Wednesday, January 31, 2007
More Schoolage
So yet again I came in expecting to be teaching 4 50 minute classes today only to arrive at the first one to find it empty save for one student who was running in to drop her bag off. "Is anybody coming to study today?" She replied, "No class today ajarn, there is a ceremony for some lady who turned a 100." "Is it going to take all day and is everyone in your grade in it?" Alas, she didn't know. It seems I will still have the other 3 classes, but nothing is certain. I better get paid for all these hours I never taught.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
School of Rock
This school that I am subbing at is just plain ridiculous. I arrived around 8:45 today as I have a 9:30 class. At 9:20, another teacher happened by and informed me that all M. 3 (14-15 yr olds) classes are cancelled as they will be taking tests all day. This might have been perfect as the normal schedule I picked up only has me teaching M. 3 today, but I picked up two M. 1 classes for a Malaysian guy who went home for the weekend so I gotta stick around all day. Oh well. At least I will supposedly still get paid for the hours that I would have worked had there been a class.
In other news, I think I actually did score the best job in Chiang Mai. I got a call last night from a guy I know that works there already who said that the boss wants to talk to me. So I called the guy and he said he'd give me a trial run at it. However, he said that the students prefer British teachers for some silly reason. Most people tend to think I'm from the UK anyways so I can talk to them like a chimney sweep if they so desire.
In other news, I think I actually did score the best job in Chiang Mai. I got a call last night from a guy I know that works there already who said that the boss wants to talk to me. So I called the guy and he said he'd give me a trial run at it. However, he said that the students prefer British teachers for some silly reason. Most people tend to think I'm from the UK anyways so I can talk to them like a chimney sweep if they so desire.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
ARgh
Ann stayed over on Sunday night. I fell asleep pretty early and I got my usual midnight call from the gym girl. Ann made the worst move ever and answered it. The girl asked to speak to me, but of course Ann told her I was already asleep. Terrible. I was extremely pissed when I found this out in the morning and I might have overreacted in my yelling at Ann.
Ahh the guy whos job I was hoping for was fired yesterday. Ironically, the day before he was going to quit without any notice. The boss told him some people didn't like his teaching methods. I had to stifle a laugh when he told me this because he doesn't actually have any teaching skills whatsoever.
Ahh the guy whos job I was hoping for was fired yesterday. Ironically, the day before he was going to quit without any notice. The boss told him some people didn't like his teaching methods. I had to stifle a laugh when he told me this because he doesn't actually have any teaching skills whatsoever.
Teacher Brett
Today is my 3rd day of substitute teaching at Regina Girls College in Chiang Mai. I am teaching M. 2 and 3 which is the equivalent of middle school. 13-15 yr old girls. Today went rather well so far. We finished watching Pirates of the Carribbean 2 then after they refused to make an attempt at answering my questions I had them write down a few sentences on why they liked the movie. As hard as it is to teach in a classroom of 40-50 kids, its probably worse to learn in such an environment.
The fact that I speak Thai fluently spread like wildfire, but there were a bunch in each class who didn't know so they were still plenty of surprises. Today, for the first time, one girl asked if I spoke Northern Thai. I understand it pretty well, but I can't speak very much. Its the usual language monkey scenario, but I don't mind it so much when its kids because they treat me like a celeb rather than an oddity. In the class I just finished, I walked to the back of the room and noticed most of the back 2 rows hadn't taken out any paper to start the assignment. I asked them what was up and they said they didn't have any paper. I gave them some and they all went berserk. Seriously, girls that had paper put it away. Some of them were smelling and hugging the paper after they got it. Silliness.
I've been sick for almost 2 weeks now. Its the damn pollution. Its so thick lately, I have trouble breathing when I'm walking outside at certain points of the day. I wake up with a sore throat every day and have lots of unpleasantly thick goo coming up out of my lungs. Not really sure what to do about this. Do I start walking around with a gas mask on?
The fact that I speak Thai fluently spread like wildfire, but there were a bunch in each class who didn't know so they were still plenty of surprises. Today, for the first time, one girl asked if I spoke Northern Thai. I understand it pretty well, but I can't speak very much. Its the usual language monkey scenario, but I don't mind it so much when its kids because they treat me like a celeb rather than an oddity. In the class I just finished, I walked to the back of the room and noticed most of the back 2 rows hadn't taken out any paper to start the assignment. I asked them what was up and they said they didn't have any paper. I gave them some and they all went berserk. Seriously, girls that had paper put it away. Some of them were smelling and hugging the paper after they got it. Silliness.
I've been sick for almost 2 weeks now. Its the damn pollution. Its so thick lately, I have trouble breathing when I'm walking outside at certain points of the day. I wake up with a sore throat every day and have lots of unpleasantly thick goo coming up out of my lungs. Not really sure what to do about this. Do I start walking around with a gas mask on?
Sunday, January 21, 2007
New Stuffisms
I applied for the best job in Chiang Mai today. The manager wasn't there so I didn't get an interview, but the staff seemed to dig me. I have asked both of the guys who have the job to reccomend me. One of them is leaving and won't be telling them until Wed in fear of not getting paid. I tried to convince him to just tell them and let them know I am happy to be the replacement, but no luck as of yet. It could very likely still work out in my favour. As they will only have 2 days to find a replacement for him they might as well just call me! Good stuff.
I start the substitute job tomorrow morning. I am feeling a tad of anxiety, but I expect it to be a good time. I think I will spend the first class with each group just introducing myself and trying to get a bearing on the level of their English ability. I am wearing a tie tomorrow, but dunno if I will do it everyday or not yet. I'll see how everyone else is dressed.
I start the substitute job tomorrow morning. I am feeling a tad of anxiety, but I expect it to be a good time. I think I will spend the first class with each group just introducing myself and trying to get a bearing on the level of their English ability. I am wearing a tie tomorrow, but dunno if I will do it everyday or not yet. I'll see how everyone else is dressed.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Working Out
I've decided not to study at Payap this semester for a number of reasons. One of the main ones being that they are only offering one class that I haven't taken already. Its kind of ridiculous. I'm not sure how I can graduate if they never open the higher level requred courses. Oh well. It looks like I will be working this term.
I got a substitute teaching job at this girls high school for the next 2 or 3 weeks. The pay is less than I would usually work for, but I figure its just a couple weeks and there are plenty of hours and it might even be fun.
In other news, there is a fair chance I am going to score the best teaching gig in Chiang Mai. I'll know in a few days I suppose. 2 people have this job. They work 4 hours a week and get 25,000 baht. That may not seem like a lot of money if you think about it in US$, but thats more than I usually spend in a month here, so with that and a few more private students whom I will teach Thai to and I'll be doing great financially. A much needed boost in my life.
I put an ad in a local free magazine in English and hopefully I'll get some inquiries. I've been teaching an English guy Thai for a bit over 2 months now and the progress is pretty impressive. My methods are too simple. Foreigners tend to scoff or laugh when I tell them I teach Thai. "But your not a native speaker!" Indeed. Plenty of foreigners speak at least some Thai here, but ones who speak clearly, correctly and are able to read/write or extremely rare. My current student is essentially my protege. I want to create the first whitey that can actually speak ชัด
(clearly) before he is even fluent.
My confidence is still going strong. I've been getting numbers competely sober lately which isn't very common for me. I keep expecting to get hit with anxiety and there are a few seconds where I tense up, but I think its just a reflex. I feel invincible.
The pollution here has been unbearable lately. I was stuck in bed with some serious lung problems for a few days this week from it. I woke up in the middle of the night one day with this awful pain similar to heartburn, but much worse and this awful crap oozing up out of my lungs. I couldn't eat for most of the day as anything I tried to get down intensified the pain. Over the next couple of days it turned into a pretty bad chest cold. Its not quite gone yet as I still wake up with a bit of a sore throat and some heavy unpleasant goo coming up. My lungs are so messed up. Itwill be rather surprising if I end up dying from something unrelated to my lungs. Oh well. At least my anxiety is low and my confidence is high lately. Now all I need is money.
I got a substitute teaching job at this girls high school for the next 2 or 3 weeks. The pay is less than I would usually work for, but I figure its just a couple weeks and there are plenty of hours and it might even be fun.
In other news, there is a fair chance I am going to score the best teaching gig in Chiang Mai. I'll know in a few days I suppose. 2 people have this job. They work 4 hours a week and get 25,000 baht. That may not seem like a lot of money if you think about it in US$, but thats more than I usually spend in a month here, so with that and a few more private students whom I will teach Thai to and I'll be doing great financially. A much needed boost in my life.
I put an ad in a local free magazine in English and hopefully I'll get some inquiries. I've been teaching an English guy Thai for a bit over 2 months now and the progress is pretty impressive. My methods are too simple. Foreigners tend to scoff or laugh when I tell them I teach Thai. "But your not a native speaker!" Indeed. Plenty of foreigners speak at least some Thai here, but ones who speak clearly, correctly and are able to read/write or extremely rare. My current student is essentially my protege. I want to create the first whitey that can actually speak ชัด
(clearly) before he is even fluent.
My confidence is still going strong. I've been getting numbers competely sober lately which isn't very common for me. I keep expecting to get hit with anxiety and there are a few seconds where I tense up, but I think its just a reflex. I feel invincible.
The pollution here has been unbearable lately. I was stuck in bed with some serious lung problems for a few days this week from it. I woke up in the middle of the night one day with this awful pain similar to heartburn, but much worse and this awful crap oozing up out of my lungs. I couldn't eat for most of the day as anything I tried to get down intensified the pain. Over the next couple of days it turned into a pretty bad chest cold. Its not quite gone yet as I still wake up with a bit of a sore throat and some heavy unpleasant goo coming up. My lungs are so messed up. Itwill be rather surprising if I end up dying from something unrelated to my lungs. Oh well. At least my anxiety is low and my confidence is high lately. Now all I need is money.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Machine
I went out with a bunch of whiteys last night. It was pretty fun. I thought I was gonna hang out with the gym girl, but it didn't happen so I got a few phone numbers in front of Warm Up before going to 7-11.
While I was having lunch today I went through my phone to figure out how many girls I'm talking to at the moment. The numbers were actually quite frightening. There are 17 of them if you count the three I met last night. One of them remembered me from when I tried to jeeb her some ages ago. I have slept with 4 of them already. There is no chance I'll get them all. I'm just not good at maintaining anything. What often happens is that I'll give up after a few days and not talk to them. Then sometime in the future I will run into them again and they will usually remember me and stare and/or smile at me which is the open door I need to go talk to them. Then the game begins again. I even got attacked by this one German girl last night. She came up to me and said something in German that I couldn't hear nor understand. My German is pretty limited to "Where is my hat?" and similar nonsense. I wasn't interested and I didn't know what to say. I didn't wanna be mean. She seemed pretty cool anyways. But, I was feeling more confident than I've felt in ages and I wanted to sweep through the club and see if I could either find any girls I know or find a new one.
Actually, one of the 17 girls I counted, I've never met. I ran into a friend last night and he gave me the phone # of some supposedly cute girl he met and somehow talked me into calling this person I've never met/seen (as far as I know). The conversation was pretty interesting. It went something like this:
me: Hey, where are you?
her: Who is this?
me: Its Brett!
her: Who?
me: Brett
her:Who?
me: Brett
her: Where do I know you from?
me: I just met you earlier at Warm Up (club name)
her: Oh. I don't remember.
me: Its ok. Where are you now?
her: Fashion House (club name). Where are you?
me: At 7-11.
her: Sorry that I can't remember you. I'm too drunk.
me: Haha. Its ok really.
I never met up with her, but it was kind of amusing all the same. Perhaps I'll call her tonight. Being single is refreshing, but it eventually gets old. I can't do this all year, but I try to capitalize on this odd burst of confidence I have during the first few months of the year. It inevitably tapers off around April or so. I have time.
While I was having lunch today I went through my phone to figure out how many girls I'm talking to at the moment. The numbers were actually quite frightening. There are 17 of them if you count the three I met last night. One of them remembered me from when I tried to jeeb her some ages ago. I have slept with 4 of them already. There is no chance I'll get them all. I'm just not good at maintaining anything. What often happens is that I'll give up after a few days and not talk to them. Then sometime in the future I will run into them again and they will usually remember me and stare and/or smile at me which is the open door I need to go talk to them. Then the game begins again. I even got attacked by this one German girl last night. She came up to me and said something in German that I couldn't hear nor understand. My German is pretty limited to "Where is my hat?" and similar nonsense. I wasn't interested and I didn't know what to say. I didn't wanna be mean. She seemed pretty cool anyways. But, I was feeling more confident than I've felt in ages and I wanted to sweep through the club and see if I could either find any girls I know or find a new one.
Actually, one of the 17 girls I counted, I've never met. I ran into a friend last night and he gave me the phone # of some supposedly cute girl he met and somehow talked me into calling this person I've never met/seen (as far as I know). The conversation was pretty interesting. It went something like this:
me: Hey, where are you?
her: Who is this?
me: Its Brett!
her: Who?
me: Brett
her:Who?
me: Brett
her: Where do I know you from?
me: I just met you earlier at Warm Up (club name)
her: Oh. I don't remember.
me: Its ok. Where are you now?
her: Fashion House (club name). Where are you?
me: At 7-11.
her: Sorry that I can't remember you. I'm too drunk.
me: Haha. Its ok really.
I never met up with her, but it was kind of amusing all the same. Perhaps I'll call her tonight. Being single is refreshing, but it eventually gets old. I can't do this all year, but I try to capitalize on this odd burst of confidence I have during the first few months of the year. It inevitably tapers off around April or so. I have time.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Gym-tastc Stuffage
So the gym girl was over again last night. Her x-boyfriend called her in the morning. Here is the translation of how the conversation went.
biggymguy: Hey. Where are you?
gymgirl: In my room.
biggymguy: I don't think so. I'm outside your room. I was going to take you to work.
gymgirl: Um. I'm with Brett.
I'm not sure what he said after that, but the girl said about ten times that there was nothing going on between us (me and her) and that we were just friends. Then after that she was telling me that if he asks me, I should say a bunch other girls slept over too. She ended up telling him that we just met for breakfast I think.
He greeted me at the gym with a smile, but his eyes didn't smile. Its uncomfortable for him, but I don't think he will say anything to me about it. That would be more uncomfortable. Also, it appears the chances of me dying in a freak treadmill accident have diminished considerably.
Meanwhile, the original gym girl I was sweating is pretending to jealous much to my amusement. Life is tough sometimes.
In other news, my x-girlfriend called to see if she could stay over tonight and got pissed when I said no. She has broken up with me so many times and come back its pretty ridiculous. So I'm single as far as I'm concerned. Whether or not she keeps coming over.
biggymguy: Hey. Where are you?
gymgirl: In my room.
biggymguy: I don't think so. I'm outside your room. I was going to take you to work.
gymgirl: Um. I'm with Brett.
I'm not sure what he said after that, but the girl said about ten times that there was nothing going on between us (me and her) and that we were just friends. Then after that she was telling me that if he asks me, I should say a bunch other girls slept over too. She ended up telling him that we just met for breakfast I think.
He greeted me at the gym with a smile, but his eyes didn't smile. Its uncomfortable for him, but I don't think he will say anything to me about it. That would be more uncomfortable. Also, it appears the chances of me dying in a freak treadmill accident have diminished considerably.
Meanwhile, the original gym girl I was sweating is pretending to jealous much to my amusement. Life is tough sometimes.
In other news, my x-girlfriend called to see if she could stay over tonight and got pissed when I said no. She has broken up with me so many times and come back its pretty ridiculous. So I'm single as far as I'm concerned. Whether or not she keeps coming over.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Reap the Harvest
The New Year has arrived.
How ironic. I was just about to talk about how good this year was going to be. However, as I was ending the previous sentence I knocked over my drink and it spilled all over my desk while splashing my desktop and keyboard. Fun stuff.
This is the time of year where I usually shine. During the first 2-4 months of the year my confidence and ability to get things done are quite good.
I spent New Years Eve with 2 friends that live here. One is English, at least 10 years older than me and my Thai student, the other is American, 3-4 years younger and can't afford to be my Thai student. After the countdown (which is all anyone cares about here..."Where were you for the countdown?") things got better. One of the 2 girls who work at my gym (they are essentilaly pretty girls to lure people into trying out the gym. They sometimes pretend to exercise after removing their high heels - perhaps out of boredom), ended up calling me shortly after to see where I was. I have hung out with both of these girls, but I noticed that one of them had been showing strong interest in me since she broke up with her boyfriend, so I said she was welcome to join me out anytime. So New Years Eve was the first real time. She had just broken up with her boyfriend of 4 years. Of course as I am the unluckiest person in the world, this x-boyfriend is the largest guy who works at the gym. He is also the one that is most polite to me. I didn't find this out until she was already in my bed, but who am I to stop things there. I should probably refrain from asking him for a spot for a while anyways.
Aside from that girl (whom I am actually going to meet in 10 min), I met a really cute girl who is here from Bangkok last night. Actually, I've met far too many girls in the last week. I can't keep track of all of them so I often have to pretend to know who I am talking to/where I met them/what they look like. I get more numbers when I'm drunk then sober and therefore the supposedly clever names I put in my phone are limited in creativty. Many of the names in my phone look something like what you see below. Obviously, I can make more sense of it than you because I often include abbreviations of the locations I met them, but I can't always figure out what I was thinking when I typed that crap.
Ex:
DisGrlNoGd
Ice Ice
Lin Chinese
Joob Dis/
MaTa Niman
NookKawee?
?
How ironic. I was just about to talk about how good this year was going to be. However, as I was ending the previous sentence I knocked over my drink and it spilled all over my desk while splashing my desktop and keyboard. Fun stuff.
This is the time of year where I usually shine. During the first 2-4 months of the year my confidence and ability to get things done are quite good.
I spent New Years Eve with 2 friends that live here. One is English, at least 10 years older than me and my Thai student, the other is American, 3-4 years younger and can't afford to be my Thai student. After the countdown (which is all anyone cares about here..."Where were you for the countdown?") things got better. One of the 2 girls who work at my gym (they are essentilaly pretty girls to lure people into trying out the gym. They sometimes pretend to exercise after removing their high heels - perhaps out of boredom), ended up calling me shortly after to see where I was. I have hung out with both of these girls, but I noticed that one of them had been showing strong interest in me since she broke up with her boyfriend, so I said she was welcome to join me out anytime. So New Years Eve was the first real time. She had just broken up with her boyfriend of 4 years. Of course as I am the unluckiest person in the world, this x-boyfriend is the largest guy who works at the gym. He is also the one that is most polite to me. I didn't find this out until she was already in my bed, but who am I to stop things there. I should probably refrain from asking him for a spot for a while anyways.
Aside from that girl (whom I am actually going to meet in 10 min), I met a really cute girl who is here from Bangkok last night. Actually, I've met far too many girls in the last week. I can't keep track of all of them so I often have to pretend to know who I am talking to/where I met them/what they look like. I get more numbers when I'm drunk then sober and therefore the supposedly clever names I put in my phone are limited in creativty. Many of the names in my phone look something like what you see below. Obviously, I can make more sense of it than you because I often include abbreviations of the locations I met them, but I can't always figure out what I was thinking when I typed that crap.
Ex:
DisGrlNoGd
Ice Ice
Lin Chinese
Joob Dis/
MaTa Niman
NookKawee?
?
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