Two Sides
Moving from Midwest America to Northern China, experiencing my first year out of college and teaching English as a foreign language, I’m learning a lot. Lately I’ve been thinking about how there are two sides to everything. I just finished my first semester of real teaching, and I quickly realized there are two sides to this job. One side is what happens in the classroom, the teaching part. Lessons, students, tests, games, classroom management. I came in somewhat prepared for that side. Then there’s the second side, outside of the classroom. Working relationships, politics, contracts, parents. The side I’m trying to navigate. There are two sides to everything. There are two sides to travelling/living abroad. There’s the side you post about online: the fun, the yummy, the glamorous, the lucky, the bragging-worthy. On the other side of being abroad are the difficulties: culture shock, confusion, getting lost, being taken advantage of, miscommun