What have we done in our year? We decided not to return to La Plagne to do our third winter season (just as well, as the chalet sold!) because other than having a generally fabulous time and earning a bit of cash, it wouldn't really offer any new experiences - something which we were really looking for (click here to read about our previous seasons as chalet hosts). So we planned instead to go and teach English in Asia, as we both have TEFL certificates. First we though Taiwan, then South Korea, then Japan. Finally we settled on 'any of the above'! We made headway into our applications and were even offered one or two Skype interviews. Quickly, however, we were realising that the TEFL jobs market in Asia was highly competitive and the majority of people ended up working in big companies, whilst we would prefer to work in smaller schools. Anyway, we cracked on with our research/applications as it was still worth a shot.
Meanwhile, we both managed to secure part time jobs in Heswall which was handy as it meant we could both walk to work rather than drive Agatha (she'd quickly become a nuisance in a staff car park, I think!). Ian went back to work in a restaurant where he'd worked when he was younger and I worked in the local Boots store. Perfect little jobs, for the time being, as we planned to be away again at the end of the summer.
As the summer weeks ticked by, we somehow had a change of heart and decided that going away to Asia was also not the right thing for us to do. It all started with a conversation about where we saw ourselves in the next few years and we agreed that we'd both like a family and that we'd both like to make a permanent move to France (this part was something we'd already discussed, not as out-of-the-blue as it sounds!). We discussed this over dinner - and wine - with my parents who confessed that they too would love to retire to France but wouldn't feel comfortable/equipped to make the move themselves. And so a new beginning was born...
After several further discussions - without wine - it was agreed between the four of us that moving to France was a viable plan for us all. As my mum has just reached retirement age, she was the one really keen to make the move soon (yesterday, if she could!) but at that point we still had plans to work in Asia and earn a decent bit of cash that we could then take with us, and my dad was a bit hesitant too as he is six or seven years away from retirement and still has a lot of "earning potential". Plus the fact that we had huge amounts of research to do, and finding/buying a place can take as age too, so a rough timescale of "a couple of years" was decided upon.
We continued to plod on with our (increasingly dissatisfying) jobs and our (increasingly fruitless) TEFL job search and I slowly came to the realisation that Asia is an awfully long way from France, which would make research trips quite a challenge, plus how much brain-space could we spare for research when starting a new job in a completely different country? That put the final nail in the Asia coffin and we started on making a new, closer-to-home plan. We sound awfully fickle, don't we?!?!
Because we now intended to be back in the UK for considerably longer than the summer we knew that we had to find somewhere new to live, as Ian's mum had kindly put us up in her house as a temporary measure. Lovely as it was, and it certainly helped us financially over the summer, it wasn't a long term solution. We started to look for "proper jobs" and a new place to live, settling - quite randomly - on Manchester. When people asked "why there" our answer was "why not?", for want of any more truthful a reply!
So this is where we are now... We have ourselves a nice apartment that we've slowly made our own, just a few miles from Manchester city centre. We have nice little jobs - I am temping in offices, and Ian is a part time Mad Scientist doing after school clubs for kids, and also has several irons in the Sports Science fire.
Couldn't be further away from our previous plans, but we're happy!
As we now have our own space, I can start to get back into/start new hobbies and so I'll be posting all about my crafty/culinary successes (or otherwise!) very soon!
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