I fell off the face of the earth and floated through time and space until I landed in Asia. Sorry about that! This post will be all about my experience teaching abroad in Thailand. 

I have always wanted to see the world and find a way to make a living doing it. Teaching abroad seemed like the best alternative out there for someone who isn’t a digital nomad. So, in April of 2016, I finally decided to use my TESL certificate to teach abroad! This would require me to quit my great job, uproot our lives, and move across the globe.

 I decided to go through an agency, mostly because they could connect me to a school in the country of my choice and then walk me through the visa and pre-departure process. I did a bit of google searching and compared a few agencies, but honestly, they all offer the same thing: help finding a job abroad. I quickly decided on an agency called CIEE that is based out of Portland, Maine. I probably could’ve done a bit more research and gotten an agency that offered the most benefits to its teachers, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.  CIEE offers placements various placements in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. Although I majored in Spanish, I knew that I didn’t want to go to Europe or South America.  I started applications for South Korea and Thailand on CIEE’s website, but quickly decided to teach in Thailand. 

The CIEE application is super easy. They initially ask for scans of your academic transcripts and diploma, a photo, resume, two letters of recommendation, and a personal statement. Once you’re accepted into the program, they ask for a medical physical, background check, and a commitment deposit of $500. I believe the deposit is refundable before a certain amount of time passes. I’m not sure if it goes towards the $1,250 program fee, which is pretty steep. You can also pay an additional $1000 fee to take an online TESOL certification course through CIEE. I already have my TESL certificate, but I should note that you don’t need a TESOL/TESL/TEFL certificate to teach in Thailand.

Okay, so what does close to $2000 get you in return from CIEE? In exchange for the hefty program fee and a smaller monthly salary, CIEE basically did all the heavy lifting for me: they paid for my non-B visa, they connected me to a school in Thailand, and they provided a week-long orientation in Bangkok. The orientation was held in a huge hotel and included free (shared) lodging and breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Orientation consisted of basic Thai culture/history classes, language classes, and teaching prep classes. It was also a nice way to meet fellow teachers/travel buddies. While CIEE doesn’t pay for your flight to Thailand or reimburse you for your flight like some companies, they do offer airport pickup at a designated date before orientation. We also took a few field trips to see the bridge over the River Kwai and Wat Phra Kaew. 

I left Thailand in October 2017 with great memories and experiences. Would I go through an agency again if I could do it all over again? Probably. I had a place to stay and a guaranteed job when I arrived in Thailand. It’s doable but difficult to find a job if you’re not living in the country you want to work in. Most schools in Thailand desperately need native English speakers, but I wouldn’t count on applying directly to schools online. I considered extending my time in Thailand and applied to a few schools, but never got a reply. Perhaps the language difference was at play. Sure, I could’ve just shown up in Thailand on a tourist visa and started pestering schools, but that’s not a guaranteed way to find a job either. 

Additionally, I was paid quite a bit less than the non-CIEE teachers at my school. However, I was paid regularly and in cash. Thailand has a reallyyyy low cost of living. My main expenses were food (both eating out and groceries), travel, and my gym “membership”,  all of which were really affordable. I also didn’t have to pay for rent or utilities. My home was within walking distance of my school so I didn’t have to brave a motorbike ride like some teachers. Did I mention that the head of the English department at my school also arranged for a housekeeper to come clean the house once a week? Yeah, I had it pretty good. Plus, I was paid to teach some of the coolest kids in the world! They made me feel like a rockstar everyday and I miss them dearly. 

 Much like pop music radio stations, I have the habit of playing the same songs over and over and over again. It’s no secret that I form emotional attachments to certain songs. Once I find a new favorite song, I like to research the artist to see if they have  Ask any of my former roommates or family members

Favorite Lyric:  All dots and lines that speak and say, what we do is what you wish to do.

I was a mere child when I received this gem of a CD. Aquarius (real original, Aqua) will always hold a special place in my heart for being the first CD I ever owned. It has so many 90s-tastic classic dance songs: Freaky Friday, Bumble Bees, Cuba Libre, but Cartoon Heroes was an instant stand-out. I remember listening to this on my portable CD player on the school bus, restarting this song every time we hit a bump in the road because I needed to listen to it in its entirety. When I would get home from school, Aquarius would lovingly be returned to its home in my boom box for another evening of play. It got to the point that my boombox automatically knew what I wanted to hear and would just automatically play Cartoon Heroes as soon as I pressed play. See? Even my boombox was conspiring to keep me happy.

I’m Not Okay (I Promise) by My Chemical Romance

Favorite Lyric: You said you read me like a book, but the pages are all torn and frayed. 

“You like D&D, Audrey Hepburn, Fangoria, Harry Houdini and croquet. You can’t swim, you can’t dance, and you don’t know karate. Face it, you’re never gonna make it. I don’t wanna make it. I just wanna….”

Amazing.  UGH! Suuuuch angst. This song was a total awakening for me, musically and emotionally. Imagine listening to this type of music for the first time as a prepubescent thirteen-year-old girl. It was so refreshing! I was finally becoming my own person; breaking away from the smooth jazz and oldies rock that I was raised on. Even more importantly, I was breaking away from these parental ideals of who I had to be.  Despite my poor attempts to dress and act like a total emo scene queen, ten years later, I still have so much love in my heart for My Chemical Romance. 

Once Around the Block by Badly Drawn Boy

Favorite Lyric: Take a left, a sharp left, and another left, meet me on the corner and we’ll start again.

What in the world kind of guitar makes that amazing wah-wah-wah sound at the very beginning of this song?? It’s incredible!! But I digress. This song instantly transports me to my senior year of high school. I couldn’t drive yet, and I relied on my then-boyfriend, Bobby, for transportation. God, I was such an asshole to Bobby (sorry, dude!). Regardless, he would come pick me up from school and sweetly hand me the aux cord so I could play this song on repeat in his Honda. I also had braces for pretty much the entirety of high school so I think I felt a certain sense of solidarity with the characters in the music video. Bonus, the video was apparently inspired by a true story. 

Gobbledigook by Sigur Ros

Caution: This video is NSFW.

Favorite Lyric: N/A

Just listen. Even if you’re not fluent in Hopelandic, doesn’t this song fill you with joy? Don’t you feel energetic and happy to be alive after listening to this upbeat beauty? That’s the whole point of Hopelandic! The lyrics are gibberish so that you can focus on the feeling the music creates within you. Much like the music video, I, too, feel like running around naked in a forest with all my beautiful friends. BRB.

To Binge by Gorillaz 

Favorite Lyric: I’m looking for a saw to cut the chains in half and all I want is someone to rely on as thunder comes a rolling down

We are solidly in my college years, folks! Isn’t it a bummer when you really enjoy something and share it with a friend only to discover that they don’t like it at all? Well, that happened with my roommate junior year. I guess I can’t blame her, I did play this on repeat without headphones. But it’s such a achingly, bittersweet love song that I was willing to put her through audiological hell for my benefit. I have very distinct memories of driving through Albany listening to this song with tears streaming down my face. If you ever need a good cry, pop this song on the ol’ playlist and think about a relationship that didn’t work out. Good times, good times. 

So, there was a little bit of a discrepancy on when the week would actually end. In ~*~MY~*~ mind, a week should be Wednesday to Wednesday. However, In most cultures, a week consists of seven days; which would make Tuesday the last day of this little social experiment. Cue sad orchestral music (perhaps Lana del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful”? Just a thought.) I’m both relieved and bummed that the experiment is over, and not just because I enjoyed having the extra time in the morning not sweating over my outfit of the day. But more on my ~*~fEeLiNgS*~* later. 

Boy, Andrew did not disappoint. I felt like I was getting away with something wearing my jean jacket on a day other than Casual Friday. Luckily, everyone thought my outfit was super cute, albeit a bit short. Also, why do knee-length dresses look appropriate when standing and then suddenly shoot to underwear length whilst sitting? Trust me, there’s nothing worse than fidgeting with your dress’ hem while at an HR meeting. Luckily, my boss asked me where I was getting “all these cute dresses” to which I meekly replied, “My sister’s closet.” 

Seriously, even Sue, the coworker who started this whole ordeal, said I should get a raise because I looked so smart and polished with my “little glasses and [my] new haircut”. Polished? ME? These comments coming from Sue a mere week (okay, eight days) after she stated that I looked like a school-girl? While I don’t believe my school-age chic days are quite through, I enjoyed being able to step out of my comfort zone for a day or two. 

But what did I LEARN from my little jaunt into age-appropriate fashion and my relationship with Andrew? Stay tuned! 

Is it just me…or do I look like a bespectacled, brunette Joy from Inside Out? 

I’ll just…leave this… right here…

People are always telling me that I look like a cartoon character. It must be because I’m so expressive and wear basically the same outfit every day. Whatever. As a bonafide lady-child, I don’t hate it. 

ANYWAY, more warm weather! This was the day after I got the first sunburn of the season so I really wanted to wear as little fabric as possible. Seriously, even wearing my cross-body purse hurt my toasted shoulders. Plus, a cute dress that’s both weather AND work AND sunburnt back appropriate? Andrew just gets me. 

Also, this was my first day at work with my new haircut! I’ve been going on and on about getting a pixie cut since last December, I think my coworkers were starting to believe it would never happen. Joke’s on you, coworkers! Also, my new favorite thing to do is when people ask me if I got a haircut is to reach for my hair with a bewildered look and then give ‘em the ol’ Kevin from Home Alone impression. You know: 

We have fun. 

I don’t actually have a picture of my outfit from Sunday so here’s a sweet selfie of us after MOUNTAIN CLIMBING. I know, right?? Me? Climb a mountain?? As you can tell, we’re super outdoorsy and totally not wearing a doughnut tank top and a doge tank, respectfully. In other news; look how cute my boyfriend is  <3_____<3 

In other, other news; it’s hard to believe that we got sunburned on Sunday and then it snowed on Thursday. That’s Colorado weather for ya ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Whoa, why you so crazy, picture?

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS. I love this outfit so. so. much. Way to go, Andrew! Everyone knows that warm weather calls for cute, stripe-y, nautical-esque dresses and Sailor Moon-style jewelry. 

I actually wore this Friday night and Saturday day because, surprise, surprise, I don’t like doing laundry. Ain’t nobody got time for laundry. Plus, I knew my Friday night friends and Saturday friends wouldn’t see me in the same outfit and think I was gross, so there’s that. Obviously, I had Andrew’s consent (important), but I think we were both kind of disinterested in the social experiment aspect of the project at this point (hence the crazy angle picture.) 

Friday was the first warm weather day Colorado Springs had had in a while! Despite preferring skirts and dresses to jeans, I’m always happy when Friday rolls around. Because it’s *~*~CaSuAl FrIdAy *~*~* y’all!  Much like watching videos of dachshunds running around in hot dog costumes, Casual Friday never gets old. It’s the start of the weekend and nobody does a casual weekend better than Elena do.  And technically I am supposed to be wearing a shirt with my job’s logo, but Andrew settled for a blouse with foxes on it because entitled millenials ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  

Okay, I have something to admit. This was probably my least favorite outfit of the whole bunch, though I couldn’t quite tell you why (sorry, bae!). Looking at pictures of my Friday outfit, everything seems fine. But I remember feeling so uncomfortable and unattractive that I got a little bummed at Andrew for picking it out. It seems crazy now! It’s funny how hindsight works. I think maybe I felt a little bit out of my element. I never realized how dependent I was on my personal style to make me not just look but also feel my best. I probably also wouldn’t tuck my dark blue shirt into my dark blue jeans, but, as I kept reminding myself, it was casual Friday. And I’m a cool, calm, collected, and casual gal. 

Oh, and I also got a major haircut later that day, so that was pretty cool: 

But that’s another post for another time. 

In my last post, I introduced the idea of letting my boyfriend pick out my outfits for an entire week. Initially, we were going to start on Monday the 18th. However, we didn’t take into account 1) just how much clothing I actually own, 2) how disorganized my closet is, and 3) crazy Colorado Spring weather. 

Exhibit A:

Sorry, boo! I tried to keep it organized by skirts, dresses, tops, but…yeah, no. Much like picking out what to wear in the morning, ain’t nobody got time for that. At one point, Andrew asked, “Where are all your pants??” On the pants shelf, duh. There’s also stuff in giant storage containers underneath my clothes awaiting warmer weather. 

Speaking of weather, here’s Exhibit B)

Seriously, what kind of weather is this?!

So, after a brief introduction to my wardrobe and, taking the weather into consideration, we got started. Remember; I only had two rules: I could not veto an outfit unless it was not weather appropriate or not event appropriate.   

On the morning of the 20th, Andrew selected this work outfit: 

The first morning was particularly tough on Andrew because even though he knows my style, it’s not always compatible with his sense of style.  For example, he likes color, but “not too many colors at once.”  Andrew likes colors that match, so the my navy trousers had to match the blue stripes on my shirt, my cardigan matched the purple in my shirt and so on. I like looking like a rainbow threw up on me, but to each his or her own. I wore my bright yellow flats by default because, once again, I’m a child who doesn’t own comfortable work shoes in a variety of neutral colors. I would’ve just settled on wearing my black loafers, but, surprisingly, Andrew doesn’t believe that black and navy go together. Or brown and black. Call me old-fashioned but I thought black went with everything?? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

All in all, this is definitely an outfit that I would’ve chosen to wear to work. In fact, none of my coworkers commented on this outfit, purely (I think) because it is such an “Elena” look. This surprised me because I was expecting a vastly different outfit: one with less color and less layers and less pants from Andrew. But maybe my experiment was ruined by letting Andrew read my hypothesis (dark, formfitting) before actually starting the experiment.