But! I'm finished with classes. As of yesterday, I am no longer a WorldTeach teacher. There are still a few last minute grades to post and the looming "oral final," but pretty much, the party's over. And I'm excited about that. This year has been many things: random, trying, frustrating, cold, rainy, exciting, depressing, eye-opening and challenging. I could say this about teaching in general too. I've enjoyed my students but I'm excited to move on.
Last weekend, I was up in Santiago for the End of Service Conference with the whole WorldTeach crew. It was fun to see everyone and catch up on the last semester. These are the people I met at the airport in Miami, sat through a month of orientation with and teach at various Duoc sites around Chile. Because of this, we are all very connected and have lots of common ground. It's funny how everyone came down here to "teach English at a technical/professional school" but in the end, each volunteer's situation looks very different from the next. I found it fascinating to hear about host families (good and bad) and friends people made. In terms of teaching, we all had similar stories. We could still be exchanging tales...
We had a few "sessions" complete with reflection, reverse culture shock talk and a resume-building workshop. The latter was what stuck with me the most. I haven't really been thinking too intensely about the future but when we all started working on our resumes and sharing ideas, it struck me that I'm going back to a very different world. A world of self-promotion, competition and strategy. I'm not sure I'm ready for such a world, but my bank account says otherwise. In the end, I know I'll find a job (or two) and work for awhile. Yet, my travel bug hasn't been cured by this year living and teaching in Chile. If anything, I think it's worse. I have no idea what the future holds, but I'm thinking it involves a passport...
ps. Currently packing for PATAGONIA!!! That's right, I'm headed to the end of the world.
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