For a little more than eight years I have been stuck in the world of hospitality centered around membership properties. Also known as the Country Club life and let me say that it has been one exhausting ride. Trapped in the day to day struggle to go to work tired and please people while they yell at you. To plaster a smile on your face and say ‘yes ma’am’ or ‘yes sir’ when all you would rather be doing is eating the fries off their plate and telling them to go home and make their convoluted, extra modified, item that isn’t even on the menu, themselves. Wishing you cold live just a little bit of your life instead of helping everyone else enjoy theirs. All while dealing with this group of millennial employees (A group of which I am a part of actually. Just goes to show, it depends on how you are raised.) who rather stare at their phone in lieu of doing actual work and pretend not to understand why you are asking them to do whatever it is you are asking them to do. Or maybe they really don’t understand because they’ve been all of the way inside of their phone like Rudy inside of Chalk Zone, who knows. (I wonder how may people will actually get that reference.)
It is safe to say, I was ready for something new. So I decided to complete a TEFL certification program. A program that certifies you to Teach English as a Second Language. Because, why not? It is now something I have in my arsenal of skills. It also helps in the fact that being an alum of the program gets me a ton of great insider travel/living info and deep down I know that even if I’m alone, I’ve got ‘friends’ somewhere, where ever I end up. But enough about that. Because this is not that.
I want to preface myself in saying that I am honestly not starting this blog for the attention. Not that I wont take it. *cough* *cough* But instead I am starting this because, for the first time in my life I am genuinely, heart stoppingly, ‘what the hell was I thinking’, afraid.
For the first time in my life I am moving out from beneath my parents roof and the genius in me decided that, not only was I moving out but I was moving across the world. Moving away from everything I have ever known to a place where I don’t really speak the language and my closest family-esque friend is still more than two hours away.
So yes, I am scared, afraid, nervous and any and all of the other synonyms of those words out there. However, I know that there are people out there like me. There have been people out there like me and there WILL BE people out there like me. It is with them, those adventure seekers, risk takers and thrill chasing geniuses that I want to share this with. My plans, my passions and how they work out.
In the second week of May I will be making my way to Taipei, Taiwan. The beautiful island known for it’s scenery and most importantly, for its food! My plan is to stay for six months and at the moment things are looking to be very doable. But I know very well than plans can sometimes go awry. So hear goes…
**Even though I said that ‘this’ was not ‘that’ I can’t not give a shout out to the International TEFL Academy from which I received my TEFL certification. https://www.internationalteflacademy.com/ If you decide to go this route, definitely do your research to find the program that is best for you. For me this was the best, because International TEFL Academy has so many resources available to alumni for a the length of your entire career. Just my two cents.
Expat Ashley 