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Sasha and Rachel (aka the Grateful Gypsies) met while working at a music festival in Michigan and have been traveling the world for just about 10 years. Soon after they met, Sasha moved to Beijing to teach English, and Rachel joined him where they lived and worked for three years. After a gap year traveling everywhere from USA to Southeast Asia, and another teaching position in Kunming, China, Sasha and Rachel got married back home in the States then traveled to Bali where Sasha participated in the government run Darmasiswa cultural learning program. After a visit home to see family and take in some music festivals, they hit the road with a plan to travel Latin America, starting in Mexico. They are currently living in Puerto Vallarta teaching English online with the company VIP Kid.

On this episode we talk to Sasha and Rachel about what life has been like on the road. They also share their best tips for people who are considering teaching English abroad (including common pitfalls to avoid!) and a number of resources for those with a specific interest in teaching in China. If you are thinking of traveling to China to teach English, this is definitely an episode you don’t want to miss!

Be sure to catch Sasha and Rachel when they feature on our new Online Hangout series on Tuesday June 13. They’ll be sharing more great stories and tips about living abroad and you’ll have a chance to chat and ask them questions! The Hangout is at 9:30pm EST and you can RSVP on Facebook or Eventbrite.

Enjoy!

What we talk about:

• The decision to go to Beijing to teach English after graduating from college when faced with the difficult job market back home in the US at the height of the 2009 recession
• Sasha’s experience working in Beijing for the first time, including working for a company that made false promises of pay, accommodation and good working conditions, and his ultimate decision to leave the program to find his own teaching opportunity
• How Rachel used an expat website to find a great first job in Beijing as a private English teacher for a family with two little girls
• Watching Beijing evolve over the years and getting more comfortable with living there, including dealing with the crowds, fast-paced lifestyle and noticing how some things they initially missed from home started to become more common (like craft beer!)
• Using VPN options to allow them to access social media for work purposes
• How location and flexible teaching schedules in China make it easy to go on quick weekend trips to surrounding areas like Laos, Thailand and other areas of East and Southeast Asia with a little bit of planning
• The moment they knew that they were going to live long term in China versus returning home after a “gap year,” and how the decision was influenced by their desire to not stop traveling
• Their teaching experience in the Chinese city of Kunming after their travels in Southeast Asia, and how this differed from their experience in Beijing
• Their best tips for those who are thinking about teaching English in China, including getting your TEFL certification and visiting or researching a few Chinese cities ahead of time to decide where you may like to live using expat websites (they recommended The Beijinger and Go Kunming)
• Visiting Hong Kong to get your tourist visa changed to a work visa, and how you can have success even as a teaching beginner!
• How they fell in love in Bali during their visit, and eventually made the decision to move there for a year to learn Indonesian with the government run Darmasiswa cultural learning program
• How the blogging company Sasha was working for encouraged him to go to Indonesia and open up their market to the Indonesian population, the fourth largest in the world
• What a typical day in the life looked like for the two of them during their time in Bali, including class time, hanging out on the beach, and balancing blog/website work
• A number of unique experience specific to Bali like a group of students they knew who took traditional Balinese music classes and were able to perform for ceremonies around the island, volunteering in the Bali Spirit yoga and music festival, and a special invitation to a full moon ceremony on Christmas day at the local temple
• How they turned their stay in Bali into an extended honeymoon and lived affordably on the island, averaging under $2000 USD per month between the two of them
• Their return to the US for the summer and the flexibility that Rachel’s job teaching English online gave them to continue traveling around the States
• Appreciating the comforts of home after living abroad for an extended period of time
• How Digital Nomad opportunities have grown in the past few years, and now being a better time than ever to take advantage of the lifestyle to accomplish travel goals
• Teaching English online using the Beijing based company VIP Kid, and how it’s a great opportunity for Digital Nomads due to its flexible teaching times, but requires you to be in places with a reliable internet connection
• How they decided to visit Mexico as a starting point on their current plans to travel Central and South America, and how it’s different than how it’s portrayed in North American media
• Traveling to Monterrey, Guadalajara, Mexico City, and enjoying Carnival in Mazatlan
• Puerto Vallarta becoming an increasingly easier place to work remotely and pulling the curtain back on the reality of being a Digital Nomad
• The benefits of slow travel and having a home base to return to in between trips
• The Grateful Gypsies as a place to find travel stories and resources, travel and budgeting tips for living abroad, and their specialized niche of traveling for live music

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This episode is brought to you by Praxis. Praxis is the future of education, a 9-month program with a 6-month apprenticeship at a startup. It is education, without schooling. If you are 17 to 25 and ready to break free of the conventional path, go to discoverpraxis.com

Music Credits:

www.bensound.com

You can connect with Sasha and Rachel on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media channels by visiting them online, plus be sure to check out out our upcoming Online Hangout featuring them on Tuesday June 13 at 9:30pm EST!