MY FIRST ENCOUNTER with the British gin-based drink Pimms occurred inside a smoky bar in South London's Battersea district while a tense rugby match blared on the telly. What I remember most is an English bloke in a black turtleneck ordering a Pimms cocktail from me as breezily as one might request a napkin. He might as well have asked me in Cockney – or Yoruban, for that matter. When I took the bartending job, I hadn't counted on culturally specific cocktails. We exchanged blank stares for a few moments, until I finally broke the silence and lamely employed the it's-my-first-day excuse. The Pimms seeker suggested I reference the bar menu, which – shockingly – listed the drink's ingredients.

And this was just my night job. By day, I was the personal assistant to a P.R. executive who subjected me to daily humiliation and shrieking temper tantrums and had absolutely no idea how to work her own cell phone.

That was four years ago, and still the phrase "One time, when I was traveling ..." is like my own personal "One time, at band camp ..." Yes, I spent three hours peeling quail eggs for my boss's dinner party, watched as she threatened to slit her wrists in a bathtub if I didn't get her a plane ticket home in time for Christmas, and blocked advances from the bar's Kenyan cook who kept proposing that we marry and move to the United States to open a vegetable stand. But these things build character. If you're looking for a change in 2005, numerous exciting vocational adventures await outside the United States.

Specialized skills like teaching English are necessary for securing employment in most foreign countries. Because the European Union and other countries require employers to exhaust their pool of local applicants before hiring a foreigner, teaching English as a second language is, for many Americans, the only way to legally work abroad. It's also the most reliable way to make a living wage in another country.

At Transworld Schools (701 Sutter, second fl., S.F. 415-928-2835, www.transworldschools.com) you can earn a certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages (CTESOL) in as little as four weeks. Full-time, part-time, and online courses are available throughout the year. Transworld Schools cites a 94 percent success rate in placing its teachers abroad. Graduates also receive lifetime career placement assistance from Transworld. You determine which countries you'd like to teach in, and Transworld helps you find employment. Then it's up to you to negotiate the terms of your contract directly with the employer.

In addition to being the easiest way to work abroad, teaching English on foreign soil can net more money than equivalent jobs at home.

Transworld director Ceri Rich-Odeh said Asia and the Middle East offer the highest salaries. In Japan, Rich-Odeh estimated teachers make anywhere from $2,500 to $4,500 (USD) a month. Additionally, many schools' teaching contracts include airfare and medical benefits. Unfortunately – especially for those saddled with school loans or other debts – certain destinations pay very little. Graduates heading to Guadalajara, Mexico, can expect a monthly income of around $400 to $500 a month, Rich-Odeh said.

But even if you make a pittance, teaching English can tide you over until you learn a new language or make contacts that lead to other jobs. "A lot of people will use it as a springboard," Rich-Odeh said.

If teaching or the yearlong commitment most teaching jobs require lacks appeal, there are other options, provided you're between the ages of 18 and 36.

Through programs run by the Connecticut-based BUNAC (203-264-0901, www.bunac.org), full-time students can pay between $250 and $550 for temporary work visas to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, as well as Peru and South Africa. (This was the program I participated in for the drama queen and Pimms' positions abroad.) Recent graduates can participate in the program as long as they enter their destination country within six months of graduating.

Regardless of student status, 18- to 35-year-old Americans can use the BUNAC program to work in New Zealand, while 18- to 30-year-olds can do the same in Australia. The amount of time you can stay in a country varies from two months to a year, depending on the country. Council on International Educational Exchange (1-800-40-STUDY, www.ciee.org) offers similar programs with slightly different fees, eligibility requirements, and rules. Programs through BUNAC and CIEE often require participants to prove that they have a minimum balance in a bank account before allowing them into the country. The amount varies from program to program but reflects the amount an average person would need to survive for several weeks in each country.

CIEE and BUNAC participants receive their work visas first, then travel to their destination country to begin job hunting, usually through each organization's local job center, where job listings, fax machines, computers, and phones are available to participants.

"Friends I've known have found work within a week, and others have searched for a month. If you're looking for professional work, it can be a long job search just like the States," said Jeff Booth, editor of Student Traveler magazine (www.studenttraveler.com). Booth is an expert on the various ways one can work abroad. He's taught English in China, hand modeled in Singapore, written freelance stories in Southeast Asia, and even moonlighted as a gondola-rowing instructor in Italy.

If you plan to look for work using a BUNAC or CIEE program, be aware that competition for jobs rises sharply at the beginning of summer. Head abroad then and you could find yourself caught in a buzzing swarm of other young, eager explorers each time you hit up the job listings.

Ditching everything and rocketing to another country can make you feel like Virgin tycoon Richard Branson. Whether that's a good thing or not, I'm undecided. But if you appreciate a little risk now and again and have the gumption to stick it out – even if that means close encounters with dirty English breakfast dishes – you'll be fine. Keep in mind that it's not about what happens at work. It's about what happens afterward.

Adventurers like Booth prove that freelance work does mix well with traveling. But it can obviously leave you without income at a moment's notice. If you think it's hard to get paid in the United States for freelance work, try doing it from Malaysia. If you're truly set on living abroad and willing to work simply for room and board, organic farming and summer camps greatly expand your options.

Sausalito-based Camp Counselors USA (2330 Marinship Way, Ste. 250, Sausalito. 415-339-2728, www.ccusa.com) connects Americans with overnight summer camps in Russia and day camps in Germany, Austria, and Hungary. The European camps pay more than the Russian ones, but all counselors live in basic shared housing and receive free meals or a small stipend for food and sundries. Counselors have to pay a fee to participate in the Russian program.

Those with bucolic tastes can find organic farms worldwide through the International Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) network (www.wwoof.org). Arrangements vary depending on the farm or destination, but recent listings include beekeeping on Vancouver Island, working at a martial arts clinic in South Korea, and fruit picking in Australia. Good WWOOFers exchange between four and six hours of daily work for shelter and food. Some farms prefer participants to stay as little as a week. Others accept single travelers and couples for indefinite time periods.

To work outside the United States without a work visa, your safest bet is working for a U.S. company that runs trips to other countries. Of course, going this route doesn't make for the shortest path outside the country. You may have to start low on the totem pole and work your way up to the jobs that involve international travel.

Even if your job doesn't immediately involve globe-trotting, it can put you on the path toward jobs that do. Ceanna Stephens, who coordinates Palestine Reality Tours for Global Exchange (2017 Mission, Ste. 303, S.F. 415-255-7296, www.globalexchange.org), said working at an organization that does global humanitarian work can introduce you to nongovernmental aid organizations outside the country.

"Start by volunteering, interning, or getting involved with groups who are doing work in other countries. Reality Tours are not a volunteer program, but in many cases we do link folks to organizations in those countries that we meet with and that they can stay longer to volunteer," she said.

Volunteer programs clearly aren't lucrative, but they offer structure and the opportunity to do humanitarian work. Stephens also suggested checking out Witness for Peace and the Peace Corps.

Getting involved with U.S. aid organizations could lead to an overseas job, but not everyone wants to work in a developing nations or those with international crises. For a more immediate, albeit less altruistic, ticket out of the country, cruise lines offer a wide variety of positions, such as estheticians, retail workers, fitness trainers, recreation and wait staff, and administrators. The drawback, of course, is that you're stuck on a boat for months a time with hundreds of U.S. tourists.

If you're a landlubber, smaller outfits like San Francisco's own Green Tortoise (494 Broadway, S.F. 415-956-7500, www.greentortoise.com) can get you on the road. The adventure travel bus tour company has been taking riders on 3- to 28-day trips across the country and Central America since 1974. Green Tortoise owner Lyle Kent says he's always looking for skilled drivers, some of whom can make up to $190 a day.

"It is relatively complex. You're not just driving a bus. You're orchestrating the meals as well as being a guide," Kent said. Drivers must have a Class B commercial driver's license, a clean driving record, and be able to become impromptu mechanics, amateur therapists, chefs, and chief logistics engineers during the trip. For drivers like Johnathan Flower, the job fits.

"I was already a professional bus driver and had a lot of cooking and group leadership experience to begin with," said Flower, who's spent two and a half years driving Baja trips for Green Tortoise. "I really believe that you can't know your own country until you leave and look at it from the perspective of another culture."

Just don't start thinking you're going on vacation.

Student Traveler's Booth said, "I wish I'd maybe not known beforehand, but kept in mind, that fundamentally it's still a real job. Yes, in another country, but you've got to be there on time, do your work well, have annoying bosses. It's just that sometimes they're speaking in another language."