Alumni Photo Essay: Teaching at Anubanchonburi School

Authored By:

CIEE Alumni

Sarah Schu and Saleem Ahmed are photographers, travelers, and CIEE alums. They both taught at Anubanchonburi School through CIEE Teach in Thailand in 2011. Today, Sarah is a freelance photographer and co-founder of Live Seasoned, a nature-inspired lifestyle blog, and Saleem is an adjunct professor at Temple University, as well as a working artist. This photo essay highlights their experience teaching in Thailand, as well as their travels and personal projects after CIEE. 

Teaching

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Students at the Anubanchonburi Primary School shower local monks with food in honor of King's Day. (Photo: Sarah Schu) 

“Saleem and I could not have been happier with our school placement and the teaching situation,” says Sarah. 

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Kindergarten students from Anubanchonburi Primary School visit a local zoo for a class field trip. (Photo: Sarah Schu)

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(Photo: Saleem Ahmed)

Travels

After they finished teaching for a semester, Sarah and Saleem traveled to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Nepal, and India. 

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Sarah traveling in India adorned with decorative mehndi, or henna. (Photo: Saleem Ahmed)

“We lived out of little backpacks and stayed at $10 hotels most of the trip.”

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 While traveling in Vietnam, Sarah met many friendly locals, from construction workers to tribal guides to the fruit seller seen here.

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(Photo: Saleem Ahmed)

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Sarah standing atop a ridge in the middle of Halong Bay, Vietnam. 

Today

After returning to the US, Saleem began a Master’s program for fine art photography, and started teaching at Temple University as an adjunct professor.

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Images from a recent project by Saleem, 'East Philly'. 

Last August, he finished his MFA, and has continued his career at Temple, where he teaches multimedia storytelling and editing. When not teaching, he works as an artist and photographer. 

"To this day, I still recommend CIEE/teaching abroad to my graduating students. I think that the life experiences of traveling and working abroad helped me in so many different ways. I was able to build lasting relationships, navigate through new cultures, and also it allowed me the breather I needed after finishing up my undergraduate degree. I still work on projects internationally, and my experience in Thailand only helps with continuing that other work."

- Saleem 

Sarah is the co-founder of Live Seasoned, a nature-inspired lifestyle blog, and a freelance photographer

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Photo from Sarah Schu's blog, Live Seasoned

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Are you a CIEE alum with a story to share? Email alumni@ciee.org.