I completely forgot that yesterday was April Fool's Day!
I just got back from The Language, where I've accepted a job offer. Sounds kind of imposing: THE LANGUAGE. Kind of cultural value judgemental-ish. Or something. But the people who run it are nice, the schedule fits, the price is right, and they offer housing.
This afternoon, Graham and I head to Krabi for the weekend. We can't wait to use our new snorkels! They're cool. They have purges.
Mom and Dad continue to have a wonderful time in Paris, though if anyone mentions how wonderful Chez Paul is again, I am going to scream. Must we all rub it in??
We ran into Daniele and Cristina last night at dinner by the river. They were taking the night boat back to Koh Tao and had a couple of hours to kill, so we hung out with them and drank too many Beer Singhas.
Graham's school is running a camp this week. Yesterday they painted murals. It's summer vacation for the Thai kids, so the schools are running fun camps. When it was vacation in China, we taught intensive classes. None of this "fun" stuff.
Got back from Malaysia today. It took us two days, b/c Graham got his passport back on Tuesday afternoon and there weren't any buses going all the way then. Funny little busride. Originally, there were six of us: two British girls, an Italian couple, and us. Before leaving Georgetown, we stopped at an agency, where a 35-40 y.o. American woman got on. She was saying that she was just in the nick of time and she needed to pick up her husband who was sick. Except when we got to where her baggage and "husband" were, there was a thirty-something southeast Asian woman. Or that's what we all thought. The Italian girl turned around and made a funny face. I said, "I thought she said *husband*..." No one really wanted to stare, so we did our best surruptitious glancing. We never figured it out, but we got to know that Italian couple and compared notes: "She -- I mean, *he* didn't seem to have breasts," "He didn't have any stubble," "No adam's apple."
The Italian couple, Daniel and Cristina, are from Milan and are currently living on Ko Tao, where he is a dive instructor and she is an underwater videographer. They're opening a restaurant soon, with some other Italians who live there. The island is known for excellent diving and snorkeling, so Graham and I will surely get there sometime soon. We stopped a little ways over the border into Thailand last night and had dinner with them and shared a dorm room in a hotel and ended up playing hearts and drinking whisky. Then we got up at 5:15am so we could make the bus to Surat Thani so Graham could go to work, but he was still really tired and skipped.
This weekend, we're going to Krabi, which is on the west coast of the Isthmus of KRAAA!!! It has lots of beaches, islands, and karst scenery. Then in two weeks, it's Songkran, some random holiday. Not quite sure what, but Graham gets a week off, so we're probably going to go to a national park nearby. We might borrow a tent from the school to keep costs down, since he hasn't gotten paid much, yet.
In other news, Mom and Dad are currently in Paris or London, goofing off, while some of us are working. Don't know who those suckers are, but I would hate to be one of them! I still have a couple of days to think about my job offer(s?). I have to call another school tomorrow to set up an interview, but based on what I've heard about that school, I'm not sure it's the place for me.
I'm off!
Yesterday, I went to the Language for an interview and was offered the job! It's kind of a hodgepodge of schools, but a very interesting deal. Eight hours would be spent at a poor school outside of town that Jason said they were doing as kind of a charity. Then two hours at a private kindergarten, four hours at a local high school that is trying to develop a special English program (working with another teacher), and four hours at The Language, teaching a class of youngsters four nights a week. Should add up to 18. It pays reasonably well and comes with housing. The owners seem like really good people.
Graham and I went for dinner with the folks at ECC. Great new place that does Korean barbecue. Simon, the head teacher, had seemed rather dour when we met the other day, but he was really nice. Their school doesn't offer such a great salary, though, and I think they would want me to work on Saturdays, which is going to be island/beach day.
Tomorrow we go to Malaysia. We were going to go today, but we have to wait until Monday to do Graham's visa and he doesn't get paid for a while, so we're staying here for the day to avoid extra travel costs. Georgetown, Penang isn't supposed to be very interesting. Whenever I hear that name, I think of Mr. Garrison, in the South Park movie, "I can't wait till my first shore leave..." I have season three on DVD, but no DVD player! Tragedy! We're going to see if we can get the people at the big house at Mathis to let us use theirs. And, come on, it's South Park. Who wouldn't want to watch?!
Still applying for jobs. I got a call from the place that doesn't know it's teacher is quitting. Though he did mention he was going to tell them today, so perhaps that's why. In a few minutes I'm going over to The Language, which is a school for youngsters. I met the owner and his girlfriend last night. Also talked to a girl who works at Tapee College and is currently holding the job I'm applying for.
Right, so living in Surat gives one a huge advantage. The owners of Mathis, Penong and The Doctor, threw a party for the teachers last night. I talked to people from three different schools about jobs. The food was great and there was some traditional Thai dancing. The girls who did that also did some dances to modern pop songs, but that wasn't nearly as good as the traditional stuff. Lots and lots of fun, though I was eaten alive by mosquitos, who must have smelled my mosquito repellant (sp?) and decided that I was using reverse psychology to attract them. Bastards. Though in most other situations, they would be right.
We're going to Malaysia tomorrow morning. I think there's some ungodly long busride to get to the border. Some others from the school are also going, but they're staying on some island in the north, whereas Graham and I have to go to Georgetown, Penang to visit the Thai Consulate, so he can get his work visa. No fun! Actually, I'm looking forward to everything but the busride. Malaysia should be interesting and we'll have a day or two to wander around town. We might have to go back in a little while so I can get a work visa, assuming the job things all work out.
In case things weren't clear, Graham is actually good for more than snorkeling and extraordinary development work. He helps me pick up my backpack, voluntarily cleaned the bathroom when we found out the hard way you can't put toilet paper in the toilet (then why is it called "toilet paper"?! gross!), says nice things, tries to find gainful employment for me (not sure if this one is selfish or generous), and is an all-around good guy. If you're lucky you'll get a chance to meet him. If you can't wait, then come to Thailand and the Isthmus of KRAAAA!!! Open invitation to all. If you're interested, inquire and I'll let you know when my vacations are.
There is a party tonight given by the folks at Mathus School for the leaving and arriving teachers. There are supposed to be around 75 people there. They're serving dinner. Anyone who is anyone is going to be there.
We bought shampoo and contitioner at the department store the other day. It's called Supaporn! [emphasis added]
Now, I must be off to stop by Tapee College and inquire about a job. I met a foreign guy in 7-11 (they have those here!!!) last night and asked what he did, assuming he would say teach English. He, of course, did, so I asked him where he taught and if they were hiring. He gave me some phone numbers, but I still haven't figured out how to work the phones here (something about picking up the handset and pressing some buttons. whatever.) I'm going to run over there now and drop off my resume'.
Now for the hard part... finding semi-gainful employment. I just finished reading "A Confederacy of Dunces" and I can empathize with the main character: forced out of his home, looking for whatever job he could find, eventually becoming a hot dog vendor, supporting a boyfriend with a heroin "affinity".
Later that day...
Wandered into a couple of schools. Talked with the head teacher at one. I'm meeting the other teachers on Friday for drinks. Not sure if that's going to work out, as those days off might conflict with Graham's, thus getting in the way of our beach plans. Another said they weren't hiring, but they don't know that one of their teachers, whom I met last night at GM's, is leaving in a month or two. I'll keep you posted.
So, yes, as I subtly implied on my homepage, I'm staying in Thailand. Thanks to all who threw in their two cents. Much obliged. Right now, I plan to stay for the year. In the end, it might depend on contract length or whatever. It occurred to me that if I go home and am sitting in a bar looking depressed and the sympathetic bartender asks me, "Why so glum?" I would have to say, "I don't want to be here. Not 'here' as in, your bar. It's lovely and you pour a mean G&T. 'Here' as in, DC." Then he would say, "Well, where would you like to be?" And I would say, "Thailand. Isthmus of Kra, half-way between Ko Samui and Krabi. My boyfriend invited me to spend a year there, doing a minimal amount of work, spending most of my time at the beach, snorkeling, scuba diving... But I wasn't quite sure, and I wanted to get a jump on grad school applications, so I decided to come home to 40-degree weather and a soul-sucking temp job." And he would say, "This shoulder of mine, it will be sullied by none of your tears. Take this bottle and this paper bag and go sit in the gutter where you belong!"
Ko Samui. Nice. We stayed at a hotel called Crystal Bay, on a very clear little cove. There are larger beaches there, but this area is quiet and the hotel gives us a discount because we're from Mathis (the school). Some of the women on the beach seemed to be victims of a clothing shortage, but they made the best of the situation -- real troupers. I bought a snorkel and went out with Graham to explore the coral reefs around the cove. There was one main, shallow area, and then another, off to the side, with some large boulders. I went to the shallow one in the morning and saw Angelfish, some other fish, an eel, some fish with kind of greyish markings that were just hanging out in a threateningly blase' kind of way. Like, if they cared enough to pay attention to me, they might think about threatening me.
Later when Graham finally woke up, we went out to the deeper area. I've never snorkeled before and he's an experienced scuba diver and knows that if it's pretty, you don't want to touch it. We saw Porcupine Boxfish, which look like uninflated puffer fish. Graham claims to have seen Parrotfish. Is there supposed to be a space? Parrotfish or Parrot Fish? Who knows? Probably not the fish. Then we went to a deeper area and Graham made some random diver hand movement that I clearly should have understood. I made the universal, "Hello, I have no idea what you're talking about. If you plan to make random diving hand signals, perhaps you should try explaining them to me in *advance*", signal. So he made the "You go that way" signal that involves pointing at me and then pointing "that way". More my level. We went "that way" for a bit until we were near a rock on which we could stand and talk. Graham: "So, did you see that Moray Eel?" Me: "What Moray Eel?" Him: "I pointed it out to you. Back in the crevice." Me: [gesturing bizarrely, as though to demonstrate] "I have no idea what any of this means." So he went through "eel", "danger", "trumpet fish", "shark", "you go that way and I'll follow", "loser", and "whatever".
We also saw several species of coral, including fan and brain. Then I spotted a Rockfish, towards which Graham frantically, in a subdued manner so as not to alarm the fish, made the "Danger!" sign and signalled that I should give wide berth. It was a little baby one. So cute!