Plan A) Bangkok

For all international teachers, the Fall of a new school year is a crucial time. Not only are we getting to know our new students, figuring out new routines, and regaining the stamina to teach and have a life outside of school, it is the time to figure out what comes next. Every year, every international school calls a meeting for all of its foreign hires to lay out the benefits that the school is offering for the next school year if you decide to extend your contract, or give you the process in place if you wish to leave. 

For Nolan and I, we knew exactly where we stood coming into this meeting. When we decided to add a third year to our contract, we knew that this third year would be the last in Ecuador. At the beginning of our second year, we had just moved into the best apartment we have ever lived in, we bought our car, and were surrounded by an amazing community of new friends. The choice to stay was an easy one, and one that we have rarely doubted in the past year. And while all of those things are still true, it feels important to discuss a bit of the state of affairs that we have been living in over the past year. While we have always known that Quito does not earn a gold star for safety, the situation in Ecuador has definitely gone downhill. In the past year, there has been an uptick in violence in the places of power all the way down to the ground level. In January, the entire country shut down for two weeks after a gang leader escaped from prison. There was also an attempted assassination on a presidential candidate. So many of our friends have gone through attempted robberies, myself included when I was with a park near our house with a friend and my phone was stolen. While there is so much to love and adore about this country, the devolving safety situation is one that I feel happy to leave. 

On top of the safety, Ecuador has also been going through an extreme drought which has made the country’s use of the hydroelectric dams (their main power source) void. Because of this, there were daily power outages from March to December of last year. In the worst part of it, the power was out for 10-12 hours a day, and was only on for what felt like an hour or two of usable time. 

Now, I am not here to tell you that Ecuador is falling apart and to never come here. I hope from reading these blogs you can see all of the amazing beauty, diversity, and landscapes that this country has to offer. We are still so excited for the time we have left, and intend to fill it with many more road trips, volcano climbs, and time spent enjoying the countryside. But, it is not the best time to be an international teacher here, and it made Nolan and I’s decision to move on all the easier. 

Over the last three years, when anyone asked us what our plan was after leaving Ecuador, we remained consistent with one place: Asia.  Our time living in Thailand was one of the highlights of our lives, as we revelled in the food, safety, amazing people, beautiful beaches, and general chaos that is Southeast Asia. We have really enjoyed our time in Ecuador over these years and wouldn’t trade them for anything but it never came close in comparison to the way we loved Thailand. 

So, when people asked us where we wanted to go, why didn’t we just say Thailand? Great question. The process of finding a new job can be a crazy experience in itself. It starts with setting up profiles on the international job finding engine of your choice. This includes updating resumes, personal information, and getting references from your current employers. We decided to get our profiles up and ready early, around the middle of October, because this is when all the schools are having those meetings asking if their current employees will be returning, and posting the openings on the site. Then, you look around and start applying. While Thailand was definitely in the forefront of our minds, it can be very damaging to only apply to one country. There are only so many openings each year at each school, and while being in a teaching couple can be an advantage (many schools see it as a “2 for 1” when it comes to housing and moving stipends, and we have an extra layer of support in each other) it was also hard to find schools that had positions for both Nolan and I. So, we applied everywhere in Asia that we could imagine ourselves living and enjoying. The list included: Korea, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. We were sending in many applications every week, with personalized cover letters, answering specific questions, and even recording some video style interview questions for certain schools. Almost everyday Nolan and I were logging on to the platform, to see if a new school caught our eye. And, when applying for international schools, the list of things we were looking for was quite long: Do we like the positions?  What is the curriculum like? Is professional development offered there? What is the country and city like? What kind of people tend to work at this school? How is the pay? What is the benefits package? 

And with each application that we sent in, it's hard not to live that little life in your head. Would I like living in India? Would Japan be too quiet for people like Nolan and I? Could I picture myself teaching to 3 year olds in Indonesia? How politically stable is this countries (Nolan and I have had bad luck with this one!)? 

We applied to 10+ schools without hearing anything back for about a month. The process felt discouraging because Nolan and I were feeling so excited about many of these different places, and wanted some answers. After an amazing weekend spent in the Amazon rainforest, I came back to an email from a school! In India. 

While we had applied to the school because it fit into all of our boxes, India sounded a bit outside our comfort zones. We felt like we had no way to conceptualize what life would be like in Southern India, and while we would love the food of course, India is huge and it felt like a place that would need to be heavily researched before making any decisions. But, I continued with the interview just to see what it would be like and to get some practice in. The interview was scheduled for 9:30 pm here in Quito, and we weren’t scheduled to have any power at this time. Lucky for us, some neighbors had a battery that powered their wifi, and I sat at one of their houses surrounded by candles ready to zoom across the world to India. 

The interview went exceedingly well! I really enjoyed the conversation, and the interviewers seemed to enjoy talking to me, too. However, the big question on my mind was, what about a job for Nolan? As I was talking with the Primary Principle, he said that he would ask and get back to me over email. 

A few days later, I received an email back that unfortunately the job that they had for Nolan had already been filled. They did ask me if I would like to continue in the interview process as a solo candidate, but of course this was a big no for me. But, this kind of all worked out in the best way because I got to freshen up my interview skills, gain a bit of confidence, and didn’t need to do further research about what it would be like to live in Southern India.

After this interview, Nolan and I continued looking for schools on almost a daily basis. We continued sending out applications, and hearing nothing but a few “thanks but no thanks” in return. We knew that we were still incredibly early in the process, but we just felt so eager to move forward. It was roughly halfway through November at this point, and many people don’t find their jobs until February or March. We started considering going to an in-person job fair in January or February if we were still jobless by then, and asked for advice from some more veteran people who knew more than we did. And they reiterated, it's incredibly early, and there is absolutely no reason to worry. 

That was when Nolan and I each got very exciting emails in our inboxes. A great school that used the same curriculum as our current school and worked off a trilingual model with great benefits and in classroom support responded to our applications and asked for interviews. Oh, and the school was in Bangkok. Bangkok! While an email asking for an interview is by no means a job offer, it was hard for me not to be over-the-moon excited about it from the beginning. We set up our interviews, mine first and then Nolan’s, for the next two days. While all I wanted to do was watch videos about street food, I spent more of my time scouring the schools website and taking notes about how to rock this interview. Lucky for me, the power was on at the time of the interview, and I logged in. I got to meet the principal and two curriculum coordinators along with the director of HR, and the entire process was incredibly smooth. The school in Bangkok had a surprisingly similar set up to the school I am currently working at, and we spent most of the interview talking about the similarities and differences between the two programs. They seemed very happy with what I had to share, and I logged off from the interview feeling even more excited. 

Nolan’s interview was the next night, and let me tell you, watching your husband do an interview by candlelight for a school you're really excited about is quite the experience. Luckily, the candles were a great way to break the ice, and his interview was amazing as well!

After Nolan logged off, we were feeling so happy about how both of the interviews went. Nolan had learned that they would email us in the next two days about setting up a second interview. Just as we were trying to fall asleep only 30 minutes later, they emailed us for that interview! This one would be with both of us and the head of school. We were thrilled, and it felt like the opportunity to move back to Thailand was coming closer and closer. 

A few days later the interview rolled around, and it was clear that they were ready to hire us, as long as we were ready to be hired. The second interview was brief, leaving most of the time for us to ask any questions we had, and we logged off feeling pretty confident. And, just like the last time, 30 minutes later we had job offers in our inboxes. 

We were elated. After 3 years of talking about Thailand, talking about everything we missed there and if we could choose one place to go next how it would have to be Thailand, to actually find ourselves in the position to do so felt unbelievable. They gave us 48 hours to make the decision, and while this seems like a stupidly short amount of time to decide if you would like to move across the world and live there for two years, it's actually double the amount of time we’ve ever gotten before! While we knew we were pretty confident in saying our yeses, we did want to reach out to some current teachers to ask about their experiences at the school. After doing so and getting great responses, and telling our families about the news, we sent in our acceptances of the offers. 

So, for the next two years starting in August of 2025, if you are looking for us, we will be in Bangkok! We couldn’t be happier to be returning to the Land of Smiles, to the place that made us fall in love with this international lifestyle. Bangkok was the first international home that we ever shared together, and while it brought its trials and tribulations in the world of COVID lockdowns, we could not be happier to be giving this city another go. Bangkok is such a hub of travel, culture, people, tradition, and, of course, food, and we are thrilled to call it home once again.