Moving On.......

Asia » India » Goa
April 20th 2008

Published: April 20th 2008

Well, what a difference a year makes…….. 12 months ago, I was preparing for my final exams in Newcastle, with no real clue what the future would hold. I had (finally!) given myself a good talking to, and decided that I would put in some serious effort, and library sessions, and do my best to leave what had been a rollercoaster of four years at uni with a decent degree. I had signed up to do three months in the summer working with street children in Goa, even though I hadn’t got the vaguest interested in children. I knew I didn’t want an HR office job in the UK, but what I did want was a total mystery to me. Well, apart from to be warm, tanned and happy anyway!

Now, 12 months on, I have the degree, I have the tan, I am definitely warm, if not melting most of the time just now! And, most of all I am happier than I ever even really hoped. Why? Because, volunteering at Children Walking Tall, which started out as an excuse to be able to live in Goa for a while, has turned into the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am so lucky to have spent the best part of the last eight months surrounded by 50 of the most amazing, inspirational little people, and some pretty special big people too.

After completing my TEFL in February, my second return to Goa was only ever going to be a stop-gap while I found a job, get this, teaching English to children. Now, those of you that knew me BCWT (before Children Walking Tall) are probably still finding this a tough one to get your heads around!! I am too sometimes if I think about it too much, ha ha!!

Anyway, I have now been back in Goa almost two months, and the first few weeks of that were taken up by entertaining guests, which was lovely. I had Mum, Dad, Davo, Charlene and Laura over to see me over a space of five weeks, so when I wasn’t working I was enjoying spending time with them. This meant that my job hunting got off to a bit of a slow start, not that I’m blaming them of course!

I had come to a random decision that it was going to be destination Vietnam for the next year. Now, I’m really not sure where this idea came from, as I’ve never been, and know very little about the place. However, every time I mentioned to anyone who had been there that I was thinking of going, their response was always the same, ‘you have to go, you’ll love it!’ So, I was easily convinced, and started looking for jobs over there. Most of the jobs coming up were to teach young adults/professionals in universities, something that didn’t really appeal, or work at big language institutions that offered after school/weekend/holiday tuition to children, and adult classes. A lot of these jobs looked interesting, and came with very nice salaries. Although the hours were all over the place, and every company I emailed showing interest in applying, just never got back to me. I started to worry a little that I wouldn’t ever find a job, and I really wasn’t sure what I’d do if that was the case. I mean, unless money did suddenly start growing on trees, I needed to find work that paid of some description.

So, I made the decision to extend my job search to Thailand, as there they are so desperate for native English speakers there are literally hundreds and hundreds of jobs. I have visited and enjoyed Thailand before and it is far easier to get to from India, so it seemed like a sensible choice. However, it really didn’t excite me the same as the idea of moving to Vietnam did.

About a month ago, I started going to the internet café everyday, and searching through all the job listings, but none of them really grabbed me, and if the last year has taught me one thing, it’s that being happy is just the best thing in the world, and I wasn’t willing to sacrifice that. Then, a couple of weeks ago, an advert was posted that sounded really cool. The company was Fun International Thailand Limited, and their teaching centres around speaking and listening practice, through fun and games, and using real life contexts that the pupils can relate too. I emailed them asking for more details, and over the course of a week exchanged a number of emails, and I was so impressed that they were the first company who actually got back to me promptly and answered my questions and seemed to be genuinely interested in having me apply.

Last Friday morning, I had a phone interview, which went really well, and half an hour later I had been offered the job, starting in May, whoooooo!!

So now, I have around 9 days left in Goa, 6 in Delhi, and then off to Bangkok I go……..

My time in Delhi will be spent arranging a business visa, which I’m not exactly relishing, however, I am also going to catch up with Freya, after far too long, and use the time to organise all the things I learnt on my TEFL course, as well as catch up on lots of sleep!! It has been fabulous been back at CWT, but boy does that rob work us hard!!

And, the only other thing I need to do before I arrive in Thailand, is to conquer my monkey fear. As, for all the great things about this job, its big drawback is I’ll be based in Lopburi, home of many, many monkeys, so all the guidebooks tell me! And, I know its not the popular opinion, but I’m sorry, they are evil, with big teeth, and an ability to attack from all angles. But then again, a year ago, I would probably of said the same about children, so maybe in another 12 months I’ll be converted into a primate lover too, hmmmm!!

I’ll just my tour guide bit to all of you fabulous people who travel across the globe to visit me, apart from the monkeys, Lopburi does seem pretty cool, its 100KM North of Bangkok, and sounds to be ‘real Thailand’ but well equipped. I could have worked in one of the beautiful beach resorts, but to be honest, after spending so much time in Goa, I’m ready to step away from Brits abroad for a while and be really immersed in another culture again. So, everyone, its destination Thailand please!! Pea Pod, I know you won’t mind, and Charlene, you and Barnaby BETTER come and see me, I can’t wait to show him another country, he is the coolest bear in the world!! (For those of you that don’t know Barnaby, it’s probably safest not to ask!!)

So, its soon to be Bye Bye Baga, but I will be back, and returning is the sweetest thing in the world. And in a month, its going to be Kato the English teacher, whoever would have thought it!!

I’ll end as I started, what a difference a year makes………….

Much Love

xx

Copyright Notice: All Rights Reserved