People at school liked to tease me for being old, and they had a good reason. Already being there for 5 years, and staying 6 months beyond that, to them I must have been ancient. But it's all about perspective. I'm gone, I've left the college town, and suddenly I'm young. I'm just entering the workforce right? Whats the next step after you finish college? You work for 40 years, you get on with your life. Well, I may have been old news at college, but I'm really just a freshman at life. I'm just getting started working, at the ripe young age of 23.
Granted my first job is a little different than most people's. But I wouldn't have it any other way. In 7 days I board a flight headed for Phnom Phen, Cambodia, by way of Seoul. I'll be there for two weeks getting certified in TEFOL and taking a weekend trip up to Angkor Wat. Then I get on a bus for the trip to Pattaya, Thailand, where I have 2 weeks of language training. During those two weeks, I find school to teach at, a place to live, and sign a contract. I don't have any idea where I'll end up, other than then that it will be in Thailand somewhere.
So this week I'm home, just packing, getting ready to go and trying to see everyone I need to see before I leave. Had a great last few days in Champaign, thanks to everyone who took some time out of their busy days to see me off, and if I missed anyone I should have seen, I apologize. I know I haven't left yet, but since I'm officially in the 'very excited to leave' stage of moving, I couldn't help myself. Feel free to leave comments or you can always shoot me an email, michael.p.keefer@gmail.com. Also add me on skype me at mkeefer2 because I would love to see all of your smiling faces when I'm gone. I'll try and update pretty frequently both to let everyone back home know how I'm doing and also as kind of an online journal. This week might be kind of boring but I'll probably be too excited to refrain from posting every little minutiae about my preparation, so I apologize in advance. Take it easy and take care of yourselves, hope to hear from you all soon.
Well as Champaign says bye to great "young" fellow, an awesome friend and a tremendous pledge trainer, the world awaits to be touched by Michael P. Keefer. A truly amazing person that will be greatly missed!:-( Have a journey of a lifetime Keefer and make sure to remember the rest of us back in Champaign. We all will be looking to hear from you! Best of Luck and Be safe traveling! :-)
ReplyDeleteLove,
Allison Mazurek
Hey Keefer,
ReplyDeleteIt's funny to read this and see in you the same sorts of feelings I had a few months ago! I am ridiculously excited to hear about the adventures that you have during your year in Thailand, and severely jealous that you get to engage in something as cool as this for such a long duration of time. And remember--if this blog is cool enough, perhaps I'll make a return trip to Southeast Asia to come see you! Let me know if you'll be around from December 3-12 in Thailand as well, and perhaps I will see you! Love ya!
Trisha