About my recent TEFL course completion
“You have a postgraduate degree, this TEFL is not a big win, it’s a lower qualification, what if people now think less of you.” ..
All posts filed under: journal
I took a 120 hour online TEFL course. Stop thinking about it.
My 15 year broken-record-list of: “Should I do a TEFL? What is the best TEFL. Will it be too hard? Will it be worth it? Is this TEFL course a scam?” I considered all of these and this is my experience:
What to do: When you struggle taking the first step.
I have nothing to sell here. But this is my experience when struggling to take the first step in life and maybe sharing it with you is helpful for you, too. … How many years has it been now since you first had that idea? plan? wish? ambition?…
Questions about big change decision making.. (#2)
For whom it is a useful mental image, perhaps it helps to channel Tarzan swinging from one vine to another in the jungle. Or less politically problematic: A circus act. Letting go of the swing to be caught by the hands of the next swinging trapeze artist requires a tremendous (educated and rehearsed) leap of faith. Do you dare to let go of the old before you can firmly grasp the new, while hoping that you can reach the new just in time before the uncomfortable fall from the heights into (hopefully) the safety net? Well enough of the hypothesizing. I am in the process of preparing to climb the circus ladders to begin the act of swinging the one swing I know I already can reach (the current and old) and then summon the courage to swing strong and let go… and accept either the fall or emerge victorious on the next swing, or caught by the hands of change. I just said less cryptic and stayed just as cryptic. Well suffice to say: …
Where do dreams live? (journal of an emigrant)
Having experienced life on different. continents, having become familiar with different life perspectives I think I may have a little bit of an idea of where dreams may still be found alive, even in 2020. …… Is there an age limit to the capacity for dreaming? I don’t think so, but I am only in my 40s. This is a question worth exploring. Are you ever too old to dream or do you (we) just think you (we) are?….. (click to read more)
Surviving the Chiang Mai Air Pollution
Basically the best action is to leave town and return once the burning season is over. That is probably not what you came here to read so I have a few tips that will help but they won’t keep you as safe as leaving the area will. • We brought with us a multipack of high quality N95 rated face masks from our home country. • We went to Tesco and purchased several packs of M3 Filtrete filters & followed this youtube vide to install them in our rented room AC unit. • Wear the face masks religiously • Looked around for an air purifier but they were outside our budget, in hindsight we should have ignored the budget, respiratory diseases are no laughing matter.. • Keeping doors and windows firmly shut, wiping the floor with a wet towel regularly, placing a wet towels at the door to block the polluted air flow into the room, rinsing in the shower frequently as we bring in pollution on our clothing and body. That’s all I have …
Breakfast in Chiang Mai – a growing list of where to get breakfast
Breakfast in Chiang Mai – a growing list of where to find breakfast when in Chiang Mai.
From My Daily Journal
Hey kids, I have decided that it is time that I just share a few thoughts with you more often, it is too quiet here on this Blog!
First news: I am in Thailand.
Project German – American Citizenship / Projekt Deutsch – Amerikanische Staatsangehörigkeit
Ahoi, ich bin die Birgit und ich lebe zweisprachig. Hey, my name is Birgit and I live a bilingual life. Ich wohne zur Zeit in Amerika aber fühle mich gleichzeitig Deutsch, das wird sich niemals ändern. Dennoch habe ich durch meine Beziehung auch eine starke Verbindung zu den Staaten. I currently live in America but I simultaneously identity as German and that won’t ever change. However through my relationship I have developed an important bond with the States. Das Jahr eilt jetzt schon wieder so schnell voran. Es ist Mitte Februar und die Winterzeit sollte sich ja eigentlich super dazu eignen endlich wichtige Bürokratien in Angriff zu nehmen, aber irgendwie liegt noch immer alles unbearbeitet auf dem Tisch. The year is flying by faster than I can keep up with, a blink of an eye ago it was the beginning of January and now we are already passing the mid-February mark. You would think that winter is an excellent time to tackle important bureaucratic paperwork but somehow it remains untouched on the table. Die …
Levitation practice in San Francisco
So where is this story at now? Well. We are part way through home sitting, watering plants, keeping the place safe, feeding cats and giving them time and attention so that they feel well… And how is all that going? I think ok. I have my first German language students, taking 2-3 classes per week each, which is a huge, giant, levitation inspiring, relief.It has been a while since I have had such interested students and it feels incredibly rewarding. But then there is the annual housing conundrum, the issue that always causes the break in our make-or-break life in America.. (You might know that I have had a green card since about 2013, or was it 14, and since then, even more than before been trying to make a go of living here. This year was the year where I made the big announcements that “I AM MOVING TO AMERICA”.. So here I am.. But really it is all as uncertain as it ever was. But the world is changing and we need to, …
Daring to embrace New Horizons
My partner Jason and I have lived a peripatetic, nomadic life, straddling the far western coast of California and the West Coast of Great Britain. Growing the roots of our relationship in an ever changing plant pot. Our 8 year anniversary is coming up very soon. It will make exactly 8 years since our first kiss, under the grand finale of Venetian fireworks at the foot of one of the two famous columns on the even more famous St Marco Square. We could have no idea that from this one, unbelievably romantic moment so much happiness and struggle would emerge. Neither of us had any plans of spending 8 years in regular intercontinental movement, not spending one whole year in any one place. We only once managed to spend a completely uninterrupted 13 months together, for a seemingly endless number of years we survived long geographical breaks, the longest lasting 5 months, twice! (But then again, we also know of course we only had 8 total, so it can’t have been THAT many years.) We …
So very soon I will return to America!
I can’t quite believe just HOW soon I will return to living in America! HOW did this happen? Remember back in the years before I met Jason? Back then I had just absolutely no interest in the Americas. And then whoosh, I got swept off my feet and piece by piece of me got slowly reeled in like a fish on a tasty worm-laden hook… I am also completely hooked on the books by Isabelle Allende, many of which taking place in the early days of discovering and establishing life in South & North America. So many stories of immigrants, so many courageous women in the pages of her books! And now, now I have a green card, now I am preparing to envision my life in America! I am still bewildered by it all. I know it’s been a slow and gradual process and maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised, but I thought I’d just go visit, stay a little while, go back to Europe and that would be it. Little did I realise that …
