English Teachers in the Wild

When traveling through Asia one cannot help but come across the ENGLISH TEACHER. They come in many forms, so here's a quick guide:

The Young Adventure-Seeker: 'A young cowboy named Billy Joe/Grew restless on the farm/a young man filled with wanderlust/who really meant no harm'. These are early-to-mid 20something people (in which I include myself) who, often fresh out of college, desire to travel and see the world before obligations set in.

The Orientophile: Someone who loves Asia, is fascinated by Asian culture, adores Asian people and feels more at home here than anywhere else. Often the Orientophile is the only person who can speak the local language with any skill.

The Educator: A person who's while life is teaching and who happens to be in Asia, not a person who wanted to come to Asia and took up teaching as the means. These are often (though not always) motherly middle-aged women with lilting accents.

The Spouse: The wife or husband of a big-league tycoon or diplomat who needs something to pass the time. Due to their higher social and economic status Spouses rarely socialize with other teachers.

The Woman-Hater: These are men who, disgusted by the independence and equality sought by women in the West, have come to a place where their relative wealth and status makes them desirable.

The Misfit: As the name implies, the Misfit turned to English teaching because all professions which require normal people were unavailable.

The Fugitive: A man (and it is almost always a man) seeking to flee his erstwhile home. Possibly something actually criminal' more likely a messy divorce.

The Dissolute: The Adventure-seeker plus 10 years. These English teachers never quite made it back home and now have no wish to. Their fondness for cheap beer is only exceeded by their fondness for cheap marijuana and the occasional prostitute.

Some categories may intersect.