Thai Immersion Trip by Joshua Hostiadi

Teaching

Being the one teaching rather than being the student was a whole different world and experience. For me teaching gave me a whole new perspective on learning. Every day the Thai students would be excited to turn up to school and you could tell that they were eager to learn as well. I remember asking one of the students if he wanted to go outside and play sports or stay inside and learn, surprisingly he said he wanted to stay inside and learn. It showed me that the students were really dedicated to their education and they didn’t take it for granted. Many of us take our education for granted, including me. So once I got to see how dedicated these Thai students were I began to appreciate education more highly and when I got back to Australia I was eager to learn and I remember Bianca saying, “We went to teach but we were the ones who were taught.”

The Culture

Thailand is a whole new culture compared to the Australian culture, everything

is done so differently. The first few days made me feel like I was in culture shock, because I would often find myself saying, to myself, “these people do this.” However you begin to realise that this is their way of making a life from what they have. Once you understand that, you start to appreciate all the luxuries that you have in Australia. Many Thai people barely had any hot water to shower with and back in Australia we would take 30 minute hot showers without a second thought. It really gave me a greater appreciation of all the simple necessities and it taught me not to take things for granted.

Getting closer to everyone

The Thai Immersion Trip gave me an opportunity to get closer to the Thai Immersion group. This opportunity was one of my biggest highlights. At the start of the trip I would find myself thinking, “I’m not even close with these guys, what am I doing with them?” We were friendly, we were those type of friends who would just say hey and leave without a second word. However, over the course of this journey that we all took as a group, we were able to develop a special bond with one another and really enjoy everyone’s presence. By the end of the trip those friends whom I would just say hey to had turned into my second family.