mind boggled

Out of curiosity, I just added up all my paychecks and tutoring money from my 10 months of teaching English in Thailand. I was a little obsessive and kept exceptionally good records of everything I made and spent.

In that time, I earned about $7,300. Not much, right? And I brought home nearly $4,000 of it (in cash, on my person, on three flights, mind you).

My mind was just boggled at the amount of things I was about to do with a mere $3,300 in that length of time. Things like...

- Four weekend trips to various beaches (two to five hours away from Bangkok)
- Daytrips to various parts of the city and other provinces
- Four-day trip to Cambodia
- Three-week trip through Vietnam, Laos and northern Thailand
- Weeklong trip to southern islands
- Bought a professionally-tailored work wardrobe, including a black suit, five pencil skirts, four trousers, five long-sleeved button-down shirts, a tailored jacket and a little black dress
- And, you know, paid electric bills, got massages, ate breakfast most mornings and dinner every night, saw movies, had coffee and smoothies and bought loads of souvenirs and jewelry

If only my American pennies would stretch so far.