Blogger won't let me add a photo to my previous post no matter how many times I swear in a computer lab filled with third graders, so, I will post it in a new post. (karma?)

My school is just off the map to the left on Soi 46.

I live on Soi 75. Basically, if you go off the map to the right, and go up a few blocks, you will be at my house. I drive by Thaksin's house twice a day on my way to an from school, waving at the sleeping guards.

Just Another Day in Paradise...

Rin called me around lunch yesterday to tell me he wouldn't be coming to school to have lunch with me on my break, because he couldn't get through the traffic. I told him there is always traffic, and he said, 'yah, but there isn't always a bomb.'

Fun, fun, fun. The odd thing is, this car is located exactly at the mid-way point between our house (dangerously close to "Advisor to Thailand's' Thaksin, and my school. At the exact intersection I sit at every morning waiting for the light to turn green, and right in front of the restaurant Rin and I go to at least once week, and were at two nights ago. So, you can see, things can hit quite close to home.

The whole story is not yet determined, but basically it was possibly a plot to do away with Thaksin, while hurting a bunch of other people.

According to the Bangkok Post, '"If detonated, things within a kilometre radius would have been damaged by the explosion. Anything within 30-40 metres would be blown into dust. No one would survive and the Bang Phlat flyover would evaporate," said city police chief Wiroj Chantharangsi.'

Well, really, they know a lot more than me. Let's have them explain things:

"The dismissal of a senior army officer after the arrest of a man in connection with the discovery of explosive materials in a car parked near the residence of caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday kicked off a fierce debate.

Many observers found it hard to believe Mr Thaksin's contention that he had narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.

One reason for the skepticism is the connections of Gen Panlop Pinmanee, who Mr Thaksin quickly sacked as deputy director of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc).

The general, from Class 7 of the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, is known to be close to Maj-Gen Chamlong Srimuang, a key leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy, which is campaigning to oust Mr Thaksin." (for the complete story click here: http://http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/25Aug2006_news01.php)


And so, I wait with baited breath to take break from political threats an the utter dis-organization I face on a daily basis, to spend time at my parents house in the mountains in Vermont. If I make it to the right airport, that is.

Thirty-five days until I leave. Five weeks from today.

Hiccup in travel plans

And so with my departure date quickly approaching I am getting things in order, making lists of things I have to do, taking time off work to get my visa and work permit planned out. Everything seems so smooth sailing. Until this happened:

"The new Suvarnabhumi Airport, which is due to replace the overloaded and unexpandable Bangkok International Airport (Don Muang), was scheduled to open in June 2006. However, this date has been delayed until 28th September 2006 for testing and validation by ICAO.
The airport was due to open in late 2005, but a series of budget overruns, construction flaws, political interference and allegations of corruption have caused problems for the project."

Fine. Great, the new airport should be lovely! Nice new air conditioning, fresh paint and lovely new things to explore. One thing. Check the opening date September 28th, 2006. Check my date of departure? September 29th. So where the hell do I fly from? The way things go in Thailand, I will call Thai Airways, they will tell me I will be flying from the old airport, and then when I arrive my scheduled three hours before the flight, I will be told to go to the other airport, quite a distance away, on a Friday, the last day of the semester, where the traffic will be even more trouble than normal. (What is the superlative of 'jammed'? 'more jammed'? 'the jammedest'?) And if I was told to go to the new airport, I will certainly be redirected upon arrival to the old airport. And I am sure when I finally find the correct airport, my hand luggage containing all the things I am too worried about to check will be confiscated because it's not in a clear plastic bag.

So for now, I will sit and wait. And worry. Sounds like fun!

My Two Bahts Worth.

In response to the flood of emails asking if I know John Karr, if he worked at my school, or if I had ever interviewed him, well, the answer is no. But I had to think hard about this to find the answer, as I have interviewed many individuals similar to him for a position in Kindergarten. Scary.

The thing is, in Thailand, there is no check to look at someone's history in their own country. Everyone living in Thailand has a story, and has reason for being here. And to tell you the truth, about 80 percent of people I have met are running from something. A messy divorce, the responsibility of children, the burden of aging parents, and in a couple of cases, well, the law. Mostly in small harmless things, but it is still something that is marked on this person's record, and should be checked by Thai authorities before this person is given a job to educate the country's children.

For instance. Last year we had to fire a teacher at our school who stole hundreds of thousands of baht worth of things from foreign teachers and students. Mobile phones, a laptop, cameras, flash drives (two of which were my 512 mb flashdrives with irreplaceable photos from the tsunami.) He admitted to this after some questioning, and said that the one instance in which he was caught red handed was isolated. He had a three year old beautiful daughter who was my student. When he was working at our school the foreign staff supervisor dug out his resume and called his previous places of employment, to find that he was staying late and taking apart the computers in the school, replacing he expensive parts with cheaper ones and selling the good parts or a profit. Funny, he used to boast about how he would stay late after everyone else was gone after school. I heard about six months ago that he was finally caught by some security cameras, and was sentenced to seven years in Thai prison (like 100 years in a Western prison). About a month later I heard that he paid his way out, for a small fee not exceeding 100,000 baht ($2,500.) Wills of steel, these Thai authorities.

It's quite scary though, to think about all the teachers teaching in high paying jobs in Bangkok who have no background check. It is sometimes obvious to the person interviewing. Let me give you some examples. Keep in mind all of these people were being interviewed for a position in Kindergarten.

-I had a guy come in wearing construction boots and a ripped shirt, stoned. I was wearing a suit.

-Dr. Whoever. He was a PhD from a University that didn't exist, and his dissertation wasn't to be found anywhere, even at the link he gave me. (I checked everything.) Yes, please look after these small children.

-sweaty men

-possibly drunk men

-sex tourists

All looking for a decent job looking after little girls and boys. I think it is time something is done to check. After al, if I was looking for a job in Canada, I couldn't walk in and get a job without being looked into!

ps, as a side-note, I just read this:

"The 41-year-old teacher sat in a business class window seat next to Mark Spray, an investigator with the Boulder County District Attorney's office.
Before takeoff, he sipped champagne. During dinner, Karr had pate, salad with walnut dressing and fried king prawn with steamed rice and broccoli. Karr had a beer before a glass of French chardonnay with the main course. "

Are you kidding me?

Update: After seeing on the news this morning that it is official, he was in fact working at Bangkok Christian College, I would like to add that this school called me four times in one day asking, pleading and begging me to go there to work for them, after an experimental resume post on the internet as I was searching for teachers for myself. I wanted to see how many calls and emails people would get from schools if they simply posted a resume and phone number saying, "hey, I'm white." So you can see how easy it is to get a job at a school in Bangkok. Go ahead, post your own resume, and see the feedback you get! www.ajarn.com

thai wiring incident # 4,567

So I have posted many times in the past mentioning simple shocks or electrifying moments I have encountered since I arrived in the Land of Smiles.

However, yesterday was the mother of all mothers.

I have had the odd shock taking my flash drive out of cheap computers in internet cafes, often just shaking it off or moving on. (I now usually ask the cafe attendant to take it out for me, telling him it's stuck...once bitten...)

Sometimes if I haven't dried my hands properly after a shower and I pop in a DVD and my finger touches that little metal part...Well...I get a buzz and Rin and I have a good laugh at my expense.

Walking up a footbridge the other day my head smacked into something at eye level, and I just giggled, noticing I had walked into about 30 different electricity lines all attached together, right in the line of walking.

I remember breaking my glasses in Phuket when I was running to catch a "song-thaew" (like a pick up truck with seats in the back that take you to the beach...) and I ran eye first into a power line. 'Note to self: walk slower.'

Here and there we just have to deal with little shocks that keep up alive I guess. Like taking the paddles to the chest on a daily basis, just to make sure the heart is still working. I am used to it by now. Always clenching my teeth as I plug in a fan or do my laundry.

Yesterday I was teaching my favourite student named Janny. She is a student from school and she is 4 years old...an angel. We had finished learning in our 'classroom' which is air conditioned, and were moving into my living room to play 'Winnie the Pooh English' on my computer. It was particularly hot, so I moved a fan to point right at us as we enjoyed our game. As I moved the fan, I saw that the cord had come out of the wall. As I looked where the plug should be I noticed that there were simply two scruffy bunches of wires sticking out every which way. I asked Rin what happened, and he said: "Sophie." Of course. Meanwhile Janny was teaching Sophie how to sit by screaming at her in English and hitting her bum. Rin told me to simply put one of each of the scruffy bunches of wires into each socket hole.

Yah, right.

I shoved the wires in, trying to keep Sophie from eating Janny, while wiping the sweat dripping from my nose, and suddenly a big blue of fire broke out in front of my eyes, rose up to just above my head, and burnt out, while I screamed and all the power in our house turned out. A tingling feeling I had felt many times before was amplified and slowly moving into my brain. I was most worried about Janny, who was in turn, most worried about me, as she stood frozen with her eyes wide as saucers.

I managed to shake it off and tell her I was just joking.

The afternoon proceeded as I gained feeling back in my arm and began to see with clear vision (I was seeing blue spots for about an hour.) Another exciting day in paradise.

Lesson learned: Never shove metal objects in a socket, no matter who tells you to.

The Best of OTOP

Having had yesterday free from obligation, Rin and I decided to check out "The Best of OTOP," which stands for "One Tambon, One Product," a sort of bran name for handicrafts made with good quality sold at a good price.

I find these OTOP fairs to be hard to come by, with shops along the highway going down to Rin's house usually closed or lacking stock as we pass through. But, this fair, was amazing. it was held out at 'Impact' Arena, a huge venue that was filled with thousands of vendors selling silver, silk, handmade everything, food and everything you could imagine from the South, North, Northeast and Central regions of Thailand, each with their own distinct flavour.

Rin and I arrived when the fair opened around 10am, and walked around sampling wines and different dishes from around Thailand and shopping and watching performances of traditional hai dancing until about 4 in the afternoon.

Typically, market shopping in Thailand puts me in a bad mood, with the crowds which are only emphasized by the heat. However, this was air conditioned, carpeted, and imagine this, the event organizers planned ahead! There were trolleys to take you to the arena from your car, and there were even free carts given to each shopper so you wouldn't have to carry your purchases! Imagine the progress! I was so amazed by the whole experience, and the organization and planning, with a nice atmosphere with amazing, affordable good from everywhere! The fair is going on until this coming Sunday, and I might find some time to head over there one more time to get some more gifts to take home next month. All in all, two thumbs up to OTOP!

Thai Mother's Day 101 (วันแม่แห่งชาติ)

After the events of last week have slowly smoothed over, I have been thrown into Mother's Day madness this past week, as tomorrow, Thailand celebrates its Mother's Day. So, for your culture lesson of the day, here we go:


Date:
August 12th (every year, the same, no matter what.)

Why?
Well, it's Her Majesty the Queen's Birthday.

What's her name?
Her Majesty Queen Sirikit Kitiyakara

What does she look like?
More or less like this




(for some reason, she doesn't want to move to this side of the page.)







But hey, I have seen many pictures that don't really look like that.
Well, yes. In Thailand they mostly post photos of her from a long time ago, in order to keep her youthful. Maybe you have seen some like this:








Is Mother's Day the same in Thailand as in the west?
Well, no. It is more about celebrating mothers than buying cards and chocolates. It is about showing love and respect and is quite beautiful.

Does the Queen have her own flag?
Funny you should ask. She does. Let me show you.










Why it is blue?
In Thailand it is very important to know what day of the week you were born. Dig out an old calendar and find out when that was. Each day of the week has a day associated with it. The King of Thailand was born on Monday, and the colour for Monday is yellow, sparking the yellow shirt craze as the King celebrated his 60th year on the throne this year. The Queen was born on a Friday, and the colour for Friday is blue. (Really, more of a baby blue, but I couldn't find an accurate flag.)

What are the colours for the days of the week?
Well, here they are:





Does the Queen have specific flower?
Indeed. The "Mali" flower (jasmine flower) is associated with the Queen.

Why?
(According to The Bangkok post) " There is a saying that white jasmine represents the selfless virtue of a mother who thinks more about the needs, happiness and likes of other people rather than about her own."

What does it look like?












That's all folks. What does it mean for me? I have an excuse for forgetting the Western Mother's Day, which usually gives me an extra few months to remember to get a card in the mail (which I haven't done quite yet...). It also means I have Monday off, and I had no classes this week, as I spent all day every day making plaster of paris handprints for my students to give to their mothers. Now, for my last class of the week, we will watch cartoons.

Happy mothers day!

Well, it has been a bizarre few days. Beginning last Monday, when my Monday night tutoring student (60 plus years old) told me her internationally educated son is marrying a rice farmer's daughter because she is pregnant (these are her words.) Our tutoring session turned into a long winded tearful conversation about growing up and looking for approval from parents, and trying to give approval to offspring. This hit close to home with both of us, and I saw her off on Friday as she headed to the rice village for the ceremony, at the end of which, the young woman will be moving in with her, probably for the rest of her life.

Thursday I got a call from Rin while I was at school telling me our friend had given birth to a little baby daughter, and we spent that night trecking to Chinatown to see the new baby in all her glory.

Saturday morning our phones were acting up and we somehow missed a call from Rin's cousin which was urgent. (This guy never calls.) Bluntly, he came out and said that Rin's younger cousin who was probably my first friend in Bangkok and who spent many train trips with me going back and forth to Chumphon, met my friends from the states and spent a night with them partying in a big suite at a posh hotel on the river, sleeping on couch in our old apartment and making me feel at home when I was at Rin's (he is from the same village) had been shot and stabbed, and was now very much no longer alive. Twenty years old. I still don't really believe it, and either does Rin. We spent yesterday planning on how we were going to go down there with all the hectic things going on here, ie, Mother's Day, making a lot of work at school as we prepare the kids for a show on Thursday. We decided Rin would go on his own, which is hard, not having spent a night apart in almost two years. He called me last night telling me his bus was delayed because another bus going to Chumphon had been in an accident and lots of people died. Just what you want to tell a worried girlfriend. Last night before we left, we were inches away from two colliding cars at an intersection because of careless old ladies.

And so now, Rin is on his way back on an overnight bus, and we will go down together in November to take part in the 100 day ceremony (Thai funerals last 7 days, on the last of which the body is creamated, and then 100 days after the death there is another ceremony.) It is all a lot to take in right now. I don't know a lot about what happened. Apparently Aig (Rin's cousin who passed away) was at a concert at the beach, and his friend got into a discussion with someone else, and Aig hopped on a motorbike to help his friend get away, as well as another friend, and all three were shot, Aig was the only one who died, and he had nothing to do with it. To add to the mess, Aig was planning on getting married, as his girlfriend lives with his family, and is pregnant.

Horror. The story was in all the Thai newspapers, but it has yet to reach English ones. I will post if I see anything.


Rin and Aig at a hotel visiting some of my friends from the states. I posed this photo on this blog in March, 2005, right after we moved to Bangkok.