Our Story

We’re the Windschitls. In 2018, we got the itch to make a change. We loved where we lived, loved our friends, had great jobs, family was close by… but the daily grind was grinding us down. We recognized our burn-out at our teaching jobs, and felt like our family was spread thin. We craved a more intentional life and a different perspective, something that might refresh us and bring us back to this place we love with a renewed energy and spirit. So we’re off to Thailand!

FAQs

What are you going to be doing there?

We’ll be teaching at Nakornpayap International School, which is comprised of mostly Thai kids and kids from other Asian countries. The language of instruction is English. Nick will be teaching K3 (kindergarten) and I’ll be teaching in the Academic Access Program (AAP), a structured English immersion program for students who need further development of their English skills before they can be mainstreamed at the school.

Where will your kids go to school?

With us! This is one of the things we’re looking forward to the most–all going to the same. place. everyday.

Where will you live?

Don’t know yet! It’s difficult to find housing until we’re there, so we’ll be staying in a hotel while we house search. We will live within biking distance of the school, though!

Are the kids excited? Do they “get it?”

Yep, they get it. Some days they think most of our experience will be bathing elephants, and they double check with us everyday that they’re allowed to bring their loveys. But they understand we’re moving out of our house, it’s a looooong airplane ride, we’ll have a new house in Thailand, they’ll have a new school, learn a new language, and it will be crazy hot.

What are you doing with your house?

We have renters! We posted our house for rent on our personal facebook pages hoping to find a friend-of-a-friend type situation, and we did. It fell into place seamlessly, and a wonderful family with 2 kids signed a 2 year lease! Kismet!

What are you doing with all your stuff?

We sold or donated most of it! A few pieces of furniture are staying in the house for the renters, and we were able to farm out several things to friends who were willing to use our stuff for a few years so we wouldn’t have to put any furniture in storage (thanks, everyone!). We’ll have a small storage unit for the rest. We’re selling one car, and my parents are babysitting the HO.

How long will you be gone?

If you’re our parents, SIL, Kim McDonald or my boss (there’s probably more of you), maybe don’t read this part. =) We signed a 2 year contract at the school, so we’ll be gone for at least 2 years. After that…we’re holding it loosely! It’s very easy to jump ahead and already start planning our return–house, jobs, kids’ schools… but we’re resisting as much as possible. We haven’t even left yet!

Will your schools hold your jobs for you?

Kinda sorta. Nick can take up to a 5 year leave of absence and still return to his school district. Since I’m at a charter school, I pretty much get hired and fired every year, so there’s no guarantee on paper for me, but my school has insisted they’ll take me back–whew! Technically both of us are at risk of being stuck into a high school trigonometry position upon our return, which would be both hilarious and terrifying, but we’re still going for it!

How long is the flight? Will you come back and visit during the 2 years?

Long. And probably not. It’s a 26 hour trip and we’d have to sell a kid each time we wanted to fly back. So if you want to see us in the next 2 years, come visit!

Are you going to eat so much Pad Thai??

So. much.

  • Santa brought us visitors!

    April 16, 2023 by

    We were SO PUMPED this year to have 2 sets of friends coming from the U.S. to visit us during our winter break! Our last visitors were my parents in winter 2019, so the anticipation was intense! We started planning for their visits months in advance. As winter break grew closer, it was all we… Read more

  • Doin’ it up in school year #4!

    December 21, 2022 by

    After our Minnesota summer-o-fun, it was time to get back into our Thai life routine. We were relieved to find that all the temples and elephants were still here. Thai food was still here too. First item on the to-do list was move Nick’s school to it’s new location! He has a huge, beautiful new… Read more

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