Month: September 2015

I’ve referenced the horrid story of my days suffering from intense food poisoning in Thailand a few times in past articles, but I’ve never actually gotten the full story out onto paper – er- online. Partly because I’m incredibly embarrassed that I made such a stupid mistake, and partly because reminiscing on these memories makes my stomach rumble (a Pavlovian response, I guess). But, just as I finally succumbed to the projectile wretching in Thailand, I’ve decided that it’s finally time to let it all out. Hopefully, it’ll make me feel better.

I’m sure we can all remember more than one class in high school or college in which we struggled to keep our heavy eyelids from shutting out an instructor droning on in an endless string of statements. Though the teacher or professor was doing their best to share the information in his/her head, very little of that information was entering ours.

During my years abroad, I came across a variety of people, personalities, and temperaments. Some expats I really enjoyed, but some travelers were more of an acquired taste. I got on with most people as best I could, but there was a certain type of traveler that just really got under my skin.

It turned out, though, that the years I spent teaching were some of the most beneficial (and fun!) in my life, and ended up taking my life and career in directions I wouldn’t even have imagined before leaving home. Here are eight ways I found that teaching ESL will help you in life.

The attitude, the rebelliousness, and the constant pushback teachers get from their middle schoolers often leave them with a bitter taste of those classes. I, however, find these classes incredibly satisfying. Here’s why.

We’ve all been there. Stuck traveling with that one friend who thinks eating tortilla chips and a can of Tostitos medium spice salsa is being crazy. It’s all fun and games (laughing at them while we snack on adventurous food) until we realize that we have to cater to their pansy taste buds when we travel with them.

Alright, you naughty little expats. I know you’ve been waiting for this article forever. Forget the sights, culture, and shopping scenes. What you want to know is where to party. Well, if you’re traveling the world in search of the perfect partying country, you made the right choice to stop in Taiwan.

Recently, I used a long weekend in Korea to travel to Japan, a destination also easy to access from China and Taiwan. With cheap flights readily available (Peach Airlines is probably the most popular), a few days is well worth the trip. Here are a few pointers on capitalizing on the opportunity.