So I realize that I never officially put an end to my adventure of teaching in Thailand. I officially left Thailand on June 24th and have been in Los Angeles ever since. The last month and a half of my time in Bangkok was an unbelievable whirl-wind with the protests, finishing work, traveling Singapore and Indonesia, and eventually, leaving Thailand. I wanted to give a last, final blog post when I got back to America, but there was too much going on and too many thoughts in order to put them all in order and articulate a “last” blog post. Now, about a month and a half since I left Thailand, the whole picture seems much clearer. I could probably write for days about my last thoughts, but I figure I’d shorten it down to 3 final thoughts.

1) I can’t say I liked every detail about living in Thailand, but I can say that I liked about 80%. I think one of the toughest parts of living in Thailand was making a true, genuine connection with the people. Don’t get me wrong, Thai people are some of the nicest, kindest people I have met, ever. But with that being said, there’s a difference between being kind and friendly and being a genuine friend. I think that the cultural differences, the language barriers, and the just generally different life perspectives made it difficult to establish any real relationships, outside of the expat community.

I realize also that this could largely be my fault and it’s possible that I should have devoted more time, effort, and energy into assimilating into Thai society. But whether an increase in effort was the problem or not, at the end of the day, you’re still an outsider, and Thai culture is still a hard egg to break into to.

2) I loved teaching, kinda. For me personally, teaching was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, but it came with it’s frustrations. I’m pretty sure that this is largely due to the school that I worked at, but it could be a general teaching thing as well. My loves: meeting new people, hearing different people’s stories and backgrounds, and (hopefully) making an impact on their future. The dislikes and frustrations: teaching gets repetitive, the students blend together, and boredom becomes a serious hurdle. I know now that I definitely want to continue having teaching as a part of my life, but I also know now that I definitely don’t want to only be a teacher. Personally, I just need bigger challenges.

3) Words can’t describe traveling in Thailand. It’s simply amazing. The mountains in the North. The beaches in the South. The food. The people. The cost. The lifestyle. The adventures. The stories. The travelers. The nightlife. From a travelers perspective, Thailand is one of the best places in the world to travel, and I without a doubt will recommend it highly to anyone that asks.

There is a lot more to say, and as I continue to grow and mature personally more thoughts will come from Thailand’s impact on my life, but for the sake of space, those were my main three thoughts from my time in Thailand. 

I now continue on my journey with a year living and studying in Bologna, Italy. I will be entering a master’s program in International Relations and will continue blogging at pepstein.tumblr.com. If anyone comes across this blog and has questions about teaching English, living in Thailand, or anything else, please e-mail me at pepstein11@gmail.com.

Sawadeekop Thailand!!!