I was never sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. In fact, I can honestly say that I’m still not too sure. I tried basing my life about others who were older and wiser than me, to discover their regrets, accomplishments and learn what they would do differently if they could do it all again. Time and time again there were two things I heard. The first was to be there more for family and loved ones. The other was to travel.
Growing up I never traveled much, but once I started, around the age 18, I became extremely curious about the world I was living in. My third year at Oakland I took a semester and studied abroad in Ghana. People often asked why I went to Africa to study and my reasoning was simple. I was looking for two things: Extremely affordable and extremely different. I got both. It was awesome, and I loved it.
Nearing graduation I began to look at my options for the future. I remembered how awesome it was to study abroad, but I financially could not keep that up. No work = no money = not possible. So I wondered if there was a way I could travel and work. Luckily for me, it appears most countries in the world who are not native English speakers are all looking to learn, and the governments generally subsidize programs that bring in people from abroad to help teach. This sounded amazing. This is how I ended up in Thailand. They had a decent offer and I was going to get my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certificate in a foreign country.
After getting certified I got my placement in a nice little not very well known city in the south of Thailand, Chumphon. The city has maybe about 15 people living in it that are native English speakers. The first day I was here my visa was going to expire, so I had to make a quick visa run trip to Myanmar (Burma) and back. When I returned I ran into an English teacher in town we had briefly talked to the day before. He helped my get situated and through his connections that night I was renting a motorcycle and a house. Most of my friends are in an apartment, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom and no other rooms in their apartment. I lucked out. I have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen, but hallway, patio, air conditioning, etc. I pay about $35 more a month than them. The cost for rent of my house and motorcycle combined is probably about the cost of most of my friends insurance and a tank of gas: It’s just over $200 dollars a month.
Teaching was an exciting new journey for me. I have a wide variety of leadership positions in different organizations (secretary, vice president, president, founder, state board, etc.) but it was never me in front of people consistently trying to teach them something extremely foreign over the period of several months. I don't have a co-teacher, and I am the English teacher for every high school senior at my school, which is about 500 kids split up into 12 classes. Some classes have about 30. Some have about 45. I never thought I’d be doing this, but life is pretty good. This town is really nice. The kids love me, the people here are happy and smile quite often, everyone has been quite helpful, I can get good food (as well as learn to cook), there is a free gym, I learned how to drive a motorcycle, there is enough native English people to have decent conversations with, enough nightlife to not be bored, the beach is a 10 minute drive, gas is cheap, food is cheap, clothes are cheap… and so much more.
I still have a while left here, and before I am gone from this piece of land I will have traveled throughout the country and I am hoping to see some neighboring countries as well. To see the lights of Singapore, the jungles of Laos and the Angkor Wat in Cambodia will give me some more adventures I am looking forward to. Then, I think I will go back to the states, work for a bit and see some friends, and make plans to venture again. I am thinking South Korea for a year sounds nice.
I always had a little bit of a fear of being caught in some job and looking back and wishing I travelled when I was younger, or had done something different. Of all my friends (not the ones I have met traveling) everyone seems to have a phobia of getting away from their comfort zone, and though I hope not, I fear most will regret it later in life. It’s never too late to see what is out there, and I have met people who travel from all walks of life, from all ages, genders and conditions who decided it was time for a change. To everyone reading this: take a chance and see what’s out there. Don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone… you might find something more comfortable.
Tom Cruz, CAS '12