Jeffrey Goes to 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.