It's Me and You And This Bloody Beautiful World

Today has been an interesting day. Stevie and I had plans to get his new tattoo - he's adding some more to the solo hibiscus flower on his arm. I think that he eventually wants a half sleeve type situation, and because I think that he would look quite hot with more tattoos - I do not object. He's slowly becoming a full time viking with his long blonde hair, blue eyes, and tattoos. 

However, about 1.5 hours before we left the apartment for his appointment, we had a bit of an unexpected chat.

We work for an ESL company out of China. For the last 2 years, we've been teaching English to Chinese kids every weekend remotely. We have classes booked out 6 months in advanced, and we have the same two students every week. This is an incredible situation because we get to really know the students that we teach and we develop quite a good relationship with them. Usually, they re-sign for another 6 months with us to continue their English learning. That's how we've afforded our travel/backpacking lifestyle with little to no stress. 

It's come to light over the last 2 weeks that China's policies on weekend tutoring sessions for students are changing. Rumor had it that China plans to ban all weekend teaching for students, so that they don't get burned out with their studies. Whether that's the true intention for cutting all ESL online classes, we don't know - but 2 weeks ago it was a rumor. Now, it's becoming a bit more of a reality.

Most likely, Steven and I are going to lose our jobs. We found ourselves so incredibly lucky to not have to worry about losing our jobs during COVID, and honestly - we didn't consider that China would place this kind of ban on education. It's come as a big surprise, and it's caused us to feel a bit stressed about the next steps. 

We will be/want to be continuing our travels over the next few years, but with the uncertainty, we now have to consider how we will be affording it. Due to loving our existence and not thinking sensibly about saving our money, Steven and I don't have any savings to live on. I feel a bit frustrated about that, considering we've had plenty of opportunity to save our money. Lessons learned.

Luckily, we're hearing bits and pieces about what may happen when an official announcement is made, and it looks like we might possibly be keeping our jobs for the next year. This is apparently so that parents who have already paid for courses may continue to have their children go to class every week. There will most definitely be an end date for this, though, and Steven and I have to be prepared financially for when our teaching season comes to an end. 

We didn't go to Steven's appointment today, because that's $600 more than what we need to spend right now. It's crunch time for saving money. Steven is looking at more and more writing opportunities so that he can get to writing full time (eventually), and I'm looking at virtual assistant opportunities. I like data input and type A stuff, so I'll be looking at some jobs where I can work on database input for a bit of money. 

It's funny, I never considered that we'd end up let go from our jobs due to China shutting down the sector. I figured that we'd leave when we wanted to - and that's put a whole different spin on it all. What a load of emotions to deal with. 

This picture is one of Steven and I in Shenzhen, China. It was the first place we lived in on our travels two years ago. What a mental ride it's been since then. I'm most definitely not ready for it to end.