Fringe Benefits of TEFL

One of the nicest things about teaching English abroad is that you are living abroad as well…and when people you know travel, they are usually more than happy to visit you and be shown around by someone who lives there.

I’m happy to report that in my short time in my current city, I have played host to a friend from Greece (who I met about four years ago) and her sister and am currently hosting Court, a staff member of Bootsnall.com, the host of this very logue, for one night.

The first thing I did, as we drank cups of chocolate downtown, was ask her about her experience on a train with a twenty-year old gun-toting smuggler of some kind. Then she spoke about both the Budapest riots she’d left behind as well as her experience being robbed in Romania. We shared travel anecdotes and advice as we collected her pack from the train station, and then met up with a local she’d met travelling in Albania for some traditional Slovak food and a few glasses of wine.

If you’re interested in meeting travelers while you TEFL, consider joining Couchsurfing, and also put the word out among your friends and family that you are happy to host visitors. You might just encourage a few people to get out and about.