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!
