Expat Empire Podcast 15 | Teaching English around the World with Derek Straat

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Episode Description

Today on the Expat Empire Podcast we will be hearing from Derek Straat. Following acquiring a taste for being abroad during a trip to Peru for his 30th birthday, Derek decided to leave the metropolitan jungle of New York City to pursue a simpler life abroad teaching English. Following a TEFL course in Peru, he has since worked in South Korea, Malaysia, Chile, and the UAE in a multitude of roles related to English teaching.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Which certifications that you need and how to go about finding your first teaching job abroad
• About some lesser-known programs and opportunities to teach English abroad
• How to set and manage your personal expectations for the time required to adjust to life in a new country or culture
• Some tips for balancing the tension between wanting to be near home and pursuing your passions outside your hometown
• A few lessons about managing your finances while building a career abroad

…and much more! You can find out more about Derek’s podcast Enlightened Abroad at http://enlightenedabroad.com/ and follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/straatcast. Eli Hermit edited and produced the music for this episode, please check him out on Bandcamp at elihermit.bandcamp.com/. Learn more about Expat Empire and schedule your free consulting call to plan your move abroad at expatempire.com!

Episode Transcript

Intro

Welcome to the Expat Empire Podcast, the podcast where you can hear from expats around the world and learn how you can join them.

Hi everyone, thanks for joining us today for the 15th episode of the Expat Empire Podcast.

Before we jump into today’s interview, I want to give you all an update on Expat Empire in the midst of the current Coronavirus pandemic. It is never clear what to say during trying times like the ones we are going through right now. I do not want to give any generic “thoughts and prayers”-style statements that may come off as trite or insincere to the people who are really struggling around the world right now. I am sure that most things that need to be said have already been said countless times by people who are much more eloquent than me, so I will just take a minute to speak from my perspective about how this crisis has affected the broader Expat Empire community.

If you have been following Expat Empire on Facebook, you may have heard that we started the first Expat Empire Meetup here in Porto, Portugal in February. We just had our second event on March 9, and it was another great turnout with a good mix of repeat visitors and new faces. While we were a little hesitant to shake hands, we were not generally too concerned about the virus at the time. When the night finally wrapped up after several hours of interesting discussions about people’s experiences living around the globe, I left the event feeling confident that the group would continue to grow in strength and community over the next few months.

All of those feelings changed very quickly. No events have been held anywhere in Porto since the following Friday night, March 13, and the situation progressed to require a state of emergency declaration for the country on March 18. Here in Porto, the streets are empty and almost all restaurants and cafes across the city have closed for an indeterminate period of time. Pharmacies and supermarkets usually have long lines stretching around the block with people standing at least 1 meter apart. We are still at the beginning stages of figuring out what this means for our daily lives here, and we are just as uncertain as the rest of the world on how this situation will develop in the next days, much less in the next weeks and months.

As a lifelong expat, I know that wanderlust runs deep in my blood, and so the isolation and feeling of being stuck at home due to this self-quarantine can be difficult to deal with on a day-to-day basis. I wanted to release this episode about working around the world so that some of our adventure-seeking listeners out there can get a short escape from the boredom and monotony that comes with spending all day inside. Others may be thinking about using this unfortunate situation as an opportunity to make a significant life change and try moving abroad for the first time after the dust settles on this crisis, so hopefully this episode will give those of you out there additional inspiration and energy to make it happen. If there is anything that we can help you with as you think about your next steps in your journey abroad, please reach out to us at expatempire.com.

Whoever you are and wherever you are, please be sure to give and receive support from your friends, family, and fellow expats during this tough time, as we all do our best to navigate through this challenging situation.

With that in mind, let’s introduce our guest for today’s episode, Derek Straat. Following acquiring a taste for being abroad during a trip to Peru for his 30th birthday, Derek decided to leave the metropolitan jungle of New York City to pursue a simpler life abroad teaching English. Following a TEFL course in Peru, he has since worked in South Korea, Malaysia, Chile, and the UAE in a multitude of roles related to English teaching. Without further ado, let’s start the conversation.

Conversation

David McNeill: Hey, Derek, thanks so much for joining us today on the Expat Empire Podcast.

Derek Straat: David, it’s a pleasure to be here on your first few episodes. Thank you.

David McNeill: If you could tell me a little bit about your background, where you’re originally from, where you’ve lived before and where you’re currently living, that’d be great.

Derek Straat: Sure, I grew up in the US, from New York and New Jersey. And I’ve traveled around a bit, I have been living in Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, Chile, and now I’m currently in the UAE, outside of Dubai.

David McNeill: Wow, that’s quite a lot of places. And I’m excited to talk about each of those.

Derek Straat: Yeah, hopefully, we have time.

David McNeill: Yeah, exactly. So what was your childhood like? And were there any particular experiences that really drove you to wanting to see more of the world to travel to and particularly to live and work abroad?

Derek Straat: Well, I always had a pull to go. I grew up in a small town in New Jersey, and I just always had a sense that there was more out there. And for me that meant, New York City. And I always thought I’d moved to New York City, and that would be the Big Apple and everything would happen. And then once I got there, I said, maybe there’s a little more behind New York City. So I took a trip on my 30th birthday, and we went to Peru, to Machu Picchu. And that was the trip that really set me on my travels because I just said, you know, there’s so much more world to see — I’ve got to get out there and see it.

David McNeill: Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And as you mentioned, first you tried, you know, moving to New York and getting that big city experience. Was there anything in particular about that sort of overtime made you realize that actually, that didn’t solve that yearning or desire for something bigger, crazier? You know, going from a smaller city to a big city. I also had that experience. And I thought maybe that would solve my wanderlust. And I also found that it didn’t. And I’m just curious about your experience and why that might be the case for you.

Derek Straat: Yeah, that’s a good question. I realize I just jumped about 18 years on you. But, yeah, to be honest, it was stress, the stress of the city that really did it for me. And if I’m going to be really frank with you, I think it was more about trying to escape that. And I found a more relaxed lifestyle abroad in South America. So I think that looking back, it was a good thing to have that stress in New York, and that sort of rat race grind propelled me to search outside.

David McNeill: And when you decide to make that your next step, at least moving abroad, did you decide first to continue in Peru or how did you make the decision as to where to move first, and how to make that happen?

Derek Straat: Well, I fell in love with Peru instantly. And of course, as I’m sure you know, travel and working abroad are two different things. So the travel side of Peru was fascinating and exciting. And I went back and did my TEFL Certificate in Cusco in the same place where I sort of fell in love with the country. And yeah, so I started my journey there, but it was quite different when you actually start living in a place and I learned that in a few weeks, and it was not exactly the same thing. You actually had to make money, you actually had to function, you know, differently in this society than if you were just a guy in a hostel, you know, climbing a mountain, right?

David McNeill: Right. So what was the process like to get your TEFL Certificate — what was required? How many months did it take? And, you know, what recommendations would you have for other listeners that are interested in potentially doing that in the future?

Derek Straat: Yeah, that’s a great question. I often wonder about that, now as well because I did my TEFL in 2006. So at that point, the industry has changed quite a bit since then. And any basic TEFL could have gotten you a job in Asia or something. And now I believe the standard has gone more towards CELTA and the Cambridge version of the TEFL, it’s a bit more recognized in jobs abroad. So I’d also recommend going for a teaching certificate in your home country that also helps a lot. I think TEFL is important and if you could get TEFL its good but if you’re going to go now and decide, I would say go for the CELTA and then also consider the teaching certificate in your home country. Those two things should be good enough to get you most basic ESL jobs abroad.

David McNeill: Thanks for information. So what were you doing exactly in New York, before you decided to make the jump abroad, and had you ever considered teaching English abroad before?

Derek Straat: Well, I was an actor in New York for eight years. And, as you know, the old stereotype of actor, you also are a bartender at times or waiter. So I was pretty much living that Joey Tribbiani stereotype of New York actor. However, I started not to get as much work, and I came back from Peru and I found a ESL School in New York and immediately fell in love with teaching these guys in New York, who were from all over the world. I had Peruvians, Brazilians, Japanese, Koreans, all these multinationals in my class. And I felt like I was traveling again, but I just went to 28th Street and 7th Avenue in New York, you know. And so it was then that I said, okay, this could be something. And also I make this joke, but as an actor, you’re, you know, as a teacher, you have a built-in audience and they have to pay. So as an actor you don’t always have that built-in audience. So I think it satisfied a lot of the things and also I was doing good things for them as well.

David McNeill: Yeah, that’s fantastic. And as you got your certification in Peru, and you had that experience of being able to teach other students English as well, what was your actual first teaching job abroad?

Derek Straat: My first teaching job abroad besides the school in Peru was Korea, South Korea.

David McNeill: And how did you decide upon South Korea and actually find a position there that enabled you to make that move?

Derek Straat: At that time, South Korea was, I guess, I don’t want to say peaking… their golden age of teaching in South Korea was almost over, let’s say, and it was very popular to go there. So everybody was going there. And a lot of the classmates from my school had mentioned it. So I just went on a website — I can give you some links later if you like that are helpful — and you know, saw a bunch of jobs in Korea and I applied and I got lucky because I got one of the government teaching jobs, it was called GEPIK. And I’m not sure if they’re still doing GEPIK now I can check for you. GEPIK and it was a very good job and I got lucky with my school and I had a great time. So it was really just networking, I think once you get in the scene and you start doing ESL, you ask other teachers, and that’s pretty much how it started.

David McNeill: And that particular program when you applied for it and got that job, did they help you out with relocation with getting an apartment and getting acclimated to the school life? How did that all work for you?

Derek Straat: Yes, that was one of the best things about that job. They took care of the flights and the visa and the housing and everything was set up. You were under the school, and they had an orientation for us. It was really well organized, and I couldn’t have been luckier in that sense where the only thing I had to do was turn up and meet someone. And I had to sort of translate the Korean. But, you know, they wrote my name in English, somewhat, so I got it. And that was it.

David McNeill: Were you able to pick up much Korean while you were there or obviously, as an English Teacher? I imagine most of your day was spent in English but was that something you had an opportunity to do or an interest in?

Derek Straat: Yeah, I did. And I remember there was another podcast you had here for someone saying they learned English in Korea. I was listening to that and I had a very similar experience. And I agreed with that episode as well, because it’s the most important thing I did was to learn Korean right away. I went to one of those speaking… they call them “speaking cafes” and you would partner with a local Korean who wanted to learn English. And you would essentially do a language exchange in the cafe. And it was like a club, so you made friends and you learn the language. And that was the best thing I did because I was able to assimilate more quickly into the culture.

David McNeill: Were you actually making friends through that route and actually making local friends? Or did you make most of your acquaintances and close friendships through, work or through meet-up groups, or how did you actually build your network and community in Korea?

Derek Straat: Well, I was working in a school where I was the only foreigner so I had a forced group of Korean friends there, and I didn’t have any other foreigners around. So I was forced to learn Korean in a way which was a good thing. The groups and cafes was one way to do it at that time, again, this was 2009. So I’m sure it has changed a bit, we weren’t so much into the online meet-ups and things like that it was more like if you saw a foreigner walking around, you might check up a conversation because the town was quite far from Seoul.

David McNeill: For the town that you were placed in, was that figured out by the government’s program? Or did you have a say in it? How did that work?

Derek Straat: That town was completely figured out by them. It was a program, so, yeah.

David McNeill: And how did you find being outside of the big city? Was that sort of freeing and enabled you to kind of, I don’t know, pursue a different type of life outside like you mentioned getting away from New York in the big city, or would you have preferred to see some more of the activity and things to do and so on?

Derek Straat: At first, I thought I wanted more activity. And I thought that I wanted more foreign friends, things like that. I would be a little envious when I took the long bus ride into Seoul and saw these groups of expats, but now, looking back, I think it’s the best thing I did because I really learned the cultures and customs and I was able to make some decent connections with local Koreans. And I don’t think I would have learned as much Korean as I did had I lived in Seoul, you know.

David McNeill: Absolutely, I’m sure it made you be a bit more self-reliant, and certainly gave you a different sort of experience than if you’d lived in Seoul, where there certainly are a lot more foreigners as you mentioned.

Derek Straat: Yeah. And it was, you know, the first few months were lonely, and that was hard. But I think like I said, looking back, it was the best thing that I did. Like, I think you said self-reliant. Yeah, I had to figure it out. You have to kind of look and say, okay, it’s just me, and I can barely figure out how to order food. So you know, what am I about? And let’s get into that book that I wanted to do or write that, you know, write that journal. I wanted to write and all these things you get to do.

David McNeill: Yeah, definitely. So how long did you spend in Korea overall?

Derek Straat: I was in Korea for two years.

David McNeill: And then after that, you’ve obviously spent time in many other countries. And probably, as you mentioned, we can’t get through all of them today. But in general, how did you think about making your move from one country and teaching position to another one? How did you make that happen? You know, what was your process as you decided to move, really across the world?

Derek Straat: Yeah, I have a bit of a different story there. And I don’t mind sharing it. But I fell in love with an old friend from home over email. And so I went back home, and this was the time, I didn’t even have WhatsApp at the time. So we were writing each other these love letters, and I said, “Okay, I’m going to finish my contract. And I’m going to go home to be with this girl.” And we had just this beautiful email romance. So it wasn’t so much a decision on the country, it was more just the decision of the heart. And so that’s why I left Korea.

David McNeill: Yeah. And then from there, so you went back to New York, I guess. And what was your thinking as that relationship and your life developed from there?

Derek Straat: Well, when I went back to New York, we immediately met each other and realized it was a mistake. It was one of those things where, you know, what did I do? I immediately contacted my recruiter, I said, “Can you get me back to Korea?” They said, “No, not right now because it’s a process to do that.” So, I repatriated for a bit and I had the reverse culture shock going on for a while. And then a few months later, I found a job listing for this teacher trainer role in Malaysia and got that job and moved to Malaysia.

David McNeill: And so in that role, you weren’t actually teaching students English language as foreign language students, per-se, but more as teaching teachers to teach, I guess you could say.

Derek Straat: Right, correct. So it was a big jump. Yeah, it was nice for us.

David McNeill: Yeah. What was that like, though moving from you know…? You really enjoyed being on the stage in front of younger students, but now teaching other expats the ropes.

Derek Straat: It was fantastic because now we did workshops, and we didn’t have the regular class schedule. So it was a bit more freedom I like to think, it was as if going from high school and then you go to university, where you have a bit more free time. Your classes are three days a week as opposed to every day. And so we had a bit more freedom, we had bigger audiences of adults, which is always different because the behavior management is different, and I loved it, it was a wonderful opportunity. Malaysia was great.

David McNeill: Yeah. And so going into Malaysia a little bit so you, you left Korea, you had your experience there for a couple of years and got acclimated to that environment. You went back to New York and had to readjust to the American way of life and then going to Malaysia, which I suppose was maybe your first time there. What was that experience like for you? And how did you get adjusted and acclimated to that new environment?

Derek Straat: I thought, at that time, this is a very interesting question. Because I always thought that if I changed the country, I would change my problems. Either about the way I was behaving, or myself or the way my life was going, I thought, I’ll just change the country, and everything will be fine. And that was sort of my naive approach when I went to Malaysia. And I realized that you take the same head with you, you take the same person, the environment changes, but so it was good because I had the same patterns arises in Malaysia as Korea, and this time I was able to say, okay, you know, maybe it’s not the country, maybe it’s me, and I got a chance to work on them.

You know, one of the examples I could give you was the lonely part in the beginning, and I think I had emailed you when we were talking before about 3, 6, 9 months or something. And what I realized was, and I don’t know if this is for everyone, but for me, the first three months were sort of filled with adrenaline and excitement, you know, everything’s new. And then the following three months were sort of the opposite because now it was, nothing was new anymore, but I didn’t know anybody and it was a bit lonely. And so I found that pattern again, in Malaysia, and I recognized it and I said, okay maybe there’s something to this, maybe I need to just stick it out. Do the things that worked in Korea, like finding friends, going to clubs, and, you know, assimilating into the culture as I can, and just go through it; understand that it’s a process.

David McNeill: And how did it adjust from the six months on and into your couple years that you were in Korea, and now? Now, you’ve been in multiple countries for a couple years each.

Derek Straat: Yeah. I wondered if everyone has that experience, I’m sure it’s not the same timeline. But I do notice that as time goes the absorption into the culture becomes its different levels. And even so, six months to a year was another experience for me, it was more about not being so lonely, not being so excited, but finding a middle ground. And then I think, after I’m in a place about a year, I feel almost more like a local. And then I know where I’m going, I know where things are. I have friends that I can call for a coffee or beer or something, and it feels more comfortable. So that was interesting to experience that after a year, and then going Malaysia I went for a third year which was a whole new thing for me because that was the first time I spent more than two years abroad.

David McNeill: So was it because that experience working at that job was so positive or what about it made you decide to stay even longer?

Derek Straat: It was a combination of things. The job was really, it was a very good experience for all of us. I love the country and we were making a good wage. And the great thing about Malaysia is, it’s so centrally located to so many cool places, travel places in Asia, Southeast Asia. I don’t know. Have you been there?

David McNeill: Yeah. Yeah, and I completely echo the sentiment.

Derek Straat: Right. So I was living in Malacca, which is two hours from KL — Kuala Lumpur. And, you know, I was on a bus or I took a car to the airport and I could be in Bangkok or Indonesia or Cambodia in a couple of hours. It was great.

David McNeill: So then you did three years there and you felt more like a local. Why did you decide to move once again?

Derek Straat: At that point, actually, there was no love interest in New York. So it was actually the contract ended and we were done. So I finished my contract. And I had a bit of saving so I decided to one more time give New York a try and repatriate again.

David McNeill: What did you find when you got there this time that you have some of the same readjustment challenges or did you find it easier now that you’ve been away long enough, maybe you’ve gotten a bit homesick or something like that?

Derek Straat: Yeah, I thought at that point, I said, well, I’ve done now about five years abroad, let me try home and I missed my family. I have great friends at home. And I didn’t miss so much home; I missed the people a lot. I wish they would just come to Malaysia. I said, why don’t you guys come to Malaysia? We can all live here. But of course, you can’t uproot all your family and friends. So I thought I would give it a try, and at this point, I had done a really smart thing, which I would recommend to all your listeners, I got my Master’s Distance Learning while I was in Malaysia. So I made good use of my time there by doing that program. So I left Malaysia with a good amount of savings and a Master’s Degree. So I thought at that point, well, now I can go teach in a University in New York. So I thought that’s what I do.

David McNeill: And did that manage to work out for you or did you get attracted to yet more opportunities abroad at that point?

Derek Straat: Well, it did actually. I worked in a University in New York, I worked in City University of New York, CUNY. And the thing I found out was that I mean, I was an adjunct professor, but the perks were not as good as abroad, the pay was not as good and New York was more expensive. So those things that I got abroad like, my housing, my flights, and medical insurance, for example, I didn’t have and it became again a bit of a struggle to make it.

David McNeill: How do you feel about that now looking back at it thinking that it’s actually maybe an easier and more comfortable life living abroad as opposed to actually where you’re from and even working at a university, which was your goal at the time?

Derek Straat: It’s frustrating in a way to me because I really do want to be around my friends and family. But I also don’t want to take a job that I’m not good at or, you know, qualified to do. Right, so it’s sometimes a bone of contention between me and my family and friends and they said, we’ll just stay here and get a job and I get a little angry and I say, well, fly me, buy me a flight and give me medical insurance. And I’ll stay, you know, and it’s not the right reaction to have, but I mean, it’s frustrating. So, I don’t really don’t know the answer, to be honest. But you know, something would have to change either the system there or my profession would have to change for me to do that now.

David McNeill: That makes perfect sense. I can definitely identify with that. And there’s even times where you want to say, guys, I spent thousands of dollars coming back to see you every Christmas, can you just come out here for a couple weeks and hang out? Or it should be more of a two-way street. But unfortunately, most of the people are back there. So you kind of have to do it anyway. So as you saw that maybe that career and the opportunities that were available to you at CUNY were not as attractive as you’d hoped to take a look back at some of those job boards and re-engage with the opportunity to live abroad again.

Derek Straat: I did, I did and I was forced to work again in a bar-restaurant when I was there because I couldn’t quite make my rent just from the adjunct professor job. So that really propelled me into it again, because I thought at this point I was almost 40 years old and I was bartending again. It’s not what I wanted to do, but you know, grateful that I had it because it was good money and I was able to support myself. But I said I got to go. So, I applied for the English language fellowship for the US Department of State. And it came through after about two years abroad, and that was my sign to go. I don’t know if you know that program. Do you know it?

David McNeill: I don’t. If you could tell us a little bit about that, that would be great.

Derek Straat: It’s a great program. The Department of State runs a fellowship program with Georgetown University and they do contracts for professionals and I think the only requirement is you have a Master’s in your field. And so mine was education. So I was lucky, I had that Master’s. And they offer 10-month contracts to go abroad to multitude of places and work with their education systems to develop them. So, I got that job. I got the interview and I just said this is it; it’s time to go again.

David McNeill: What was it like to pack once more to move abroad again, especially after two more trials trying to make it in New York and New Jersey?

Derek Straat: At that point, I had resigned to the fact that I’m different. I’m an expat at heart and I felt good about really giving it a try for two years again. So it had been two years, I think we said that but my family and friends were really supportive because they saw that I was not as happy. And they said, look, we love having you here, but not if you’re going to be unhappy. And so it was easier to go that time and I felt like okay, I really gave it a shot, I gave the repatriation a shot. I read something when I went back after Malaysia that said, give it one year back home before you make any decisions. And I think that’s smart advice. They said make sure to give it at least one full season before you decide to go again. And it’s smart because you tend to want to jump back right away. But I think doing the full season gets you acclimated back to home, you know, to the full cycle of seasons or holidays as you do, and that was important advice. So I’m glad I did that.

David McNeill: So where was the first location that the English language fellowship sent you?

Derek Straat: They sent me to Chile.

David McNeill: Nice. How did it feel to be on a completely different side of the world from your previous living abroad experiences?

Derek Straat: I was elated because that’s where my journey started in Peru and I thought, oh great I’m going back to you know, I’m going back to South America. I can’t wait; it was also a bit closer to home from New York. Not so much in terms of flights but at least I was on the same time zone pretty much that made a difference.

David McNeill: Yeah, that helps a lot I’m sure. And now that you were doing this for I guess the third time by this point outside of the times when you moved back to the United States. Was it easier did you learn any tips or tricks that made the process of adjusting to life in Chile easier this time around?

Derek Straat: It’s funny because I think I should have learned right at that point, but it was almost like I kept being reminded of okay, just take it easy. No same exact thing. Three months, I was super excited. And then I was a bit lonely. And I said, okay, I remember this. So I think it was more just a reminder. And like, okay, I’ve seen this before. Don’t react too much. I also had put in place, health, and wellness things personally, that I used. I used meditation, and sports I think is really important. I think someone mentioned that on your podcast, too. And it’s very important. I think that I took these practices I had at home, that I developed at home that I took them abroad. So it’s almost like I grounded myself in these things that I know worked for me, and I could take them anywhere. So I felt okay, I know a bit more now. Who I am? What keeps me grounded? Even though this place is wild and different I can still center myself a bit if that makes sense.

David McNeill: Yeah, absolutely. And I suppose it goes a bit full circle to the notion that you know, you are who you are despite the location that you’re in. So to that extent, you might as well continue doing the things that you love, even if a location changes. Is that your thinking at the time?

Derek Straat: That’s, yeah, that’s well put. Very well put. Yeah.

David McNeill: So how do you to the extent that you have to navigate the bureaucracy and legal systems of all these different countries that you’ve been in, is there I don’t know any tips or commonalities or like how do you think about dealing with visas finding jobs? Do you always get a job before you make the move? How does that work in your process?

Derek Straat: Well, I would say the one common denominator is that you need to have patience in all situations with foreign bureaucracy, I mean, even domestic bureaucracy, but nothing runs like you think it should or does at home, right? So I think just entering it with a level of patience, sometimes you might go to the office, and it’s closed for lunch, and you just have to go the next day. And that’s not such a common thing, and if you come from a place like New York where, you know, you get things back immediately. And so I think just taking a bit of patience into those situations will go a really long way.

David McNeill: Yeah, I would definitely agree. And I’ve been surprised to find that pretty much every government system that I’ve had to deal with is pretty much equally slow. So any hope of moving to make that process easier and more painless has failed me so far, but I still somehow have some hope for the future.

Derek Straat: Well, I like the approach your friend from Berlin took, right, he just said he brings a pile of paperwork and keeps going in and eventually they approve it. So I thought that was a good way to do it.

David McNeill: Absolutely. Sometimes you just have to overwhelm them and they just get so flustered and fed up with dealing with you. They’ll force it through and give you whatever stamp that you need just to shut you up. So you adjusted and had a great experience there in Chile. So was that only for 10 months? Or were you able to elongate that?

Derek Straat: Unfortunately, the US fellowship is a 10-month contract. Yes. And they work. And if you do one fellowship, you go at the bottom of the pile for the next round, because they like to have new people come in. That’s the whole idea of the program. So I found myself in a wonderful job, in a wonderful country, but unfortunately, I had to go without hope of renewing that one. So I had to move on.

David McNeill: And where was next for you? And how did you find that position?

Derek Straat: I actually took a break and I decided to just do a bit of traveling and decide what my next move would be. I found a great place in Ecuador where I did a work away. Do you know what work away is?

David McNeill: No, tell me a little bit more about that.

Derek Straat: Work away is a really cool thing. But work away is basically like woofing. Do you know what woofing is?

David McNeill: Yeah, definitely.

Derek Straat: So it’s a similar concept where you can go and offer work for usually room and board and go do something you’re interested in. So I went to Ecuador and I worked on a farm and did natural building for a month. And, you know, they gave me free board and we cooked all our meals from the farm. It was really cool. And I just had a month to kind of decompress and say, okay, what’s next? You know, where do I want to go?

David McNeill: Yeah, that sounds pretty different.

Derek Straat: Totally different. And I think that’s good. If you have the means to do that in between jobs, to just take a little time and just reflect on what the next move should be. It helped me a lot anyway.

David McNeill: How did that help you figure out your next move or like what sort of revelations are through your self-reflection what came to the forefront is being important or helpful in your next move?

Derek Straat: Well, a few things. One of the things was I really liked that lifestyle. And I thought, well, I would like to do this someday, I don’t want to just be a teacher for the rest of my life. And if, in order to do that, I need to actually have some real savings and capital come in. So it almost made me you know, in a way, grow up a bit and say, okay, let’s make this now your personal business. Set a goal, and make sure you have enough money where you can actually do something like this, purchase a property and start this kind of initiative when you’re ready. So that propelled me to go to the Middle East, because currently in the ESL world, the Middle East is the highest paying gig you could get.

David McNeill: So yeah, it’s clear that that was definitely a big mindset shift for you and made your next opportunity a bit more clear, given the entire world in front of you. It made it easier to narrow things down, I suppose.

Derek Straat: Yeah, it was an important time.

David McNeill: Now that you’re working in the Middle East in another English teaching job, and you’re thinking about the future and how you can build wealth in order to have the lifestyle that you want, maybe on one of those natural farms somewhere in Ecuador. What tips and advice do you have for our listeners about how they can best utilize their salaries and keep and put money away toward building toward their goals while they’re in an English teaching job or just working abroad in general?

Derek Straat: It’s something that I have surely struggled with abroad is saving enough money. I was never great at it. I always had enough money but I would say it’s the basics of saving is something my grandmother taught me, is just pay yourself first. And I heard that from her a long time ago, and that’s always run true with me and basically what that means is, whenever you get your paycheck because usually on these jobs, we get paid monthly. And that’s kind of a lot of money at one time. So you go, I’ll just buy all this stuff. And I think the first thing I do when I get paid is I pay myself. And what I do is I take that money and I put it into a savings account. And whatever amount of money you allot, its fine. But make sure that that’s the money you pay first, before rent, before anything, and then whatever’s left, then you pay your bills, you pay your important things. And then what’s left from there is your spending money. And this way, it’s almost like you treat your savings as a bill because, you know, you would never like not pay your rent, right? But not paying yourself or you’re saving sometimes you don’t do that in the month. So I think if you know just make that a priority and then you can extrapolate from there, or I guess you want to do like the big view instead that say like the overview of what you want to save, and then just break it down per month what you need to put in per month. That’s worked for me. So that I just know that the most important thing to pay is my savings. That’s why I’m here. It’s not that trip to Thailand that I want to take or that cool new bike that I want to buy. You know, that’s the purpose of being here. So hopefully, that’s some good advice.

David McNeill: Yeah, definitely I can see how that would be very helpful to a lot of people, myself included, but as you think about, as you mentioned, maybe that trip to Thailand or another weekend getaway, is it now because you’ve been abroad for such a long period of time over multiple years in multiple geographies that you feel less compelled to, you know, see everything and traveled to every country? Do you think that that’s part of the change in your mindset toward that or do you think that you have this mindset towards savings anyway?

Derek Straat: That’s a really, really good point. And you might be onto something there. Because I think at this point, I have seen over 50 countries, and I know which ones I’d like to go back to. I don’t have as much wanderlust now as I did. But I think now my thing is more about having meaningful experiences in countries, as opposed to just a quick vacation. So I’m thinking more long term.

So I know I want to go to India, for example, but India from the Middle East is a three-hour flight, three, four-hour flight, but I’m not going to go on a weekend. So I’m thinking, okay, how can I do India for four months, where I spend, you know, a smaller amount of money and I get more for my time there, as opposed to these quick flights back and forth? So I think that is true. I think that you’re right about that.

David McNeill: Yeah, because it’s hard enough for me to put spending on myself first when I can think about all the cheap flights I can get through Ryanair here in Europe. So that’s part of me asking is trying to give myself a break for not always paying myself first.

Derek Straat: Well, if you have Ryanair, then that’s a different story.

David McNeill: Yeah, well, that’s also true.

Derek Straat: But don’t you guys have a good train system there?

David McNeill: Yeah, we do have a great train system as well. And even coming for me from Tokyo now to Berlin. It’s just the wealth of opportunities for cheap travel. Of course, Japan has plenty of travel opportunities and great trains and everything else, but it can get very expensive, even just going across the country round trip could be $300 or something like that, and it’s such a small country. So now being here, where, you know, I just got back from a week in Serbia and I did Montenegro and I’m trying to like basically knock out a bunch of the Balkan countries. But it’s also not the most expensive flight and not the most expensive country so I’m not going to Norway every weekend. So at least that’s how I mentally give myself a pass.

Derek Straat: Well, it’s enticing and I got to be honest, I just went to Cairo last weekend because the Red Hot Chili Peppers were playing there. So I don’t always take my own advice, but I did pay myself first that month. So I thought okay, this is a ticket I have to just jump on. So…

David McNeill: Yeah, I don’t blame you. That sounds like an awesome time.

Derek Straat: Yeah, it was worth it.

David McNeill: So is there anything else that you’d like to tell our listeners before we wrap up?

Derek Straat: Well, I just think that if you have, for somebody out there who thinks that they want to explore this life. It’s a great way to see the world and also make money and I always looked at teaching abroad as a way to travel without watching my savings go down. Instead, I watched my savings go up and I think that’s a different type of travel, you learn different things. But in the end, you get usually a good bonus. And you get some time off to travel in between, and you learn some things about yourself. So I would just say jump. If there’s any feeling like I might want to do it, or maybe I should, I would just say, jump, do it. And also make sure that you don’t quit your job before you get the contract back because it can take a long time.

David McNeill: Now that’s good advice.

Derek Straat: What I mean by that is don’t quit your current job in your home before getting a… I’ve done that before. And that’s a bad move because they take a while sometimes.

David McNeill: Yeah, it’s good to know. So how can our listeners find out more about you and what you’re up to?

Derek Straat: Well, as I mentioned in our first exchange, I was inspired by your podcast, I was starting my own podcast called Enlightened Abroad. And I was searching for the podcast network of expat podcasts, and I came across yours. And I said, how damn, this guy’s got a great podcast, there’s no room for mine. But I realized that it was actually a different approach. And so I am super, super thankful to you for having me on and also for being really supportive in the fellow podcaster world. So they could check out Enlightened Abroad, it’s on all the podcast channels, now. Outside of that on Twitter and Instagram at Straatcast. So that’s where I’m launching all of my blogs and podcasts from, so I use my last name plus cast instead of podcast.

David McNeill: I like it.

Derek Straat: Thanks.

David McNeill: I’ll be sure to put links to it in the show notes and definitely appreciate somebody else trying to take on the world of expat podcasting and getting the word out about the great life that we have out here and opportunities for people around the world.

Derek Straat: Yeah, I’m happy to share that also because it’s more about searching for meaningful experiences and spirituality, things like that abroad. And I have some cool guests on as well, so I think it could be a… I think there’s space for all of it, you know.

David McNeill: Absolutely. Well, look forward to seeing how things evolve for you and where the world might take you next. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and your story and look forward to talking to you soon.

Derek Straat: Thanks for having me on.

Outro

Thanks to Derek for sharing his story with us. You can find the full transcript from today’s episode at expatempire.com.

Music on this episode was produced by Eli Hermit, please check him out on Bandcamp and Spotify.

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Originally published at https://expatempire.com on March 24, 2020.