![]() I am old school, I think most of these trends look silly and there is nothing individualistic about these styles, but just conformity to one's social group, but hell this is just an opinion from an old geezer. There is far more tolerance about these things than there was just a few years ago. Seems like she has made the expected adjustments, and over the past few years we have surely seen a change with tattoos, piercings and colored hair becoming more common in Thai society. Maybe it is because I spent a few years in the Bay area. I won't be so negative as the previous comments were. Tattoos are especially attractive on older people.something to look forward to.īy Bob Johnson, Bangkok (23rd December 2018) Which is needed if you want to be taken seriously.Īnd it gives students more to gossip about.Īfter all, it is your body, and one of your only freedoms of expression, so why not paint and poke? I say the more tattoos and piercings, the better. Outside of work however, I still keep it Bay Area ‘loud’.įatima Cacho graduated from UC-Berkey with a major in Linguistics, and is also a graduate of TEFL Campus, in Phuket. Perhaps you won’t be asked back - a bit like showing up for an interview without bearing local customs in mind. In the end, I decided respecting Thai culture bears a lot of similarity with respecting a host’s house rules: they may not kick you out for not following the rules, but you may wear out your welcome rather quickly. I switched out leggings for long skirts and dresses that went past the knee and sleeveless tops for high cut, shoulder- covering shirts and cardigans. As my course director stated on the first day of class, “If it’s comfortable enough to take a nap in, it isn’t formal enough to teach in.” Leggings have slowly been making an entrance into the San Franciscan professional world, but in Thailand, leggings are still not considered part of a professional wardrobe. I also had to replace most of my professional wardrobe. My facial appearance was not the only topic of concern. It was oddly comforting that there were differing opinions on hair style, but regardless, I erred on the more conservative side and was ready to dye my hair black. TEFL Campus’ Thai culture teacher told me my hair wouldn’t cause issue, but the Thai office manager said teachers shouldn’t have such fashion based alterations. I asked if that was okay and got different answers. As for my shaven head and dark purple hair: the shaved part grew out by the time I started applying for jobs, but the purple remained. I ended up making many compromises like switching out my sparkling jewelry with more subtle, nearly invisible, glass nose rings and studs. I had to have my ego checked by my dear friends who reminded me that I while I didn’t have to agree with it, I was not in any position to argue otherwise, because quite frankly, Thailand isn’t my country and Thai isn’t my culture. Conformity was keyīut hindsight is 20/20 and I now know I was acting like an entitled brat throwing a tantrum because she wasn’t getting her way. Having to take them out felt like I would be losing a core part of myself and I was not ready to do that. My facial piercings were more than just something I decided to do on a whim each one took meticulous consideration and planning. In the packet there is a section dedicated to dress code that stated, “All tattoos must be covered and you must take out any facial piercings during teaching practice”. With two new fresh nose piercings still healing, I received my TEFL course information packet. Then I decided to enroll in a TEFL course to teach English in Thailand, where I quickly found out that appearing “loud,” as we say in the Bay Area, isn’t quite acceptable, especially inside the classroom. Within the Bay Area culture, alternative was normal. ![]() Within my own education, I had a professor who wore mostly neon and had magenta colored hair. I’ve taught science in elementary schools with a colleague who had long pink dreads, another had stretched ear lobes, and my boss had quite the ornate nose ring. I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area, where meeting someone with an outlandish appearance - even a teacher - is an everyday occurrence. ![]() And up until I attended my TEFL certification course in Phuket, I had a partially shaved hair with dark purple highlights. I have nine piercings: three on each ear lobe, one on each nostril, and one through my septum.
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