As you can imagine, moving to a different continent is quite daunting and even though I had lived abroad before everybody spoke English but moving to Asia I knew that it would not be the same. Nonetheless I got a job teaching kindergarten and I haven’t looked back since.
I arrived in September of 2018 and I am already considering staying for another two years. I will share with you all the reasons I want to stay here; I will start financially hehe…. At home I worked a decent post graduate job in Ireland but still rent was quite expensive and socialising every weekend might make it difficult to organise big trips and holidays. Here I have my apartment paid for me and I manage to make near the same I was making back home; the catch is that – China is a lot cheaper than back home.
I can eat out most days at nice restaurants, drink at the weekends and still have enough to go on holidays without a worry. Without much thought I have also been able to save quite a bit of money on the side. As for travelling ….when you leave the confines of your own country and venture to somewhere vastly different home – every weekend seems like travelling.
Going to other cities, neighbouring countries and seeing all types of crazy stuff at your fingertips. The teaching itself was something I was a little worried about before arriving – negative thoughts often entered my mind like; “What if I'm sh*t at this?! Then what will I do?! “. There is a good chance that I was pretty sh*t at the start but like anything once you put a little bit of time into it, it becomes so easy.
The kids can actually make it worth it .. I have had days where I woke up in a bad mood and the kids put me in a great mood – I have never had a job like that before!!! In short, do not hesitate to push your boundaries and try something new. I came here by myself and I have met so many people and made a lot of new memories!
By Rob Staunton