In my high school year book, I wrote “pre-school teacher” as my ambition. I had no second thoughts about wanting to become a teacher.

I got into college and I remember being so eager to finish my tertiary education so I could immediately start working as a teacher but sometime in my senior year, I went through a difficult situation and this severely affected my studies. The grades—which were supposed to be the most important grades— I received during my senior year were really disappointing. They were good enough for me to graduate but bad enough to get a teaching job in a reputable school.

That’s when I started to doubt about whether I should teach or follow another career.

I could have got a teaching job right after college but if I would have had, I am sure that it would have been in a second class private school where the teacher’s salary is way down below the minimum salary and I couldn’t afford to work and not earn enough to support myself.

So I decided to work in an office. Being really good with computers helped me earn my first job as a payroll clerk in a textile company. My career had grew in that company but after three long years, I realized that I want something else for a career. I had resigned from my post and then I tried looking for a teaching job. After about a month of unsuccessful job hunting, I lost hope. I had decided to go back to the business world and easy enough, I landed a managerial job in a small electronic factory in Manila. The pay was great but I only lasted seven months because I was totally unhappy with the job and I didn’t get along with my boss.

I had tried applying for jobs abroad and I was really pleased when I got a job offer to teach in China. Without hesitation, I had accepted it and flew immediately to China. I signed a contract to teach for a year in a middle school somewhere in a third class city near Changhcun, Jilin, China. It was a really tough year but thinking about it now, I am sure that going to China is one of the best decisions I made in my life. It paved my way back to teaching plus I met my husband. Shortly after getting married, I stopped working because the nature of my husband’s work doesn’t allow us to stay in one place long enough for me to teach in a school.

When we had finally settled down here in Austria in April of 2009, I got the time to focus on my career. It wasn’t easy but with a lot of hard work and with my husband’s support, I can call myself a “teacher” once again.