In today's guest blog, an anonymous reader writes in with his story of teaching in Thailand some time ago. While things may have changed since then, it nonetheless represents an interesting historical account of TEFLing in Asia.

How two letters changed my life

It all made sense when I heard the term "OE". At that point I had decided to close up my life in America and move to Thailand to become a teacher.

I was at a point in my life where I had just ended a relationship with a guy where I was trying to make it work, but it was not workable. Although he was a small, skinny, and smooth twink, it was just not going to work. He had drifted apart from me as well. At the same time my career was on a downward spiral due to changes in the industry. I needed a break (and a new start). Enter Thailand.

I had decided to take a trip on my own to Thailand. I had gone before with a group of friends, the main organizer, who was another boy lover, and two teleiophiles, one gay and one straight. We went to different cities on that trip to see various parts of the beautiful country, however since the main organizer had already been to Thailand several times, we mostly ended up not seeing the sites, but mainly hanging around the boy bars in the gay areas. Needless to say it was a bit frustrating for the straight guy. However, since it was the first time for three of us, we too were missing out on seeing the temples, and many of the other places tourists want to see. I had enjoyed that trip years before, but I had felt that I left missing out on a lot of things.

So when my life was basically in a state of change, I decided to take a trip back there. This time I took things slower and more relaxed. I wasn't rushing in and out of the boy bars making note of the "prime" numbers on buttons like the organizer had shuffled us through before. I saw the temples, and went on excursions, etc. But it wasn't until I was in Bangkok sitting on an outdoor patio along Soi Silom 4, relaxing with a Singha, did I strike up a conversation with another Westerner next to me. The chap ended up being from New Zealand. I started to ask him how long his vacation was, and he quickly told me "no mate, I live here." I was intrigued by this and wanted to know more.

We began to speak in coded language, the kind that MAPs are all too familiar with. As we started to each decipher what the other was putting down, I had realized that he was a girl-lover. We had been dancing around the topic like when he had asked me my type. I told him that I was gay and he said "cool, I'm straight", but as we started to discuss our "types" further, he was like "how about him?" as he pointed out a muscular guy walking by. I was like no, I like guys who are smaller and smooth. He said "oh, like twinks!" I was like well kinda. He then lifted his chin and said "ah, got it!" Then, I had asked him his type and he told me he liked very flat chested girls who were also short. I began to see that we both "knew" each other's types. After we got more comfortable with each other, and a few beers later, we were naming different "hot" adolescent boy and girl celebrities who were famous at the time that each of us has crushes on.

He then circled back to the life changes that I had discussed with him earlier on and he told me that I should move there and teach at an English school. I had never taught anything before, but he said, "nah, its easy!" He then told me that he had both boy and girl students hitting on him constantly. He then told me about a few girl young friends (YF) he had made. He began to describe that there's this "rite of passage" in New Zealand culture called "OE" or "Overseas Experience". He said that "almost all N-Zeder's do it". "We move overseas for a few years and get off the rock to experience different cultures and see the world." I told him that I had never heard about that and that most Americans had never been out of their own state. He was like "no offense, but that's why so many Americans are dumb." I couldn't disagree.

I went back to my hotel and started to do some research. I was reading blogs on expats who had moved to Thailand and started teaching. I read the reviews on different schools and made a list of which schools I wanted to apply to. I also realized that I would need a TESOL certificate. I was like "Fuck!, I need to go back to school?" But it ended up that there were streamlined training centers where I could get this certificate in under a month. The next day, I started to call the schools and ask them if they were hiring teachers and I got an amazing response. I had set up several interviews that week. But how would I approach the TESOL requirement? After the interviews, I narrowed it down to two schools. One was with little kids like ages 4-6, and the other was an adult school which also included teens. I chose the later as I was not interested in teaching very young kids. But I WAS interested in teaching teens given I'm a hebephile and I would enjoy being around teens.

I was hired and I was approved to start for the next term, but I also had one term to get my TESOL done. The school gave me some referrals to some training centers. I left to go back home and I sold almost everything I had and donated the rest. I was ready to be an expat and start my own "OE".

When I arrived a month before the term started, I quickly started my TESOL course. There were about 20 other expats from all over, US, UK, India, Netherlands, etc in my class. This was new for all of us. But I worked hard to learn the concepts of teaching and brush up on my grammar terms. As a native English speaker, it really wasn't that hard. It was like remembering the terms I had learned in elementary school. Past Tense, Present Tense, Present Perfect, etc. we were all getting it, except for one older American guy. He was trying to find a way to retire in Thailand, but his only option was teaching. Sadly, he didn't seem to have the same grasp of grammar skills like the rest of us, even the woman from The Netherlands. To be fair some concepts can be a bit more complex, such as "Future Past Present Perfect Continuous Tense." Right about here the English teachers are going "ah yes", the non-English teachers are scratching their heads. But when I give an example you will go "oh that makes sense". It's like saying "By seven o'clock, I will have been working for twelve hours." See not so hard. But the old man was a bit out of his league and dropped out in the first week. The rest of us all made it through and got our certificates. I was done! I went back to Soi Silom 4 for a Singha to celebrate with my buddy the girl-lover. The first round was on him.

The term started and I was already shaking at the thought that I would need to lead the classes. It was required for me to teach hands-on to get my certificate, but now I was on my own. No more training wheels. The tricks the advisor told me was to just follow the book and to watch my time. I'm not going to lie. My first couple of weeks were bad! I was a baby giraffe trying to stand up on my own. But little by little, I found tips and tricks and warm-ups and activities to do with my students that gave me much more confidence as time progressed.

I had requested to work afternoons and nights, plus every Saturday. The reason, other than me being more of a night owl and liking to sleep in, was that the teens were in regular school during the morning sessions. Those were mostly all filled with adults looking to get a step up in their careers. Afternoons and evenings welcomed more of the teens who were working on more of their conversational skills in addition to the grammar they learned at school. There were also a mix of adults in these classes too. However, my entire week was based on looking forward to Saturday classes. This is when the hottest and youngest boys were attending. My youngest students were 12, 13, and 14 on Saturdays. This was right in my sweet spot AoA. As a bonus, compared to Western culture, Thai boys are usually smaller, smoother, and skinnier. They basically looked younger. For the first time in a long time, I was really enjoying my job. Being near these cute boys and interacting with them was so much more fulfilling than my previous corporate job in the states.

There was one Saturday boy who was about 13 who I had a huge crush on for the entire term. We'll call him Tee. One exercise I loved to have the students do was to stand up and get into groups of two to face each other and practice a conversation in the book. As the teacher, it was my job to walk around the students and listen in on their pronunciation and correct them. And because Tee came to my class with a less than stellar mark from his previous term, I needed to "spend a little more time" making sure he was doing well. As I had walked behind the students, I made it a point to pause behind Tee and listen in while admiring his smooth tanned boy neck framed by his collar. To this day, I remember his sweet boy smell. I would also spend time during lunch break sitting next to Tee to ask him about his life. He was a pretty mellow boy and liked computer games. His smile was enough to melt me like the asphalt on a hot day during Songkran. He was perfection!

The interesting difference I found in contrast to the US, was how the teen students were so outgoing. They were not afraid to spark up a conversation with people. Maybe it was their way of practicing their English, but they did not have the fear that is forced upon American kids. Boys, girls, teens, adults, they all were very inquisitive and conversational. What I found extremely interesting was, exactly like my GL friend had told me in the beginning, both girls and boys were "hitting" on the teachers. I had the teen girls openly in class asking me in a suggestive tone, if I had a wife or girlfriend. I would always tell them "sorry girls, I'm gay". Almost immediately, the more fem of the teen boys would ask me in an even MORE suggestive tone, "Do you have a boyfriend?" All of the girls would laugh. I would look at that boy (or another boy that I found attractive) and say "no, are you interested in applying?" At that point the boy would smile and blush and the entire class erupted in a typical Thai style "OOOOOOEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" while they pushed the boy's shoulders. From that point on, that gay boy had me locked in his crosshairs just like when Sandy in the film "Just one of the guys" said "Dresses like Elvis Costello, Looks like the Karate Kid, I'm gonna get him!"

From this point on, I would usually wait until the end of the term, while playing it professional, but still giving little hints of a smile back to these femboys that let them know "I see you." Then on the last day of the term, I would pull that boy aside. This was the time they received their grades so it wasn't out of the ordinary for me to speak with each student separately. However with this boy, I would hand him his grade, and also hand him my phone number and ask if he wanted to go out for coffee with me. The amount of lighting up that these boys would show was equivalent to the Times Square NYE ball. They had a smile on their face from ear to ear that they finally caught their "big fish". I would go on to have coffee with them and spend some time away from school to get to know them a little better and see if we both wanted to become YF/AFs. Some of the times I spent with these boys, holding their hands during a ride along the khlong in a longboat, or holding them in my arms at a movie. It was priceless in my book.

As with everything though, it had to come to an end. Not because of any outwardly directed forces, but I had become a bit stir-crazy with culture shock. I found that I wanted to move back home as even though the land of a thousand smiles welcomed me with open arms, I felt a sense of being out of place and there's no amount of boy attention that could keep me there. So I gave my notice with the school and finished my term. I then boarded a plane back home to the place that favors "stranger danger" over allowing boys to freely express themselves and hold a "hot teacher" in his arms if that is what he desires.

I have not been back to Thailand since then. I always thought I would go back, but I got caught up in trying to push my hebephile traits back down and tried playing the "regular gay" and seeking out smaller, smoother Asian twinks. I found some, and I married one, and it lasted quite a long time, but that too is coming to an end. Now, I find myself on yet another big period of life change and I'm planning it out now. It won't be going back to live and teach in Thailand again, but it definitely will be getting out of the hell-scape that America has turned into. It will also be a country where boys have more freedom and agency to run free and explore what they want out of life. That's how it should be. Thailand gets it. Maybe the rest of the world will too one day.

If you are considering moving to Thailand to become an English teacher, you will need the following:

• A recognized bachelor's degree (any field)
• Legalized/notarized copy of your degree
• TEFL/TESOL certificate (minimum 120 hours recommended, though not always mandatory)
• Proof of English proficiency (native speaker status or TOEIC ≥600/IELTS ≥5 for non-natives)
• Clean criminal background check
• Medical certificate from a Thai clinic (basic physical exam)
• Employment contract from sponsoring school
• Passport with photos
• Visa fee (approximately 2,000 THB for single-entry Non-B visa, varies by consulate)