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A South African Teacher's Adventures In & Out of the Global Classroom

About me
Travel Destinations
- The Middle East
  - Oman
  - Qatar
  - Bahrain
  - Jordan
  - United Arab Emirates
  - Iran
- Asia
  - Sri Lanka
  - India
  - Laos
  - Myanmar (Burma)
  - Nepal
  - Maldives
  - Turkey
- Africa
  - Tanzania
  - Swaziland
  - Kenya
  - Egypt
  - Tunisia
  - Seychelles
- Caucasus
  - Georgia
  - Azerbaijan
- South America
  - Brazil
  - Argentina
  - Paraguay
  - Uruguay
Life in Kuwait
Life in the UAE
Teaching Abroad
Contact

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Who is Expat Panda?

A fierce and fearless traveling panda who teaches young cubs despite the confusion of an African nationality & an Asian ethnicity. My website is a space for discussions on culture, race, relationships, & travels with an unprivileged passport.

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expatpanda

A 🐼 navigating the 🌎
🔹 Made in South Africa & teaching in Dubai 🇦🇪
🔸 Discussing truths about travel & expat life 🙇🏽‍♀️
Click for blogs & vlogs ⤵️

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👩🏾‍🦱 New Blog Post: The struggle of being desi & having curly hair 👩🏾‍🦱 .
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While each ethnic group has their own specific issues with their hair, the truth is that when you’re a woman of colour, wearing your hair in its natural state is just as much about politics as it is about aesthetics 🗣
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I grew up in a world where my skin colour and my hair type were at odds with each other. There was constant pressure to change my hair texture or hide it away. Not being able to let your hair just be hair, is exhausting. I saw the raised eyebrows at my curls when I had job interviews and spoke at academic conferences. People with straight hair never have to think twice about how their strands impact other people or affect their opportunities in life 🤷🏾‍♀️
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In my blog post today I share what it was like to grow up with unruly curls in a community that thought straight hair was the only appropriate hairstyle. My journey to acceptance was a long one- starting with Bollywood demonising women with curly hair (portraying them as villains) to the day my Zimbabwean friend sat next to me at university and said, “Do you know people in my country would actually pay for your hair?” 🤯
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When you wear your hair naturally as a woman of colour, you send out the message that you are not submitting to society’s beauty norms and values. Your hair is no longer a symbol of cultural assimilation, something that needs to be tamed or managed. By ditching the styling tools & chemicals, we take back control and stick two middle fingers up at everything society has taught us about a woman’s beauty and worth 😼
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Click the latest post tab from the link in my bio to read about how I had to go through a process of learning, or rather- unlearning, the hierarchal system of beauty that women are told to operate within and who helped shift my perspective 🙌🏾
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P.S. I know this has been my MOST REQUESTED topic for almost a year now but this was a hard piece for me to articulate into words! 😖

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⚠️ Why do people follow travel influencers that portray an unrealistic image of travel? ⚠️
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I did a little quiz on my insta stories yesterday asking if it’s normal to go on a holiday with ball gowns (it doesn’t seem to be) and why people follow those who do. The sheer number of responses was overwhelming (this is clearly a topic people want to discuss), so I’ll summarise them here:
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1. People follow such accounts because they love the aesthetics of the photos & clothes 💃🏽
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2. They use these accounts as destination inspiration and are well aware that nothing about the image portrayed is realistic 🙅🏾‍♀️
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3. While they don’t take travel advice from these people (especially those who go on sponsored trips), they love to look at the clothes and destinations 🌎
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4. An overwhelming 90% of responses said that this style of IG photo is outdated now and people are craving authenticity. They mentioned how absurd it all looks and how it makes them feel that these influencers don’t actually travel for the experience, but just for the likes & follows from their posed photos 📷
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My personal opinion is that people who do this are often on trips they have no idea how to plan- so they can offer me no practical advice. And I prefer to learn from things I see online rather than just admire... that’s just me 🤷🏾‍♀️ I also think that I’m not interested in following someone who is so into likes, follows and making $$ from social media in this manner... again that’s just not my interest! Thank you to everyone who sent me a response, I got over 300 and I couldn’t possibly share all! 💕 Any last thoughts on this topic?

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🚨 You don’t have to fit into anyone’s idea of how they think you should be, based on your race/ethnicity/nationality 🚨 .
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I never fitted neatly into anyone’s idea of what they thought I should be and for the longest time it caused me confusion & anxiety. I was never “Indian enough” because I had the nerve to wear shorts in public and tops with straps not sleeves. Not only did I have curly hair (how dare I) but I also had the audacity to wear it in its natural state. My decisions were not ruled by “what will people think” or religion or tradition or culture. Instead I did things because I wanted to. The nerve!! 🤯
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Then I moved abroad. I learnt that people had certain ideas of “what a woman from Africa should be like”. I spoke English flawlessly; my opinions were too liberal; I was too outspoken and challenged men when they made statements I disagreed with; my accent was not what they expected; I preferred to read books or go to the theatre than dance at street parties. “Are you really from Africa?” people would ask me 🙄
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These days people look at me with my partner and confuse themselves further; why is she with this tall ethnically ambiguous guy who is a totally different colour to her and speaks English too but also sounds really different? I see the confusion in their eyes 👀 .
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From “women drive badly” and “men are messy” to “Muslims hate Christians” or “black people are so loud”, there’s no shortage of common stereotypes about social groups. We all have multiple identities and some of them are likely to be stigmatised. While it may seem like we should just stop paying attention to stereotypes, it often isn’t that easy. False beliefs about our abilities easily turn into a voice of self doubt in our heads that can be hard to ignore 😔
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In my experience the only way to combat these misconceptions is to keep showing up and being who you are; resist the temptation to “tone it down” so you can fit in. Just being your unconventional self often challenges peoples’ stereotypes and forces them to re-evaluate their judgments. Have you had people try to put you in a box before? And how did you deal with that situation? 🧐

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🌀New Blog Post! Buenos Aires: Why this city took me by surprise!🌀
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I always felt that Argentina was this exotic land that I only ever read about it in books and saw in movies. And truthfully now that I have been I can agree that it is as lovely as it is portrayed on screen and in books! Buenos Aires has a buzz that’s one-of-a-kind: its sensual, raunchy, hip, incredibly artistic and folksy. It stems from the people, the traffic, the eclectic architecture (that ranges from cute brightly coloured colonial houses to stately buildings and steel-and-glass skyscrapers), the gorgeous murals on the walls, the quaint cobble-stone streets, the beautiful trees everywhere, the open-air markets, the tango dancers in the streets, the cosy squares, the broad boulevards…it’s in everything 💚
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In my latest post I discuss where to stay, how to get around, what to do (for little money), how to do a day trip to Uruguay and why you should add this city to your South America itinerary (especially if you’re South African because its visa free for us!). I also embedded two new videos in the post 😁 Give the post a read by clicking the latest post tab from the link in my bio. .
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After traveling as much as I have, you realize that some places earn a reputation which doesn’t seem to live up to the hype. But with Buenos Aires, I felt that not only was it able to live up to the hype but surpass it in many ways. Do you want to or have you already visited Buenos Aires? 🇦🇷

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Here’s a couple of photos I would be happy to never see again on my Instagram feed: .
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People hanging out of Sri Lankan trains 🚂 .
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People sitting in nests/swings in Bali, Indonesia 🇮🇩 .
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That one particular staircase in Santorini, Greece that everyone needs take a picture on 🇬🇷 .
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That hotel with the black and white tiled pillars in Morocco... was it in a movie or something? I don’t see what’s special about it 🤷🏾‍♀️
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Anybody touching any wild animals that shouldn’t be anywhere humans (elephants actually don’t need humans to bathe them!) 🐘
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I feel like we are just lacking originality these days. Going to the same places and taking the exact same photos that we have seen on IG... this is probably why I’m drawn to accounts that showcase lesser known destinations 📷 I didn’t bother to pay and queue for those unoriginal photos when I went to Cappadocia, Turkey and in my opinion, I still had an amazing time! What do you think? Do you feel pressure to replicate photos you’ve seen online? Do you also see the same photos over & over again? Any other photos you’d like to add to the list? 🧐

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From friend to fiancé 🐼❤️❄️
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Our wedding is less than a year away!! So far our planning has been equal parts hilarious & frustrating 🙈
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Luckily we are thoroughly enjoying the process together! Soon I’ll start sharing our planning wins & fails. Swipe to see our adorable Save The Dates which I couldn’t love more 🥰
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Drawn and designed by the talented Sophie from @little_difference 🌳

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🌀 New blog post: The Racism of Teaching Abroad 🌀
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I finally sat down and articulated my thoughts about the inherent racism crippling the international teaching circuit. I share my experiences of having to explain why my accent doesn’t match my skin colour, how parents request to move their children to whiter teachers’ classrooms when they see me and other challenges that I deal with... more frequently that you can imagine 😐
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I never wanted to write this post because I was afraid that it would demotivate people from pursuing their dreams of moving abroad to teach. But @hijabiglobetrotter inspired me to tell my story when she shared hers about teaching as a black Muslim in Spain. Teaching abroad as a person of colour is not the utopia people think it is; and sometimes I think that my mental health is too high a price to pay 🤯
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Click on the latest post tab from the link in my bio and let me know your thoughts!

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Welcome to... Would you rather? : Travel Edition 😈⁣ (Inspired by @theawkwardtraveller) 🌻
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The premise here is that you can only pick one option. On a trip, would you rather: .
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A) wake up and find that your wallet is gone? 💵 .
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B) wake up and find that your passport and phone are gone? 📱 .
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P. S. There’s more ‘Would you rather?’ scenarios in my insta stories today so enjoy cringing 😬

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Take a moment today to tag your favourite instagrammer/s here just to say THANK YOU for all the hard work that they do. Especially those who post useful information that you learn from; especially those who make no money from sharing their experiences & expertise 📝
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Speaking from personal experience, juggling a full time career, updating my blog, planning my travels and maintaining my Instagram in addition to actually having a life is very time consuming and exhausting. I sleep at 9pm daily even on weekends 🙈 So let your favourite accounts know in the comments that you appreciate them. Because that’s what kindness is. It’s not doing something for someone else because they can’t, but rather- because you can 🌻
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P.S. Pictured here with one of my favourite bloggers who I was lucky enough to meet in person and thank her for all her great content 💚

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Don’t let the influencers fool you. Travelling first class with a suitcase full of frilly dresses to expensive destinations is NOT the only way worth travelling 🙅🏾‍♀️
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When I first started travelling 9 years ago, I earned 1/3 of what I earn now. If I had thought that I had to emulate the influencers’ lifestyles, I would’ve gone nowhere 🙈 Because I lived in South Korea, I flew all those gross South East Asian budget airlines (The Air Asia website was my bestie). I wore my clothes (bought on sale) on the flights so I didn’t have to pay for baggage. I slept in hostel rooms with 6–10 other girls with my cash under my pillow. Applying for an expensive visa was out of my budget so I only ever travelled to visa free destinations. I only flew to places within a 4-5 hour radius because I couldn’t afford to go anywhere further; I only flew to South Africa to see my family because my company paid for it 🤷🏾‍♀️
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I have no regrets! I saw the same natural wonders, gorgeous sunsets and incredible structures as the people staying in 5 star hotels and who flew in first class. There’s no shame if you can’t afford a certain standard of travel; it doesn’t detract from the fact that you are making use of your ability to move across the globe & have new experiences! 🌎
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If any accounts are brainwashing you into thinking that you can only travel if you look a certain way, have a certain passport or need your travels to be sponsored by brands, just UNFOLLOW. Travel is for everyone and as long as you make responsible decisions, it doesn’t matter how you do it!! 🗺
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P.S. My earning potential may have increased but I still take budget airlines and refuse to pay for baggage (hello @salamair & @flydubai my current chums 👋🏽)

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🌀New Blog Post: A Panda Visits Iguazu Falls (The Argentinian side)🌀
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When the late US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt saw Iguazu Falls her response was “Poor Niagara.”; even she was blown away by the beauty of the falls. It’s not hard to see why- Iguazu Falls is unlike any other falls in the world. It’s enormous, all encompassing and beautiful 😍
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If you’re planning a trip to Brazil/Argentina, I strongly recommend a trip to this amazing waterfall. Unlike overhyped destinations that can leave you feeling disappointed, Iguazu Falls instantly turns even jaded travellers into raving fans. Click the link in my bio to read my latest blog post about how to visit this natural world wonder or to watch my video about my time in Iguazu Falls (on the Argentinian side) 🎥
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Have you event planned a trip to a place simply to see a waterfall? 🤔

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Anyone can keep you fed, buy you gifts and send you flirtatious texts. But it takes a real partner to help you become a better person; to build with you and work with you in building a better life 💕
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Relationships are about working through your issues together & building a strong foundation, otherwise you’re doomed to be always at war against each other. It’s also important when to know a relationship is past it’s point of repairing too... some people bring a lack of growth to the table that you may not have realized you were signing up to deal with initially. Its important you know when to recognize it and set a boundary so you can move on. And I’m not just talking about small stuff- you may not have caught the signs you were pairing up with a narcissist or someone hell bent on not growing or evolving... (been there, done that 🙄)
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Don’t settle for less just because it’s available.

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