I graduated yesterday! I received my BA in International Studies from Baylor, presented by Judge Ken Starr, and now I'm back in Arlington for the day. It will be less than 48 hours from the time I walked the stage and the time I board my first flight to LAX, so I've been rushing around to make sure I have everything together.
My visa came in earlier this week, not a day too soon either! We had some trouble getting the right visa from the consulate in Houston because it was a Thai holiday or something, but we have them now. I feel much better now that my passport is back in my possession!
I picked up my EFL certification last week too. Some people take four years and an education degree to become a teacher. I did it in four hours, aw yeah! The only thing I can teach is English as a foreign language though, and I'm not 100% sure I know how to do that! I'm sure I'll pick it up quickly enough, and the other English teachers are in the same situation as me too. My comparative government professor from college recommended to me a book, Teaching Like a Champion. I downloaded it onto my kindle, and I'll be reading it on the plane. From what I've read so far it's pretty helpful. Dr. Hamerly said it's a book she wished she had read before she began teaching. Since I have no formal education training, I can use all the helpful advice I can get! My assignment arrived from Bangkok this week. I will be teaching Mathayom (roughly equal to 7-12th grade). That's exactly what I wanted.
Tomorrow morning I fly out of DFW at 6:55am for LAX (4 hour flight) to Tokyo-Narita (12 hour flight) and then on to Bangkok (5 more hours). I'll be landing in Bangkok at 10:35pm local time on the 21st. Once we arrive we must report to the school the next morning to get our bank accounts and paperwork sorted out. The next day is a training day, but that Friday is a Thai holiday; we will get a long weekend before school starts on the 27th.
The thing is, everything has been moving so quickly, I haven't really had time to think about the fact that I'm moving to Asia tomorrow. I guess that's a good thing; if I had too long to think about it I would probably start freaking out. It doesn't even seem real yet. I guess it'll hit me sometime tomorrow, on the flight maybe.
Anyway, I'm super excited. I have two guide books: Lonely Planet's famous Thailand and Southeast Asia on a Shoestring. I hope I can see as much of southeast Asia as I can in the time I have over there. The next time I post on here, I will be in Thailand (or maybe Japan depending on how bored I get in the Tokyo airport)!
สวัสดี บล็อกนี้เป็นที่น่าสนใจมาก!
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