My first entry

My first entry:

Have I done an on-line journal before? Sure! I was probably 15 or 16 and I can’t even remember which website I used.  Now here I am! I do not know what has made me do this, but tonight this is what I felt like doing.

Im married with 3 kids and a dog.  I usually sleep alone as the master bedroom is the last room in the house to receive the AC from the vent and it stays the warmest (which my husband hates).  I adapted.  So it’s me and my dog.  I have a pretty decent relationship with the hubby, so sleeping separately isn’t really a big deal.  It’s actually kind of nice that we give each other this space (even if it wasn’t purposely).

So here I am typing away in my room with my dog and all my privacy! It’s great!

So things are a bit strange lately.  You know, life… COVID…

I am a teacher and luckily was able to be employed during all of this.  I am so glad it’s over, the online teaching was insane!  I truly just want things back to normal and back into the classroom. I was logged in from 8am-3pm non-stop! Teaching elementary aged students.  My nights were over at 3 am and my mornings started at 5 am.  I had to create lessons from scratch and make it fun! It took all my energy, I neglected my own family in the process, and the results were…..amazing! I hate to admit it, because it shouldn’t take sacrificing my own family but the results were good, the parents were pleased and the students continued learning as if nothing happened.  It was incredible.  I work for a high-end private school and to please parents who are paying $20,000+ in tuition and receiving online teaching which they can get for free…it’s hard.  It worked though but that is why I am glad it is over and I do not want to do it again.  I come from a school where we do not use a lot of technology to begin with.  The students were not used to it and there wants anything set for them.  I did not receive training on how to teach on-line, but common sense is your best resource.  I do believe it helped that I am very organized.

On the other hand, it did make me realize that I am capable of teaching online.  And if I had the right resources and better training I could do this.  And although I love teaching and will continue to do it (for now), my ideal situation would be to have a job where I could continue to teach but live overseas.  I have tried looking for teaching jobs in Europe, and although the schools have found me very qualified, we always end up with the same scenario: they will not sponsor my VISA.  That means I cannot legally work there.  They have to sponsor me if not I can’t work, and they never do.  I believe it’s costly for them.  So being able to still work for an American company but work over there would be amazing.  My kids are still young and I want to experience so much more.

So here I am taking an on-line TEFL Course.  I hear that is what you need to teach English overseas which would be a way to live somewhere else.

We will see, money is also an issue and my current debt. Not much, except my student loan which is a killer. I will die before that gets paid off.