Not going to plan…

As you all remember from my previous post that I had started working for a company called TutorABC. Well, I am currently “on hold” as my internet connection is suddenly not quick enough for the company. It is the same speed when I joined the company at the end of May. I was happy with the company until then. I have been trying to find another internet provider as I need faster internet speed.

In the UK, there are many different providers. I am currently using EE; which is the “home” account – I am not the only one who uses it. I have been thinking about going back to my original provider of 3. Will they work better? Fingers crossed?!

Very exciting news!

As some of you may have seen, I was supposed to have an interview with a lady called Mercy – sadly this interview never happened. Technical issues at my end stopped the interview process; we tried to re-arrange, but nothing has come to course. However; I believe that this happened for a reason; as I am now a member of the iTutor Group.

At time of writing, I have not had any classes booked in yet and I am waiting for my training to begin. I am very excited about this, as I will be able to give the schedulers my times and days and they will book the classes for me! How exciting, right?

I want to use the funds from this venture to pay for more courses from I-to-I; there are currently two on my list that I wish to complete.

I will keep you all posted on this…

Reading the i-to-i blog…

Over the last few days, after writing “HiOffer – a new beginning?” I have found that I am truly missing out on the TEFL/ExPat lifestyle. So, to persuade my mind even more, I have been reading the i-to-i blog. It is full of testimonials, tips, hints and real life experiences of current or former i-to-i graduates. This also does not help that I was speaking with an British man, who had just returned from over years in the Philippines. He was passionate that I should go and live my dream (as he put it). ‘Go, teach in China’ – that is all he said as he left me thinking.

I have been focusing on the the internship posts – Internship in ChinaInternship in Thailand and Internship in Vietnam

There are many posts about the three internships; but this one struck me the most –  5 Reasons to go on the Vietnam Intership – I was surprised on what i-to-i classed as the five reasons to go. Being a bit of a culture junkie; I would have written about the culture and the food – however, I am always thinking of food. It is what gets me through the day.

Currently i-to-i are having a “Save 50% off Paid Internships” sale. Vietnam is £595 and both China and Thailand are £971.25 – however, this is only until 28th April.

It is a shame that I do not have the cash ready to pay for my spot…

HiOffer – a new beginning?

Hello everyone!

I am sorry that it has been two months since my last post – life has not been good to me. I have been trying to stay focused on my current job to save the funds I need to go abroad and teach. However, while I was on Facebook one day I saw an advert of an online teaching platform – HiOffer. It is very exciting as I can set my own hourly rate.

You may have noticed that I have also added some “services” to my Facebook page – [add link]. These services are not just for people who do not speak English as their first language, but also for any student who wishes to improve their spoken and written English.

Eat, Pray, Love…

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I have been a little down in the dumps lately (I love a good idiom in the morning!) as I have been trying to work out my TEFL lifestyle. I have been getting the YouTube channel all sorted and researching video editing programmes. i-to-i have brought back the Thailand Internship and recently it has been looking more appalling than it did before. There have advertised the 2018 dates and I REALLY want to go.

Alas; the italki teaching has not happened yet; as I now work “full time” for my part time job – they have messed my shifts up which has made it impossible to get any classes booked or even taught. To cheer myself up last night; I decided to watch “Eat, Pray, Love” with Julia Roberts in. The film is based on the book by Liz Gilbert (which I have on my TBR list; I need to start this book!)

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Some of what was said during the film really struck a cord with me. I have watched this film many times but this time it was different. I am wondering if I am heading towards the same fate as Liz did before she wrote the book.I know that there is only my family keeping me here in the U479402584-6239c2245158220e99e2e2376df524eaK (oh, and the lack of funds to pay for the internships). I have had enough of dreaming about living it. I want to live it for real!

I have been looking at Workaway again and think I should do one here in the UK before I head off to one abroad.

 

Leaving SkimaTalk…

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Yes I have finally done it! I was with SkimaTalk since March 2015 and I loved teaching for them. However, they changed their T&Cs – it is their prerogative to do so – but I had to do the Teacher Guideline test TWICE and had to create ANOTHER introduction piece. It seems that they have had some issues. I was hoping to be teaching on a regular basis with SkimaTalk; sadly this is no longer the case. I have been trying to sort “the issues” out since November – alas it has come to nothing.

I have decided to leave SkimaTalk and focus on italki in 2017. I am in the process of scanning all my certificates; as italki have requested them. Very efficient I would say. I am exciting about working with italki and I will also be able to learn American Sign Language and Spanish on the website!

I will keep you all posted about that. I am also going to continue with some of my i-to-i studies. I want to finish the Advanced Grammar course I started last year. There are some new courses since i-to-i joined forces with LoveTEFL. These courses have taken my eye:

Also they have now added a 15 day extension! I am super happy about that!

Travelling around the USA – Part Two

Welcome to part two of my recent trip to America, we left part one with myself in Philly. It was only a day and a half but I loved every moment of it. I think that next time I will stay there for three days (or a week?!), so I can get everything in. I missed the “Rocky Steps”, maybe next time!

gp40ph-2bAny how; after Philadelphia I used the NJ Transit to make my way to Girl Scout Camp in Newfield, NJ. It was a rather easy journey – much nicer than I thought it would be. However; I wanted to hold some of my luggage in storage at the station but I was unable to as I was not using Amtrak – I will remember to check that next time I travel to the USA. The website that there was storage for luggage but it did not say for Amtrak travellers only. I left Philly early and the journey was very straightforward. The conductor was not happy when he saw me get onto the train. I had to travel to camp in my Guide uniform.

I used a car to make my way from Hammonton to Newfield; I just squeezed in!

The car is filled with items that needed to be taken to camp; I think “last minute items” they were called. I was glad to be sitting on a comfy seat with decent air conditioning. The NJ Transit train has a leak – it was not a pretty sight. I wish that I had took a photo of it, so one I could show all of you and also I could have sent it to NJ Transit themselves. That is another thing I need to remember to do – keep photographic evidence of things that are broken or incorrect.

Camp went too quickly and I made new friends and caught up with some ‘old’ ones. It was fab to be at camp in America again. Bring on 2020; that is when that next Celebration camp will be. I am already planning on what I am going to do. Crazy I do; I do not know where I am going to be in the world by then – but I will still be going to the camp!

While at camp; I tried my hand at driving an automatic – never again! Did not like it! I also took my golf buggy driving “test”; there were two buggies for the staff members (which I was kind of classed as) to drive around the site. 13934623_10153743348221500_7361974994854980582_n

 

Here I am with three other British attendees – one from Northamptonshire and two from Staffordshire. I had loads of fun while at Camp – I miss all the new friends I made and all the ‘old’ ones I re-met!

I used NJ Transit to get back to Philly, as this was where my Megabus was leaving from. I had the same problems with this train that I had with my first train. I did have the feeling that it was the same train – the conductor was even grumpier than the first one. He practically pushed me onto the train. img_3880This is why this photo does not really show me. I was not looking forward to getting into a leaking train. Sadly, I feel that I would not use NJ Transit trains again; this was due to the amount of water that was being leaked from the air cooling unit. I would like to try the bus system next time I am in New Jersey. I spent most of the journey trying to get myself all organised. I had packed away my ticket of the Megabus deep within my hand luggage. One more thing to add to my ‘do forget’ list – handbag with tickets etc. in always!

The Megabus section of my trip was reasonably okay – it was late by twenty five minutes and there was no proper shelter for us to stand under. I am glad that I have reserved my seat as I was able to get on first and sort myself out. I slept most of the journey and I was glad to get to my friend’s house. However; my Greyhound experience from Buffalo to Orlando was not good at all! 33 and a quarter hours (twice!!) on a bus (well, two buses) and with three lovely drivers and one horrid driver. I know that Greyhound are supposed to be the best way to see America, but I felt that it would have been better for me. The buses has WiFi and electrical sockets (outlets for the American reader); which worked intermittently. Also the buses were never on time. I tried to get my money back from my ticket before I left Buffalo, however, I was not successful. I am so flying next time!

Things that I need to remember when travelling around America:

  1. Always have an American number (which I now know I could have had my old US number re-activated instead of buying a new one)
  2. Flying wherever possible!
  3. Always have my camera to hand to capture photographically evidence!
  4. Definitely buy local sightseeing companies day pass tickets
  5. Always to have all my travel details in one place that is accessible!

Travelling around the USA – Part One

As some of you all know, I have been away in the USA. I was attending a Girl Scout camp out there for a week; but I thought that I would make it more of a proper holiday by visiting my friend, Amy and her family. Very last minute; I decided to attend an International Conference. Therefore, I ended up travelling all over the Eastern coastal States. At first, I thought was going to be amazing; however, I am going to tell you all a different story…

national_express_7102_caetano_levante_fj08_knw_metrocentre_2009_pic_1I used National Express to make my way to the airport; I chose to fly from Heathrow as I know my way around the Terminals. The National Express bus journey was fine, I was going to reading but I was too excited. It was a 5.10am departure – I know that I am a crazy person; but I need to get this departure as my flight was at 12.45pm and I needed to arrive at the airport three hours before departure – I arrived a 8.15am. There is no traffic “at the crack of dawn” on the British Motorway; which I am very glad about.

heathrow_airport275-1024x768However, on my arrival to Heathrow – I did not have to wait awhile before I dropped off my bag. I checked in online 24 hours before my flight – I do recommend that you do that, as it made life much easier as it was rather busy at the airport – Top Tip #1.I am glad that I still had some British Pounds on me, as I knew that I would be hungry before boarding my flight. So, Top Tip #2 is have some of your “Home” Currency for the airport.

The flight was excellent; the staff were amazing and the people who sat next to me were good too. We didn’t speak much; so therefore, I thought I would catch up on some movies that I had missed at the Cinema. Seven hours were filled with six and half films. I think that is a record of my binge movie watching.

On arrival in to Philadelphia; I was going to use public transport to my accommodation for the next day and a half – however, I was a little worried as my Uber account was not working properly – I still haven’t worked out why?! – I found a cab that took me; sadly it was more expensive than Uber, oh well! I was using a AirBnB home for my accommodation. Pat, my host, was amazing. He made me feel welcome and safe, even though the neighbourhood did not. However, I found the links into the centre of Philly very good. I got myself a “Day Pass”; however I do not know if this it was it is officially called – it was only USD$ 8 and I was able to use it on train, trams and buses!

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Excellent buy I feel. I also used the PHLASH bus; a circular bus route that ‘visits’ all the tourist places in Philly – that was only USD$5 for the whole day – I was unable to use the NJ Transit train ticket on this bus. I found that this mixture of tickets I could see a lot of Philly, both the tourist side and the not-so-tourist side. a4fed877e046075266a113fd5d70348fI went over to Pat’s King of Steaks – I was introduced to this heavenly place in 2012. I helped an Asian customer with her order; I felt like a local. I had onions on mine; I forgot that it gets messing with them on it! I did have to walk in Philly, but I had not bought myself an AT&T sim card by this time, so I was using local WiFi hotspots.

Killing Time…

I am currently typing this post at my “Base”; it is the office where I am based out of (even though I have been at the same school of seven years?!). I have been asked to come here today and I have been here since 8.30am BST (this is my start time); however, my Line Manager has not yet arrived. Oh well!

I have completed three modules of some online courses I have been requested to do and now I do not know what to do?! I thought that I would have Jackie and her The Budget Minded Traveler podcast on and fill my Wanderlust fix.

It is not long until I finish for the summer and I will be able to ACTUALLY be travelling on my own in sunny USA. I have been packed for a few days now; I know that I do not go until the endo fo the month – I have been using Her Packing List and Jackie’s tips for my packing. I am so glad that I found those websites – if you have not already found them – head over to them now! I know that you will love them! I have also downloaded the HPL podcast ready for my trip; there are currently only 15 episodes.

I have been thinking about doing some blog posts for Bloggers Required for another blog – The Writing Rants; has anyone done any posts for them? How have you found it? I will let you know on how my posts go…

I have been worrying about my jobs prospects as a TEFL teacher – is it worth it? I know that does sound like I have lost passion, maybe I have but if I have, have I wasted my time on my studies, blogging and planning my Vlogging videos? Please guys, do you have any tips to improve my mood?!