Moving on
The lives we teachers touch and the impact we have.
There are always those days that make you wonder what it is you’re doing with your life, but I would argue there are few professions that can allow a person to make so many direct contributions to the lives of others.
Don't get angry, just have an escape plan
Postbox letter from Anon
Salaries have been frozen here for years, the cost of living has rocketed and the workloads have increased. I now have to work online too to make a decent salary.
Chasing the big bucks
The ongoing and exhausting search for a well-paid teaching job
I'm just not making enough money to make it worth staying at my current posting. What with student loans, a mortgage, and other bills to pay, not only am I saving zilch for retirement, but I'm also barely breaking even month to month.
Why I've had enough of teaching in Thailand
It may work out for others - just not for me
It's not so much that I've had enough of Thailand, it's just teaching really. I'd say a good 90% of teachers at my school are women over the age of 50. None of them are open to change.
Thailand doesn't seem to want me
Postbox letter from Gary
The gaps between finding work were becoming untenable - months at a time, this time specifically five months without work.
The bureaucratic runaround
And all for the love of a good woman
With just over a month left in Thailand, having sold my motorbike and soon to be leaving my apartment, I met the new love of my life, which suddenly threw a spanner into the works. On our last day, we went to all our favourite places before sharing a tearful goodbye at the airport.
Archaic ideas are holding the students back!
Postbox letter from Keith
I have been working in Thailand for two years now, and with regret I have decided to bid farewell to a country that I adore.
Back to reality
The thoughts of a returning expat
My biggest fear is that things may have changed so much that my skills will be inadequate and I will be overlooked in favor of people who have spent their time investing in themselves while I, in the eyes of a potential employer, have been messing around in Asia for the last seven years.
I'm outta here!
Postbox letter from T Mark
I am off to see more of South East Asia where i will receive the same salary as someone with no experience but will learn much more as I travel around.
Things I miss about Thailand
Sense of community and the pace of life to name just two
I have been living in the US for the past several months, living a peripatetic and nomadic existence that is in many ways far more adventurous than the relatively quotidian and pedestrian life I lived as a teacher in Bangkok.
