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Me in a suit
I wore one for three days at the job fair. It's not me, but I'm willing to wear one to get a job... as long as I don't have to wear it every day.The Job Fair
A little over a year ago, a co-teacher told me about job fairs for teaching in international schools. She asked me why was I wasting my time teaching in an English language emersion school in Korea where you don’t even need a teaching certificate when I could be teaching in a professional environment working with international students in interesting places all over the world. She had a point. It took me a little while to figure it all out and by the time I got my act together it was too late to go to the job fair in Bangkok. I signed up with a
recruiting agency and applied and applied for jobs, but in the end I wound up signing on for another year in Korea so I could go to the fair this year.
I bought a book about how to succeed to at a job fair for international schools and I tried to follow the advice to a T. I rewrote my resume, made up a very fancy packet with all my information, made
Temple across the street from my hotel
I thought it was just a pretty gate, but I went in and was amazed at a beautiful temple with a gold Buddha. a resume website and a resume CD. I got a suit made, had my nails done, my hair cut, bought shoes to go with the suit, bought a ticket to Bangkok at high season prices and reserved a hotel room near the Royal Orchid Sheraton where the job fair was held. In then end, after close to $1500 in expenses, I didn’t get a job, but I did find out how incredibly competitive the job market is. Evidently, working in a kindergarten in Korea isn’t the first thing international school employers are looking for on a resume and a masters degree and
International Baccalaureate experience is really important. I also found out that my resume was all wrong and that I interview better online via web conferencing than in person wearing a suit. I'm still working on that "first impression" thing. (Update: I did eventually find a job in an international school in Moldova a few months later.)
I originally planned to go to two fairs in Bangkok, but figured that, for the money, I should see something of Thailand and blew off the first one.
I was so excited, I could hardly stand myself. For the first few days, I
just wandered around Bangkok, trying to take in as many sights as possible. I don’t really like tours and generally try to avoid spending too much time with other tourists just as lost as myself. For the most part, I figure you can see more in back alleys and riding on the bus so that’s mostly what I did. I took my guide book and went to a few of the main tourist attractions, and then wandered around.
Sightseeing
One of the most touristy places I visited was
Wat Phra Kaew (don’t ask me how to pronounce it… I have no clue) which is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Actually the Buddha is made out of jade, and is rather small and placed very high up on a tall pedestal. It’s heavily guarded and the guards are very strict with rules about no pointing your feet at the Buddha, proper clothing, and respectful behavior. I took a picture and they made me delete it while they looked at me with angry faces. This was not my favorite part of the temple. Actually, the temple buildings are the thing to see. They are like candy for the eyes. I
Wat Phra Kaew
Temple Guardian just walked around with my jaw dropped knowing that I would never be able to take it all in. The outer walls are encrusted with the most colorful tiles mosaics gold and bejeweled statues I’ve ever seen. It was just breathtaking. It is obvious why so many tourists come to see it.
After that, not much on the main trail interested me. I wandered through the markets, took the floating taxis, and bumped into a temple or two. I searched out a
fertility temple (see photos below) for my little sister. It was very small and hard to find, but interesting and somewhat amusing. (Update: My sister had twins in 2011, so it must have been worth the visit! :-) )
I went out to eat often. I love Thai food , but unfortunately I didn’t know how to ask for vegetarian items and wound up going to places serving expensive touristy Indian food. On my last day, I had someone order in Thai for me in a cheap side street restaurant and got a fantastic, but simple meal of Thai noodles. Yum
!
Pottery Island - Ko Kred
As hard as I tried,
it’s hard not to be a tourist in a city full of tourists at high season. The worst place to look for a non-touristy place to see is in a tourist guide book, but if you don’t know anyone or anything, you have to rely on it somewhat. So on my last day in Bangkok, I relieved myself of my business suit and looked at the farthest place I could go before catching the plane that evening. In the guide book, I found an island in the Chao Phraya River called
Ko Kred where the families there make pottery. I took the water ferry up the river to Tha Nonthaburi where I was supposed to be able to take another ferry across to the Island. While at the dock trying to find out how to get to the island, I noticed two other women looking like they might be going my way. One was Thai and was able to ask around. I asked if I could follow them and I made some new friends for the day. It was a good thing because it turned out there was no regular ferry to the Island from there and we wound up taking
the bus a very long way.
We stopped to eat lunch (as mentioned before) and then on to find a small ferry to the Ko Kred. We got there and took rickshaws to the ferry. The drivers were wonderful and were happy to take pictures with us.
The island itself was wonderful. No cars are there and there is a sense of traditional life. The people have their pottery and tourist kitsch, but in a much more relaxed atmosphere. They aren’t so pushy. There is a path that goes around the island and we walked around to see the temple (wat) that was closest. There is one covered section of the path that walks through the pottery studios and homes. Very nice. I thoroughly enjoyed my company and the sights. It was totally my favorite part of the trip.
I made it back to the hotel in just enough time to make it to the airport for my flight home to Seoul. Bangkok great place to visit. I only wish I had had more time to visit the rest of Thailand.
There are a bunch of
Thai flag and the King
While I think the King is mostly a figurehead in Thailand, he is very much a beloved king of the people. There are pictures of him everywhere and I would guess that saying something bad about him might get annoyed comments from Thai people. photos waaaaaay down at the bottom of the page. Scroll down to the bottom of this page or double-click on the pictures to see more photos connected with this blog.
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gnrao
non-member comment
i would like to wotk as teacher
im from india, is there any chance to get job