Thailand is the first country I’ve lived in outside of the U.S. To say the journey has been a roller coaster would probably sum it up! I’ve literally gone through highs and lows – some really cool highs and some pretty unfamiliar lows.
The biggest obstacle I would say I’ve faced since moving here through Greenheart Travel’s Teach Abroad program can be summed up by nothing more than culture shock. Greenheart Travel provides its participants with a pre-departure handbook and cultural guidebook to get to know yourself more and the country you’re moving to prior to leaving. However, there are only so many pages you can read about what to do and where to go. You will do most of your growing, learning, and evolving through experience. Add doing all this on your own, and boy now we’re talking growth!
I wanted to experience Thailand on my own before beginning my TESOL program so I saved enough money to be able to travel around Thailand for a month. I began my first 2 weeks in Bangkok. Bangkok is like New York City, on steroids. Bangkok is a lovely city to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there! I met a couple of cool people, found a nice supply of vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants (score!), and even met up with a friend from the States for a day trip to Phuket.
But I was missing the quieter side of life, and I’d heard that the northern city, Chiang Mai was the place to be. I was looking forward to cooler weather from less humidity, nature’s mountains and waterfalls, and less traffic. I stayed in Chiang Mai for twelve days, and the city was so magical I decided to move back after completing my program!
I spent the month of October in Hua Hin with Greenheart’s partner, Xplore Asia. It was comforting to know I’d still have access to Greenheart while I was away, but the team in Thailand was so helpful and accommodating I didn’t have much to worry about either way.
The experience from the program has changed me permanently. I left as one person, who knew no one in the entire country, to making genuine friends, going on amazing excursions, making impressing discoveries – about myself, about others, about this wide world around me – and all because I chose to take the leap and just try.
Traveling solo is just that – it means you travel. While you’re solo. It doesn’t mean you’re going to be alone. This feeling is incredible, and can’t be put into words. You just have to do it.
I decided I wanted to teach abroad several years ago. When I told certain friends and family they, knowing me, knew I wasn’t joking. One of best friend’s in particular said, “Well, if she says she is, she will!” It didn’t occur to me at that moment how flattering her statement was. Thinking back now, what it says to me is that I’m deliberate with my intentions and my word is reliable. Consistency, honesty, and genuineness have always been important to me. When someone thinks of my character, I hope those words come to mind. But, deciding I wanted to teach abroad and knowing how to execute it are very different things. Fortunately through this program, much of the guesswork (and therefore the stress!) was eliminated. This allowed me to focus on other very important details, like preparing family and friends and putting my plan to depart in motion.
Telling my friends and family was easy. This is what I want to do. This is important to me. I’m excited; be excited for me! All of this, of course, was in my head. It’s not easy telling the ones you love and who love you that you’re picking up your whole life and transitioning around the world. Though those closest to me were proud of my decision, it was probably the hardest for my sister. My sister is my best friend-slash-mother figure-slash-travel companion-slash-supporter-slash-slash-slash. We are very close. With her being the oldest, and I the youngest, she has this natural protector trait about her that I have no control over, and dare not to hahaha. I can hop on a plane and meet strangers in another country and I still have to send her my flight itinerary and accommodations before I leave. I’ve been doing it for years! I can tell that family and friends are very, very happy for me, but it didn’t hit me just how big this decision was until I made it official by turning in my letter of resignation. Whoa! “I’m leaving my job to do what!” I’ve been told by several alumni of the online TEFL course I received my TEFL certification through that I wouldn’t have any issue finding a job on the ground if I arrived somewhere without a program, but the added assurance of the Greenheart Travel program helped me sleep so much better at night through this transition. And, my sister too!
Big sis and I in Denver. She’s my roll-dog, and biggest supporter!
Am I nervous about teaching? You better believe it! My background is in higher education. I have been in higher education administration since graduating from college. I have zero teaching background, unless you count correcting my young niece’s simple grammar when she was learning to talk. I knew I could go teach in Thailand with just my English Bachelor’s degree, but I wanted to do a TEFL certification also. I’m very glad I decided to do so! The program discussed very important topics like classroom management, making lesson plans, and how teaching English as a second language differs greatly from teaching to native-English speakers. I still have my notebook from the course, and plan on taking it with me to Thailand! I’m hoping all the lesson-plan making pays off!
I hope to be an amazing teacher! I have pages and pages of notes – let’s hope something stuck!
That is also what I’m most excited about, too. Teaching. In Thailand. What, what! No one in my family has taken this kind of venture before. Ten years ago you couldn’t tell me I was going to do this. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. I recently started teaching English online to children. Doing so has only excited me more! Teaching is an incredible and rewarding responsibility. Not only am I their gateway to the English language, but I get to partake in another country’s culture. I have never even traveled to Thailand before, but there were so many signs pointing me in Thailand’s direction I just knew it had to be. Thailand, from what I hear over and over, is a place you just have to make it to. I cannot believe that I’m not only going to Thailand, but I’m actually going to live there. It makes my heart smile every time I think about it!
A decal I’ve kept on my fridge for a while. It serves as a constant reminder of what’s important to me.
It hasn’t all been easy though. I have moments reality hits me and I’m like, Wait. I’m going alone. The hardest part about my decision to leave is everyone I’ll miss. Friends and family have a chance to visit, but THE toughest decision I needed to make was what to do about my faithful companion, my sweet Champ. Champ is my Boxer boy who I’ve had since he was 6 weeks old. He’s my baby. A big baby too! He just turned ten last month, and just thinking of being without him brings me to tears. The decision to take him with me or keep him at home troubled me many, many nights. How could I abandon him? Does it make me a horrible pet mommy? After doing research on traveling with a pet internationally, I decided it be in Champ’s best interest to stay. He’s getting older. He’s never been on a plane before, and I’m looking at a 13-hour flight from California to Asia. On top of all that, for the first month or so I’m not even sure where I’m going to be. Then there’s accommodations. Then there’s surroundings and climate, whether or not he could even adjust to all that. I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to him on account of me. So, finding him a loving, responsible, adaptable foster home was among the first on my list of many things to do.
My baby, Champ. Love doesn’t get much sweeter than this!
All in all, choosing to go with the Greenheart Travel program has been the best decision I could have made in this entire journey. I’m new at so much about the travel-abroad life, but the staff are so helpful with every step I feel like the biggest barrier to getting me overseas would just be me in my own head. If I could recommend any advice from my perspective is to not put too much stress over the decision to take the leap. The beautiful thing about teaching abroad is it’s been done before. Many times. The alumni from this program are so helpful on the Facebook group page. Literally, any question you have has probably been asked there before. If not, there are tons of folks all over the world who have done or are currently in the program who are more than willing to assist. The next piece of advice I’d say is to travel light! I’m getting rid of pretty much everything by donation. Thanks to the Facebook group, I learned where I could go to re-up my phone when I arrive, acquire necessary goods, and how to get around the country. Don’t worry about what you don’t know – you’ll figure it out! And, for everything else, there’s an entire community and helpful staff at Greenheart to fill in any missing pieces.
One of many Goodwill donation drops! Just let it all go, and go!
