Cultural Extremes
Cultural Extremes | Volunteer Abroad | TEFL International
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Cultural and Language Immersion - International Volunteer Work - Overseas Teaching Help
Explore the world, expand your horizons, and take part in an intercultural experience you'll never forget. Dive into cultural immersion. Volunteer overseas with Cultural Extremes. Make a difference in your life and the lives of others.. Welcome to Cultural Extremes! Hello! My name is Sean Bienert. I am the program manager for Cultural Extremes, and I'd like to tell you about our organization. However, before I do that, let me tell you some stories that might sound all too familiar. Right now, there are thousands of college graduates who, despite winning accolades in college, end up answering phones and living with their parents. Many college graduations are short lived celebrations as the average college graduate is 20,000 dollars in debt at graduation. This causes many graduates to worry about their finances and compromise any chance at an exciting career for the stability of having a paycheck. For a lot of people, this is the "real world."
Right now, there are thousands of college graduates who, despite winning accolades in college, end up answering phones and living with their parents. Many college graduations are short lived celebrations as the average college graduate is 20,000 dollars in debt at graduation. This causes many graduates to worry about their finances and compromise any chance at an exciting career for the stability of having a paycheck. For a lot of people, this is the "real world." Volunteer overseas, Cultural Immersion, International Volunteer Work There are also armies of people in the IT and finance industries whose glowing screens and cubicle walls define nine-tenths of their waking world. Some of the largest, fastest-growing, and lucrative fields in the western world are also, sadly, some of the most boring and soulless. Unless, of course, your idea of a good time is commuting, spreadsheets, and the endless pursuit of making more and more money for a corporation where you can be bought and sold as easily as the all but imaginary commodities that appear on a computer screen. To a lot of people, this is the "real world." Instead, imagine an exotic world full of new smells and experiences every day. You could be anywhere from the heights of Nepal to the jungles of Costa Rica. Imagine your friends' faces when you tell them the stories about the personalities of Khmer children or how you used to go for runs along the beach as the sun came up every morning in Thailand. Imagine your resume when you can put down that you were able to manage a classroom in a foreign country, or that you know how to read Hangul? How about that for a "real world?" Don't believe me? I am not a salesman - I tried that and wasn't any good at it. This is my true story, and it can easily be your story: In 2004, I graduated from the University of Iowa with a BA in English, a sterling academic record, recommendations from professors, and the vague knowledge that the job market in the "real world" wasn't very good. I didn't understand what that meant until I found myself in a terrible double bind. I was unable to find a "good" job because everywhere I looked seemed to require experience. In spite of the fact that I had gotten my first job at twelve years old and worked a plethora of different places from eyeglass repair to road construction, I had no experience that was pertinant to the "real world". At the same time, menial jobs ignored my applications because they knew I would quit as soon as I found something better. The "real world" wanted nothing to do with anything I had learned as an English major. My first job post-graduation was as a contract temp at a multi-national energy conglomerate. The pay wasn't bad, but I felt sick to my stomach nearly every day because everyone around me was totally obsessed with money. All I wanted to do was quit, but then I remembered the endless stacks of applications, the unreturned phone calls, and the resumes that, I presume, went directly into the "circular file." It wasn't long before I began to see that control of my life was being taken from my hands and placed on a track. Any experience I earned in that field, could only benefit me in getting jobs that were similar. I needed a change, and I needed it soon. The "real world" was beginning to look really depressing. Soon, I began looking abroad... Fast-forward to the present day. I live, usually, in Ban Phe, Thailand. I have seen things that I wouldn't have dared to imagine before and have made an impact on the lives of people I never would have even heard of, had I stayed where I was. I help people who need teachers, travel, learn languages, and constantly hear from my friends in the United States that they wish they could do what I do. (Curious to see what that is? Check out my Photo Blog ! ) I tell them what I tell everyone. YOU CAN. I would like to invite you to the world beyond an office. I would like to invite you to rewards beyond money. I would like to invite you to a real world beyond the "real world." If you want as a place where volunteers can go or people can donate funds
 Our first adopted village school is Ban Mahachai School in the rice farming village of Mahachai, Surin province, Issan, Thailand. Ban Mahachai is an hour’s drive from the provincial capital of Surin, 470km from Bangkok and 35km from the Cambodian border to the south. Surin province is best known for its Elephant Roundup Festival in November, its hand-woven cloth, rattan basket weaving, silver ornaments and Thai jasmine rice. There are also many small Khmer temples dating from the Ankhor era. read more... |
