Jeffrey Goes to Thailand
My experience teaching English abroad in Bangkok, Thailand.
Last Entry
It’s been one month since I left Thailand, and with so much going on in the world today, it’s been hard to find the time to place myself in a moment—the right moment—to write my last entry.
On October 4th, I moved home to Michigan and after a few days I made my move back to Chicago. Today I’m living in Logan Square, a predominately latin neighborhood, with two great roommates, and a new community for me to immerse myself in. I’m back to biking everyday, I’m doing Bikram yoga several days a week, and I just landed a job at Lululemon Athletica. Although adjusting back to the States seemed easy at first, it’s become a little more challenging over time. Recently, I’ve been trying to make sense of everything and this is what I’ve come up with:
Life goes on. Everyday something good or bad happens across the globe. You can add to it with intelligent decisions or stupid ones. And with honesty and ownership, we move forward.
Thailand is beautiful. Thai people are some of the most beautiful and kindest people I’ve ever met. But not everything was beautiful—the pollution, the poverty, the sex tourism. I didn’t always feel beautiful. I didn’t teach like an all-star everyday. I didn’t click with all of my co-workers. I didn’t make the kind of effort I should have to assimilate to the Thai culture. I made mistakes. Yet, I went abroad to teach university students for one year and I did that. I made and honored that commitment, and although at times I struggled, I completed what I set out to do. And it changed my life.
For one year, Thailand took me in. And amidst all of the adventure, I fell in love. From the bottom of my heart, Thailand—thank you for everything. And thank you to all of my former students for being a part of my life. I won’t ever forget my experience abroad. And with love and looking back, we grow up.
Love,
Jeffrey
PS. Thank you to everyone who followed along with my adventure. If you’re reading this for the first time, you can scroll down to the bottom of the page to the archives link and click over to the first entry to follow from the beginning.
Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, Cambodia.
From one of the temples surrounding Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
From one of the temples surrounding Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
From one of the temples surrounding Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
From one of the temples surrounding Angkor Wat, Camboida.
Around some of the temples surrounding Ankgor Wat, Cambodia.
From one of the temples surrounding Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
From one of the temples surrounding Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
Bill Clinton became a vegan, lost 24 pounds, healing himself by not ingesting any cholesterol. via www.youtube.com
For more information about the benefits of a vegan diet, check out http://www.cancerproject.org/ however, in the interest of full disclosure, my mom works here :)
Game time
Up all night cleaning, grading, and packing—Angkor Wat tomorrow, America next Monday.
Sept. 24: Watch Stephen Colbert deliver a prepared statement on immigration before the House Judiciary Subcommittee. via www.msnbc.msn.com
Near the end of the hearing, Mr. Colbert turned sincere, giving a serious answer when asked a serious question by Representative Judy Chu, Democrat of California, about why he had chosen to donate his time to the plight of migrant farm workers out of all possible causes.
Mr. Colbert paused, scratched the back of his head and sounding almost surprised at himself replied, “I like talking about people who don’t have any power, and it seems like one of the least powerful people in the United States are migrant workers who come and do our work but don’t have any rights themselves,” he said. “Migrant workers suffer and have no rights.” - http://nyti.ms/9zFN4e
