Penny Campbell
About Me
I never really knew what I wanted to be when I was younger, but the one thing I was sure about was that I definitely didn't want to teach.... Haha!
When I finished uni and still hadn't any career aim, my Spanish tutor suggested that I do a TEFL course. I'd already travelled around and fallen in love with Mexico, so the idea of escaping Britain and being able to work there was a total dream even if it did mean becoming a teacher!
At the time, Hoover had an offer on - buy any Hoover product for over £100 and get 2 free flights to the States. We persuaded my partner's mum that she desperately needed a new vacuum cleaner, and we claimed our (?) tickets. When we arrived in Florida we tore up the return tickets, bought an ancient Buick station wagon and spent the next few months driving west into the sunsets, using the car as our campervan. We collected wood by day as we travelled, then made fires and barbeques at night. When we got to California we painted a house and worked on a farm for a few weeks. Then we sold the Buick for the exact price - down to the last cent - of 2 single tickets to Tijuana.We spent a few weeks exploring Mexico, heading south until we reached the beautiful Oaxaca, where we decided to stop and started picking up teaching work here and there. With this we could move out of the Alcatraz-like hotel and find a place to rent. A student soon offered us his 2nd (unfinished) house if we didn't mind living a simple life (who needs a shower when you've got a solar hosepipe in the garden?).
I stayed in Oaxaca for 5 years and thoroughly enjoyed the life style, the teaching and of course the climate. But the travel bug returned and I went on to work and study the DELTA in Istanbul, before spending some time freelancing in France and then teaching in Japan. I came back to Britain 7 years ago and became a CELTA trainer. I now teach a range of students - refugees, Europeans, and settled communities and still really love the job! I do have dreams of travelling again one day, but for the moment I'm still enjoying life in England.
