Overcoming homesickness while teaching abroad

Overcoming homesickness while teaching abroad That feeling of homesickness. Teachers abroad everywhere: we’ve all had it! While teaching abroad can be thrilling, it can also be incredibly challenging in a number of ways. Are you finding yourself feeling FOMO (fear of missing out) as you scroll through your Facebook news feed? Or even when you attempted to make your mom’s signature dish - and ended up setting the kitchen on fire? More often than not, homesickness takes root when we try to recreate home wherever we are. It's never going to be the same - but that’s a good thing! That’s why you chose to teach abroad in the first place, for a unique cultural experience and the chance to experience the adventure of a lifetime. That said, here are some quick ideas to help you curb those pangs of homesickness: Make time for your friends and family back home. Think about how lucky we are nowadays that no matter how many miles we’re apart, we can still have a conversation “face to face.” Thanks, Skype! Make time for new friends, too. This may mean finding a community of expats in your area or meeting teachers from all over the world through your job.No matter where your international teaching adventure has taken you, there are always others in a similar situation to you. Become a local. Experience the unique culture of your destination. Get to know people. Try the local cuisine and get to know your way around. Make a list of local places or activities and challenge yourself to do or see all of them within a month. While you might feel like a tourist at first, you’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll get to know your surroundings. You’ll be giving out directions in no time! Celebrate your cultural holidays. Holidays are usually when you will feel the most homesick. You don’t have to miss out on the action! Recreating the holidays in your new surroundings can be a tradition to share with your new friends. Celebrate new holidays! Embrace the unfamiliar, you may find yourself celebrating these new holidays for years to come. Get started on that travel bucket list. Teaching is a job structured with vacation time, so take advantage of this awesome perk! Plan an exotic trip or book an excursion for something you’ve always wanted to do. This will give you something fun to do and keep you focused on the next adventure where you are, rather than dwelling on what’s happening at home. Plan a trip from friends or family. Are your friends and family feeling envious of your new and exciting life? There’s nothing wrong with letting them know they’re welcome to come visit! Let them in on the fun too and play tour guide in your new home country. Ask them to bring some of your home comforts. When your friends or family are visiting, don’t forget to ask them to bring some of your favorite snacks. No one planning a visit anytime soon? Luckily, the mail still works. Remind yourself why you did this! Never lose sight of why you chose this path for yourself. Nothing breaks that feeling of homesickness quite like some good old-fashioned perspective. Thinking of heading abroad to teach? Apply to teach abroad at top international schools with Teach Away today!

How to Be a Feminist Man and NOT a Misogynist Boy

How to Be a Feminist Man and NOT a Misogynist Boy From flikr, by John Oxton Natural selection and evolution is the clearest and best theory for the development of life and specifically humans. This can be seen greatly in the realm of sex and relationships. It touches everything from the origins of feminism, the phenomenon of violence by men against women, and the post-modern problem of disenfranchised emasculated men who blame society for their loss of masculinity. Thinking about these problems from the perspective of natural selection reveals the true origins of these behaviors. For example, women are the means by which humanity procreate. Without them, we would die off. It, in cold, unemotionally logical terms, makes sense to cultivate women as a resource and to fight over them for survival. Morally, it engendered an innate misogyny. It made men associate the amount of women and power over women with superiority and security, regardless of what the women themselves wanted as fellow human beings. Now, that system is gone, women are finally asserting themsel ves as able to do whatever they want to. Men in response overreact to this feminism by ostracizing them, demonizing them, and blaming them because it threatens their identity. It is a base reaction to a progressive solution. Men are still struggling with not being alpha males who need to protect women and kill for their food. The problem in our current patriarchy is that it was developed for survival. But in this current world, we don’t need it anymore! Survival has been rendered moot because of a variety of factors, from technology, morality, and increased civility. The struggle in men nowadays is between our innate aggression, developed over thousands of generations, and our desire to live by what is generally agreed upon to be a “good” life: freedom, equality, peace, love etc. The struggle between the animal in us and our, for lack of a better word, humanity is the core of specifically men’s psychological dilemma. Men need to realize and fight their violent urges. THAT is now the new male identity. Because it  doesnt  take a man to INDULGE in his fantasies, but it takes one to RESIST them.