Still Round the Corner There May Wait, A New Road or Secret Gate -J.R.R Tolkien

I'm writing this blog as a way of letting everyone know what is going on in my life, and also as a way to tell everyone at one time what has been happening and what is happening soon. Please don't be offended if you feel I should have told you this stuff personally, but I haven't talked about it with a lot of people because I wasn't sure if things were going to work out or not.
To preface this blog, I'll give a mini update on my life since graduation. I graduated with an English degree almost two years ago. I moved back to North Carolina (my hometown) and worked for about 6 months, then decided to move back to Tennessee for awhile until I figured out what I wanted to do. I spent the year after graduation applying and interviewing for multiple "real world" jobs, and even debated on moving to D.C. or N.YC. for a change of scenery and to attempt to get a good job. While I still might do that one day, I couldn't seem to shake the itch that I've always had to travel for awhile before settling into a serious job. I spent a semester in England traveling around the UK and Europe, so the urge to travel like that again was compelling me to look into a job that would take me abroad once again.  Everyone I talked to seem to say the same thing: Don't wait! If you wait until you're working in the real world, you'll never go!
I took all of this advice to heart. I continued to look for jobs, but my heart wasn't really in it. In the back of my mind was always the idea that I was supposed to be somewhere else.
I'll sidebar here to say that I've never known what I wanted to be "when I grow up." I was never someone who had plans or even ideas of what I wanted to do after school. The only thing I have ever known is that I love to travel, I love South America, and I have a heart for mission work and helping people in need. I've been on several missions trips to various South and Central American countries, and every time I always wanted to stay longer.
Fast forward to a year ago, when I began to wonder why I was still living in Tennessee when the only desire I've ever really had was to live in Latin America and help people in any way I can.
I began looking into programs that would help me get to South America on a more long term basis than just a short missions trip.
I talked to some people about potentially teaching English as a profession for awhile. I learned that it is a very versatile job, because once I'm certified and have a little experience I can virtually move anywhere in the world to teach.
The country I couldn't seem to get out of my head was Chile. I researched it; I looked at blogs, pictures, conversion rates, apartments, cost of living, transportation, food and local culture. I had quickly fallen in love with the idea of living in Chile, so I filled out an application to become an English teacher in the capital city of Santiago.
And....drum roll please....I'm so excited to announce that yesterday, I received my acceptance letter to join a group of other Americans wanting to teach English as a second language in Santiago, Chile! So now that its official, I can tell as many people as I want to about it! I'm extremely excited to travel and to live somewhere where the culture is different than what I'm used to in the States.
As for the details, I leave in March. I'm originally contracted for a job for 8 months, so I'll reevaluate where I want to go and what I want to do when that time is up.
I'll be working for a company called the Language Company, teaching English to non-native speakers. I'm beyond excited to be able to tell everyone that its actually happening, because its something I've wanted to do for so long!
As for the preparation beforehand, I'm having to save a lot of money! I do get paid as a teacher while I"m there, but I'm going to need a lot of money at the start of the trip to pay for the program fees, flights, and expenses before the job starts. So my main concentration right now is to work full-time, saving every penny, and I'm also doing some side projects in order to try and raise more funds. Those of you who know me probably know that my heart is so completely missions oriented that one of my main concentrations is finding ways I can help the people of Santiago. I've volunteered in orphanages before, so a big hope of mine is that I'll have the opportunity to do a lot of volunteer work with children while I'm there.
So that's that! If you have questions or just want to be excited with me, I greatly appreciate any comments, calls, texts, whatever method you want to use to chat! I'll be posting pictures of projects I'm working on in order to raise money, so if you want to buy anything or request something please don't hesitate to ask! I'm an open book when it comes to this new adventure, and I would love to answer questions if anyone has them.
I've had a few people ask about donating money, so I might be starting a fund-raising site in the near future in order to help me get to my goal.
Thank you for everyone who has supported me so far with kind words and prayers, and I apologize again that this might be the first some of you are hearing about this. I didn't want to talk about it too much and have it not work out, so I've been keeping it a little on the down-low.
I'm sorry this blog post is so long, and that it lacks a certain amount of wit and humor that I usually like to incorporate into my writings.
I promise to keep you all up-to-date through this process, and I will definitely be blogging a lot once I'm living in Chile.
If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading this and taking an interest in whats going on in my life! I'll post an update soon! I can't express how excited I am to be going on a new adventure!!


PS: Here's a visual aide, this is Santiago: