>Monday, June 23, 2003
08:03 p.m.
Livin' on my own
Saw the Mrs off yesterday. I'm on my own for 7 weeks. Typically the first morning I managed to oversleep and woke up with 10 minutes to spare before assembley. Must remember to set alarm clock tomorrow. Uneventful day, the monotony only broken by Kao Yum. Otherwise it was sodding 40 minute periods, and the lack of being able to get anything done THAT entails. Landlords round fixing the tap, been to my local for burgers, and just being a mouse potato.
>Sunday, June 22, 2003
03:50 p.m.
Monday Monday
Felt knackered this morning, possibly because I didn't get to bed til 2:45am last night. Had some little buggers today, M3's that would not shut the fuck up. Had to threaten detentions which I really couldn't be arsed carrying out, but fortunately my gambit worked. The rest of my regular classes were fine. Had fried noodles for lunch...lots of chillie powder...yum. Then nipped to the market to buy more Mangosteen...this fruit is awesome, and only 13 baht per kilo today. Got 2 kilos for my staffroom which were caned within 1 hour. Everyone seems to be getting on ok there fallang wise.
The Mrs is leaving for Bangkok at 9pm tonight, so I won't see her for 7 weeks. She'll be in BKK til Saturday then onto Chicago for her seminars....bloody jetset! We'll be off for dinner shortly, then on to the airport. :(
Later
>Sunday, June 22, 2003
03:50 a.m.
Sunday Chillout
Woke up today at 10.30, the only day I can do so. The wife managed to break the tap off in the bathroom, so lots of swearing and tears. Then I went out for lunch...thick ham, egg, chips and beans...top!
Then took the Mrs out to do some last minute shopping for her trip tomorrow. She's going to America on a scholarship for 6 weeks (husbands not invited!!:( )
Bought Rambutans and Mangosteens for the 1st time this year....damn they tasty! Gonna have pizza tonight.
Went out last night with one of the mrs's colleagues and we stuffed ourselves silly with sea food at the army base restaurant just by the sea..ended up at our regular coffeeshop for Oreo milkshakes and coffee...yum!
Just redesigned the format of my blog hope you like!
Whoohoo pictures - here's one of a tuktuk. Just found an excellent site which offers free hotlinkable piccy hosting. Great for boards and blogs. Check them out at www.coven.com
>Saturday, June 21, 2003
06:08 p.m.
Saturday Work
Am I mad? Saturdays as well as fulltime Monday to Friday?
Well, it's not that bad, 4 hours at a reasonable rate. It used to be a lot more chilled out before some old miserable twat called Malcome started working there. They asked me to recruit someone for the school so, I needed keeping uptodate as to the amount of hours on offer. I happened to overhear this waste of space asking the boss for more hours, and just asked to confirm that I was only looking for someone for 2 hours instead of 4...I don't care either way. Twat neck took it as me interrupting his conversation and started a full on row with me in front of the students and their parents...rather he ranted and I went 'yeah whatever'. I found someone anyway, and now he's just avoids me.
Kids are great, though it took me 20 minutes to get the kids to differentiate between 'Father' and 'Farmer'. Oh and to figure out Aunt and Uncle. DOH!
Ahh, my one time of the week where I don't have to think of class tomorrow, though the Mrs is calling and I'd best sign off...dinner time.
>Friday, June 20, 2003
03:04 p.m.
The Day After
Heres a little insight into the mentality of Thai students. They had Wednesday off, Thursday off, and so by default they decided to take Friday off to despite the school being back to normal. Therefore in all my classes today, there was between 5-7 students. Just the right amount for a decent conversation class thinks I, but no! For some reason the students think that only classes of 40+ students are worthwhile despite the bleeding obvious. Through out the comfortable little chat session, I get complaints of ravenous hunger, and whinging about letting them go early. One class doesn't even show up at all. DOH! Friday afternoons are always a good skive, as the students all take part in clubs and activities. I usually join the Scrabble Club. Yes, I get paid for playing Scrabble!
This blogging larks a good timewaster too. I need to work on the page format a bit though.
Laterzz
>Thursday, June 19, 2003
07:54 p.m.
The Royal Visit
Well, today was the big day. The King of Thailand's sister's visit to our school. My promised lie-in never happened. Yesterday I was told to be at school by 2pm in my Sunday best, so dozing away at 8 oclock this morning, I'm awakened by my boss who tells me that actually, I have to sign in no later than 8:15...then go home till 2pm. BUNNIES!
Spent the morning surfing and arsing about then got dressed up for the visit. Arrived at school, and waited around with the other fallangs until we were told to sit in our bit of the marquee they erected. Clouds are gathering and suddenly with 30 minutes to go we see lightning in the distance....oh dear we mutter. The directors looking none too happy.
Miraculously it manages not to rain despite the entire sky looking black...it even manages a rainbow later. Meanwhile all sorts of police and military types are milling around. Suddenly a whole load of soldiers turn up with marching band, and start lining up and shouting at each other. Next thing I know theres a plane descending rapidly over our heads and disappearing around the nearby army base, and 15 minutes later 3 police cars come screaming down the drive followed by the princess' limo. She's here to open a statue, give out some awards and scholarships, and take photos. Not that we see any of this as we're sat near the back with a ridiculous curtain in the way, so we have to really stoop to even catch a glimpse. TV crews were there so I thought I'd catch it on TV later, but I just sat through 20 minutes of every other Royal's day but hers. Arse. Back to normal tomorrow.
>Wednesday, June 18, 2003
01:38 p.m.
Hello World
Hi. My name is LDMA. Well no it's not really, but hey I'm coward who might want to say something controversial about stuff and doesn't want the reprocussions. Call me L if you want.
I live in a small seaside town in the South of Thailand, where I am an EFL (English as a foreign language) teacher.
I am married to my lovely Thai wife who is a university teacher. I currently work in a government Highschool which has around 3000 pupils. I work 20 hours teaching time per week, I have a Saturday job teaching younger kids, and I teach a couple of extra hours to private students. My school is just 5 minutes from some gorgeous beaches, and being Thailand there are no end of delicious restaurants, otherwise there's not much to do here, but if you like the quiet life........
So today....let's see, well my school is about to receive a royal visitor tomorrow and so there wasn't much going on when I arrived at school today, in fact we got sent home and ordered to relax. There are all sorts of preparations underway, monks putting up ribbons around the school, huge marquees, royal toilets being plumbed in for the royal log, and general excitement.
Me? I just sodded off for a full English and a beer, and am now wating for some of my private students to show up at 4 oclock.
Hey! I didn't say this blog would be THAT exciting.
Later
