So I went over a short list of things you need for your own ESL adventure! So I suppose before I go into specifics about the list I am going to write about why I want to teach overseas. As I told in my generic first post I have not really traveled much in my life due to financial reasons. Not willing to put myself into debt just to have a fantastic week or two, but I have always loved studying people.
When I found my major in college (cultural anthropology) I was bitten by a bug with the desire to travel and to do new things. I always had the desire to be dropped into a new culture and be forced to assimilate, and perhaps write a kick ass enthnography along the way. There isn't much anthropologying I can do with a bachelors degree, but teaching English abroad makes me feel like I would be doing something with it. I finally get to experience getting immersed in a culture very different from my own middle class suburban lifestyle.
I am cautiously optimistic about what our experience overseas will be like. One of the biggest issues I may end up coming across is adjusting to a new style of cooking. I am pretty bland and routine when it comes to eating, I am a pretty meat and potatoes kind of guy. I don't really go out of my way to try exotic cooking, and that could be a problem since eastern food is very very different than American style food. The language barrier will also be an issue until Manda and I establish a basis of our host country's language. I expect the culture shock to be pretty marvelous.
The last thing and probably biggest issue I (and I know my wife will as well) face is the fact that we will be forced to leave our cats behind for a year. We will probably go through cat withdrawal and have the shakes while on the plane!
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