Looking for New Opportunities

I've been doing a lot of thinking about what my next move is going to be in terms of moving abroad at the end of the year and it's brought me to two very different outcomes, both of which I could see myself doing.

First, my original plan is to apply for the working holiday visa for New Zealand and move at the end of the year. It would give me one year in the country to live and work, much like I did in Ireland this past year. I really love the idea of living in New Zealand for so many reasons. Firstly, the weather on the south island from what I've been told is much like the weather in Dublin. Cooler, wetter, and rarely stifling, all things that make me especially happy. I love that I'd have a year to travel around New Zealand because in that year, I feel like I could definitely see the entire country. Also, it's extremely close to Australia as well which would mean I'd have the opportunity to do some travelling there as well which would be fantastic.

I'd also have access to parts of Asia which would be such an awesome opportunity. I'd probably have the opportunity to do at least one or two trips to places like Japan or Thailand which would probably be the coolest experience I've had thus far. There's so many reasons spending a year in New Zealand would be a very good thing for me.

My second idea is getting my TEFL licence and using it to teach English abroad. My plan with this is to get the licence and start by teaching English online so that I get a feel for what it's all about and whether or not I could see myself doing it long term. If I decide I really enjoy it, there's so many opportunities to take English teaching jobs abroad in places like Japan, India, Taiwan, and parts of the middle east. This would be an experience like no other in my opinion. I would never have thought about living in a place like Japan because I was originally overwhelmed at the thought of having to try and navigate a new written AND spoken language. However, now that I've spent a year living abroad and travelled to some countries where English was not the first language, I've seen that it's totally manageable to live in a place where I don't understand anything. It's an opportunity to try my hands at learning to read, write, and speak an entirely new language during my stint as a teacher. Plus, I'd have access to so many Asian countries if I was living over there.

I'm torn between these two options. Both would offer me access to parts of the world I wouldn't be able to financially get to otherwise and both would provide me with a year of new experiences. For now, I'll focus on getting my TEFL licence and go from there I guess. What's the old saying? The world is your oyster or something like that? We can go and do whatever we want if we put our minds to it!

HAPPY VEG