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Published: September 30th 2013
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Well, you may have noticed it's been a while since I posted anything. That's because I'm busier than I have been the past five years! It's quite the change to go from working 20 hours a week to 35; it's also quite the change to go from living in cities with little nightlife to living in the thriving metropolis of Bangkok where every night has something going on!
I finally started work Sept 1. I'm working at a learning center (not a school) and am lucky enough to have two consecutive days off. They're not Saturday or Sunday, but I take that in stride as it means I can run errands when other people aren't. I'm teaching small children now and I'm having a lot of fun. The parents are kind, the children well behaved and respectful, and most of them seem to really like me; a few even say they love me. When I'm not teaching a class, I sit around and chat with my Thai coworkers, who graciously help me with my Thai language skills. Or the lack thereof.
I started Thai lessons in August. I stumbled upon an online posting for free lessons. How did I
get so lucky? The man is planning to move to Germany and study for his Masters degree and wanted extra practice with foreigners and our cultures. Luckily for me, with my unusual work schedule, I get one on one lessons, rather than the big group lessons on weekends. And we usually end up chatting (in English) about our cultures, too. I feel like I made a real friend in the process and I'm sad to see him go. Luckily, he's helped me find another (not free) teacher who has over a decade of experience.
I've managed to have a bit of fun, too, this month. My friends and I are still doing our weekly "Cultural Day" outings each week. Clive organizes most of them, but never tells us where we're going. He likes to try and trick us and laugh when we guess wrong. One day while we were standing and waiting for our last group member he managed to get us to guess we were going bird watching, and then he tricked us into thinking we were getting blind massages at a place called "Magic Fingers!"
The other week we went to the Bangkok Seashell Museum. I
love finding random museums! It was three floors of seashells from all over, in colors I'd never even imagined. Some of them were quite old, too. And there was a video about ocean life that we all found quite captivating. I do recommend the museum for a nice break in the hot afternoon.
I also have another weekly ritual: pub quiz. Back in August, a woman posted on Chicky Net to see if anyone else wanted to join her and scope out the pub quiz scene. Seeing how as a pub quiz combines two of my favorite things (beer and trivia) I decided to go. It went from being a one time thing to a weekly highpoint. I have the roughly same small team each week, and other teams also come weekly, so it's like one big friendly competition for nerds with beer. For our team, it's like one big, 2-hour long positive affirmation session; each time we get a difficult question right we high five each other and yell our congratulations. One of our team members is an older British gentleman who wasn't quite up to snuff with his high-fiving skills; he's since learned the proper form and
technique and is pleased to show it off. We've managed to do well at the quiz a few times, even winning some free drinks!
That pretty much sums up all of September. Work, friends, fun. I could get used to this!
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