On what we leave behind-

Here's the truth: I am a TEFL student before/I am an expat/ I am a traveler/I am a tourist. TEFL runs my life, and has for the past three weeks. This week was one of the most difficult; five days of classes, four days of teaching, two private lessons, lesson planning, applying for work in Korea, and an assignment that was due by 9:00am Friday. Needless to say, it was a long week of TEFL. We are often reminded life gets easier once we become Language House graduates, and I believe it. This life is challenging; little sleep, lots of studying, countless moments of humility, and lots of fun. It really is a lot of fun. My favorite moments are those wherein the reality of this magical TEFL life is outrageously loud. It's a good life, TEFL.

I'm convinced The Language House has some of the best teachers in TEFL. They are insanely creative. Though, some of the things they have us do, at first glance, seem like absolute madness; running around the mall collecting "authentic materials" (menus, flyers, brochures) or walking around the classroom blindfolded. All the while, us TEFLS have put full trust in our instructors because well, we have to, and we trust it all serves to make us better English teachers. Would you just look at the above photo, it's like we're on a game show. Inside all of the madness lives pure genius: Chris really is King TEFL. The Language House is a great place to be.

I've been craving a milkshake since I got here. Today we had brunch at  The Globe Bookstore and Cafe. It truly was love at first bite. The cafe is shakespeare inspired, that too was love.

As soon as I think I've seen it all, Prague surprises me. I've seen pictures of the Dancing House; it was surreal stumbling across it on our stroll through the city today. Prague truly is the most colorful city I've been to.

Our attempt at a group selfie failed, so we asked a group of tourists from Asia to take the photo for us. There were about ten of them waiting until the photo was captured from the perfect angle. "Can we take one with you?" All of them gathered around us as if we were celebrities. The people you meet while traveling are the best kind of people. 

I have one last week as a TEFL student and I will then join another dimension. Just four months ago my days were filled with the familiar. My little mountain town carried me into this new season of my life. After moving from Boone, there was a cross-country road trip with two of my best friends. I remember driving through the open road out west; our lives feeling as if they were in an intermission, the first act was brilliant because it was there we met each other. It was the next act were weren't too sure of; would it involve each other? Where would it take place? What will our lives look like a year from now? In a tiny car, through unchartered territory, we pondered the existential. That cross-country trip was such a graceful foreshadowing, because of it I know that what lies ahead is better than anything left behind. To my friends preparing to graduate university, whether you have one year or two left, may you never underestimate the magic that is waiting for you. I have learned to revel in the conclusion of a chapter because endings are also beginnings, we just may not know it at the time. It's never too late to do what you wish you'd done, to be who you could have been, and to dream again what you once dreamt. We're alive, and today is the most precious of gifts. May we never waste another moment dwelling on that which we cannot change, the history we cannot get back.

Just one more week, a grammar test, and three days of teaching, then this chapter concludes. It was brief, it was colorful, and it taught me so much. I have been so very blessed.

"My life story is the story of everyone I've ever met." -Jonathan Safran Foer