Job Discussion Forums

[Hattie]

Wow, apologies for such a long delay in updating my situation. My finals went well, and I slept for the following month. I'm now a proper graduate, and have found myself a job for the time being. Well, I've got to save enough money to get to China!

I've not really progressed very far with the job hunt as yet, as I've been phenomenonally lazy. The pressure has been off a little too, as I'm now not leaving until January, due to family illness. I am still definitely going!!

All the tips and advice I was given are really useful. I wouldn't feel very confident making decisions about where to go/how to go about it etc without getting some guidance from people who've already done it.

"Why would you working in an area like this benefit your students any more than working in a more predominantly foreign speaking area ?" - I was asked this question by Sheeba:
- Although it sounds like the ultimate cliche, I would like to "make a difference", so perhaps going to an area where English isn't well known would enable me to do this. On a much more selfish level, it would force me to speak Chinese. I'm not too worried about being lonely, as I won't be there indefinitely, and so if I feel too down, I'll be able to console myself that I'll be speaking plenty of English again soon!

I have, of course, been racked with doubt about the whole thing over the last 2 months. Sometimes I wonder what makes me think a 21 year old girl can just go and trak across the world. But these moments are thankfully shortlived, as I want to see China far more than I want to have a comfortable, easy life. The old statement "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"? Well, we'll see. But I'm pretty sure I'll begrudgingly come back to the UK to go back to university and bore everyone to tears with my tales of all the things I've seen and done.

Apologies for the long and rambling post- combination of little sleep, mild flu and just finishing a very weepy book!!