Three years ago
as a recent university graduate, I did what many have done before. I took an
entry level job working in customer service for a multinational company. After
two and a half years, the confines of my desk had driven me insane. while at
university, I had majored in linguistics and second language education. As I
studied, I dreamed of a career where I would travel the world and pondered over
teaching English abroad.
I
had spent the university summer of 2005 backpacking around Brazil. At the time
I made a promise to myself that one day I would return to South America to work
for a year and teach English. However, In the midst of complaints about
investment returns, I had somehow forgotten myself and my passions that promise
was now five years old. I wanted to leave, to head back out in to the world.
Finally, I summoned the courage and booked a flight to Ecuador, where I would
begin my "big adventure" and get back to the real me.
In an effort to
calm both my nerves and my parents', I started a blog to document the entire
processed. From the moment I landed in Quito, Ecuador I felt a new sense of life
flood through my body. I was alone in the unknown and taking complete
responsibility for my own life and happiness. I started to write about
everything on my blog from details of amazing new places, bizarre interactions
with locals to passing thoughts on life. I already knew from previous trips
abroad that I loved to travel, but I was also discovering a new love in the
form of writing, the thrill of knowing you having something interesting to
share and sending it out into cyberspace.
I’m writing this
entry from the end of my great adventure. I have now been teaching English,
learning a new tongue and culture for nearly nine months. Working in Ecuador
has often been difficult, with little teacher support, and I'm often completely
appalled by what is considered to be a 'professional service' but at the end of
the day I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.
I work hard but
during my time off I explore this country with all my heart. I’ve ventured solo
to the Cloud forest, the Galápagos Islands, Quito, the coastlines of Guayas and
Manabí, the mountains of Vilcabamba, and all the dirty, noisy cities in
between. I've hiked mountain, swum under waterfalls, surfed waves at beaches
surrounded by wild jungle, admired colonial architecture and devoured the local
food, often feeling like a small child seeing the world for the first time and
documenting my adventure all the way.
Throughout this trip I’ve met like-minded people and people who have opened my
eyes, mind and heart. There is nothing more rewarding than setting out alone
only to find you are in the company of interesting new friends, in a new place
by dinner time and itching to write everything down before bedtime.
