The Future

I have less than 3 months before I have to have a plan for the near future. My AFS job ends end of August/beginning of September, and I still have NO idea what to do after that. There are lots of options.

A) Move to NYC on the off-chance that Rootie will be there, we can live together for a semester, have no money, probably drink a lot... but NYC is likely to have more lingusitics/international job opportunities than the Twin Cities do.

B) Move to CT and live at Grandma and Grandpa's because my bedroom is rented out to a UConn girl. Get a crappy job in Storrs/Willington/Ashford where I'll have to see people I know and probably hate, or commute to Hartford and work in insurance. Doesn't sound that exciting, but it would mean free rent, time with the family, and time to fit in an East Coast tour with Aissa.

C) Take the teaching job in Kyrgyzstan, even though I feel that I don't have enough experience. I've heard from a past teacher there that the teachers can basically teach, assess, and run class as they choose, which means there is likely no lesson plans already in existence. But I would learn how to make lesson plans of course, and also learn Russian, Kyrgyz, and get to be in the mountains all the time. It would be an amazing experience.

D) Take the teaching job in Sofia. All the lessons are planned, I could improve my Bulgarian, collect more data about the Bulgarian /l/ for future grad school research, and probably get back together with Efrem... which everyone tells me I shouldn't do. They may be right, but I really want to think that he has changed for the better, and I can't shake the intense feeling that he really is the one.

E) Travel somewhere with my graduation money- Algeria with Aissa, visit Lukas in Germany, Muriel in Switzerland, family in Austria, Rootie in Thailand if he'll still be there, Jessie in Australia, Conti in Chile, Owen in California, or find a travel buddy and go somewhere unknown. Then come back and still have no idea what to do.

F) Do a TEFL certification course in Ljubljana or Prague in the fall and then have many more teaching jobs around the world open to me.

G) Fly somewhere in Europe and just start looking for jobs.

H) Stay in Minneapolis, work at FinnStyle again or find another job, take a TEFL certification course at Hamline. I would have to find a new apartment since Paul is kicking me out at the end of August.



On the one hand, I really want to get away from here. When I smell the spring rain in the air mixed with cigarette smoke, I feel such intense longing for Austria. I drank Swiss Fanta that Muriel brought and I want to be in Europe so much. I look at facebook pictures from people who are there now and it makes me want to book a flight and leave tomorrow. On the other hand, I would love to have time to leisurely drive back to CT after AFS is done, take Aissa to see the East Coast, spend lots of time at the beach, and clean my room out so the UConn girl doesn't have to be surrounded by my stuff. September suddenly seems SO SOON, and the thought of flying off to Bishkek Kyrgyzstan is extremely frightening.

I'm working on Fulbright teaching applications to Bulgaria and Austria for the 09-10 school year, and I'm also applying for the Peace Corps. If I get those I'll have a real commitment, but I have probably from now until June 2009 to figure out.

And I have to make decisions soon, because the job in Kyrgyzstan won't be open forever and plane tickets are already getting super expensive. Oh, decisions, decisions! Right now I'm getting used to not having ANY obligations when I leave work for the evening, and I'm still finding things to fill the time with. Gotta get started on my summer reading list and stop stressing so much about the future. Things will fall into place.