[I left] on a Jet Plane..Don't know when I'll be back again!

I can't believe it but when I last wrote on here I had just found out that I was moving to South Korea to work as a TEFL teacher. I am now 6 weeks in and so far really enjoying it.
The last few weeks in Ireland flew in. I was so busy running around applying for my visa, visiting my doctor to get all my shots sorted out, and moving out of the accommodation where I was living and back to my parents house that I barely had time to think never mind realise that I was leaving my family, my country and the job I'd worked in for nearly 6 years. Everything felt rushed and scattered. I was on the phone as often as I could be with my brother in South Korea to find out as much as I could about this country I was planning on living in for the next year. I tried to spend as much time with my friends and family as I could but never really was able to. I think that in the end not everyone even knew that I was leaving.

All the while through  my last month I was mostly courageous and pragmatic. I didn't feel too scared and I didn't feel the enormity of the change that was about to happen in my life. I just felt ready. Even when I said goodbye to all the wonderful people that I met in my old job, I just about cried.  I held it together saying goodbye to my family and neighbours....right up until the last 10 minutes before I left.

It's funny how sometimes even though you know something is the right choice, the thing that is best for you to do, it is still the hardest one to make. I was honestly having very few worries about living in another country right up until those last few hours. When that finally hit me, it was overwhelming and I spent the time waiting for my flight and on my flight to Abu Dhabi alternating between tears and sleep. I was lucky that my sister was there to encourage me and comfort me my final few hours in Dublin, and because she stayed until I went through the security doors at Dublin airport, it meant I went through them. I didn't want to and just as I got up to the security door, I really wanted to turnaround, run back to her and say..."It's a joke! I'm staying here!" However, it was knowing that she was there willing me through those doors and on to a new adventure is what saved me at the end. My family and my friends' encouragement was not something I could sacrifice to fear. So, thanks to all the prayers and the encouragement of my family, friends and random strangers, my feet made it through those doors and into the No-man's land that is every airport.  Even though it hit me soo late that this was an enormous change, I am really glad that so far that was the only time I have really felt any doubt about the direction my life is going in. I am getting to do somethings I always wanted to do - Live in a different country and teach.

So yes, you might think I am mad to have gotten on that jet plane and emigrated when I had a stable job. You might think I am mad to have moved to another country and not know when I will be back in my own.....but you know what - I am glad that I was mad enough to make this change and walk through those security doors at Dublin Airport. If I hadn't, I would be sitting at home, hoping and planning to  fulfill my dreams but never doing anything about it.

PS The title of this post was inspired by John Denver's "Leaving, on a Jet Plane".