My roommate Katy's friend, Sat, reads tarot cards, so Katy and I both asked her to look at her cards to get advice on where we should teach English. Right now, I've sort of narrowed down my countries to South Korea, Vietnam, and Poland (well, basically just Eastern Europe, but I had to choose just one country). Lately I've been leaning the most towards Vietnam, mostly because it just sounds the most exciting (and the mildest winter).This is what the cards apparently said:
1. Korea: According to the cards, I feel uncertain about teaching there, but in the future I would be very good at passing on knowledge to other people (so good teaching opportunities perhaps?).
2. Vietnam: Very good, strong positive card, representing future hope, peace and harmony. So I could have an awesome, empowering experience. But then I got the "tower" card, apparently the most negative card representing death or chaos (see picture). So Vietnam could be an amazing experience, but also really bad. Like, someone could die. Or alternatively, "you might feel emotionally like your world is crumbling around you." Hmm.
3. Poland: This one had the most straightforward positive cards; however, nothing really remarkable about it. The main reason I'm interested in Poland is that I would be so close to the rest of Europe, and Poland currently has the highest demand for English teachers in Europe. But hey, Europe is overrated. OK, maybe not overrated, but there are so many equally awesome parts of the world.
So while it was definitely need to get another kind of input on where I should apply for jobs, the tarot cards didn't help me narrow things down too much. Oh well. I think a lot of this kind of thing should be placed on chance, and adapting to whatever presents itself.
2 comments:
I think you should consider Prague as well. I taught there for a year and it was absolutely amazing!
I know a few people who are teaching/have taught in Prague, and while they all had great experiences... I imagine after studying in Goett you are ready for a new area. My opinion, which is undoubtedly one of the most important to you, is that you should go to Asia. But as you said, it will all just come down to chance and where you are able to take a position.
However, if you do end up having to make a choice between a few different places, I suggest thinking about food. This was something I barely thought about before coming here, apart from "oh yeah they eat a lot of fish." And I guess I wouldn't have changed my mind had I really known more, but perhaps I would have been a little more prepared. The first month here my stomach felt perpetually ill at ease because of how sweet everything tasted. Being a vegetarian (still, right?) I imagine this isn't a particularly new idea to you, but I thought I'd bring it up anyway.
And this isn't based on anything particularly logical, but I kind of feel like you should go to Vietnam. As Frau Lee would say, "Thats my ten cents."
Unrelated questions:
How long do you think you want to teach for? And what did you end up thinking about your TESL class? I have just realized that my time here is almost half up... :/
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