I Can Read!

Not only is this a true statement on my behalf, but it's also the name of my new place of employment. Day one of training was all about the history of the program and the basic philosophies of I Can Read! Rather than get way in depth I'll just send you a link to their site. There's a lot I like about this job. The first thing and what motivated me to go to the interview in the first place (I was almost sure I was taking a different job at that point)is its proximity to my front door. It's literally a 5 minute walk. This is fantastic because the the skytrain and metro station is a 15-20 min walk in itself, and don't get me started on taxis. It usually takes at least an hour to get anywhere. So that's great. Another thing is that the max class size is 8 students. The program starts early (2.5 !) and has many different levels, but they're always 8 or under. The salary is 40,000 baht a month which isn't a lot of $ but it's more than enough to live comfortably here and I've already begun the transition to a 'baht state of mind'. If I convert everything into dollars before I buy it, I'll end up buying a lot because it's so cheap. I need to start realizing that $2 (70 baht) for a Pad Thai is simply outrageous. I Can Read is also very professional and not like some of the fly-by-night organizations I interviewed with before. They are internationally recognized and have grown exponentially. They have centers all over SE Asia and only really started 8 years ago. There's more reasons to like the place too that go beyond just 'the people there are really nice' (which they are!)

More importantly for you, dear reader, is that I finally have somewhat of a schedule. I know some of you have been thinking about visits and trying to plan vacations around time I could take off. Well now I have an idea of when that is! I get days off around xmas/new year and then again for Thai new year (mid april) as well as about 3 weeks of of other days that I get to use as I choose. Don't get all excited about a return home just yet..I need to stay with the company a while to get them. There's more to tell but once again I'm out of time. I still have a lot of getting ready to do for day two of training. I apologize for not getting this up sooner but the internet has been a real jerk recently and it seems the only time I can get online is early in the morning. We'll try again tonight.

much love,
j