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Posts Tagged ‘working abroad’

December 18th, 2011 - 6:00 am § in Careers, Guatemala, Looking for Opportunity, Volunteer, Volunteer Spotlight

Trabajo: Job Hunting, Working Abroad, and “Real World” Work

“So… when are you going to get a real job?” I think many people, especially of my parents’ generation, see working abroad as a filler for the time period between college graduation and the entry into the American professional world, as a way to productively delay the start of adulthood. [...]

March 30th, 2011 - 6:11 am § in Careers, Peru, Tips & Resources

Teaching English to Build Bridges

Yesterday was the first day in a long time that my job felt truly perfunctory. I teach a variety of English classes, all to white-collar professionals here in Lima. At the end of each month I give exams to my Langrow Institute groups, which means I spend a lot of hours simply watching people take [.[...]

October 26th, 2010 - 10:32 am § in Chile, Culture, Event, In the Field, Volunteer

Small Frustrations and Big White Elephants

Here’s one: The Chilean English professors use English-Spanish dictionaries pretty often in class. Unfortunately, the ones we have are old. When you pick some of them up, they fall apart. Pages slip out onto the floor, and students frantically run to gather and scotch-tape them together. Moreover,[...]

October 18th, 2010 - 5:00 pm § in Chile, Day in the Life, In the Field

Beyond Grammar

One of the hardest things about teaching at my school is that most of the students, far from being well-versed in the intricacies of English, struggle to master their own language. I can only pray that my students know the word “que” is not spelled “k,” that “toy” is short for “estoy, [...]

October 8th, 2010 - 3:11 pm § in Chile, Culture, Day in the Life

The Gringa Factor

Assimilation, that distant dream, might be impossible for me in Patagonia: Aisén is the most remote, scarcely populated region in an already homogenous, isolated country. Especially during the frozen winter, when tourists are few and far between, expats like myself stand out spectacularly. With my [...]

September 2nd, 2010 - 10:43 am § in Around Town, Culture, Day in the Life, News, Uruguay

Strike Season

The blossoms are starting to bud; spring is on the horizon. Uruguayan president José Mujica has entered his 6th month, and legislators are wrangling over the five-year budget. This is strike season. ¡Paro! There are occasional strikes here anyway, mostly of the transit kind, and mostly in response[...]

August 31st, 2010 - 7:23 am § in Around Town, Careers, Day in the Life, Guatemala, In the Field

Partners in Poverty

Conversely, Guatemalans will ask how much your left shoe cost you without a second of hesitation. Living in such a money-obsessed, impoverished community has been difficult and bitter, and at the increased exposure to the question "How much?", I find myself fretting for my personal financial future.[...]

August 13th, 2010 - 5:00 pm § in Country, Culture, Day in the Life, Peru, Tips & Resources, Volunteer

The Things I Have Learned

Although it’s tough to determine just how much I have learned during my three months in Peru, there are certain aspects of life that are a little more clear to me. Without further delay, I will impart some of the knowledge that I have gleaned from my experience. Yuppie travel gear. Nearly every mi[...]

June 22nd, 2010 - 2:52 pm § in Around Town

Dear Latin America

Dear Latin America, Thank you for teaching me how to feign a command over salsa steps and for putting people in my path who will happily sway me to the beat of your music. Thank you for feeding me fruit that ostensibly appeared downright poisonous, ominous or otherwise inedible and for showing me th[...]

June 18th, 2010 - 11:00 am § in Around Town, Ecuador

Homecoming

I expected re-entry into the US to be somewhat difficult when I came back from Ecuador. Standard wisdom says it’s harder to come back home than it is to go abroad. Certainly that was my experience when I lived in Japan—it was difficult getting used to the tightly controlled chaos that is Tokyo. [...]





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