I was always told the best place to start a story is the beginning....funny that.
When I've told people about my plans to move to Vietnam for 12-months to teach English
the responses have all been pretty similar "Wow, that's cool, what made you decide to do that?" I must admit, my answer to that question hasn't always been the full truth, that is until now of course, on the internet, with everyone (Millennial's am I right???).
My answer has always been some variation of the following statements;
I Love Vietnamese history.
I Love Vietnamese culture.
I've always wanted to travel
I've always wanted to be a teacher however I feel like I needed life experience before I started to guide other young minds.
All of which I would like to point put ARE true, however I did leave out some key events.
For this, we are going to need to get real deep for a few and take a journey back to a year and a half ago.
Flashback to last 3/4 of 2017 I was happily living in Christchurch, New Zealand with my partner who I was head over heels for, I had finished my degree, had a decent job (I didn't love it but it was well paying and came with some pretty decent benefits) an amazing circle of friends and I had a pretty good idea on what my future was going to look like. Then again, even the Titanic seemed like a fun trip at first and look how that turned out.
Things happened and my life as I knew it completely changed (cliche I know). The future that I had worked towards and pictured for myself for the last few years was suddenly gone, and for lack of a better analogy, and normally I am bloody cracker with analogies, I was lost. I had this burning desire to just get up and run, not literally obviously as your girl does not cardio, or shave my head completely, those felt like the only two options. It felt as if the walls around me were shrinking and I was drowning all at the same time, which was a lot for twenty-two year old me to deal with. I needed to leave, not just Christchurch, just New Zealand and as far away as possible. I somehow thought if I could distance myself from the life that had crumbled around me it would be like it never happened. Against everything that I thought I knew about myself and how strong I could be, I thought this would be the only way to survive.
Although I had this urge to escape I also had this strong desire to have a well executed plan (great combination right?!) I started my search where any broken-hearted, puffy eyed girl starts looking at 4 a.m in the morning, Google. My first search, and I kid you not, "How to run away from your life when you are sad but also lazy"(which is nice to know that even in my darkest moments ya girl still knew her limits). Throughout the night I tried and tried again and eventually came up with "Run away to another country". This provided me with a list of helpful hints on what you might need to indeed run away to another country. This ultimately lead me to
THE GLOBAL WORK AND TRAVEL CO
The company that offered, working holidays, volunteer programs and Teaching abroad opportunities.
The next day after work, I got them on the blower and discussed my options. Within 30 minutes of being on the phone I had signed up, paid my deposit and was booked in to go and teach English in Vietnam in around 6 months! (For more information on the deposit and the actual cost of this trip see my "How much does a trip like this cost?"post).
A few weeks later it occurred to me what I had done. I had never been this impulsive and to be honest it scared the shit out of me and I regretted it a little bit. I thought about it and decided to put the trip on hold while I focused on dealing with the situation at hand and getting myself back into a better place, mentally and emotionally. I sent them (Global work and travel Co) an email telling them I wasn't ready.....
To be continued
(Spoiler..Obviously I continued with the trip or this would be a pretty shitty Blog)