Kickin’ off the Journey

Just the other day as I sat in the teacher’s lounge at my school, I found myself expressing how excited I was for the new class that was starting on the following Monday.  The school where I work offers a TEFL Certification course every couple of months (TEFL=Teaching English as a Foreign Language). Another teacher asked how I could possibly be that excited for a group of people that were just starting a certification course.  He didn’t understand HOW in the world my sentiments about the start of this course could be sincere. Of course, I couldn’t believe that he didn’t believe me! But then, I took a step back and thought to myself. Why in fact had I been so excited about this class? Then it dawned on me: TEFL symbolizes the beginning of a journey. For so many people, the TEFL course is a major step towards accomplishing a dream, that may seem so small to others. The opportunity to travel the world and work as a teacher of a foreign language, sounds pretty cool and exciting to me. Granted, I also had to realize that some TEFL teachers aren’t necessarily teaching because they want to travel, see the world and teach people, but rather because of circumstances. Sort of like a lot of people have to do certain things not out of passion or love, but out of lack of opportunity, choice, etc. Point taken.

Yet still, TEFL has deep meaning for me. The fact that I am actually doing this means that I had a dream, and even though it took years to get it crackin’, I am finally livin’ it.

Let me tell you all a little about how my longing for this TEFL lifestyle started. Let’s make it fun! I’ll do a timeline. Timelines seems to be in now, huh? #shoutout to Mark Zuckerberg, who constantly makes millions of people around the world do what he wants us to do. Lol. So here it is. 

2008: Studied abroad in Spain for a short stint during the summer. I met a lot of teachers there at the local bar/club that we frequented. They were from all over the world. I remember meeting a guy from Ivory Coast who was teaching French. He was happy, relaxed, teaching and traveling. I promised myself that I would do the same one day. I enjoyed every bit of Spain. I enjoyed walking to school and stopping at the bakery shop to satisfy my sweet tooth. I enjoyed tasting new foods, sans the Morcilla (blood pudding). But most of all, I enjoyed discovering the unknown. Everything was new to me. I had officially been bitten by the travel bug. A bite that has long-lasting effects.

2009: I applied to an internship at the State Department to work in DC or somewhere abroad. I researched study abroad options in South Africa.  I thought it would be awesome to study politics at a university in South Africa. I would either spend the spring semester 2010 interning in DC or studying in South Africa.

My junior year of college started in the fall.  I had the best college circle, yet I found myself in an unhappy place. I was unhappy with my surroundings for many reasons. I loved my college life, but was ready to be away from campus. I tried to figure out a way to leave.  Then the perfect opportunity presented itself…and what a surprise it was.

Remember the State Department internship that I had applied for during the summer? Yes, that one. Well, not only did I forget that I applied for it. But I also forgot that I indicated that I would be willing to work at an internship overseas.

Needless to say, when I opened the acceptance letter and it said Georgetown, I thought to myself, “Why is Georgetown, capitalized?” Duhhhh Bintu…not Georgetown in Washington D.C., but Georgetown, Guyana. As in South America. Yes, I knew where that was before I left. My escape route had been planned. I would spend my spring semester living and interning abroad. Yes!

2010: Guyana! The place will always have a special place in my heart. For so many reasons. Even obvious ones :) Guyana was the place where I really let down my black girl hair.  I say that in a literal and figurative sense. Allow me to explain. I went there with top of the line Remy human hair. Y’all know what I mean; I was not getting my weave wet. I didn’t know how to flat iron my weave then. Still don’t. But weave days are over for me. Anyway, somehow, my host mom convinced me to go on a trip to Marshalls Falls with a technical crew that had been visiting.  I went along despite my real lack of interest. I have always been terrified of any sort of outdoorsy/physical activity. I had told myself that these things were not for me and that I couldn’t do stuff like that. Anyway, I went. We took a sketchy boat across a major river. Then got on another small boat. Hiked to a beautiful waterfall. After all that, I was still stuck on not getting my weave wet.  While all the other people went under the waterfall’s massage I stood to the side. Then something came over me; here I was in a place that I would probably never visit again in my life, and I was thinking of missing out on the full natural experience because of two packs of hair that didn’t really belong to me? I was moved by that thought. I dashed into the water. I felt renewed. I felt accomplished. I felt ready to do more and see more. I had let my black girl hair down. Things haven’t been the same since.

I graduated from Towson University this year!

Skip to 2012: Landed back in Guyana. Lol. I forgot to tell you all that I drank the black water in 2010. They say that if you drink the black water you are sure to come back. Make your own judgement on what brought me back--- the black water or a particular black man? ;)

After a much-needed short vacation, I returned home and tried to get back in the groove of working my two jobs. The whole thing was getting old. I guess the fact that I was overworking myself helped me realize that I needed to take a step back and think about what it was that I was supposed to be doing. I had always kept the advisor at the TEFL Institute’s phone number. I would use it and sign up for the class for real this time.

I started the class in February and felt really good. As I completed the course in April, I began my practicum in April/May. I got my certificate just after returning from a wild getaway with my girlfriends in my favorite US city, Miami! 

August 5^th, 2012: I moved to Panama City, Panama. I actually did it. I FREAKIN’ DID IT!

This has been a long journey for me. Well, let me rephrase that. It took a long time for the journey to start.

And so, it is October; I am two months into living and working in Panama. It all happened very quickly. I arrived on a Sunday, interviewed at two schools on Tuesday. Started teaching on that Wednesday. Moved into a cute little spot with some Colombian and Panamanian girls on a Friday. Talk about BLESSED.

So far, so good. I am learning and growing as a language teacher. I walk to the grocery store. I speak Spanish as much as possible. And spanglish too. But most of all, I am l-i-v-i-n-g. 

I can't wait to share my experience as "La Negra". Stay tuned. It's a free ride: Bee's Backseat.