Welcome to Thailand! and Welcome to my blog!

Sawasdee Kha! My name is Zelda and I am one of the 40 teachers working as an English teacher in Thailand! I am from Brunswick, Maine and I just graduated from Union College (Class of 2021) in New York. I was an environmental policy major and political science major at school. I am an avid traveller and have been to many different countriues, the most recent being India. This is the first time I am living aborad for an extended period of time. I am working here for six months aka one semester and then planning on attending law school when I return.I work in Khon Kaen, Thailand which is in the Northeast or Isaan region of the country. I teach at primary school and teach English for communication for students in grades 1 through 4. I also teach phonics for the same students in grades 1 through 3.

 I have 0 experience teaching so I knew this job was going to be a challenge for me. I want to show through this blog, however, that you can find success and an amazing experience even if you did not major in education and are not planning on purusing a career in education. The only mildly teaching related experience was working as an environemntal educator on a salt mash. I was beyond nervous to start teaching and honestly still question if I am qualfied but I have already begun to find some successes within my work.

 I decided to come to Thailand on a bit of a whim. I had decided to take a gap year through some circumstances that were beyond my control but I was still unsure of what I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to travel (because COVID had cancelled my study abroad my junior year of college) but I did not know how or where I wanted to go. I also did not know how easy it would be to travel around because of COVID. Then, two of my close friends accepted jobs through CIEE teaching in Madrid and told me to check out the website for other opportunities. I picked Thailand from all of CIEEs options because not only was the timing of it the best fit for me but it also seemed like the trip that would push me out of my comfort zone the most. I never thought that teaching would be something I would do. I had always thought of myself as being on a very straight forward path but I am thankful for this experience already.

I am writing this post at the end of my first month living and working here. Even though I am just starting out, I already feel like I have grown so much. I am starting to adjust to my school and new life but that does not mean that it has come without a few difficulties along the way. This experience has pushed me far outside of my perceived comfort zone and forced me to learn and adapt in ways that I did not think I would ever have to do. I have had so many of my expectations change and have still ot fully gotten used to the Thai way of going with the flow. 

I am keeping this first post brief but I cannot wait to share more of my experiences on this blog! I will be posting about once a week and hope to share more about what quarantine was like, what teaching here is like and everything in between. Thanks for reading!