Happy Friday Eve, beautiful people.
This past Monday I was offered a teaching position at a school in Surrey. Surrey in freaking ENGLAND.
I can’t even put into words how I felt, but I can say, it was a mix of insane excitement and utter fear.
The rest of this week I have been a mess of decision-making-crazy.
Most of you are probably wondering what decision I even have to make. HELLO? ENGLAND?
Well, after several email correspondences, I have been given my final salary offer, and well…
I am disappointed to say the least.
I had wrongly assumed that the cost of living would be pretty relative to here in the U.S. and that is just plain not the case. The cost of flats in Southern England is astronomical. I mean, twice the cost of apartments in my area. For me, paying half of the rent, the costs I am looking at are more than three times what I am currently paying.
This wouldn’t be too horrible except for the fact that I will be taking a $3000 pay cut. What is absolutely insane is that the salary they offered me was incredibly generous and a HUGE step up from what I am currently making, but with the high tax amount taken out, I will be paid significantly less.
I don’t even know what to say.
I will have to some more crunching of numbers, but so far, it isn’t looking good.
Because I am someone who thinks with their heart and far too often I am idealistic in how I view the world, I had assumed that I could move to a different country, do the same work I do here, and it would work swimmingly. Well, that is not the real world. Not even close.
Not only am I a heart-thinker, I am also one who has a lot of debt and minimal savings.
Just to get my fat ass and my few possessions across the pond it will cost a fortune. And I am a broke as a joke teacher.
It isn’t over yet, I may be able to figure something out (like, maybe I can sell a kidney).
So, now I ask you all, what would you do? Would you go into further debt to move to another country? Would you be OK with being seriously broke just to experience another culture? Would you live well under your normal comfort zone in order to experience a serious adventure?
I need opinions and maybe some moral support. Something. Anything.
Tag: expat
Heart Palpitations
All I want to do is eat. Eat.all.the.things. I want cake, cookies, salty chips, whole avocados. This is how I get when I am stressed, excited, nervous, feeling in limbo, feeling settled… Basically, all the time. However, the need to eat my feelings is therapy-edition-bad when I have big decisions to make.
I am a horrible decision maker.
In that, I will avoid making major life decisions at all costs. Most days, I hope life will just happen and I won’t have to make any rash/huge/scary decisions myself.
The most inane, ridiculous aspect of this is that currently I am stressing about making a decision I don’t even have to make right now. I am stressing about stressing about a scenario that has not even happened.
What the?
As most of you know, I am attempting to make the big move to England (just writing that makes my eye twitch and heart palpitate). I had an interview last Wednesday with a school in Oxford. It was so cool. I would say it went well, and I learned a lot about the school, the school system in England, and that “fab” is my new favorite expression.
They expressed their disappointment that they wouldn’t be able to see me teach. I offered to send a video ASAP. They were thrilled. Then, I was down for the count with bronchitis for 4 days. This is how my life usually responds to time-sensitive things.
The woman I have been communicating with has been super nice and understanding, and insisted it was not a rush. So, after a depressing three days of missed work and a weekend, I came back to work, found a video on my school iPad I had already done, and sent it off.
I look hideous in this video, and it could be debated that I am about 6 months along due to the wonderful angle it was taken in. I mean, I am not even lying. The still of the beginning of the video makes me look like Sloth after a stroke. I am not kidding. So, I sincerely hope they disregard my RCF (resting crazy face) and just concentrate on the excellent teaching (if I do say so myself).
So, the point of my post is that I am stressing about a job I have yet to attain.
I was actually stressing about whether or not I should sell my Keurig, or not. I actually looked up shipping costs to ship a Keurig.
What the actual hell?
I don’t even have a job offer, but I am already homesick and sweating over the cost of public transportation.
What the fuck?
For real though, if this happens, it will be huge. Scary, exciting, expensive, and life-altering. Despite the exciting aspect of this, anything that is this huge of a change is terrifying.
I am also quite surprised by how expensive it is over there. I read somewhere that the cost of living is something like 33% higher in the U.K. than in the U.S. Yikes. There is a very real possibility I won’t even be able to afford this.
So, nothing other than stress to report.