Hello, Black Sea

For as long as I can remember I've wanted to go abroad. In high school I spent every class period doodling pictures of islands and dreaming of the white sand beaches in Tahiti or the mountains in Switzerland or the wine valleys in Italy. All through college I planned trips to France (first to spend a year studying, then just the summer studying, then for a year to teach) and every single time it fell through. Once I graduated, I knew I absolutely had to find a way to France (or anywhere across the pond, really), but nothing ever came through. I applied to teaching positions, I applied to work on farms, I applied every single place that I could possibly apply. Nothing. From mid-February through a couple weeks ago, I applied to at least a couple positions a week. Nothing.

I started freaking out. I had no real life plan, I couldn't manage to get a job abroad, I wouldn't be able to afford moving to Montana thanks to all of the hours that had been cut at both Subway and my teaching job. Then I realized that, holy guacamole, it was almost halfway through July and I didn't even have a plan for what I was doing with all of my stuff come August when my lease ended. Talk about nerve-wracking!

Then something completely crazy and amazing happened: I got a frickin' job teaching English in the country of Georgia. Starting early to mid-August and lasting until June of 2011 with a break in December to come home for the holidays. The plane tickets are paid for (not only round trip, but also to come home for December). I live with a family of Georgians who provide all of my meals. I get a little extra money to travel/use how I please. I work with native Georgian teachers who speak English. I'll most likely be placed on the West coast of Georgia near the sea (and away from the conflict regions everyone is so scared about).

Now, of course, I'm freaking out about that fact that oh my frickin' gosh, I'M MOVING TO GEORGIA. I pretty much started crying as soon as I got off the phone with Lisa, the woman who interviewed me (who had a slight Canadian accent). I wasn't expecting to be offered the job right after the interview, but she said that the team I'll be going to Georgia with is one of the first over there, hence the need for immediate hiring. All of this is terrifying, of course, but also ridiculously exciting. I have to say goodbye to people. I have to figure out what I'm going to do with all my stuff and the car I just got from my sister. I may or may not be in shock, but I also know that the picture above is of the coast of Batumi, a city in Georgia, where I'm probably going to be in about a month. And that makes me want to run through the streets screaming with happiness, then drop to my knees and thank God for giving me this opportunity.