It's been over a year since I wrote my cost of living on 37K, and obviously as a private teacher my schedule went through some ups and downs since my first cost of living post. It's about time for an update, so you can see what life might be like on the other side of the coin. Here's my cost of living making around ฿20,000 a month in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

This is definitely not one month's salary!

By February 2013, I was merrily working away at my numerous jobs and hobbies, and making a good salary by Chiang Mai standards. Generally, the salaries here are lower than Bangkok, and as Chiang Mai is becoming more and more popular, the good teaching jobs are becoming more and more sneaky. Employers will pay you less because they know you've already fallen for the city, and before you know it you'll be speeding along the superhighway four times a day just to earn that elusive 30k. (FYI, that little rap was entirely unintentional.)

So, I'm going jump right in and totally expose myself here by breaking down my work and money situation at that time (everything's quoted in Thai Baht, and is half the full price because I'm half of a couple):

Cost of Living in Chiang Mai
Rent:	2,750
Bills:	50 for water 300 - 600 for electricity (this depends mainly on air-conditioner usage) 250 for internet
Eating out:	Street food or dinners from our local place add up to about 100 a week  Eating out at restaurants on the weekend cost anywhere between 300 - 500 a week
Groceries:	100 a week at our local fresh market  100-200 a week at supermarkets
Entertainment:	1,000 or more a week goes on drinks with friends, movies, or in my case, buying clothes. Oh dear. It's much cheaper to have a picnic at a waterfall or take a walk on a mountain – who would've guessed?
Petrol:	300 a week
Airtime:	200 a month. I don't use my phone that much over here - as teachers we've got more than enough time to make plans on Facebook.
Laundry:	20 - 40 a week
Other:	500 - 1,000 a month for picking up a bottle of vitamins, going to the dentist, or taking the occasional yoga class
Monthly total:	12,000 minimum - 14,000 maximum

My various teaching jobs in Chiang Mai
Kindergarten	Job: 3 hours a day, 4 days a week Pay: 400 an hour Total: 19,200 a month (this is a very good salary for a part-time job)
Language School #1	Hours: on average, 4 hours a week Pay: 250 an hour Total: 4,000 a month
Language School #2	Hours: on average, 2 hours a week Pay: 280 an hour Total: 2,240
Private Students	Hours: 1, 2, or 3 hours a day, 5 days a week Pay: 300 an hour Total: 12,000
English Camps	Hours: infrequent, as they are hard to fit into busy schedules. One camp could last anywhere from a few days to a week or more. Pay: 1,000 a day, as well as paid transport there and back, accommodation, and food Total: depends
Monthly total:	37,440 (not including English camps)

I'm sure many Chiang Mai grumpalumps will try and dispute my claims above, as I've seen endless bickering on forums over salaries and available jobs in the city. Many tend to believe you can't earn more than ฿25,000 here, or that it is impossible to make a living teaching privately or part-time (which is apparently a common teaching option in Bangkok). I've had my own experiences teaching on both sides of the coin, and I have to say I'm a firm supporter of private teaching, and building up your own hours to make your own salary.

It's difficult to detail everything about this particular topic in a blog post, but feel free to email me if you have questions about building up a private network, and where to look for jobs that aren't your typical 9 - 5.

Here are some photos of my various teaching jobs:

Gorgeous little munchkins from my kindergarten. These particular ones are all around 5 years old.

Crazy bunch!

A whole lot of grumpy K3's.

K2's rawrring at me, yikes!

K1, you are so small. Why is this?

More K1's, about to go swimming.

Myself and a class of awesome K2's.

This little guy's the cheeky one.

I love this kid. He regularly told me, "I lub you, Teacher Adrian."

Beautiful little girls.

I love their poses!

Hello sunshine!

Happiness!

A little playground.

A random samlor in an unused corner of my kindergarten.

My Turkish students, and also some of the best people I've ever met.

My Turkish students put together a makeshift farewell party.

Yum!

Learning a traditional Turkish dance.

The lovely Beyza showing me a traditional dance.

So it was December 2012. By this time I'd gathered up a few private students, who I saw on a regular basis. I was happy with this working arrangement, although I knew I'd have to bring in more money eventually. For the time being, I was still spending every extra moment I had trying to explore and learn more about Thailand.

I got in touch with Dragonfly English Camps, and a few weeks later I was on a bus to the province of Loei for my first ever English Camp. The transport, food and accommodation was taken care of, and the pay on top of that was pretty good. I'm sure you can guess English Camps are also a whole lot of fun, where you spend your time running around with kids of all ages, playing games and being silly. The only downside is that Dragonfly don't make their way up north as often as I'd like, so it would be impossible to make a living through them. If I were down south I would definitely work with them, as they travel around as a team doing camps in cities, towns and even remote villages, staying in all sorts of places and meeting tons of awesome kids.

Check out my photos from my Loei English Camp:

My Friend. Awesome!

Back home in South Africa, I'd already decided months before that I would do my TEFL course in Thailand. My plan was to stay in a guesthouse while I did the course and explore the city, and then get a job immediately afterwards. And that's exactly what I did.

Myself and all my lovely course mates.

I have met and heard of countless people who had done their TEFL course online, and then arrived fresh off the plane in the country they wanted to teach in. In my opinion (and the opinion of many others in the real and virtual world) this is not the way to go. I had never set foot in a classroom as an authority figure and mentor before, and here I was at the naive age of 22 standing in front of 30 unruly teenagers. I believe that having my instructors there to guide me was invaluable, and the feedback received from them afterwards set me on my way to becoming what I hope is now a fairly awesome ESL teacher. On top of that, I had instant friends from all over the world, with all sorts of stories to tell, who were all doing the course with me. It made for many nights out socialising and stressing over teaching practices and grammar tests. Being a bit of an awkward person with a penchant for chatting up stray dogs, I doubt I would have made many foreign human friends within that first month of being abroad.

If you're interested, I did my course through SEE TEFL, which I've learnt is one of the most reputable courses in Chiang Mai. It cost me US $1000 at the time, and I chose to find my own (incredibly cheap) accommodation. I would recommend doing the same, as I had friends from the course stay in the accommodation you can book through the course, and we ended up nicknaming it "The Prison". I'm sure a few reviews online actually confirm that sentiment.

Check out the rest of my photos and some useful links below:

Spoiled with breakfasts at Eagle House.

Eagle House, where I stayed very cheaply for a whole month.

The soi (little road) where Eagle House is.

Another shot of Eagle House, where I sat and worked on my laptop over muesli and smoothies every day.

A nice enough place I stayed initially called Dutch Delicious, but I met a few too many creepy old men here for my liking.

An area of bars popular with foreigners in Chiang Mai.

A confession/warning scribbled on a bar wall.

Another poetic bit of advice, probably from a drunken falang.

Very dirty bathroom walls.

Recommended TEFL Courses and Cheap Guesthouses:

- SEE Tefl - a really nice bunch who offer a lot of support, whether you find a job through them afterwards or not.
- Green Tefl - I've heard good things about this course, and they seem to be the most similar to SEE Tefl, ie: offering job support, teaching experience in real schools, etc. The only difference I could find is that they don't offer you basic Thai lessons which SEE Tefl does.

- Uni Tefl - Another course I've heard good things about. The only downside for me is that it costs $1500, which seems a bit steep compared to some others.
- Eagle House - a cheap and friendly guesthouse - also one of the oldest in Chiang Mai. Even if you don't stay here, you should stop by for some Western comforts - muesli, fresh yoghurt, and sammiches!
- Julie Guesthouse - another cheap and friendly guesthouse that might be good for a longer stay, like Eagle House above.

It was 38°C, and I was standing outside in front of a whiteboard. It had been wheeled to me only moments before by a burly Thai boy of around 21. He was covered in tattoos and had a scar along his forearm. He was my student, and one of the most polite young men I'd ever encountered.

My first taste of teaching was at a juvenile correctional facility in a town north of Chiang Mai. It was also one of the best things I'd ever done in my life. The young boys that I met there were the most well-behaved students I'd ever met, albeit they had the same English language skills as a six-year-old. They were respectful and listened with intent, and each of them had a story behind their eyes.

I realised as I was standing there, identifying classroom objects in English, that the majority of these boys had come from a dysfunctional family, riddled with either alcoholism, violence, drugs, abuse, and a myriad of other problems. Some of them might be there because they stole a bicycle, three years ago, and there is nowhere else for them to go (this was really the case with one boy that I heard about).

What I learnt from this place was far more valuable than what I had managed to teach them. In fact, teaching them random vocabulary like "ruler" and "duster" seemed trivial. I knew that these children and young adults needed far more than vocabulary or modelling and drilling - they needed love, acceptance, and care.

NOTE: This was a teaching practice I did, along with a bunch of other TEFL students, with SEE TEFL. I'm pretty sure everyone else had an array of profound, funny, interesting, or heart-warming experiences that day too.

Gentlemen.