Travel to Teach: Thailand Volunteer Story

Alexis, 19, Luxembourg

Unlike many volunteer stories, this one begins at the end of my stay in Thailand...

It was late at night when I took my taxi to the airport - a 15 hour flight awaited me and the shock of going back to ordinary life. As I stepped into the taxi I looked back at the people I had made and shared all of my greatest moments with. The Travel to Teach staff who were in Bangkok at the time gathered round to say goodbye, not as co-coordinators or instructors - but as some of my closest friends and mentors.

The journey was long through traffic and emotions were running high - gritting my teeth was all I could do to stop myself from flooding the car with tears. Everything was containable until I got a phone call from Nong Khai - an old student of mine who was calling to wish me a safe passage home and to make me promise her I would go back to teach.

This was the only day that I found hardship in Thailand - leaving.

3 months earlier I had made my own way alone to Thailand and up to Nong Khai where I was picked up by Jennie, a co-coordinator from Travel-to-Teach. Immediately whisked into the Green dormitory, I found myself quickly blending in with the other volunteers, some that only came for a few weeks, others who had come for several months like I had.

Particularly great was the fact that I had arrived in time for Song Kran - the Thai new year. During the week long festivities that take place, people come out into the streets and parade images of the Buddha on trucks, throwing water on one another and covering each other in powder to pass on good luck for the coming year. The whole city turns into a huge street party with music, dancing, food and wine - from 9 in the morning till 8 at night - so forget going out and staying dry!

With respect to sight seeing there was always someone to go with to go and see something and always something to see. Travel-to-teach operates in many different places and runs week long English camps across the country and as a result, I was able to teach not only in the Meechai primary school in Nong Khai, but to go to Si Saket on a one week English camp with friends, spend a week in Bangkok seeing the sights and spend yet another wonderful, beautiful and extremely memorable week in Chiang Mai.

But traveling isn't only limited to Thailand. For not very much money I was able to go to Cambodia and through Laos right into the heart of the Laotian jungle and into the valleys of blue mountains and clear pebble rivers, after which having spent the day floating downstream on tires, we rested in wonderful bamboo huts - preparation for the days kayaking back to Thailand (a truly worthwhile experience).

And if you're not a great traveler, Muay Thai fights, Tuk Tuk rides, taxis from Bangkok to the coast, nights singing your heart out at Karaoke bars with the locals, Sunday afternoons in the market, temples, teaching monks, water fights, boat cruises, sunsets, good food and fun are all things which will become part of normal life when you are here. So don't worry, barrel of laughs included!

But while there is much to do in your spare time here in Thailand, the really impacting and soul searching experience you will find is integrating into Thai life - with Thai people and Thai culture. This has been made possible by the great opportunities provided by travel-to-teach to teach children of all ages (from 5 right up to 50!!) and become a known figure in the neighborhood. Because of this I was able to attend dinners with parents of students in their households and learn more intimately the details of such a warm and loving society. This happened twice during my stay, the most magical being going with the monks to the country and having a picnic by the lake with their families, followed by swimming and an tour of the area (NO ENGLISH SPOKEN!!!!)

This is NOT something that you can find by just walking around Thailand with a camera and a backpack.

As for the treatment of us volunteers by travel to teach - there was not one moment that we were not thought of concerning safety issues and co-ordination. Should anything befall anyone health wise, Travel-to-Teach are willing and able to help you as far as they can receive the treatment that you need and make sure that you are OK - something that I experienced first hand when I had to have surgery to remove a wisdom tooth.

Finally, Travel-to-teach are flexible and have no problem (should there be no complication) allowing you to take a week off to go to another placement and vegetate on the beach before you leave - as I did on the gorgeous island of Koh Chang - sharing dorms with other volunteers that later I would go on to visit in Canada.

Overall, my experiences here have completely changed my perspective on life as well as influenced what I would like to do with myself in the future. Travel-to-teach is perfect for Gap year students and travelers alike and almost guaranteed to satisfy anyone - perhaps even enough to make you stay forever...Welcome to Travel-To-Teach.

Mini Gallery: