Arrival

I'm here. I moved into my new apartment in the Sathorn area of Bangkok with my buddy Ryan. We're splitting a two-bedroom on the 7th floor of Villa Suan Phlu. It's great. I came up last Saturday and spent the majority of the afternoon getting unpacked and just admiring both the size of our living room and the fact that I was now a Thai resident. (An British girl was taking surveys of passerby today for her project on Bangkok tourism, and I got to politely say 'oh, I'm sorry, I live here.)

That night we went to dinner with Lannie who lives here now too, and Kat who came up for a little vacation. During the meal I got a call from another employer who saw my resume online and wanted an interview first thing the next morning. For some reason the people looking at these resumes think that everyone is just sitting around all day waiting for their call. The interview was planned and the next day I got into my stylin' new suit and a cab. I asked where the place was on the phone the night before which was stupid since I have no idea where anything really is nor could I understand her. She told me just to call the next morning and hand the phone to the driver. It worked but part of me felt she didn't want to disclose where the interview actually was since it was over the river and on the fringe of the city (about 30 min and 120 baht.) The place seemed nice but they desperately wanted me to start that Monday. I wasn't too pleased. Someone must have quit at the last second and they needed a filler (I mean, they called me at 9pm on a Saturday..) I told them I had other interviews that day and I really wanted to look around before I sign a giant contract but I did agree to go on Monday and teach for that day to see if I liked the students/school/distance from home.

The kids were great. I taught from 8:30 to 3:30 in 1 hr blocks end ended up teaching the equivalent of grades 1-5 with an hour for lunch and a double dose of second grade. They took a while to warm up to me, but we were able to have some fun by the end. I did more or less the same thing in each which made the second half of the day much easier. I introduced myself and went over the different things I liked (favorite movie, food, etc) then we went from there. The school was pretty nice and ranged from 1st grade through high school. The problems were 1) the time it took to get there (I may as well be working in pattaya!) and 2) the pressure to start immediately without testing the job market. I would love to work there if it was one of a couple options, but I just put up my resume and I feel like I need to explore at least a little. I called the head office and told them basically what I just wrote and that if they need someone right now they should probably look elsewhere.

Anyway. I'm getting all settled in to my new place and checking out the city on foot which feels kinda like I'm back in Madrid. I walked down to the park that's only 15 minutes away and checked that out today. It's similar to Retiro in a lot of ways except that it has gigantic lizards strolling around(!). Seriously, I think there's Komodo Dragons living down the street from me. Very cool.

And... to reward your patience while I was getting wi-fi here, new pictures are up!

much love,
j