About My Blog

When I started this blog, I intended it to be a place where I could share and record the fulfillment of my dream to travel to and live in other countries. That fulfillment began in 2009, when I embarked upon my travels to my first country abroad, Korea, to live and work. The opportunity to experience life outside of the U.S. for the first time in my life was a blessing. Not only did I learn a lot, but I also gained a fresh perspective of what it’s like in a different part of the world and even how America fits into the perspective of those in a different part of the world.

Since my dream was to travel to and live in different countries, not just one country, my dream has no expiration. Instead, it is like a book whose writer determines how many chapters it will contain. So, my book is still being written…one chapter at a time.

Book One/Working and Living…

1. Korea

2. Saudi Arabia

3. Peru

Book Two/Just Passing Through…

1. China

2. Japan

3. Jordan

4. Bahrain

5. Germany

Book Three/ Vacationing…

1. Israel

2. Egypt

Please stay tuned…

Best Places for Expats to Live (bootsnall.com)
RTW Travelers: The New Trend (2 of 3) (bootsnall.com)
Remembering Korea: “My Mildly Comprehensive Yearbook Entry: A Dream Fulfilled Wearing Slippers and Eating Kimchi” (butterflyjewel.wordpress.com)
(B)lessed Beyond Belief (staceyarcher.wordpress.com)
Why do we travel abroad? (leximo.org)
A little global etiquette (globaleducationexchange.wordpress.com)
Passing the Time: “Learning Pool” (Saudi Arabia) (butterflyjewel.wordpress.com)

14 Comments Add your own

1. documentedAwareness | February 12, 2012 at 2:31 am

Congratulations to you for having enough belief in yourself to follow your dreams. Enjoy the journey.

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- 2. Butterfly Jewel | February 12, 2012 at 8:35 am
  
  Thanks!
  
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3. Sunshine Stanfield | February 16, 2012 at 1:25 am

Awesome..going to start following!

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- 4. Butterfly Jewel | February 17, 2012 at 8:02 am
  
  Thanks
  
  Reply
5. sucettesoleil | February 25, 2012 at 6:28 pm

Your life sounds amazing and I must ask, what do you do as a job that means you can travel so much? I’m still deciding what on earth I should do with my life and I want to travel more than anything, but obviously travel takes money so until I win the lottery, I’m stumped.

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- 6. Butterfly Jewel | February 26, 2012 at 8:33 am
  
  Hi If travel is what you want to do, it is very possible. The good news is that you don’t have to wait until you win the lottery. There are so many ways that you can do so. I began my travels as a teacher of the English language (ESL/EFL). It’s a very high demand field, especially as far as native speakers from native English speaking countries are concerned. There are countries on every single continent, except Antarctica…lol , that have a demand for English language teachers. The best thing about it is that you don’t necessarily have to have experience teaching to do it, depending on the country and what qualifications the organization you work for requires. Experience and credentials can definitely be a plus, when it comes to salary (the more you have, the more you get, usually) and of course when it comes to you as a teacher. However, I have met teachers abroad who had no previous teaching experience, no TEFL training and even no degrees which depends on what the employer requires. They were more so afforded the opportunity to teach because they were native English speakers or bilinguals. There are also some programs like Teach Away that hire teachers to teach abroad. There are short-term teaching positions that can be anywhere from a couple weeks to a few months and longer-term positions which last at least a year or more.
  
  There are also other jobs that can afford you to travel such as journalist, travel writer and some government positions. You can also volunteer with different organizations in the states which offer volunteer services (churches, etc.) abroad or research and participate in different volunteer programs in the countries that you would like to travel to.
  
  So, if travel is your goal, where there is a will, there is a way. I even remember one young man who I met during my travels who considered himself as coming from a poor family. He was still in undergrad but secured a scholarship which allowed him to travel and work in Spain for the summer. The only thing he needed to provide for was his airfare and extra spending money. So, he asked his family for donations since he was doing something educational, and guess what? He raised enough money to go along with his savings to pay for his airfare and have a little spending money left. So with that and some very careful planning and budgeting, he was not only able to go to Spain, but on his way back home, he was able to plan his itinerary to spend a few days in a few other countries that he wanted to visit. He was definitely one smart young man. So, if travel is what you want to do, the possibilities are endless
  
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  - 7. Mars | April 27, 2012 at 9:30 pm
    
    Wow, thanks for this…
  - 8. Butterfly Jewel | April 28, 2012 at 12:54 pm
    
    You’re welcome
9. aiyothatmadgirl | April 28, 2012 at 4:59 am

This is a great blog, and so…. evocative and true and touching. Thank you for being this amazing person who connects us to what is really going in lives around the world.. I too am trying to get people to tell their stories, just started my page coupla days ago.. peepulstories.com . I hope in someway I will be able to tell the stories of my region like you have from wherever you’ve gone. Good luck and best wishes.

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- 10. Butterfly Jewel | April 28, 2012 at 1:31 pm
  
  Thank you very much for visiting my blog and for your very kind and encouraging words.I feel blessed to have the opportunities I get to experience life in other parts of the world to see what it’s like for myself and share it with others. You’re doing a wonderful thing too by creating your blog to tell people’s stories in your region. I’m curious to know about your blog and will be sure to visit it to show my support. Again, thank you for stopping by, and you are more than welcome to come back again
  
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11. chhunc | April 29, 2012 at 12:24 am

It seemed that life in Korea changed you so much. You must have satisfied with things there.

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- 12. Butterfly Jewel | April 29, 2012 at 10:40 am
  
  Tell me about it. I still crave the Korean cuisine, even now. Out of all the cuisines I’ve tasted from different nationalities, Korean food has been my most favorite of all. Also, Korea was my first time abroad. Going there and meeting the people and living in a land whose culture was so different from my own definitely added to my life. It was my first step in the beginning of the fulfillment of my dream to travel to and live in other countries, of which I hope to go to at least one on every continent (maybe not Antarctica but who knows). Sometimes, dreams can seem like some distant part of your imagination not knowing how or exactly when they will be fulfilled. So, whenever you began to step into the path where they transition from dreams to reality, it can seem surreal. At the same time, you begin to recognize the possibility of things that were only intangible before. So, going to Korea encouraged me more to see and believe that my dream was not so distant, not that hard and that it could be fulfilled, giving me more courage to take action in faith towards transforming my dream to reality.
  
  Hmmm…Your comment brought me to some deep thought and reflection about my first time abroad in Korea. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Come back by when you get the chance
  
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  - 13. chhunc | April 30, 2012 at 1:45 am
    
    I understand you. Yeah, staying abroad make us having a broad knowledge of our country and the differences between culture and custom. That’s nice to hear that you are walking toward your dream. Everyone has dream, but no so many people can make it alive. You’re lucky.
    You like Korean food. To me, it’s very spicy… I cant eat it much. Did you have any culture shocks when you were there?
  - 14. Butterfly Jewel | May 1, 2012 at 6:13 pm
    
    Did I have any culture shock in Korea? oh, did I ever! I had to get used to taking my shoes on and off when entering homes, including mine, and some buildings, including my school. The cool thing about it at school was that we’d change into slippers that were in the foyer to walk around school in. Though I had to get used to it, I did, especially at home because I had the nicest heated flooring and walking on those floors in shoes from outside helps you to really see how much dirt and germs that we track into our homes. It made the atmosphere feel so laid back to me. I never would have thought that one day as a teacher, I’d be teaching at school in slippers. Another thing that I had to get used to was sitting on the floor when going out to eat (most restaurants, especially traditional ones. Actually, I’m not sure if I ever got used to this one because even up to my last meal with my co-workers, it was still quite uncomfortable as my legs would fall asleep and become numb after which pain would come in the attempt to wake them up…lol My co-workers would often laugh about it whenever we ate at a restaurant in which we had to sit on the floor and try to find (extra) cushions for me. They would usually tell me to stretch my legs out under the table instead of sitting Indian style. Oh, there are couple other things I can probably conjure up, but maybe I’ll need to write a book Oh, by the way, I agree that Korean food can be quite spicy but not all. It pretty much depends on the preparer as to how spicy they want there dishes to be. If you like seaweed, you should try seaweed soup.It shouldn’t be spicy. Thanks for coming by again, dear. Hope to see you back!