Just Go For It!

If you're thinking of teaching abroad, my advice is to just go for it. It definitely won't be easy, but it will certainly be worth it.. and I promise you that if you talk yourself out of this opportunity you will spend the rest of your life asking yourself "what if?" More importantly, once you do decide to go for it, I highly recommend using a program (aka Greenheart) because there will be times when you need help or are feeling helpless and they can be an amazing leg to stand on.

Before I submitted my application, my mom and I traveled to Chicago to visit the Greenheart office where we met Sara, the program manager. She answered every question that my mom and I had and made us both feel 100% comfortable with me taking the leap and moving to Thailand for a year. Sara even reassured my mom that if there was ever any issue or concern, my mom could contact her personally and she would take care of the problem herself.

After completing my TESOL course in Hua Hin with 30 strangers who became my family, I was dropped off alone in central Bangkok at my new apartment building. I had been fighting with a bout of homesickness for the past three days and in the midst of it, I had to leave for my placement and everything just started to become very real. Fumbling through the front door with my 100 pounds of luggage, I held back tears because for the first time since moving abroad, I was really truly alone. I gave myself a mental pep talk to hold it together until I got to my room as I walked to the front desk to sign a rental agreement for this apartment (which I needed asap considering I had to be at my new school at 7 a.m. the next morning). I managed to keep my cool until I tried to pay, and as I frantically dug through my wallet I discovered that my US credit card was gone. In your first month, you won't be working yet so you won't be getting paid. That means whatever money you bring with you is all the money that you have to get you by, and I had suddenly lost access to mine. Cue the opening of the floodgates. I became overwhelmed with emotion as I handed over almost all of my cash just to get the lady to let me stay in the apartment for ONE NIGHT. I had no idea what I was going to do and I called my mom in a fit of hysterics. My mom insisted that I contact Greenheart or my employment agency for help but I insisted back that it was too embarrassing and I would just figure something out. However, the next morning I woke up to several messages from Sara, my TESOL course company, and my employment agency. I was given multiple options on how to transfer money into a Thai account that I could access and how to get a new card to me ASAP, etc. Essentially, the problem had already been solved for me and I barely had to lift a finger. Little did I know, my overprotective (yet so well meaning) mother had contacted Sara herself in a panic, and Sara stuck true to her word, solving the problem as quick as humanly possible. If I had been completely on my own with no program to have my back, who knows how long I would have had to go without any money. And if Sara hadn't been so attentive and great, my mom probably would have hopped on the first flight out here just to give me $50 to get through the week.

All in all, now I can laugh at the hot mess that I was that day and now I am happy as can be living my life in Bangkok. I have several people to thank for that, and Sara from Greenheart is definitely one of them. I said it once and I'll say it again: if you're thinking of teaching abroad... just go for it!