Okay, SO, this is the situation.
My sister and brother in law are living in Spain. We are going to visit them. They have offered to let me stay for the summer and fall semester, taking classes online and teaching English at a school there. They are moving back to the U.S at the end of the year.
So, opportunity of a lifetime to spend more than half a year living in Spain, BUT, I have hesitations. I decided to make a pro/con list.
Pros:
-Never again (I don't think) will I have this opportunity.
-Free expense of living
-I can take classes online and my sister can tutor me (she is a math major)
-I will be practically living on a private beach
-I will be getting paid for teaching English, AND I don't need to know any Spanish. (which is good, I have mostly forgotten everything I ever learned.)
-I might pick up some Spanish.
-I will spend time with my nephews and newborn niece
Cons:
-I will spend time with my nephews and newborn niece
-Limited television. This is sort of an embarrassing con.
-I will probably be expected to go to church. This is a major con.
-I might get stir crazy
-I get home-sick really easily.
-I don't want to miss anything at home, good or bad. (birthdays, or unexpected deaths)
-I had plans for the summer at home, such as: vegetable garden, fixing up tree house, lots and lots of bike riding.
-I don't know anyone in Spain except family.
-I will be expected to help with children A LOT. Which might be a good lesson to learn, but I am not sure if I want to.
Gah.
I think you need to add to your cons list the cons of NOT going. What would be the things you might miss out on, what would be the opportunities you might have? what is 6 months of your life worth?
ReplyDeleteAlso adding to your pros list similar things. What will you NOT miss, in what ways might you grow? Could you buy a bike in Spain? what about their garden? would these make up for the things you'd be missing here?
I think this is a neat opportunity, but it is also a scary one. However, maybe jumping off the high board will be fun (scary-but-eventually-good?) after staying in the shallow end. Maybe it will be the worst 6 months ever. Who knows?
You should also add the ability to travel to nearby countries... such as France, England, Germany, etc. to your pros list. Train tickets are really cheap for students, so you could spend weekends going to cool places. Of course, that would also mean that you'd probably want to take/make a friend that would go with you to these places.
ReplyDeleteI would think your sister would respect the fact that you are not of her religion and wouldn't expect you to go to a church you don't believe in. That's just my philosophy on respecting people, though. Your sister's might be different.
Also, the benefit of moving far away from family from a long period of time is that it helps you learn to live on your own without the ability to go back. It's hard at first, but hey, there's always the telephone, and I know my parents are always really happy to get to talk to me. You'll definitely be homesick for awhile, but keeping yourself busy makes it go away, and pretty soon it isn't there anymore.
The benefit of missing birthdays is that you can send friends/family cool things from Spain that they can't get anywhere else. Everyone loves to receive cool things in the mail!
With the limited television thing: bring books/find a bookstore that sells english texts. Reading is sometimes better than television. I don't even have television at my house, just movies. It really doesn't bother me because I have so many books to read.
With the bad things you don't want to miss: you can't just sit and worry about the bad things that might happen in life, or you'll miss out on amazing opportunities (like this one).
And I don't know what to tell you about the children thing. That's just not something that I want to go into the pros/cons of. :D
Thanks for the advice you guys. I think it helps to hear some outside-of-my-own-brain rationale.
ReplyDeleteErin, I think I just get nervous about missing something really important at home. But at the same time maybe I meet some hotsy totsy spaniard. I suppose I could buy a bike in spain. I don't know. In a way, I feel that it all depends on if I actually get that teaching job or not. Otherwise I think our week-stay would be enough, you know?
Kiki, I like your thinking with the traveling to countries nearby. I think it might be hard because my sister has three small children and my brother in law works, but it would be really awesome if I made some friends.
I am worried about getting lonely. But I suppose I DO have skype/an ability to stay up super late to talk to family here. I agree about the birthday thing. And maybe it is about time I started reading more. >_>
I did also realize, though, that my friend Brandon is coming home from his mission, and if I left, I would have to wait another six or so months to see him. On the other hand, if he's been gone for two years, what's another half?
meh. =( I hate decisions!