So this is a rare night when I'm home alone!! Granted, it's a Saturday night and it'll be my birthday in about 30 minutes... but I'm happy to ring in my new year solo. :) I've been surrounded by people nonstop for the past 6 weeks, so I'm happy to have a night alone.
I feel a little... foolish(?) for making it so dramatic when I left the States. I'll be back in a few weeks, but then I am planning on going to South Korea to teach for a year (or two or three?). Several of my friends from the TEFL course are staying here in Costa Rica... and I thought about it, but I have a few reasons to move on:
1.) I'm not a huge fan of San Jose. It's dirty, crowded, and not safe for single females at night. (Since the sun sets around 6pm, I essentially have a 6 o'clock curfew unless I'm in a group or with a guy.) There are very few jobs outside of the big cities here.
2.) I'm in a good friend's wedding at the end of October. Though I love her dearly, this puts a hamper in my plans. Therefore, I plan to get back to teaching in November. (I fear I may have to wait until January to start, though... Oy!)
3.) Financially, South Korea is clearly the best choice. Here, I'd probably break even (as is the case with all of Latin America, it seems)... but in South Korea, they'll pay for my flight and housing, so that I can actually save money and pay off some student loans!! :)
Sooooooooo yeah. I will miss speaking the language of the land, but I'm very open to learning Korean!! :) Once I have a job set up, I definitely plan on buying Rosetta Stone to learn some Korean before I leave!
That's my plan for the time being. In the meantime, I have one week left with my TEFL friends... It's sad!! Time's gone so fast, and I've made a lot of good friends here. Our class "jives" well; I've never seen a group of 22 people get along better. I am very lucky for my experience here.
After this week (which is practical teaching... eek!!), I'll head to other parts of Costa Rica, then Panama, and maybe Nicaragua. I'm happy to see a few more countries before I leave!!
Crazy times... We'll see what happens!
