Well I am not from the land of clogs and windmills, but what you do with your own life should be 'up to you' - a phrase you hear a lot living here in Thailand of course. No, I was born and raised in New York City with my 2 brothers and 2 sisters and my dad was an air traffic controller. We eventually moved to New Hampshire in the latter part of my teens.

I have been teaching in Thailand for one year now . I originally come to Thailand for a vacation. and fell in love with the country. After returning home to the USA, all I could think about was what do I needed to do to get back to Thailand for the long term. I did some research on-line and found a TEFL course in Bangkok and set things up so that I would be finished at the end of October . It worked out perfect - I finished the course on the Friday and I was in work a few days later.

Well I wanted as many opportunities as I could, and to weed out the opportunities that didn't work for me. At first the travelling around Bangkok on hot, sweaty buses was tough but I kept thinking to myself " Hey this is Thailand " The 100-120 hours a month was a good start financially because I got low on funds during the five-week TEFL course, so it was a means to an end.

Yes I believe that if you are not careful you might find yourself being taken advantage of.

Well, after my first month of doing a lot of classroom hours, payday arrived and I also had to set off on a visa run that very evening. I went to the office to ask for my pay and the staff didn't even know who I was. What? I had put in 115 hours that month and there I was facing the prospect of no pay ? After a few phones calls it was worked out but it wasn't a good feeling to have a problem with your very first pay packet. Unfortunately, the situation never got any better and I was constantly being told to wait until the following week for my salary. My landlord was not very happy with me getting behind on the rent and I lost a really nice apartment as a result. It's all in the past now though - water under the bridge you might say.

I started off doing part-time work at a language center and the owners are fantastic. They will do anything to keep their teachers happy, which is exactly what you want. I even get paid early most months! This particular language school is in a very upper class area where most of the students go to international schools and can already speak English well. You actually get to teach them something other then " hi, how are you ? and they are truly motivated to learn. It's a great feeling you get teaching this type of student. It has since gone from a part-time job to a full-time position - usually in the region of 100 hours a month. I suppose one of the downsides is having to work evenings and weekends but for the time being, I'm happy to do it.

I grew up playing hockey with my brother. We would go to hockey school every summer from Monday to Friday. My dad ruled the roost at home and that's what he wanted for us, although my mom didn't always agree with the sport taking up huge chunks of our time. In the winter, we played in two leagues and our hockey school was run by members of the New York Rangers. It was a great experience to be friends with them and play alongside them. This really was a time I lived for hockey.

Nothing really stands out - there are so many great memories from winning championships to being offered college scholarships. Just looking at my dad's smiles as he watched us play was all the reward I needed. Sadly he's no longer with us but it was great to be able to give him something back at the time.

Well, being a hockey player my skates always go where I go and after skating at The Esplanade a few times - going around in circles gets boring fast. I needed to hit the puck! By chance I saw a TV commercial for hockey in Thailand and gave them a call. I just wanted to play I suppose. The Thai director invited me along, we got chatting, and he told me that he needed someone to coach the team. When he offered me the job, I jumped at it. The pay wasn't great but it meant free ice time. And perhaps it would lead to better things?

Right now it amounts to two hours a week at Big C Lat Prao. The rink is only small but I usually get 15-20 kids show up regularly.

We have a tournament scheduled in December down in Malaysia. but the problem is always funding. The budget is always tight and we rely heavily on private contributions to keep things going. Most of the time, we don't actually matches; we practice our techniques against each other.

There's none of that going on but you would be surprised at the talent that many Thais have for the sport. I even have three girls play for me

I think they want to play at international venues and represent their country. As coach, I always feel they have great pride in themselves. That's a very special reward for me.

It doesn't unfortunately but as I said before, you never know where these things can lead. It's all about networking right?

Thanks.