From Swaffham to Saigon: My first post

It was in a doctors waiting room when I realised something had to be done about my unemployed status. For the months after graduating in July 2013 with a degree in Journalism and English Language, I had been applying for work in my desired career of PR and communications. On two occasions I had got to the final two out of hundreds of applicants, and was unsuccessful. I was pretty devastated both times to say the least.

I was re-registering at the surgery in the rural Norfolk town I grew up in (living back with my parents, yes), and was given a form with the first question asking my occupation. Gone were the days I could put “student”. I wrote down unemployed and shiftily gave it back to the receptionist.

Within the next week I had luckily found a temping work with the Ministry of Defence, which turned out to be my job for the next six months. I made some great friends there, but couldn’t help but feel I needed to be doing something more I enjoy.

After speaking with a few people and doing some research, I signed on to a TEFL course which I finished alongside work in December. When approaching the end of university I was very much set on getting a graduate job. Teaching had never crossed my mind, let alone teaching abroad.

I finished the course and half-heartedly applied for a few jobs in the most random of places, not really thinking much of it. I found most of them on Daves ESL cafe (http://www.eslcafe.com/joblist/), and they feature hundreds of jobs all over the world. I had Skype interviews and at this stage was still not thinking much into it. It was actually an interview I had at 7 am after my work Christmas party that offered me a job! (I don’t know how that worked, I was one hungover woman). The job was based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and having not travelled to Asia, let alone the country, I was in two minds. Travelling alone was also something I needed to know if I could do.

However, within a week I had accepted the job, booked my flight for January 31st and applied for my visa. And here I am! Looking back on it, it feels like a bit of a whirlwind. This time last year, I would never have thought I would be sitting in Vietnam writing this blog.

I am going to try and update this blog as much as possible to let you know of my various stories on working and living in this very surreal city.