Teaching in a different country

Over the course of three years the wear and tear of teaching in a different country starts to get to you. Being a teacher is not for the weak. As I like to say. For every person who says teaching is easy I would say write 64 page lessons plans weekly, try managing multiple kids, and meeting the expectations of the administration and parents. Not as easy as you would think. Don’t get me wrong the kids make it worth. Now put the mix in their of living no where close to anyone you know, having no ink in your printer, not speaking their native language and you have my life. As crazy as it may sound I love every single second of it.

            Not many people at the age of twenty-four can say they have done what I have done. Sometimes I can be rather hard on my self because I feel behind the rest of the world. As I was reminded over my nice long break I have done a lot. I have moved to a place where I know absolutely no one. I got myself established and now have a car, island family, house, and many friends. I may not have what my friends have but I have what makes me happy.

            When traveling or going home there are times you experience culture shock. Here are a few of the “culture shocks” I experienced while I went to the outer islands of American Samoa.

1.     A showerhead, at my house I do not have a showerhead but rather a pipe with water flowing out of it. Over my mini vacation I had a showerhead!

2.     Air conditioning: Running air conditioning here can get really expensive. So I only run it at night when I am sleeping. My vacation was wonderful because my room was always nice and cool.

3.     Fast Internet: Internet that is fast can be hard to find some days. Well our vacation was filled with the fastest internet I had ever received in American Samoa

4.     Not making meals: I am always, always making food or so it seems. Going out to eat is just not an option for me. Well, over break someone prepared all of my meals and it was absolutely wonderful.

5.     Being able to be me: This one is big. Livings on an island were there are constant eyes on me. It was nice to know that I could just do whatever I want and no one was going to question my doing.

6.     Relaxing: Something I get from my parents. I can never stop working. Over break I left my laptop at home, which forced me to take a nice break. Didn’t realize how stressed I was until I stopped.

Over my time hear I have come to realize that material possessions are not what I need to make me happy. I have learned to live with very little for this day and age and I am quite happy with it. My biggest fear with moving back home is I will get sucked into having material things again.

With Love,

Abby