"Although the money really didn't get us anywhere and we lost the bank account, the dream still stayed,"
"We were single at the time, and we had just finished our studies. It was like, let's go,"
"One of our coworkers hadtaught English in China previously, and he loved it. He was telling us how the working conditions were so great, you get so much vacation, the people are friendly, and it's affordable,"
Sonia Holland and Erin O'Brien grew up together in Cape Town, met at six, and planned to travel the world. At 11 they sold brownies and pooled savings before losing the account, but the travel dream persisted. After college—Holland with a business degree and O'Brien in science—both without formal teaching certifications but with tutoring experience, they went to Asia to teach English. They spent a year at a private academy in Suwon, near Seoul, teaching about ten lessons a day with only five-minute breaks. A coworker who had taught in China praised generous vacation time, friendly people, and low costs, which made China an appealing next step, but China’s borders remained closed in 2022. They backpacked through Europe and later returned to South Africa for desk jobs.
Read at Business Insider
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