Interesting personal events have transpired today that lead me to reflect on an age old quandary of the ESL teacher abroad... socilaizing with students. My former employer expressly forbade student-teacher socialization, so much so that it was a part of the contract we signed. For the most part I didn't socialize with students, but more due to the nature of my job than the contract stipulation. The fact of the matter is that for anyone engaged in teaching a language to speakers of another language, to go out and socialize is in effect lengthening your class, unless of course the socializing takes place in a different language from that which is taught, and that is rarely the case, and I would like to apologize for what must be the world's most poorly constructed sentence. To ESL teachers who have been around for any amount of time in a country socializing with students is often undesirable and at times torturous. I make the analogy of the doctor who is hit up for medical advice outside of work, or the cook whose friends would like him to whip up a little something. When you spend all day at a task, you probably don't want to continue that task in your free time. There are exceptions. Love interests are a definite exception. If your conversation partner is attractive it is easy enough to sit through verbal misconjugations and missing articles. The other big exception is the newly arrived teacher - and most ESL teachers fall into this category. For this individual, mixing with the locals is big part of the reason they are teaching. They probably do not have enough language skill to make contacts in the local language and probably also lack a social network. It is because of this that so many ESL teachers spend time outside the classroom with their students.
The whole idea of a(n) (anti) socialization policy is an interesting debate. On the one hand, your employer shouldn't be allowed to dictate your free time activities/associations, yet even at home there are certain expectations around 'professional distance' that educators are expected to conform to. The other issue that is unique to the ESL teacher is that of what is being sold. If I have beer with my Algebra professor, we are not necessarily talking about A's over 3's (whatever the hell I mean by that?) , but the ESL teacher is most likely providing a service very similar to that which the students are getting in class when the teacher socializes. That brings up questions of business ethics and employee loyalty. In short, there are some pitfalls that are inherent for the ESL teacher who 'hangs' with the students. Does that wind me back to today? Why yes. I exchanged numbers with a student last week, mostly out of genuine surprise and non-anticipation of the situation; I didn't want to be rude. At the previous workplace the you know the Nova rule, don't you? was usually enough to dissuade students from trying to make plans with me. No such policy to fall back on here. The other thing that ran through my mind was, 'Why not? I don't really know anyone in Khon Kaen and I am not as stale on the Thai student yet as I was on the Japanese student.' So he called and after some phone tag, and a talk with my girlfriend (I don't want to go into that) I had a brief, uncomfortable conversation with him in English (maybe more uncomfortable for me) trying my best to excuse my way out of a party. I will see him tomorrow in class. No big deal really, but I don't know how far you can push the 'next time' thing sincerely. In the end, that may be the biggest argument against socialization with students - no matter what happens you still have to face them the next day in class. To each his/her own, but I prefer that my friends are just that...friends.
Friday, February 11, 2005
The Thai media is something. Everything is something, but the Thai media is really something, if you know what I mean, and you probably don’t. I don’t know much about the media in terms of reporting, but in terms of images I have never seen such visceral, bloody photos appear in newspapers or on TV elsewhere like I have in Thailand. Let’s say the headline is Local Official Shot Dead. In other countries you might get a picture of the bereaved wife, the scene of the crime, or possibly the official when he was alive. In Thailand you get the prone corpse in a pool of blood with two bullet holes in what used to be the local official’s face. Not a lot left to the imagination.
Thai TV is quite fun too. The acting may actually be worse than that off Japanese TV, but we would really be splitting hairs here, so I leave it as equally loathsome to Japanese acting. The acting isn’t that fun, but the dramas are. Usually no language skill is necessary. The plots revolve around super-rich people who are evil using their power to ruin others lives. Now where is the escapism in that? Seems to me like everyday reality. The best, though, is the ghosts that appear in the dramas. The Thai all believe in ghosts and from time to time some terrible actor with white powder on his face will show up in someone’s home… it is supposed to be scary. I won’t go into too much detail, but imagine a group of Junior High School students given professional AV equipment and then casting some of their friends and asking some other friends to write the script – that is Thai TV for you.
Thai TV is quite fun too. The acting may actually be worse than that off Japanese TV, but we would really be splitting hairs here, so I leave it as equally loathsome to Japanese acting. The acting isn’t that fun, but the dramas are. Usually no language skill is necessary. The plots revolve around super-rich people who are evil using their power to ruin others lives. Now where is the escapism in that? Seems to me like everyday reality. The best, though, is the ghosts that appear in the dramas. The Thai all believe in ghosts and from time to time some terrible actor with white powder on his face will show up in someone’s home… it is supposed to be scary. I won’t go into too much detail, but imagine a group of Junior High School students given professional AV equipment and then casting some of their friends and asking some other friends to write the script – that is Thai TV for you.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Learning is essentially going from a state of ignorance to one of knowledge. We are ignorant of something and through the process of learning we come to understand the thing. Most human beings grasp the process of learning as such, nonetheless I have come across, and continue to, some people for whom the process of learning can never really commence because “I don’t understand.” Of course you don’t understand, if you understood you wouldn’t be sitting in my classroom. Once again I have one of these students in my class. It’s a beginner’s class and there are some different ability levels in the class, but they are all more or less false beginners per the ESL terminology, meaning they have had some exposure to English, the alphabet and have a passive vocabulary of several hundred words. In any case, this one lady almost immediately starts in with ‘I don’t understand’ in Thai. I was trying to convey the basic How are you? greeting. It doesn’t matter that the student instantaneously grasps the concept. Over the passage of time (every time we meet and start the class) they will come to understand that they are using a greeting. For the purposes of teaching using the direct method (only using the target language) it is enough to teach the appropriate responses to the question. To the uninitiated there are only several acceptable ways to answer what is really more of greeting than a question – I’m good, thanks. You? / Not bad, yourself?/ etc.. So again, it’s just a question of retaining at least one response. As we went around the room everyone did fine with the concept, except for Ms. Mai Khao Jai (don’t understand). I have encountered the same thing in Japan and will not pin this trait on any one nationality. I find it more laughable than anything else. Imagine I ask a physics professor to explain to me the theory of relativity. The first thing s/he does is to write E=MC2 on the board. As soon as s/he finishes, but before the explanation begins, I raise my hand and say “I don’t understand”. That is essentially what this type of language learner is doing. Exasperating.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Monday, February 07, 2005
Yesterday it was a short trip to the village to vote in the national election. Thaksin, the incumbent, and his Thais Love Thailand party (has a certain ring to it?) were again elected to power. I don’t pretend to know, or care, much about the Thai political scene, however Thaksin is a populist and everyone in the village excluding my girlfriend was voting for him. Why? Because, according to the villagers (none of whom I have ever seen with a newspaper), he was going to give everyone a cow. I am tempted to twirl this around pizza-like in the air and make every facetious comment possible about it, but I’ll just let you ponder it quietly once more – the villagers voted for him because they think they will all receive one cow. Now that I think of it, didn’t Bush use the same tactic to capture the Midwestern vote? Or was it the promise of one pig per household that garnished him the Southern vote? Well, Thaksin was successful in large part due to the Isaan vote. I hope he knows a good cattle wholesaler.
In other news, my girlfriend has found a job in a dental clinic. When she asked about her schedule the dentist said, “We’d like you to work (such and such), but ask your boyfriend first.” It seems that the lady is actually going to allow Pocky to set her schedule around my desires. Hmmm… I am also starting another class that will run Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I will be working five days a week. I don’t know if I have it in my anymore. The lady at the school started talking about the visa process again. I am thoroughly convinced that she has no clue whatsoever, but this is Thailand, so if I go with the flow things often turn out all right. Again yesterday at the voting poll a policeman came up to me and shook my hand. Even when we were stopped for driving without a license plate (hey, the dealer said we could!) the cop only looked at my New Hampshire license - like that means anything. In all my dealings with the police – and there have been more than I would have liked – never once have I had to furnish any ‘official’ ID, such as passport, driver’s license or alien card, which, incidentally doesn’t exist in Thailand to my knowledge. So, I am assuming that I could stay here in rural Thailand for the rest of my life and never have any problems. It’s just the leaving part that’s a bugger. But imagine it, a lifetime in Isaan with no need for legal status. Aren’t you jealous?
Yesterday it was a short trip to the village to vote in the national election. Thaksin, the incumbent, and his Thais Love Thailand party (has a certain ring to it?) were again elected to power. I don’t pretend to know, or care, much about the Thai political scene, however Thaksin is a populist and everyone in the village excluding my girlfriend was voting for him. Why? Because, according to the villagers (none of whom I have ever seen with a newspaper), he was going to give everyone a cow. I am tempted to twirl this around pizza-like in the air and make every facetious comment possible about it, but I’ll just let you ponder it quietly once more – the villagers voted for him because they think they will all receive one cow. Now that I think of it, didn’t Bush use the same tactic to capture the Midwestern vote? Or was it the promise of one pig per household that garnished him the Southern vote? Well, Thaksin was successful in large part due to the Isaan vote. I hope he knows a good cattle wholesaler.
In other news, my girlfriend has found a job in a dental clinic. When she asked about her schedule the dentist said, “We’d like you to work (such and such), but ask your boyfriend first.” It seems that the lady is actually going to allow Pocky to set her schedule around my desires. Hmmm… I am also starting another class that will run Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I will be working five days a week. I don’t know if I have it in my anymore. The lady at the school started talking about the visa process again. I am thoroughly convinced that she has no clue whatsoever, but this is Thailand, so if I go with the flow things often turn out all right. Again yesterday at the voting poll a policeman came up to me and shook my hand. Even when we were stopped for driving without a license plate (hey, the dealer said we could!) the cop only looked at my New Hampshire license - like that means anything. In all my dealings with the police – and there have been more than I would have liked – never once have I had to furnish any ‘official’ ID, such as passport, driver’s license or alien card, which, incidentally doesn’t exist in Thailand to my knowledge. So, I am assuming that I could stay here in rural Thailand for the rest of my life and never have any problems. It’s just the leaving part that’s a bugger. But imagine it, a lifetime in Isaan with no need for legal status. Aren’t you jealous?
Friday, February 04, 2005
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
So I am online now. It was simply a modem error that was easily rectified, but it was the fact that someone more knowledgeable than the broad (that’s the best word I can think of for her) that usually answered the phone picked up when we called to inquire yet again as to why we weren’t connected. In short, she had completely lied about why we couldn’t access the net on several occasions – the best being when she said no one in Khon Kaen was connected at the time. I am starting to learn the Thai penchant for lying versus admitting ignorance of something.
I forgot to mention my Sunday snake beheading. The little bugger slithered into our kitchen. He probably was able to slide under the screen door. I think I have fixed this problem now, but let me say that we have had rats, roaches and lizards in the kitchen and I thought I had every last crack and cranny duct-taped. So I go into the kitchen and the little thing scared the bejeezus out of me. I jumped onto the counter like an agile middle-aged housewife. I don’t know what species of snake it was, most likely harmless, but I ain’t gonna find out with a bite to me ankle, so we stood on kitchen chairs and tried to chase the thing outside. It got under the refrigerator and I gave it a good blast of roach killer. It didn’t take to that. It stuck out its little head and hissed, hissed, hissed. I swung my sword (don’t ask) and missed, missed, missed. Before I go the Dr. Seuss route anymore, in the end I managed to decapitate my angry belly-ambulating friend. Ha, take that. In truth, I hate snakes and even after it was without head the nerves kept it undulating. Plus, it was still lodged under the fridge and I had to pull it out. Nasty. We caught a rat earlier on and that was gross as well. Stuck on our glue trap the thing would occasionally try to raise its stuck head. Pocky had to dump it in the trash due to the fact that she bought the trap (I thought I could simply plug the hole and avoid the slaughter). I won’t bore you with roach stories, but we got all varieties of those too.
Friday, February 04, 2005
Well, it’s my last day off before I start my rigorous weekend of teaching. In fact, I think I am only working on Saturday. The national election is held on Sunday and everything is shutting down. Of course I wasn’t told about this by the school, so whether I am teaching or not we will find out – typical of Thailand, but who am I to complain. I don’t exactly have the tightest schedule in the world. So a whole five days have passed and the one task I had to complete remains uncompleted. That is going to a clinic for a medical certificate as part of my visa application. Anyone interested in a humorous take on the Thai Visa situation should check out my column at www.ajarn.com . In the job realm, I applied for a job at a Kindergarten and was promptly informed they were looking for someone with a degree in early childhood education. Fair enough. Sour grapes, but I wasn’t that keen on teaching that age group full-time, though I have certainly taught, and enjoyed, three, four and five year-olds. The thing that attracted me was a great salary package. I had to give it a shot. They were offering 10,000baht more than my current employer, plus insurance, airfare home and housing allowance. Here’s the question I ask myself, “Who are they going to find with desired degree?” Even in their ad they admit that Khon Kaen doesn’t have a lot to offer the foreigner in terms of free time activities. Basically, the person, most likely woman, would have to speak fluent Thai and like Khon Kaen or have a Thai partner. I have seen about one foreign woman to every twenty foreign men here. I don’t think it takes a genius to guess why. The point is Khon Kaen is not a place that someone without a lot of language skill and gumption is going to try on their own and that doesn’t really mesh with my image of a Kindergarten teacher. It will be interesting to see how long the ad runs.
Some pics of Khon Kaen at http://community.webshots.com/user/mattheweric
So I am online now. It was simply a modem error that was easily rectified, but it was the fact that someone more knowledgeable than the broad (that’s the best word I can think of for her) that usually answered the phone picked up when we called to inquire yet again as to why we weren’t connected. In short, she had completely lied about why we couldn’t access the net on several occasions – the best being when she said no one in Khon Kaen was connected at the time. I am starting to learn the Thai penchant for lying versus admitting ignorance of something.
I forgot to mention my Sunday snake beheading. The little bugger slithered into our kitchen. He probably was able to slide under the screen door. I think I have fixed this problem now, but let me say that we have had rats, roaches and lizards in the kitchen and I thought I had every last crack and cranny duct-taped. So I go into the kitchen and the little thing scared the bejeezus out of me. I jumped onto the counter like an agile middle-aged housewife. I don’t know what species of snake it was, most likely harmless, but I ain’t gonna find out with a bite to me ankle, so we stood on kitchen chairs and tried to chase the thing outside. It got under the refrigerator and I gave it a good blast of roach killer. It didn’t take to that. It stuck out its little head and hissed, hissed, hissed. I swung my sword (don’t ask) and missed, missed, missed. Before I go the Dr. Seuss route anymore, in the end I managed to decapitate my angry belly-ambulating friend. Ha, take that. In truth, I hate snakes and even after it was without head the nerves kept it undulating. Plus, it was still lodged under the fridge and I had to pull it out. Nasty. We caught a rat earlier on and that was gross as well. Stuck on our glue trap the thing would occasionally try to raise its stuck head. Pocky had to dump it in the trash due to the fact that she bought the trap (I thought I could simply plug the hole and avoid the slaughter). I won’t bore you with roach stories, but we got all varieties of those too.
Friday, February 04, 2005
Well, it’s my last day off before I start my rigorous weekend of teaching. In fact, I think I am only working on Saturday. The national election is held on Sunday and everything is shutting down. Of course I wasn’t told about this by the school, so whether I am teaching or not we will find out – typical of Thailand, but who am I to complain. I don’t exactly have the tightest schedule in the world. So a whole five days have passed and the one task I had to complete remains uncompleted. That is going to a clinic for a medical certificate as part of my visa application. Anyone interested in a humorous take on the Thai Visa situation should check out my column at www.ajarn.com . In the job realm, I applied for a job at a Kindergarten and was promptly informed they were looking for someone with a degree in early childhood education. Fair enough. Sour grapes, but I wasn’t that keen on teaching that age group full-time, though I have certainly taught, and enjoyed, three, four and five year-olds. The thing that attracted me was a great salary package. I had to give it a shot. They were offering 10,000baht more than my current employer, plus insurance, airfare home and housing allowance. Here’s the question I ask myself, “Who are they going to find with desired degree?” Even in their ad they admit that Khon Kaen doesn’t have a lot to offer the foreigner in terms of free time activities. Basically, the person, most likely woman, would have to speak fluent Thai and like Khon Kaen or have a Thai partner. I have seen about one foreign woman to every twenty foreign men here. I don’t think it takes a genius to guess why. The point is Khon Kaen is not a place that someone without a lot of language skill and gumption is going to try on their own and that doesn’t really mesh with my image of a Kindergarten teacher. It will be interesting to see how long the ad runs.
Some pics of Khon Kaen at http://community.webshots.com/user/mattheweric
Monday, January 31, 2005
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
Interesting last couple of days (actually it’s hard not to have an interesting day when you’ve just moved to a foreign country). We are now moved into a nice, little house that rents for 100$ a month. We are quite pleased with our find. It’s about five minutes outside of town in a ‘moobahn’, meaning village. It would probably be considered a middle class, Thai neighborhood, though there’s too much litter on the ground for my liking. Pok’s father has come out for a couple of days to paint the interior and we just got our bedroom set today. Splashed out a bit and got classy, three piece bed, armoire, and vanity table set that ran about 650$. Could have saved, but this is something we hope to have for a while and the stuff that was a couple hundred cheaper came with exposed screws and generally looked cheap. The place looks to have a lot of potential. I am a bit concerned about transportation into town and whether I made the right choice getting the place before the job, but frankly even a cheap guesthouse would have run about 250$ a month, double what we’re paying here. Plus, we are only locked into a six month contract, so I have to believe this is the right way to go. Funny enough, the lady down the street who stopped into to say hi today also speaks fairly fluent Japanese.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Another several interesting days have passed. We have the interior of the place all painted and the bedroom is in place – looks really nice. We also picked up some nice, locally made curtains (I sound like some kind of vagabond Martha Stewart). Yesterday we stopped by the Honda dealership looking at a new Honda Jazz, basically a hatchback compact. The day before yesterday I did an interview at small private English school. The lady was pretty keen on me; and the school despite being a startup seems to be well organized. It was also obvious that a fair amount of money had gone into the space itself. That, at least, bodes well for them staying in business for a while. In other words, there’s someone with money behind the venture. It would be an interesting change. She (one of the co-partners) needs a teacher who can do business and test courses, so I would be fairly valuable. The salary and benefits are pretty good for this area, though nothing jaw-dropping. I am seriously considering it as opposed to one of the bigger schools. I think if it worked out it would be a very nice change from Nova, while being similar enough that the transition wouldn’t be too hard. The thing is with the big guys, you know you’re paycheck is assured, the ‘however’ is that you have relatively little value to the company as a whole, as much as you may be appreciated on a micro-level, hence when decisions are made to eliminate planning time, you’re not considered. That much kind of puts me off the big guys. Hard choice, but the upshot is that I think I have a full-time position if I want it.
Another entry for my mother to avoid – we took the motorcycle we’ve been borrowing to the village in order to pick up the remainder of our furniture and to visit Pok’s uncle to ask him to guarantee our car loan. Now, I probably should write this up with some more detail but the scene was pretty good. I guess this guy owns a telephone, but nobody really wanted to call and find out where he was, so instead we toured the northeast of Thailand looking for him. Finally, we find him with his ‘second wife’ camped out in back of a house in construction. I probably should jump back and mention why this particular individual could ‘guarantee’ our loan. It seems that he is employed by the national electric company, and being a government job this holds some weight. Anyway, we roll up on this guy and after what appeared to be some heated talk he agreed to it. Here’s the thing, in Isaan they have what must be considered the strangest body language-per-meaning in the world. They spend the majority of the conversation giving dismisive back-hand waves and eyes upward nods, all of which gives the non-speaker the impression that they’re constantly telling one another to get bent. So, when we went to ask this favor, my first impression was that this guy was telling us “not a chicken’s chance of a natural death” in terms of his help, but, as stated, that was far from the case.
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Another exhausting day of shopping and money spending. Looks like the car is ready to go as of Saturday. That means that I’m going to have to visit the ATM several times at least to ensure that I can pay 200,000Bht in cash, roughly the equivalent of five thousand US. We bought a living room set-up as well and that has also been put up.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Well, a bit of a snag with the house. It seems that landlords are shysters the world-over. Basically we are getting a good deal, but we were told, in fairly certain terms, that we could get a phone line if we desired, by extension the internet. According to my translator (and girlfriend) the guy is now saying that a phone line is not possible. I’m a bit pissed off at this development. That, and the other day the moronic landlord dropped by a can of propane that was leaking. When the Pok called him to complain he said, “Yeah, I knew it was leaking, but I didn’t think it was a big deal”. Fucking idiot. In an effort to see the silver lining in this cloud I am considering how much time I waste on the net that I can now throw into studying, writing or something else more productive.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
The car saga continues as it seems the uncle is no longer qualified to guarantor a loan. Now we are paying a friend of a friend ten-thousand baht to perform the service. Somehow I didn’t imagine that farmer was going to be seen as a reliable guarantor for a loan. The lady from Be Smart school called me today as I was paying for food at The Big C, a department store we have made far too many trips to. I couldn’t quite understand all she was going on about, but I believe she wants to hire me to start a new course she’s opening. Hopefully this will turn into something full time. I have to go see her tomorrow. I’m having a good time getting situated, but not exactly stress-free. Also, I’ve been eating like a pig, a fact I attribute to one 45 kilo Thai girl I spend most of my time with, who, herself, can certainly put away the food. I got to get back on track with exercising.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Met with the ladies at Be Smart today. The plot is thickening indeed. They are interested in hiring me full time, but there are more hitches than I like. First and foremost, it seems they will only need me full-time for a couple of months and then I would go back to a part-time status. It also appears that they know little about the visa process, so that’s also a worry. Nonetheless, I have agreed to teach a two hour class every week starting on Saturday the 22nd. They won’t need me to go full time until the beginning of March. I will seriously start checking around about other schools, i.e. the big guys, AUA, ECC tomorrow. There still is something attractive about the laissez-faire attitude that exists at Be Smart, but I am not sure it’s enough to rope myself into a potentially bad situation for.
Friday, January 14, 2005
Yesterday was pure laziness. I have started to workout again. As always it’s easy to start something, but hard to maintain it. I have put on a few pounds/kilos this winter as leaving Japan and arriving in Thailand both made for a healthy amount of consumption. I think I’ll be able to drop the weight once I establish a routine. This morning is the first gray day I’ve experienced since arriving. That makes for 27 sunny days in a row – remarkable. I do find it hard to get stressed in Thailand to the same extent I do elsewhere, but let’s not forget I haven’t started working yet. We are supposed to go sign papers on the car today, and if Mitsui-Sumitomo is kind to me then we’ll also be able to pay the down payment and drive off with it. My first true car (excluding the one that was given to me in college and lasted for half a year). I feel like Toad in The Wind and the Willows, “motorcar, motorcar, motorcar!”
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Well, it’s done. We have successfully got ourselves a motorcar. Not without some fanfare, greasing of palms and a sleepover by Ma Song, who, incidentally is starting to “get on my tits” to quote a Londoner I used to work with. Perhaps it is time to end this entry as the motorcar awaits and we are, once again, driving to the village.
Sunday, January 23, 2005
A week passed and so much has transpired that I don’t know where to begin, or more precisely, when to begin. Last Monday we drove to Bangkok. There is a whole, frustrating story there, but to drive the five hundred or so kilometers through Thailand was quite something. I don’t know that I would do it again in the near future, but, still something indeed. We ended up returning the next day. Later in the week found us again in the village in an attempt to get her driver’s license. I say attempt, so you would be right to assume failure. In brighter news, I have just started teaching my first class. It is really enjoyable teaching a new nationality. There are seven people in the group and per stereotypes they are more energetic than the average Japanese student, though pronunciation is much more an issue with Thai speakers than Japanese. It’s too soon for me to say how this job is going to work out, I was told that I would be starting a TOEFL class this week, but, sure enough, come Saturday it was still waiting to fill. I don’t like how the school administration is living up to stereotypes in the efficiency department.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Pocky finally got her license yesterday on the second attempt. It was a day at home for me. A couple of seedy looking Brits with their Thai girlfriends on the back of their 100cc motos rolled up in front of the house yesterday as I was raking in front. One of the guys evidently lived in the neighborhood and was helping his mate get a place. Now it seems this mate owned a bar in Phuket that was, I assume, washed out or just gone bankrupt from the effects of the Tsunami. I didn’t really inquire too much. They wanted to know if the houses next door were for rent. I was trying to think of a way to put them off the neighborhood, but couldn’t quite come up with anything. One of the neighbors who is moving next month showed them her house, but I heard them mutter something about too expensive before driving off. The truth is, it’s not a bad area, but there is one thing about the place that subtlety irks me. There’s any empty lot in front of us and across the lot is some sort of small factory that pumps out “Maw Lam” music Monday – Friday, 7am to some time in the evening that I am never able to pin down, probably because it’s not consistent. For the neophyte, Maw Lam (pronounced like a Frenchman would ‘damn’) is a popular form of music in this part of Thailand, Isaan. The lyrics are in Lao and the music sounds like some crappy rock ballad with the main instrument being the electronic organ. At its better moments it is almost melodious, but more often just plain odious.
The Thai seem not only impervious to loud music being played at all hours of the day and night, they actually seem comforted by the endless vacarm. One of the first comments my girlfriend made about our neighborhood was that it was too quiet. I suppose the Thai are consistent in their attitude toward noise. Japan was undoubtedly the noisiest place I ever lived and yet the Japanese shot odd glances at people speaking too loudly on the train and driveled on endlessly about the how loud foreigners were. I couldn’t begin to remember the number of times that there were complaints around loud parties from Japanese neighbors of foreign residents (I don’t disagree necessarily), but never once did anyone seem upset about the loud motorcycles coming and going in the middle of the night (I’m not talking about the bosozoku gangs, but rather the University students that all owned bikes that were made intentionally loud, the latest trend has to do with a modified scooter that is almost as loud as a Harley). It would appear to me that as long as the noise in Japan is mechanized it’s OK. Trains, planes and automobiles are all all right – after all they are signs of how “modern” Japan is. But the second a human voice is heard…Oh no. I always found the dichotomy in noise relations one of the many ironies about Japan.
The telephone installation guy has just arrived. Now I am already generalizing about Thailand, but, contrary to stereotypes the Thai are efficient in some areas. Every thing we have bought relating to the house, mainly furniture, but also a gas stove and shower heater has been installed on the same day or shortly thereafter and usually in a timely fashion. It does kind of give me the impression, especially with the expensive furniture store, that there was a crew of delivery people just hanging out in the back with nothing to do before we came in. Still, I can’t complain about a lot of the service we have received here. In terms of living up to stereotypes, the Academic Director at Be Smart seems to be filling that role. Only last week she was keen on me starting a course this week, which has been postponed until who knows when. The nice thing about the Thais is that they don’t get too upset when things (dishes, plates, etc.) aren’t returned promptly, but it is definitely a two way street. I wouldn’t go dropping off a pie plate at someone’s house (let’s end the sentence there) and expect it back anytime soon.
Well, the telephone is installed, but we are still waiting on a call back from the telephone company before we can get the internet hooked-up. We’ll keep our fingers crossed on this one.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
We got a membership at Tsutaya the other day, which will mean something for the Japan based readers. It’s a video rental shop headquarted in Japan. In Thailand the VCD is a very popular format and Tsutaya carries more VCDs than DVDs. The VCDs are all dubbed in Thai and without setup options, so I am reliant on the limited DVD collection, still not too bad at about a dollar a day to rent a film. Still waiting on the internet connection. I have the modem set up, but the woman at the phone company claims it might take the system a while to recognize my account. Am I to believe that even inanimate technology like computer terminals and wires function in the same lackadaisical manner that the people here do?
Yesterday we went to aerobics for the second time. There’s a lake in the city around which is a pedestrian path used by lots of joggers and walkers. At several points there are outdoor recreational facilities and in one place there is something stadium like in which they have big aerobics classes. It costs a whooping 5baht, 15cents to attend. You drop your change into little boxes near the entrance on the ‘honor’ system. I am actually a bit sore from the class.
The school administrator called me yesterday asking if I was available for another weekend class. Of course the answer was ‘yes’. I asked if it was going to start this coming weekend. “Oh well, I still have to check if there are enough people interested.” This is what I find interesting about Thailand – there seems to be endless speculation on what could be done, than checking with all parties involved and some more delays, than confirmation with one party, then the next, then back to the first party to make sure that in the interim plans haven’t changed, and then checking with the second party to the same end. It’s not so different from Japan, except the time frame seems more fluid and certainly longer. As a teacher I find it a bit exasperating, but I can only imagine what it would be like for the students. For instance, the school wants to start a TOEFL class and they have some interest, but not enough yet. The lady has called about five people and told them about the class. Ostensibly they have agreed to join, but she hasn’t given them any definitive date. She must have given some sort of tentative date without commitment. Then she tells me (after postponing the class indefinitely due to lack of enough interest) that another student is interested. What are all of these people doing? Waiting by their telephones hoping for a call? I think not. They are after all Thai and probably think this is the norm, nonetheless tests have specific dates and test courses should be run in order to prepare people, and here’s the key word, prior to the test. I imagine even in Thailand the big schools must set course dates and follow through on them regardless of class capacity. Who knows? I’ll just hope for the best.
I am still not online, nor do I believe that I will ever be at this rate, despite the fact that the modem is connected and the phone is on. The initial diagnosis of “one hour” has turned into several days before the system will recognize me. The lady also added unsolicited that foreigners often get impatient about such things. This is an attitude that I have encountered in Japan as well. It cruxes on stereotyping people in order to waive any responsibility for one’s incompetence by shifting the onus of a mistake onto the “foreigner”, as it were. It is paramount to saying “I’m going to screw up, but don’t you dare complain because that would be just like a foreigner, and you don’t want to act like a foreigner, now do you?” And the truth is that I often fall for the routine in an effort to not reinforce stereotypes. Once anyone pulls out this line of thought on you it is very hard to combat, unless you are someone who just does not give a shit how you or other “foreigners” are viewed. For me, I see a large part of my efforts as an overseas educator being the negation of stereotypes, so it is very hard when I see myself stepping into one. Not so much that I care how I am individually perceived, but I often think of the next foreigner who is going to interact with this person (in this case the woman at the phone company). Are they going to be on the receiving end of some crap treatment because of me? I am sure that I have been the victim of bad foreigner on more than one occasion. Without going into trivial detail, I’ll recount one such episode. Basically, near where I worked in Japan one video store had an unfair policy toward foreigners. It consisted of a surplus of documentation, plus a Japanese person as a guarantor before getting a membership. Imagine that. You actually need a Japanese adult, and evidently anyone would suffice, to get a freakin’ video member’s card. If I had had more free time I can think of a homeless bum who would have gotten a free lunch for coming to the store with me. Anyway, one of the teachers I worked with went through the process of getting a membership and then admitted to some real juvenile shit in dealing with the store – late returns that consisted of leaving a tape on the counter and running out before anyone saw her. It’s almost hard to get upset at people for their views when stuff like that happens. Of course a Japanese person could do the same, but I definitely noticed a lot of younger ESL types pulling shit that was immature and stupid in Japan, and though I can’t say for sure I believe that being abroad may have contributed to this.
Saturday, January 29, 2005
I have four hours of teaching today. Not a lot compared to what I used to do, but it is funny that when that is the only thing on your schedule you put a lot of forethought into it. So the current schedule is four hours on Saturday and Sunday meaning that on Friday I am starting to gear up for my work week. I really hope that the TOEFL class opens soon because now that everything has been bought there’s not a hell of a lot to do during the day. I suppose another car wash might be in order as I screwed up the last one pretty good.
A decent day on the teaching front. I had a “general English” class that consisted of 10 adult learners. The age range was about 25-40 and they were all fairly low level. I love it how administrators, novice teachers and students themselves often think that a “general conversation” class is easy to teach. First of the appellation general is a load of shit. Has anyone had a general conversation ever?
“Nice day, huh?”
“Yeah, where were you born?”
“New York. Are there many rooms in your house?”
It’s a complete load of shite from the beginning. Granted there has to be some term to designate such a class. My real gripe is that people think that talking about “general” things is quite easy. One of the co-directors of my school told me that the class would be easy because it was just a general class without levels, so I could talk about what I liked. Well, I don’t think that we’ll be talking about Skaldic verse or migratory patterns of the red-chested gibbon, which means we ain’t talking about what I like. Really, I think these kind of non-descript, do-what-you-like classes are as challenging a thing as exists. Give me a test course any day. Something intricate with lots of material to get through is what makes the life of an experienced ESL teacher bearable. That is the key reason why I always loathed the Nova conversation lounge – there was no teaching involved. I have never been a wonderful conversationalist as my girlfriend will no doubt attest to, and only with a beer in my handed do I actually enjoy long periods of jaw flapping. The above considered, it was still a relatively good lesson and imparting things to a group of ten is far more dynamic and challenging for a teacher than facing four in a class as I did at Nova. It’s more tiring as well. Maybe I am just out of the work routine. My second class of the day went well enough, but the more I look for differences between Thai and Japanese students, the less I find. The two guys in my class today were participating to a fair degree, but they weren’t really trying to expand on any ideas. It was enough that they were answering the question. This may have to do with confusion about learner roles, but some of the hesitancy I see looks to conform to a Thai ideal of behavior that really isn’t that far off at all from the Japanese. Sure enough one of the other teachers I was talking with today pulled out the old “Japanese are boring” stereotype while admitting he had never been there. Not that he’s wrong, but the guy has been in Thailand five years. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that there wasn’t a huge difference… except of course in salary.
Two stories I have come across recently. Collateral with Tom Cruise is a slick looking, talking action movie with plot holes the size of canyons. I actually enjoyed the Cruise character as the existential spouting hit man. I thought the Jamie Foxx character (for which he was nominated best supporting actor) was ok, though a bit too sniveling. The funny thing about the mediocre film is when you actually start to think about the story it becomes frustratingly implausible. It works when you watch it the first time because it moves quickly enough without trying to over justify itself, but I couldn’t watch it a second time. The other story, book I have been reading is The Fourth Hand by John Irving. I would call myself a fan of the author, but this book is not at all one of his best. It is a bit reminiscent of his early work The 158 Pound Marriage. It is supposed to be comic, but he uses too many facile devices – the worst of which is several conversations with Japanese people who confuse r and l sounds. This gag was stale in Lost in Translation and it ain’t any funnier here. Evidently, Irving thinks if he includes a lot of zany characters and situations in a novel than it is comedy. I think he should stick to the melodramas. Definitely can’t recommend this book at all.
Monday, January 31, 2005
There was a glimmer of hope that I would be online today as the weekend is done and the latest excuse is that no one in Khon Kaen has an ADSL connection temporarily. I think the word “tomorrow” was thrown about again, but as we all now tomorrow never comes. Well, my work week over I can finally relax for the next five days. All this free time should be a good thing, but it is hard getting motivated about any single task when you have a whole day to do it. I think I’ll make myself a coffee and run through my Thai verbs once more.
Interesting last couple of days (actually it’s hard not to have an interesting day when you’ve just moved to a foreign country). We are now moved into a nice, little house that rents for 100$ a month. We are quite pleased with our find. It’s about five minutes outside of town in a ‘moobahn’, meaning village. It would probably be considered a middle class, Thai neighborhood, though there’s too much litter on the ground for my liking. Pok’s father has come out for a couple of days to paint the interior and we just got our bedroom set today. Splashed out a bit and got classy, three piece bed, armoire, and vanity table set that ran about 650$. Could have saved, but this is something we hope to have for a while and the stuff that was a couple hundred cheaper came with exposed screws and generally looked cheap. The place looks to have a lot of potential. I am a bit concerned about transportation into town and whether I made the right choice getting the place before the job, but frankly even a cheap guesthouse would have run about 250$ a month, double what we’re paying here. Plus, we are only locked into a six month contract, so I have to believe this is the right way to go. Funny enough, the lady down the street who stopped into to say hi today also speaks fairly fluent Japanese.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Another several interesting days have passed. We have the interior of the place all painted and the bedroom is in place – looks really nice. We also picked up some nice, locally made curtains (I sound like some kind of vagabond Martha Stewart). Yesterday we stopped by the Honda dealership looking at a new Honda Jazz, basically a hatchback compact. The day before yesterday I did an interview at small private English school. The lady was pretty keen on me; and the school despite being a startup seems to be well organized. It was also obvious that a fair amount of money had gone into the space itself. That, at least, bodes well for them staying in business for a while. In other words, there’s someone with money behind the venture. It would be an interesting change. She (one of the co-partners) needs a teacher who can do business and test courses, so I would be fairly valuable. The salary and benefits are pretty good for this area, though nothing jaw-dropping. I am seriously considering it as opposed to one of the bigger schools. I think if it worked out it would be a very nice change from Nova, while being similar enough that the transition wouldn’t be too hard. The thing is with the big guys, you know you’re paycheck is assured, the ‘however’ is that you have relatively little value to the company as a whole, as much as you may be appreciated on a micro-level, hence when decisions are made to eliminate planning time, you’re not considered. That much kind of puts me off the big guys. Hard choice, but the upshot is that I think I have a full-time position if I want it.
Another entry for my mother to avoid – we took the motorcycle we’ve been borrowing to the village in order to pick up the remainder of our furniture and to visit Pok’s uncle to ask him to guarantee our car loan. Now, I probably should write this up with some more detail but the scene was pretty good. I guess this guy owns a telephone, but nobody really wanted to call and find out where he was, so instead we toured the northeast of Thailand looking for him. Finally, we find him with his ‘second wife’ camped out in back of a house in construction. I probably should jump back and mention why this particular individual could ‘guarantee’ our loan. It seems that he is employed by the national electric company, and being a government job this holds some weight. Anyway, we roll up on this guy and after what appeared to be some heated talk he agreed to it. Here’s the thing, in Isaan they have what must be considered the strangest body language-per-meaning in the world. They spend the majority of the conversation giving dismisive back-hand waves and eyes upward nods, all of which gives the non-speaker the impression that they’re constantly telling one another to get bent. So, when we went to ask this favor, my first impression was that this guy was telling us “not a chicken’s chance of a natural death” in terms of his help, but, as stated, that was far from the case.
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Another exhausting day of shopping and money spending. Looks like the car is ready to go as of Saturday. That means that I’m going to have to visit the ATM several times at least to ensure that I can pay 200,000Bht in cash, roughly the equivalent of five thousand US. We bought a living room set-up as well and that has also been put up.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Well, a bit of a snag with the house. It seems that landlords are shysters the world-over. Basically we are getting a good deal, but we were told, in fairly certain terms, that we could get a phone line if we desired, by extension the internet. According to my translator (and girlfriend) the guy is now saying that a phone line is not possible. I’m a bit pissed off at this development. That, and the other day the moronic landlord dropped by a can of propane that was leaking. When the Pok called him to complain he said, “Yeah, I knew it was leaking, but I didn’t think it was a big deal”. Fucking idiot. In an effort to see the silver lining in this cloud I am considering how much time I waste on the net that I can now throw into studying, writing or something else more productive.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
The car saga continues as it seems the uncle is no longer qualified to guarantor a loan. Now we are paying a friend of a friend ten-thousand baht to perform the service. Somehow I didn’t imagine that farmer was going to be seen as a reliable guarantor for a loan. The lady from Be Smart school called me today as I was paying for food at The Big C, a department store we have made far too many trips to. I couldn’t quite understand all she was going on about, but I believe she wants to hire me to start a new course she’s opening. Hopefully this will turn into something full time. I have to go see her tomorrow. I’m having a good time getting situated, but not exactly stress-free. Also, I’ve been eating like a pig, a fact I attribute to one 45 kilo Thai girl I spend most of my time with, who, herself, can certainly put away the food. I got to get back on track with exercising.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Met with the ladies at Be Smart today. The plot is thickening indeed. They are interested in hiring me full time, but there are more hitches than I like. First and foremost, it seems they will only need me full-time for a couple of months and then I would go back to a part-time status. It also appears that they know little about the visa process, so that’s also a worry. Nonetheless, I have agreed to teach a two hour class every week starting on Saturday the 22nd. They won’t need me to go full time until the beginning of March. I will seriously start checking around about other schools, i.e. the big guys, AUA, ECC tomorrow. There still is something attractive about the laissez-faire attitude that exists at Be Smart, but I am not sure it’s enough to rope myself into a potentially bad situation for.
Friday, January 14, 2005
Yesterday was pure laziness. I have started to workout again. As always it’s easy to start something, but hard to maintain it. I have put on a few pounds/kilos this winter as leaving Japan and arriving in Thailand both made for a healthy amount of consumption. I think I’ll be able to drop the weight once I establish a routine. This morning is the first gray day I’ve experienced since arriving. That makes for 27 sunny days in a row – remarkable. I do find it hard to get stressed in Thailand to the same extent I do elsewhere, but let’s not forget I haven’t started working yet. We are supposed to go sign papers on the car today, and if Mitsui-Sumitomo is kind to me then we’ll also be able to pay the down payment and drive off with it. My first true car (excluding the one that was given to me in college and lasted for half a year). I feel like Toad in The Wind and the Willows, “motorcar, motorcar, motorcar!”
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Well, it’s done. We have successfully got ourselves a motorcar. Not without some fanfare, greasing of palms and a sleepover by Ma Song, who, incidentally is starting to “get on my tits” to quote a Londoner I used to work with. Perhaps it is time to end this entry as the motorcar awaits and we are, once again, driving to the village.
Sunday, January 23, 2005
A week passed and so much has transpired that I don’t know where to begin, or more precisely, when to begin. Last Monday we drove to Bangkok. There is a whole, frustrating story there, but to drive the five hundred or so kilometers through Thailand was quite something. I don’t know that I would do it again in the near future, but, still something indeed. We ended up returning the next day. Later in the week found us again in the village in an attempt to get her driver’s license. I say attempt, so you would be right to assume failure. In brighter news, I have just started teaching my first class. It is really enjoyable teaching a new nationality. There are seven people in the group and per stereotypes they are more energetic than the average Japanese student, though pronunciation is much more an issue with Thai speakers than Japanese. It’s too soon for me to say how this job is going to work out, I was told that I would be starting a TOEFL class this week, but, sure enough, come Saturday it was still waiting to fill. I don’t like how the school administration is living up to stereotypes in the efficiency department.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Pocky finally got her license yesterday on the second attempt. It was a day at home for me. A couple of seedy looking Brits with their Thai girlfriends on the back of their 100cc motos rolled up in front of the house yesterday as I was raking in front. One of the guys evidently lived in the neighborhood and was helping his mate get a place. Now it seems this mate owned a bar in Phuket that was, I assume, washed out or just gone bankrupt from the effects of the Tsunami. I didn’t really inquire too much. They wanted to know if the houses next door were for rent. I was trying to think of a way to put them off the neighborhood, but couldn’t quite come up with anything. One of the neighbors who is moving next month showed them her house, but I heard them mutter something about too expensive before driving off. The truth is, it’s not a bad area, but there is one thing about the place that subtlety irks me. There’s any empty lot in front of us and across the lot is some sort of small factory that pumps out “Maw Lam” music Monday – Friday, 7am to some time in the evening that I am never able to pin down, probably because it’s not consistent. For the neophyte, Maw Lam (pronounced like a Frenchman would ‘damn’) is a popular form of music in this part of Thailand, Isaan. The lyrics are in Lao and the music sounds like some crappy rock ballad with the main instrument being the electronic organ. At its better moments it is almost melodious, but more often just plain odious.
The Thai seem not only impervious to loud music being played at all hours of the day and night, they actually seem comforted by the endless vacarm. One of the first comments my girlfriend made about our neighborhood was that it was too quiet. I suppose the Thai are consistent in their attitude toward noise. Japan was undoubtedly the noisiest place I ever lived and yet the Japanese shot odd glances at people speaking too loudly on the train and driveled on endlessly about the how loud foreigners were. I couldn’t begin to remember the number of times that there were complaints around loud parties from Japanese neighbors of foreign residents (I don’t disagree necessarily), but never once did anyone seem upset about the loud motorcycles coming and going in the middle of the night (I’m not talking about the bosozoku gangs, but rather the University students that all owned bikes that were made intentionally loud, the latest trend has to do with a modified scooter that is almost as loud as a Harley). It would appear to me that as long as the noise in Japan is mechanized it’s OK. Trains, planes and automobiles are all all right – after all they are signs of how “modern” Japan is. But the second a human voice is heard…Oh no. I always found the dichotomy in noise relations one of the many ironies about Japan.
The telephone installation guy has just arrived. Now I am already generalizing about Thailand, but, contrary to stereotypes the Thai are efficient in some areas. Every thing we have bought relating to the house, mainly furniture, but also a gas stove and shower heater has been installed on the same day or shortly thereafter and usually in a timely fashion. It does kind of give me the impression, especially with the expensive furniture store, that there was a crew of delivery people just hanging out in the back with nothing to do before we came in. Still, I can’t complain about a lot of the service we have received here. In terms of living up to stereotypes, the Academic Director at Be Smart seems to be filling that role. Only last week she was keen on me starting a course this week, which has been postponed until who knows when. The nice thing about the Thais is that they don’t get too upset when things (dishes, plates, etc.) aren’t returned promptly, but it is definitely a two way street. I wouldn’t go dropping off a pie plate at someone’s house (let’s end the sentence there) and expect it back anytime soon.
Well, the telephone is installed, but we are still waiting on a call back from the telephone company before we can get the internet hooked-up. We’ll keep our fingers crossed on this one.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
We got a membership at Tsutaya the other day, which will mean something for the Japan based readers. It’s a video rental shop headquarted in Japan. In Thailand the VCD is a very popular format and Tsutaya carries more VCDs than DVDs. The VCDs are all dubbed in Thai and without setup options, so I am reliant on the limited DVD collection, still not too bad at about a dollar a day to rent a film. Still waiting on the internet connection. I have the modem set up, but the woman at the phone company claims it might take the system a while to recognize my account. Am I to believe that even inanimate technology like computer terminals and wires function in the same lackadaisical manner that the people here do?
Yesterday we went to aerobics for the second time. There’s a lake in the city around which is a pedestrian path used by lots of joggers and walkers. At several points there are outdoor recreational facilities and in one place there is something stadium like in which they have big aerobics classes. It costs a whooping 5baht, 15cents to attend. You drop your change into little boxes near the entrance on the ‘honor’ system. I am actually a bit sore from the class.
The school administrator called me yesterday asking if I was available for another weekend class. Of course the answer was ‘yes’. I asked if it was going to start this coming weekend. “Oh well, I still have to check if there are enough people interested.” This is what I find interesting about Thailand – there seems to be endless speculation on what could be done, than checking with all parties involved and some more delays, than confirmation with one party, then the next, then back to the first party to make sure that in the interim plans haven’t changed, and then checking with the second party to the same end. It’s not so different from Japan, except the time frame seems more fluid and certainly longer. As a teacher I find it a bit exasperating, but I can only imagine what it would be like for the students. For instance, the school wants to start a TOEFL class and they have some interest, but not enough yet. The lady has called about five people and told them about the class. Ostensibly they have agreed to join, but she hasn’t given them any definitive date. She must have given some sort of tentative date without commitment. Then she tells me (after postponing the class indefinitely due to lack of enough interest) that another student is interested. What are all of these people doing? Waiting by their telephones hoping for a call? I think not. They are after all Thai and probably think this is the norm, nonetheless tests have specific dates and test courses should be run in order to prepare people, and here’s the key word, prior to the test. I imagine even in Thailand the big schools must set course dates and follow through on them regardless of class capacity. Who knows? I’ll just hope for the best.
I am still not online, nor do I believe that I will ever be at this rate, despite the fact that the modem is connected and the phone is on. The initial diagnosis of “one hour” has turned into several days before the system will recognize me. The lady also added unsolicited that foreigners often get impatient about such things. This is an attitude that I have encountered in Japan as well. It cruxes on stereotyping people in order to waive any responsibility for one’s incompetence by shifting the onus of a mistake onto the “foreigner”, as it were. It is paramount to saying “I’m going to screw up, but don’t you dare complain because that would be just like a foreigner, and you don’t want to act like a foreigner, now do you?” And the truth is that I often fall for the routine in an effort to not reinforce stereotypes. Once anyone pulls out this line of thought on you it is very hard to combat, unless you are someone who just does not give a shit how you or other “foreigners” are viewed. For me, I see a large part of my efforts as an overseas educator being the negation of stereotypes, so it is very hard when I see myself stepping into one. Not so much that I care how I am individually perceived, but I often think of the next foreigner who is going to interact with this person (in this case the woman at the phone company). Are they going to be on the receiving end of some crap treatment because of me? I am sure that I have been the victim of bad foreigner on more than one occasion. Without going into trivial detail, I’ll recount one such episode. Basically, near where I worked in Japan one video store had an unfair policy toward foreigners. It consisted of a surplus of documentation, plus a Japanese person as a guarantor before getting a membership. Imagine that. You actually need a Japanese adult, and evidently anyone would suffice, to get a freakin’ video member’s card. If I had had more free time I can think of a homeless bum who would have gotten a free lunch for coming to the store with me. Anyway, one of the teachers I worked with went through the process of getting a membership and then admitted to some real juvenile shit in dealing with the store – late returns that consisted of leaving a tape on the counter and running out before anyone saw her. It’s almost hard to get upset at people for their views when stuff like that happens. Of course a Japanese person could do the same, but I definitely noticed a lot of younger ESL types pulling shit that was immature and stupid in Japan, and though I can’t say for sure I believe that being abroad may have contributed to this.
Saturday, January 29, 2005
I have four hours of teaching today. Not a lot compared to what I used to do, but it is funny that when that is the only thing on your schedule you put a lot of forethought into it. So the current schedule is four hours on Saturday and Sunday meaning that on Friday I am starting to gear up for my work week. I really hope that the TOEFL class opens soon because now that everything has been bought there’s not a hell of a lot to do during the day. I suppose another car wash might be in order as I screwed up the last one pretty good.
A decent day on the teaching front. I had a “general English” class that consisted of 10 adult learners. The age range was about 25-40 and they were all fairly low level. I love it how administrators, novice teachers and students themselves often think that a “general conversation” class is easy to teach. First of the appellation general is a load of shit. Has anyone had a general conversation ever?
“Nice day, huh?”
“Yeah, where were you born?”
“New York. Are there many rooms in your house?”
It’s a complete load of shite from the beginning. Granted there has to be some term to designate such a class. My real gripe is that people think that talking about “general” things is quite easy. One of the co-directors of my school told me that the class would be easy because it was just a general class without levels, so I could talk about what I liked. Well, I don’t think that we’ll be talking about Skaldic verse or migratory patterns of the red-chested gibbon, which means we ain’t talking about what I like. Really, I think these kind of non-descript, do-what-you-like classes are as challenging a thing as exists. Give me a test course any day. Something intricate with lots of material to get through is what makes the life of an experienced ESL teacher bearable. That is the key reason why I always loathed the Nova conversation lounge – there was no teaching involved. I have never been a wonderful conversationalist as my girlfriend will no doubt attest to, and only with a beer in my handed do I actually enjoy long periods of jaw flapping. The above considered, it was still a relatively good lesson and imparting things to a group of ten is far more dynamic and challenging for a teacher than facing four in a class as I did at Nova. It’s more tiring as well. Maybe I am just out of the work routine. My second class of the day went well enough, but the more I look for differences between Thai and Japanese students, the less I find. The two guys in my class today were participating to a fair degree, but they weren’t really trying to expand on any ideas. It was enough that they were answering the question. This may have to do with confusion about learner roles, but some of the hesitancy I see looks to conform to a Thai ideal of behavior that really isn’t that far off at all from the Japanese. Sure enough one of the other teachers I was talking with today pulled out the old “Japanese are boring” stereotype while admitting he had never been there. Not that he’s wrong, but the guy has been in Thailand five years. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that there wasn’t a huge difference… except of course in salary.
Two stories I have come across recently. Collateral with Tom Cruise is a slick looking, talking action movie with plot holes the size of canyons. I actually enjoyed the Cruise character as the existential spouting hit man. I thought the Jamie Foxx character (for which he was nominated best supporting actor) was ok, though a bit too sniveling. The funny thing about the mediocre film is when you actually start to think about the story it becomes frustratingly implausible. It works when you watch it the first time because it moves quickly enough without trying to over justify itself, but I couldn’t watch it a second time. The other story, book I have been reading is The Fourth Hand by John Irving. I would call myself a fan of the author, but this book is not at all one of his best. It is a bit reminiscent of his early work The 158 Pound Marriage. It is supposed to be comic, but he uses too many facile devices – the worst of which is several conversations with Japanese people who confuse r and l sounds. This gag was stale in Lost in Translation and it ain’t any funnier here. Evidently, Irving thinks if he includes a lot of zany characters and situations in a novel than it is comedy. I think he should stick to the melodramas. Definitely can’t recommend this book at all.
Monday, January 31, 2005
There was a glimmer of hope that I would be online today as the weekend is done and the latest excuse is that no one in Khon Kaen has an ADSL connection temporarily. I think the word “tomorrow” was thrown about again, but as we all now tomorrow never comes. Well, my work week over I can finally relax for the next five days. All this free time should be a good thing, but it is hard getting motivated about any single task when you have a whole day to do it. I think I’ll make myself a coffee and run through my Thai verbs once more.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
My apologies to anyone who has been checking this and hoping for more consistent updates. The moving process has been a busy one and I still don't have a phone line, though now am moved into a rental house and in possession of a new automobile. I hope to get some pictures online soon, but as I am dependent on the internet cafe I'm not sure when that will be. It seems that I have also found a job at a small language school that looks quite interesting, but I'm not 100% on the conditions yet. They want to hire me full time for several months and then knock me down to part time, then full time again. Obviously this is not the ideal, so we are now 'negotiating'. I have agreed to teach one class a week for them in the interim, so we'll see. With the house and new car - Honda Jazz (compact hatchback) I feel like a regular member of the Thai middle class. I also dropped a small fortune on furniture, so I really hope that Khon Kaen works out. It seems fairly livable so far. We live in a quiet neighborhood with a bit too much trash on the ground, but otherwise nice. The city has lots of cheap eataries and a small lake in the center next too which the Thais engage in free aerobics classes - something we are supposedly going to take up. In any case, I do hope to get some pictures of the house and car online, so maybe sometime in the next several weeks. Till things get sorted on the internet at home I probably will post only sporadically. Later
Monday, January 03, 2005
Still feeling a bit of the affects of the dietary change, though this morning things seem to have sorted themselves out. Yesterday was another interesting day. We found ourselves a rental house. The process for doing this is pretty simple. There don't seem to be many real estate agency around, so we just paid a tuk-tuk driver to take us around to various housing developments. Typically these places have some sort of security guard manning a gate. The guard is usually well informed as to what is available. Yesterday, we stopped in to look at an apartment building that was renting studio apartments for 4,000 baht. About five minutes out of town we saw a small, yet new,villa style house that we both liked. One of the neighbors called up the owner who arrived about half-an-hour later. We reached an oral agreement (we'll sign the papers today) for 3,500 baht a month for a six month contract. It even has a small front yard. Check out the link below for some pictures of Koh Chang.
http://community.webshots.com/user/mattheweric
http://community.webshots.com/user/mattheweric
Saturday, January 01, 2005
The alien has had a bit of a disappointing New Year. Last night was a bit of a bust- we returned to our hotel room here in Khon Kaen before midnight - and today I spent most of the day in the hotel room with a slight fever and not so slight bout of the runs, which kept me running to the toilet. Not the auspicious start to 2005 that I would have liked, but we'll keep a positive attitude. Tomorrow is apt./house searching if I can muster the strength.
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