Why I've Been So Thai'd Up!

So yes I did eventually make it to Thailand! I've been keeping track of my travels and adventures as best I can on my YouTube page, which is why I haven't been blogging as much as I've wanted to. I'm still adjusting to being not only a full time teacher but living 8,000 miles away from everything I've ever known, so unfortunately I haven't had the time to blog AND vlog. Really I haven't even vlogged as much as I've wanted to. I've been more focused on getting my life stable, in my work life and my personal life.

Let's talk about it!

Work Life:

When I first got to Thailand, I was living in an airbnb over an hour away from my job. So to get to work my first week, I had to take 2 BTS trains, which is the sky subway here, AND a bike taxi ride from the train station to work. Yes I said bike taxi, which means I get on the back of a motorcycle driven by a stranger and hope not to die.

Anyway after my horrible commute time, I got to meet my coworkers. They have turned out to be a big blessing in my travels. My job is such a comfortable place to be as a teacher. I work at an international school. What that means is while I am in Thailand, most of my students are from Japan and came here with the purpose of learning English. So I do not teach only English, I teach all subjects, including some I never taught in America, but I do teach only IN English. Most of my students understand English very well, I only have a few that are very beginners. But I get so much support from the families, the administration, and my coworkers. It's really a great work environment. Eventually I did move to a place right across from my job so that long commute has turned into me walking to work. Even a few of my coworkers live in the same building!

Which brings me to my next point

Personal Life:

My personal life starts with those same coworkers. Before I started work I was very lonely out here. I had no one to talk to. Everyone I knew was 11 hours behind me and everyone I tried to speak to when I left the house, didn't speak English. Once I started working I had people to talk to... and in English! They take me out outside of work and show me around to some of the cool places to go. Most of them have been here for at least a year already so they're far more familiar with the area than me. They answer my questions about where to go for shopping, food, clothes, things for my house etc. But I don't want them to be my only friends and feel like I'm clinging on to them to have a social life like... who wants to feel like that??? So I've also been using this app called MeetUp. It's basically an app where people post their events and you RSVP to the ones that interest you. I've so far gone to mixers, parties, and even Thai classes. I've come back with friends from every event I've gone to and it's been really cool.

To sum it up

I've been having a GREAT time in Thailand for the last 8 weeks. I can't wait to see what the rest of my time here brings!

Ready to Reveal!

After over 2 years in the making, I'm finally ready to announce where I'm going to be moving!

When I first started looking into teaching abroad, I thought about going to South Korea.

Yes, South Korea

Everyone always gave me the "are you crazy?!" face since... America and the Koreas have a bit of beef at the moment. But I'm not the type to be swayed by other's opinions without good reason. My main reason for choosing South Korea was because they pay American English teachers well in comparison to their cost of living. They also pay for airfare and housing. I have a bit of student loan debt.

Like most of us.

So I was interested in a way to travel but still be able to save some money. Everyone tried to convince me to go somewhere else but I was set on it...

...until I talked to my brother

He told me, it's a whole year of my life and I shouldn't make the decision based solely on money, I should choose somewhere I always wanted to go.

💡

That made perfect sense to me.

So I looked into somewhere I've always wanted to go... Spain.

In short, it's a bit difficult for an American to work legally in Spain. My only options would've been working illegally on a tourist visa and risk getting kicked out of the country, or work on a student visa and have to enroll in college again and pay for it myself. 

Negative ghostrider.

So I thought about it... where have I always REALLY wished I could go...

THAILAND!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, come August 2019, The Teacher With the Fro is moving to Thailand!

People talk all the time about wanting to just pick up their lives and go somewhere and I'm fortunate enough to actually be able to do it. My certification it Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

Hooooowever

The job I landed is actually at an international kindergarten. What that means is, the families that the school serves are expats. I won't even have to teach English! I'll be teaching regular kindergarten which... I have to say I'm far more confident about kindergarten than teaching English. I'm so excited to be doing my dream job in a place I've always dreamed of going... and I'm going to actually get to live there!

FAQs

There's a lot of people in my outernet life that already know about this. Here's a few things I get asked the most.

How do your parents feel about you leaving?

Now that I've chosen something a smidge safer than South Korea, I think my parents are a bit more relieved. I think they're excited for me and proud of me for following my dream.

Are you excited or scared?

Both! I'm so so excited about all of  the adventures that lie ahead but I'm definitely scared to pick up and move to the other side of the world.

Do you speak Thai?

No. No I do not. I've been working on learning it.. Not nearly as hard as I should be, but no I do not.

How long is the flight?

The flights are about 18 hours total. I hope my back can take that and I hope I sleep... a lot.

How long will you be gone?

My contract is for 1 year but... we'll see what the future holds.

What's the time difference?

Thailand is 11 or 12 hours ahead of New York. I say or not because I don't know the answer, but because Thailand does not observe daylight savings time so the answer depends on when you ask.

Stay tuned for future updates!

Hopefully in the form of a vlog!

Social Studies

Wow! I can't believe it has been almost a year to the day since my last post, a little after my birthday last year. When I started this blog, I was just starting to have my very first classroom and I wanted to record all of the cute projects we were doing, click the tabs at the top to see some of them!

But that was years ago and I've come a long way since then... sort of. In my last post a year ago I was telling you all that I am looking into teaching abroad and hoping to leave before 2019. Well surprise!... I'm still in the United States 🤣🤣🤣

But that's not the end of the story...

I have actually settled on a country. I haven't announced it yet because I am still waiting on some paperwork but the SECOND it is all finalized, I cannot wait to share it with you all!

But I'll get back to that when I can give more information.

Current situation...

Struggling to balance teaching and having a social life

For a long time I didn't have a lot of friends, and the ones I did have were hard to stay in contact with because I kept moving around.

Fast forward to today

I moved... again... to a city nearby the one I was raised in. So I still teach in a district that's 35-45 minutes away from where I live. So I find myself super tired at the end of a work day, mind you I'm still a substitute teacher so I don't grade papers and write lesson plans at the moment. And I've finally stopped going to school so I don't come home and do homework anymore. I've been trying to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones along the way. Last summer I chose not to work and I had what was arguably the BEST summer of my life. I went to the beach, concerts, parties, and made so many great memories with great people.

I guess this is something I deal with because I'm still young and single so I wonder... How do full time teachers with families makes time for... anything else?

Let's Play Catch Up!

Hello all!

  I haven't blogged for several months. I've been a bit busy and a little distracted with my outernet life (life outside of the internet).

But Fro... what have you been doing all this time?

I'm glad you asked!

Let's see my last post was in October and I was talking about wanting to finish my TEFL certification so that I could teach abroad. It took me a little extra time and effort but I have since completed my certification.

I'm still in the United States... months later. I just finished out the school year as a substitute. Some people I work with or who have been following my journey are asking if I'm still going. Well the plain and simple answer is yes, I'm absolutely still planning to travel and teach abroad. I'm hoping to be gone before 2019.

My original plan was to change countries every 6 months or so for the next 5 years, unless anything got in the way of that plan. Well my plans have changed a little bit. Now I want to go away for about a year and then come back to the United States and move to a different state. Preferably one warmer than the state I currently live in.

I'm still not ready to announce what country I'm planning to go to. Originally I didn't want to say because things were not set in stone. And good thing I didn't, because I've changed my mind about 3 times for what country I'm going to go to. But I think after some discussion with people close to me in my life and some research I've finally settled on a country that would be a good fit for me. But I'm still not going to say where until I have a job in place.

The same reason I've been distracted from completing my paperwork to live and work in another country is the same reason I now only plan to be gone for a year and come back. But.... I'm not ready to disclose that reason yet either. 

*Spoiler alert*

It's not a baby.

Everyone always thinks that when you get secretive about stuff.

In the meantime I'm taking some time off from things to focus on getting these things done and actually going. If I don't go now then I'll always look back and regret it.

Stay tuned.

Precious Moments

Sometimes kiddos remind you of why you became a teacher.

The other day I was filling in in kindergarten. I had been in this class a little before and these kids were pretty comfortable with me. We were working on a paper where they were tracing and writing the number 3. A little girl walked up to me and handed me her paper and I said "Sweetheart, it isn't finished, you traced the 3s but you have to write them too." She looks at me and says "I can't write 3s I don't know how to!" I said "But you traced them so I know you can do it if you try." She started to cry. She was crying because she didn't want to try. I chose to go the tough love route because I believe in challenging students and encouraging a growth mindset. You don't get to cry because you don't want to try. So I told her "This is not a reason to cry, you're not a baby." She kept crying and started getting loud. So in a calm voice I said "Well if you're going to cry you can go sit in that chair over there and when you're ready to work you can come back." She sat in the chair and cried for a while and I did NOT engage her. Eventually she stopped crying and I said "If you're ready to work you can come back over." So she came back and sat down. I said "Now if you're ready to work I can help you and we can try this together." She nodded her head yes. So I talked to her about how to make a 3 and reminded her that she had just traced a bunch of 3s. When she did one on her own I was shocked that it was almost perfect. I said "See that 3 is beautiful you don't need my help." and I left her to finish them. When she came to show me she was finished I said to her "I knew you could do it." and she gave me the biggest hug as if to say "Thank you for believing in me".

It was something as small as writing the number 3 and even though I had just made her cry a few minutes before, she knew I cared about her and believed in her. My kids get upset with me sometimes but the know I love and encourage them and they respect me.

Back to the Grind

Today was my first day back in the classroom as a regular sub in my old district. I was dreading moving back to my old district for a few reasons. I feel like moving back is kind of a step backwards from the direction my life has been going, even though it really isn't, it's more of a temporary stepping stone towards the next chapter in my life.

Being a building sub meant that I went to the same school every day so I has a relationship with my kiddos and my coworkers. Being a regular sub means I go to not only a different class but a different school everyday. Up side, I get to meet a lot of different staff and students and get different experiences. Down side, I don't get to stay in a place for too long if I like it. I tried to see if I could become a building sub in this district but it looks like they don't hire them here. I checked. My next best option would be to get in good with a principal at a school I like and have them just claim me like everyday.

Today actually wasn't bad. After looking back at my resume when I was updating it, I realized I only subbed in this district for about 4 months before I took over my first daycare classroom that summer. I think I've overestimated the negative experiences I had in this district. I think for some reason I have it in my head that I only had a positive experience at one school and just really remember several negative ones at other schools so in my head I associate this district with negative times. After just working a half day today, I don't think this district is as bad as I made it out to be. I think it was the first district I subbed in so I was very new to being a sub. Maybe the experience I've gained has changed my outlook. It also might have to do with the fact that I was a reading teacher today and spent part of my time reading to preschoolers and I love Preschool and Kindergarten.

Basically I'm going to hopefully spend most of my time in elementary school and have a good time. Maybe I have a lot tougher skin after my last district and being a regular sub again won't be so bad. I'm going to try my best to have a positive outlook. Tomorrow is my first full day back even though I'm still a little sick I thought I would be feeling better by now. Hopefully my first full day back in the classroom will be a positive one. But I guess that's up to me.

Summer of Fun

This post is pretty late but over the summer I was in charge of my own kindergarten class which was amazing... and a mess at the same time. I think some of this may have been covered in my last post but I just wanted to make sure that when I look back I didn't forget this time in my life. Instead of going through a long drawn out post, I'll list a few pertinent parts of my experience.

1. I had 13 kids on my roster but was lucky if I had 9 of them all show up on the same day.
2. We were in a super hot building and told we were getting air conditioning, but only a few rooms got them.
3. We were told there would be no children with extreme behavior problems in the program... there were. Several that were in self contained classes during the year, and placed with non special ed teachers with non special ed teaching assistants.
4. I met some amazing people that I taught with and hope to stay friends with.
5. My students were my favorite part of the program. They weren't perfect angels but I love to learn from them and gain new experiences.
6. I had some interesting experiences with parents.
7. We took the kids swimming one day. Lots of kids say they can swim... until they get in a pool.
8. We had our students for 10 hours a day... 10. hours.
9. The money I made was crazy good.
10. I probably would do the program again in the future if I still lived in that area.