TEFL Romance

Just in time for Valentine’s Day: the TEFL Logue on the pros and cons of TEFL romance.

The pros:
If you’re both involved in TEFL, it will be easy to relate on topics like culture shock, being in a foreign country, and people at home not really “getting” your experience.

You probably both like to travel…and you can probably both get jobs abroad in the same country.

You can take one of those “jobs for couples” once you’re an established couple.

You may have a bigger “pool” of people at home, but you are more likely to find someone with similar interests abroad.

The cons: What cons could there possibly be in love? Don’t worry, somehow the TEFL Logue has managed to find a cynical angle…

TEFL is a real job, but there are still differences between your life abroad and your “permanent life” at home…going back to your regular life with someone you met while TEFL ing may take some adjustment.

Someone somewhere might have once said that many people who like to travel specifically like the footloose, commitment-free nature of it. Newsflash: a certain portion of the human population – let’s call that portion of humanity, I don’t know, “men” for the sake of this post – is also occasionally known for having commitment issues. “Is a man” + “likes to travel” = bad news on the commitment index?

Okay, I’m not saying all men – there are definitely happily married TEFL men and I’m open to the possibility that non-commitment-phobe TEFL men do exist – I’ve just got to come up with an excuse for not having a boyfriend! Wait, what was that about people who like to travel…commitment issues..?

Not to end on a sour note! Imagine …

Traveling halfway around the world to teach…and falling in love with someone from home.

Falling for one of your students?! Be careful there. In all seriousness, it may be romantic to think about, but imagine having to teach the person even if it doesn’t work out – just wait til the person has left the class.

Falling for a non-student local. (There might just be advantages to falling for someone who doesn’t speak your language. Perhaps I should investigate this in order to provide my readers with the best information…)

In all seriousness, I think that developing your own personality and keeping your life interesting and well-rounded is the first step towards finding that special someone…and traveling and/or living abroad is often a great way to do that.

Happy Valentine’s Day.