Well, here goes...
This is the first post in a series of hopefully extremely interesting, entertaining and informative posts recounting the details of my Asian adventures in Taiwan. I'm going to be working as an English teacher with a company called Hess (yes, like the party district in Hammytown) and I'm very excited about the possibility of living and working in Asia.
I've spent four amazing years at Uni and have fallen in love with this town and the amazing people I've met here....however, I'm just about to turn 22 and I know there's way more to the world than my limited travel experience has enabled me to see. When I was a kid my dream was to become an explorer (I thought that was actually a profession one could aspire to becoming) and some of my best memories have come out of traveling. I have always maintained that the second I finished University I would travel. Of course what I didn't take into consideration at the time were those pesky (but unfortunately necessary) nuisances called student loans. I asked myself how I could justify traveling when I had so much debt to repay and wondered if there was a way to combine traveling with the need of making some serious cold hard cash...
The answer lies here: http://www.teach-abroad.net/teach-english-in-asia/
The first time I seriously thought about teaching in Asia was when my cousin and her boyfriend were visiting and telling me all about their travels throughout Southeast Asia and Thailand. At the time they were living in Shanghai and told me about the endless opportunities for native English speakers to teach overseas. For a long time I considered Thailand due to its laid back lifestyle, jungles and whitesand beaches...however although you make enough money to live comfortably, you would not really be able to save any and hence not pay back student loans. I then discovered a program called JET (the Japan Exchange and Teaching) program where one could make almost $3000/month. I did my research, took some Japanese history/culture classes in school, and read a bunch of books on Japan in preparation for my voyage. I fell in love with the country from a distance. I even wrote an essay for my history of technology class on the introduction of Western communications technology in Japan which turned out to be my first (and only) A+ essay in University to date.
I went to a Work Abroad fair at McMaster one day in the fall to talk to the JET program representative. I ended up wandering around picking up brochures and learning about different teaching programs in Asia, and even talked to reps from NOVA (sad story; Japanese school went out of business stranding hundreds of English teachers without jobs or places to live). Later that week I pulled out the JET application booklet to start filling it out when a brightly coloured brochure slipped out from between the pages and fluttered to the floor. It was a brochure from an organization called Hess and said "Teach English in Taiwan". I picked it up, read it through it, was captivated, and instantly made my decision. I Thought about when I had talked to the Hess representative that day and all of the things she had said about her amazing 4 years in Taiwan and about all the wonderful things she had said about the country formerly known as Formosa meaning 'Beautiful Island". There was just something about that moment that made me realize exactly what I had to do and where I had to go. I haven't looked back.
Due to the timing of the hiring season I had to wait a few months to apply and finally did so on December 31st. I left for Trois-Pistoles Quebec (another story entirely) and had my phone interview with the amazing Christina in that crazy small town on the St. Lawrence 12 hours away from my home in the middle of winter. Apparently it went well because within a week I had an acceptance letter from the Hess main office in Taiwan waiting in my inbox. All that is left to do is fill out and complete a mountain of forms/VISA applications, take a quick medical and come May 18th I will be unpacking my bags in a hotel room in Taipei, ready for the 2 weeks of mandatory teacher training.
This really does seem like the perfect thing for me to do next year and I believe Hess to be an outstanding, very well organized, and incredibly helpful company who will provide all the support necessary to make sure all of their new teachers have an overwhelmingly positive experience in their first year abroad. My only regrets are that I will be very far away (literally on the other side of the world) from my friends and family but I know that they will understand and be supportive knowing that this is an experience that I truly believe in and will put everything into.
It's 2008, I'm turning 22 in 2 days; it's time for a big adventure.
More to come...
cheers!
