I have received official word from Nova about my reemployment. They have officially and ambiguously stated that they are not hiring in Japan, but would consider extending me an interview. If you are confused by this, how do you think I feel? I am still trying to clarify what is meant by their response. There has been some speculation from people on the inside that the Japan based personnel offices don’t like hiring (may cut into their coffee breaks) and hence hang the “Beware of Dog” sign emblazoned with the image of a German Shepard, where in fact there is only a poodle on the property. A corroborating piece of evidence is the fact that they tried to pawn me off onto one of the overseas recruiting offices suggesting that might be a better option. Another ironic addition to the tale is that the attrition rate is running quite high and teachers are going unreplaced.

Did my monthly thirty second visit to Laos today. Only stopped twice by the porcine highway patrol. Using what must be considered either brilliant or pathetic in the extreme, the first officer who stopped us claimed that we shouldn’t be traveling in the right hand (passing) lane of the highway. What in the name of God’s creation to they create the two lanes for, I ask? He was happy to let of us with a gentle warning and relieve us of a negotiated 100 baht. “Keep left,” he uttered as we drove away. What’s more is that the police we’re positioned in a spot (in Thailand they don’t pull you over from behind, but rather stand in the middle of the road and wave you over) that isn’t far from an intersection, meaning that right turning cars would naturally turn into the right lane. The second swine snare – tis’ the swine that do the snaring, the public that is snared – we made through thanks to headlight flashing motorists traveling in the opposite direction that allowed me to pull into the non-bribery lane well in advance. We were stopped later and the officer almost had us on a registration violation for not displaying a sticker that lacked the very essence of its stickerness – adhesion, and thus was in our glove compartment. Not quick enough on his toes to manufacture any other porkpoop, the officer had to let us on our way.
In Thailand the police are simply the largest and best-organized criminal enterprise. Little more than highwaymen with uniforms, they have a military-like structure that means they answer to a central authority and not to local taxpayers. The only conciliation is that due to their meager salary, they are relatively inexpensive to payoff. One hundred baht is about two dollars and fifty cents US.

Rugrats

Sunday, June 05, 2005
A full day about to get underway – my weekends are decent with the exception of one kids’ class that is out of control. There are ten students aged six through ten (quite a spread) and several of them have zero attention span, consequently distracting the others and myself before we can even get underway. I have kind of given up on them, and though I am not proud to say it, I focus much more on crowd control than actual teaching. It fits really. Some parents drop their kids of at nine o’clock in the morning and pick them up mid-afternoon for a 10 to 12 lesson. If the term glorified babysitting was thrown around a lot in Nova (Japan) then I think we can drop the ‘glorified’ when talking about this set up.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Another day off finds me in the village of Nong Sao. I am starting to pick up a little Thai and Lao so my ability to interact is a fraction better than before. The talk of the day centered around the Miss Universe contest, which was held in Thailand this year. It’s a testament to what a globalized place the world has become when the water-cooler talk in fortune five hundred companies and the idle chatter of the idle villagers in rural Thailand is on the same topic. Now if we could distribute wealth as we do information…
In other news, I finally have several decent classes of students. Wow, what a difference. Being a teacher is akin to being a coach – good players (students) can make or break you. I’d like to think that I have enough skill to reach even those with less ability, but the job becomes so much more pleasant when working with self-motivated, intelligent individuals.

Thursday, May 26, 2005
Checking in from Lazy Land – and I am not just referring to my life. You know you are in Thailand when a truck spraying pesticides specifically aimed at mosquitoes (there must be a word for that, like anti-mostiquaires) drives through your neighborhood and you welcome the potentially harmful fumes they spray because you read about an outbreak of dengue fever several days before – fortunately not near here. Incidentally, there is no vaccination against dengue, but there is one against hepatitis A that would have helped the five hundred people living in the north infected with it vectored by contaminated ice from one particular factory. Hep A results from ingesting trace amounts of feces. I can’t suppress the juvenile urge to use the word fecal factory, so there it is – the ice all came from a fecal factory. Enough scaremongering, outbreaks and contaminations can happen anywhere.

Thursday, May 19, 2005
A great day off yesterday, we went to a local temple before lunch and I got some good pictures, which I added to my online photos in the album entitled Isaan. After lunch, we went and got a massage. Thai massage is well renowned and deservedly so. It is a full body massage that incorporates a fair amount of stretching and torquing in addition to the typical rubbing and kneading. It leaves you feeling not only relaxed, but also invigorated. Two hours set me back 250B, about 6$ - one of the real luxuries of living in this country, along with the food.

Saturday, May 07, 2005
I am about to begin a fairly long day of teaching. I am as stressed as I have been in a long time. This is not fun. I am considering giving my notice on this job and leaving at the beginning of July.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005
As a follow-up to the last entry, I actually called in sick the following day after a few too many that night. It is the first time I had missed work in over a year, and the first time in several years that I called in sick due to a hangover. In fact, I was not really so hung over, but the pressure of my situation had gotten to me. Ten days later I am feeling considerably better. My weekday schedule is down to about ten hours of teaching and one of my more recalcitrant group of learners is finishing in two days – yea! Unofficial word has it that I should be re-employed no problem at Nova - something that had me a bit worried.
It certainly is hot here and that may be affecting my health, that or the food. I had a slight case of the runs yesterday with a feverish feeling that never quite came to anything. I get this from time to time. Whether it’s the heat or not, the temperature has me feeling quite lethargic. Being in another transition situation has me feeling unproductive. On the one hand, I feel I should be studying Thai, but soon enough I won’t be here. On the other hand, I feel I should be putting myself into some writing, but the absence of a routine and the fact that I am leaving soon have me distracted.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005
We went to Kalasin yesterday to visit Ma Song in the hospital. I believe she had an inflammation of the intestine, though I am still not one hundred percent on the translation. She had stomach surgery and was not feeling well, to say the least, but was able to stand up and walk around. Going into hospitals is never something that I have liked. There were a number of full leg casts on people, some even young – motorcycle accidents I am sure.
We also took another look at our land. The government has just started to pave (more like concrete) our access road. This is a welcome thing, but it means that we have to put in more landfill to raise the level of our land to above the road. If not the land will flood as the rain runs of the road and onto the land. Another chunk of change. I am still waiting on a reply from Nova. Come hell or high water I will be in Japan in August or I will start to fall into the red.

Friday, May 06, 2005
Ma Song is back at home and walking around (how is it that this woman has become the center of my entries?). I am now entering return to Japan mindset and have spent countless hours on the internet exploring job and housing possibilities. I am fairly sure that I will be back at Nova, but there has been a big shakeup in the company. Essentially, from what I have gathered, the company wasn’t paying into the social insurance system that is mandatory for full-time employees in Japan. They (Nova) were probably operating under the foreigner don’t count mandate that is so prevalent in Asia. It actually is quite advantageous to teachers that they don’t have to pay into the social insurance as it is fairly expensive. In any case, seems as if the government believes foreigners do count when it comes time to collect revenue. The result of this social insurance scandal – if it can be called that – is a big restructuring of positions and hours. I am not sure that Nova is the great source of potential revenue that it might have once been for yours truly. I would consider another job, but Nova is such familiar territory that the transition back to Japan would be made easier if I was with them. Perhaps this time around I will be less Nova focused. I have heard that they are offering a variety of sub 40 lesson contracts. I wouldn’t mind venturing into private lessons or part-time work to keep me sane.
Today I informed my current employer that I would be leaving. She (only one of the ‘bosses’ was there) was quite cool about it. It fits with this place. Be Smart may be the ultimate employer in terms of leaving one be. It is just too bad that the flip side of the coin is a lack of professionalism and commitment to hiring and keeping good teachers. Honestly, can they really expect any longevity from full-timers when they don’t/can’t offer a working visa? Incidentally, it is hiring season in Thailand and my phone has been ringing quite a bit with job offers, most of them Bangkok based. A fair amount of job offers via email as well, and a couple that looked interesting here in Khon Kaen. But there is just nothing that compare in salary to a bad job in Japan.
One final note. I expressed some anxiety to my wife about our financial situation till I get back to Japan. I told her that I would probably go back earlier that planned due to a lack of funds. She thought about it for a moment with an air of gravity, then said, “So, are we going to go to the beach for a few days before you leave?” This is typical. I tell her we are having money problems and she suggests we go spend money. It’s an uphill battle, I tell ya’.

Saturday, May 07, 2005
I am about to begin a fairly long day of teaching. I am as stressed as I have been in a long time. This is not fun. I am considering giving my notice on this job and leaving at the beginning of July.