July 2nd, 2013. I am drinking an iced watermelon shake, sitting on a bench, in the shadows of a tree. I am in a public park in a city that would be unknown to most people. I relax, I watch other people enjoy their day.
Suddenly a girl comes to me and say “Excuse me, do you speak English?”
I answer, with my heavy Italian accent: “Yes, of course, why do you ask me about that?”
“Well, we are searching for an English teacher, if you need a job, just call this number”, she says, giving me a business card.
I wasn’t expecting such offer, so I just say “uh… but… but… my tourism visa expires next week”
“Don’t worry, if you come to our office, we can sign some papers and give you a working visa as soon as possible”
Very shyly I say: “Well… I’ll let you know”
I never got a such job offer like this, on the road, I wasn’t even searching for a job.
Probably, with a foreign teacher, that english school could brag with future students “hey, we have foreign teachers, we teach real english”. Probably some parents will pay a big extra to give to their kids the right education, at any price.