “gain experience” in the world of teaching. I am now doing what I probably should have done from the start-a TEFL qualification with I-to-I with a paid teaching placement in South Korea. Third time lucky, I hope. Plus it’s good to be studying again.

I don’t “do” travel in the conventional sense. As my short stint across the pond illustrated to me I am trying to figure out my place in the world. To be honest, I will probably never find it, but I am going to have a damn good time looking for it. I am fascinated by different cultures, but the idea of living in hostels out of backpack for a year on my own terrifies me. Strangely, the idea of settling in a different country for a year, where English isn’t the first language, fills me an overwhelming sense of anticipation and childlike excitement, and perhaps a slight smidgeon of fear, terror, and “what the hell am I thinking” dread, just a smidgeon though.

So, I figured I would document my findings like a dutiful explorer and student of the wide world. I might not have the answers, but I am sure I can find something to keep me occupied.

To borrow the words of Mark Twain:
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, all foes to true understanding. Likewise tolerance, or broad, wholesome charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in our little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.