It was around February of 2018 when I had to do my last visa run in Malaysia before I got the job in food panda. Well, only a foreigner who likes to work abroad even without proper visa would understand why do we have to take visa runs. It’s common in Thailand and Malaysia. Don’t worry! It is legal, but it’s still better if you have a working visa so you won’t have to exit the country every 3 months or worst, every month.
I’m originally working in Bangkok, Thailand. Unfortunately, my visa runs run out before I processed my working visa with my school (Yes, I’m a teacher 🙂 ) so I had no choice but to move in Malaysia and to be honest, I felt like it was planned by HIM for I have a purpose in there. It was a 50-50 happiness and sadness for I wasn’t able to have a stable job in Malaysia at first due to age limit. But still, I am so grateful for everything that happened to me. I met new amazing people and I had the chance to work in the same school as my boyfriend.
My first try to work in Malaysia was just a good will of the principal in the school where my boyfriend was working. He gave me a chance and a special place in the school even my visa is still on process. Even though we / they tried, it still didn’t work so I have to find another job that doesn’t require an age limit unlike the teaching profession and that is when I got the job in food panda but before that, I have to do another visa run. Luckily, during that time, the school where I’ve worked with is in the boundary of Kedah, Malaysia and Hat yai, Thailand. So, we have this one student named Perth (thai student) with his sister Pie. They cross the border everyday to get to the school and we asked them if I can stay with them in Thailand for about a week since I was really broke that time and cannot afford to stay in a hotel or pay an agency to work for my papers so I had to do it alone and staying with them would be a lot safer for me.
Well, I’m only an ESL teacher in the school and I really don’t have a homeroom class or consistent students or parents to deal with but I am so blessed to be a part of that school and all of them became my friends so quick. The fact that Perth’s parents helped me and accommodated me for a few days was so much blessing but that’s not the only thing they gave me.
They showed love, care and whole-heartedly treated me as their family member for the whole time I am with them. They brought me to the places where they go to as a family. They gave me a treat in the restaurants that is really special for them for it was the kid’s favorite.
I can’t thank them enough for those days they gave me a new hope. They gave me such an amazing experience to be with a Thai family. I didn’t even expect that I would have an opportunity like this when I worked abroad.
But like what I said, I felt like God has His purpose on everything that happened to me. It made me cry, broke, hopeless, helpless but above all, it made me STRONGER, it STRENGTHENED my FAITH. Having the people like this family made me believe that unconditional love still and really exist.
Just like how God works, TRUE LOVE, ACCEPTANCE, UNDERSTANDING and CARE comes during those times you LEAST EXPECT it.
