decide what the hell I would like to do with the rest of my life

Live in Korea at least another year.

Yep. That’s the plan for now.

I’m going to try to write some travel/culture books for children. I was inspired by reading Around the World in Eighty Days last night.

Well, I finally heard back from my supervisor. He says they’re still waiting on the government to tell them my visa number and it’s taking a little longer than usual, but that’s probably just because this is a busy time for them. I should have it any day now. Yay!

I had a nice little plan to move to South Korea in August. Now it is September 2nd, I still don’t have my visa, my supervisor isn’t responding to my emails or Skype messages, and I have a sinking feeling that this isn’t going to work out. What the hell do I do now??

I could spend $700+ on a one-way flight to Taiwan and find a job there, BUT most employers would probably want to see my college diploma. And where is it? It’s in South Korea because I had to send it there to get my visa. There are about seven documents you need for a Korean teaching visa and your diploma is one of them. So I can’t go to Taiwan unless I get it back.

I could stay in the U.S., but that means finding an apartment, furnishings (bed, kitchen stuff, bathroom junk, everything you can think of), job, car, and insurance, which is A LOT of money. I know people do it all the time, but even if it were easy, I still don’t want to live in the U.S. right now. I want to be in Asia. :-/

I could find another job in China, but I would still be stuck here for a few more weeks waiting on the visa. And that’s not cool, considering that I know the people I’ve been living with all summer would love for me to be out of their house by now.

Damn it, I was SO on the road to success (or at least its general direction). A nice B.A. in History and International Studies, a final GPA of 3.9, a long resume with extensive volunteering, leadership, and work experience, successfully teaching in China for a year, and now THIS. Nothing. I’m going to be working at McDonald’s for the rest of my life after all. :-/

1. Finish my one-year contract teaching English in China on June 13th.

2. Three or more weeks of traveling to…
A. Tibet
B. Chengdu, Yunnan, Hainan, Xian, Harbin, Yangshuo, Macau and other places around China
C. Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore
D. A combination of the above.
(I still need to decide!)

3. Return home to the U.S.A. on July 4th.

4. Move to South Korea in August or September to teach English for another year. Try to find part-time work or volunteer assignments with a newspaper or magazine. Submit articles to various publications. WRITE, WRITE, WRITE! Learn everything I can about the publishing business. Possibly take more English classes at a university in Korea.

5. Travel to India, Japan, Taiwan and possibly other places during my time off from school throughout the year.

6. After completing my one-year teaching contract in South Korea, briefly return home to the U.S. to see family and friends.

7. BACKPACK THROUGHOUT EUROPE FOR AT LEAST TWO MONTHS!!!!!!

8. Return to the U.S. Find some kind of work in the writing/editing/publishing businesses. Eventually become a book editor and freelance travel writer. Do more traveling when I have the time and money.

I want to be an Editorial Assistant or Copy Editor and take more English classes to sharpen my writing skills. Eventually I would like to become a travel writer, editor, or something else in the writing field.

And I want to travel all over the world!!

_{Or at least that’s the plan of the week. ;)}

What do you do when you know exactly what you want but not how to make it happen? I want to travel all over the world and write! Visiting new places, learning about other cultures, attempting to learn other languages, exploring different activities, and then writing all about my adventures is what makes me happiest. The problem is that I really don’t know what career will allow me to do just that. Travel journalism? Maybe, but I don’t have a journalism or even an English degree. And writing articles isn’t going to pay the bills (at least not for a few years). What career will provide me with opportunities to travel, work based solely on writing and/or editing, and enough money that I don’t have to constantly stress over bills?

My teaching contract in China ends in July. I need to come up with a plan SOON!