Hi Everyone,
As you can see from the shot above, I won’t be making a lot of long and involved entries to my glob over the next 4-weeks! My job tonight is to organize all the many papers for this-and-that, read an assignment, look through my notes to make some sense of all I learned today, and just generally, get my head on straight!
The school’s in that building across the way.
From the Skytrain, I can walk directly into the building. Upon arrival early this a.m., it looked a lot like the Kuhio Mall of days gone by. Tones knows what I mean. : )
So what the heck am I doing typing this to you right now? Well, I wanted to let you know what’s up, and that all is well. We each already stood in front of a group of students (who we’ll be teaching this week) to introduce ourselves and practice the very first points we were taught. And what were those points? Don’t talk too much; keep what you say simple and concise.
But we want to know more, I can hear you saying. So I’ll give you Susan Jane’s down-and-dirty-off-the-cuff list of FAQ’s:
1) Where are the other students from?
Australia, England, Malaysia and the U.S.
2) Do they plan on teaching in Asia after the course?
Yes, some have jobs already; some have family here; some have boyfriends or girlfriends here.
3) What are their ages?
Most are in their 30’s though my unofficial guesstimate is that they range from the mid-20’s to the mid-40’s (with moi being an exception : ). One guy’s wife just had a baby boy on the 21st of May; yes, they live in Bangkok.
4) What are the teacher’s like?
Two males and one female—all from England. The guys make a perfect mutt and Jeff set of bookends. She’s got lots of energy and makes teaching English to Thai students look easy!
5) Who are the students?
Here’s a quick run-down of the few I met today.
One young lady wants to be an airline attendant.
One young lady moved here from Japan and wants to be able to talk to the foreigners in her apartment building.
One young lady is in college and is planning to go to grad school in Psychology.
One young lady studied English is school and now, 10-years later, wants to improve her English since she teaches computer classes.
There are a few guys, but I just didn’t meet them yet.
They seem to range in age from the mid-20’s to late 30’s.
6) What’s the school itself like?
It’s on the 7th floor of this building just off of a Sky Train stop on the Silom line. The rooms are narrow and FULL of students. It’s a hopping kind of place with classes taking place all the time, even on the weekend. Three or so beautiful young Thai ladies greet you once you enter. The restrooms are not in the school area, but rather outside just past the elevators. Fortunately, I remembered to carry some of my own tissue with me today. If you don’t know what I mean, just think about it for a moment.
Okay, I think I need to get going and busy with my school work.
Below are also some shots I took this weekend when I went to play golf with my girlfriend’s *husband and a German couple, all expats working here in Bangkok. And yes, I had fun speaking German with them. The golf? It was fun, and I definitely got my money’s worth, if you know what I mean . . . yep, think about it for a moment and you’ll get the picture.
Until the next post,
Sawasdee kha
At 6 p.m. every day, everyone stops while a short version of their national anthem is play.
Looks like he’s happy with his game, and there is a lot of the same foliage as on Kaua‘i.
The golf course was a 45-minute drive north of Bangkok. And yes, we each had a caddy! That was a first for me. I can hear some of you saying, I didn’t know you played golf. Exactly, I don’t; hence, I got my money’s worth!
The golfers said that balls often land on these huge lily pads!
So beautiful! I couldn’t resist stopping during the game and smelling the roses, I mean hibiscus.
Private lanai? Yes, it just keeps getting better and better.