The last few days have been kind of hectic, and I have not had internet access, so I apologize if I made anyone worry (you know who you are). Let me start from the beginning:
Mid-afternoon on Thursday I left Ayutthaya for a place called Saraburi, only about an hour away. I went to the train station because I wanted to try out a new form of transportation. But it was only 2pm and the train wasn’t going to leave until 6pm. So I decided to take the bus, which actually meant that I had to take a non-AC bus for an hour, get off, walk to this spot and wait for another bus that wouldn’t stop unless I flagged it down, and take that to Saraburi. Sounds really complicated, but by the goodness of some force out there things went smoothly. The bus driver told me where to get off and some Thai lady took pity on me and walked me to where I needed to be and flagged down the right bus for me. That kind of thing has happened so many times here in Thailand and I am very thankful for that.
Saraburi is the cement-making capital of Thailand, and as soon as I got there I wondered why I had decided to go. The school I interviewed at was nothing to write home about. I would have to live in Saraburi but commute 30 minutes-one hour each way to the school. I’d get paid 30,000 baht a month but have to pay for my own accomodation and my commute each day. And it’s not like the school or the location were worth that trouble. Plus, my contact at the school was kind of sleezy/strange with a negative sense of humourand I quickly realized I wouldn’t want to work for him.
Friday, after visiting the school I left for Bangkok. The next school I was to visit was 30 minutes south-west of Bangkok. It’s actually the school whose job offer I came oh-so-close to accepting before the coup happened. Because of some confusion on my part as to the location of the school, I only got here yesterday around 3:30 and today is the weekend so i am not really getting to see much. From what I have seen here so far, I am interested in knowing more, so I think i am going to change my plans just a little so that I can come back at the end of the week and see classes next Friday. Out of all the schools, this one is the biggest – 6000 students! The pay is unreal – 35,000 for the first 3 months, then 38,000 PLUS housing – a nice apartment. They put me up in one for the time I’m here and it’s a large room (probably as big as a “quad” at LFC), with a kitchen and a bathroom in another room at the back. The apartment is actually brand spanking new – the mattress, pillows, and electronics are all still wrapped!! Kinda nice to not have to worry about the sheets or mattress being dirty like I’ve had to worry about in some of my accomodations I’ve stayed in. The other benefit to this school is that you get a TON of vacation days, like 3 months! Apparently it’s more than at any other school in Thailand. There are some other nice things about the school, like the swimming pool (which I am going to go use right after I finish writing this post) and the fact that there are over 100 foreign teachers so I would be sure to have some friends and travel buddies. With all these positive aspects to the school, ou’d think it would be a shoe-in to come and teach here, but im still not sure. I actually kind of feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere, and not in a good way. The street the school is on goes on forever. Eventually it meets up with 2 HUGE busy streets (busy in a bad way) but on this street there’s nothing. Not even a market or a fruit stand. I had to walk for 20 minutes just to find this internet place! I prefer the atmosphere of bamrung, where, because it’s more of a town, there’s a clear town center with a night market and all that jazz. So we’ll see.
Tomorrow I’m going to a place called Hua Hin. If all goes according to plan, I will have an interview on Tuesday. But I wanted to leave early so that I can spend part of tomorrow as well as Monday at the beach! Hua Hin is one of the closer beaches so I figured, why not? I was originally going to go down south as far as Surat Thani (a 14 hour train ride) but I have heard nothing other than bad things about the town, both in my reading, and in comments from tons of people that have been there. Since Surat Thani is farther south than would practical (for me to be able to travel throughout Thailand while I’m living here) and I need to come back and visit this school, I decided it would be wisest for me to scratch that school.
I hope everyone is well and not worrying too much about me. I may not write too much over the next few days, simply because I’ll be so enjoying my beach time!
Mid-afternoon on Thursday I left Ayutthaya for a place called Saraburi, only about an hour away. I went to the train station because I wanted to try out a new form of transportation. But it was only 2pm and the train wasn’t going to leave until 6pm. So I decided to take the bus, which actually meant that I had to take a non-AC bus for an hour, get off, walk to this spot and wait for another bus that wouldn’t stop unless I flagged it down, and take that to Saraburi. Sounds really complicated, but by the goodness of some force out there things went smoothly. The bus driver told me where to get off and some Thai lady took pity on me and walked me to where I needed to be and flagged down the right bus for me. That kind of thing has happened so many times here in Thailand and I am very thankful for that.
Saraburi is the cement-making capital of Thailand, and as soon as I got there I wondered why I had decided to go. The school I interviewed at was nothing to write home about. I would have to live in Saraburi but commute 30 minutes-one hour each way to the school. I’d get paid 30,000 baht a month but have to pay for my own accomodation and my commute each day. And it’s not like the school or the location were worth that trouble. Plus, my contact at the school was kind of sleezy/strange with a negative sense of humourand I quickly realized I wouldn’t want to work for him.
Friday, after visiting the school I left for Bangkok. The next school I was to visit was 30 minutes south-west of Bangkok. It’s actually the school whose job offer I came oh-so-close to accepting before the coup happened. Because of some confusion on my part as to the location of the school, I only got here yesterday around 3:30 and today is the weekend so i am not really getting to see much. From what I have seen here so far, I am interested in knowing more, so I think i am going to change my plans just a little so that I can come back at the end of the week and see classes next Friday. Out of all the schools, this one is the biggest – 6000 students! The pay is unreal – 35,000 for the first 3 months, then 38,000 PLUS housing – a nice apartment. They put me up in one for the time I’m here and it’s a large room (probably as big as a “quad” at LFC), with a kitchen and a bathroom in another room at the back. The apartment is actually brand spanking new – the mattress, pillows, and electronics are all still wrapped!! Kinda nice to not have to worry about the sheets or mattress being dirty like I’ve had to worry about in some of my accomodations I’ve stayed in. The other benefit to this school is that you get a TON of vacation days, like 3 months! Apparently it’s more than at any other school in Thailand. There are some other nice things about the school, like the swimming pool (which I am going to go use right after I finish writing this post) and the fact that there are over 100 foreign teachers so I would be sure to have some friends and travel buddies. With all these positive aspects to the school, ou’d think it would be a shoe-in to come and teach here, but im still not sure. I actually kind of feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere, and not in a good way. The street the school is on goes on forever. Eventually it meets up with 2 HUGE busy streets (busy in a bad way) but on this street there’s nothing. Not even a market or a fruit stand. I had to walk for 20 minutes just to find this internet place! I prefer the atmosphere of bamrung, where, because it’s more of a town, there’s a clear town center with a night market and all that jazz. So we’ll see.
Tomorrow I’m going to a place called Hua Hin. If all goes according to plan, I will have an interview on Tuesday. But I wanted to leave early so that I can spend part of tomorrow as well as Monday at the beach! Hua Hin is one of the closer beaches so I figured, why not? I was originally going to go down south as far as Surat Thani (a 14 hour train ride) but I have heard nothing other than bad things about the town, both in my reading, and in comments from tons of people that have been there. Since Surat Thani is farther south than would practical (for me to be able to travel throughout Thailand while I’m living here) and I need to come back and visit this school, I decided it would be wisest for me to scratch that school.
I hope everyone is well and not worrying too much about me. I may not write too much over the next few days, simply because I’ll be so enjoying my beach time!
