Employable!

WHOA, we just experienced our first blackout! The week was pretty rain free, but ever since Saturday, major monsoon rains have been dropping. Anywho, power's back on, so back to my story...

An unsuccessful attempt at smiling with your eyes.

After several weeks of anxiety and insomnia, I am gainfully employed! Even though I'll have to start waking up early and will most likely be tired, cranky and whiny with no free time... Wait, why did I want to go back to work?? Crap.

The road to employment was not all ease and breeze, and I was a little afraid of jinxing myself by talking about it openly. Anywho, here's where I've been the past few weeks...

First up: UN headquarters on Ratchadomnoen, across from the national Muay Thai stadium.

Nervously waiting.

Before we left, I semi-secretly decided I wanted to work for the UN because I thought it would help expand my experience in one of the three key social issues I think of when Thailand pops up in conversation: human trafficking, drug trafficking, and education reform. I also wanted to work for a credible agency that offered a fare wage and benefits like a visa extension and medical insurance. Alas, they never called me back for the short-term clerical position, but I am actually okay with that. I was super nervous, as it was my first interview since we moved, and the daily commute would have been quite expensive.


My second interview was at a language center in a mall near our house, but they contract teachers out to Thai public schools throughout the city. I went in for a teaching interview, and they offered me a position as Assistant Principal in charge of curriculum and assessment strategies. They got really huffy when I did not accept the position right away, and I ended up not taking/getting the job, depending on how you look at it. Logs and my cousin told me it sounded like a fine job, but I think it would have been stressful because they lacked organization and a clear vision. Oh, and the director never showed up for my first interview, so they made me interview twice.

There was a Filipino woman waiting before me on the day of my first interview at the language center. It was over an hour past her scheduled time before the desk boy, who was surfing YouTube with some other guys, called in the principal to interview her. Pretty unprofessional. At least use headphones if you're going to stream some interweb vids in front of potential employees. I felt bad for the Filipino woman interviewing. She told me she moved to Bangkok in April to find a job that pays more than in the Philippines. She left behind three kids and was living in a one-bedroom apartment with two friends. I think she was telling me all of this to scare me away from interviewing, so she could get the job, which was totally working! Unfortunately, being a native English speaker is a person's greatest asset here. Filipino teachers do seem to be the second highest non-Thai teaching group after native English speakers, but I have read some mixed reviews online as to how well they are treated as a minority group here.


I had another interview schedule for next week, but thankfully was able to cancel it after my last interview on Tuesday.

Again with the nervously waiting around to get interviewed.

I interviewed for a K1 (pre-school in the States) position at an international (UK curriculum) school not too far from our apartment. When I saw the campus, I immediately loved the layout! Kids were out on the playground for recess, and there is a little wading pool for swimming. It was adorable, and on a good day, I can walk there in 20 minutes, circumventing classic Krung Thep traffic (10 mins in a taxi to go half a block? No thank you!).

The director of the school interviewed me because the head teacher was out sick, and she took me on a tour of the grounds before I left. I thought the interview went well, but then again, you never know! I e-mailed the director the next day, and she said that the interview did indeed go well (i.e. it was not all in my head!). She needed at least one more reference before they could offer me an official employment package, so I called in some favors and secured a couple before the end of the week. Big thanks go to Maribel, Vandu and Dr. Fleming for pumping out some really sweet references!

All in all, it's been pretty surreal finding a job here. I've gotten a ton of support from a lot of people across the great Pacific and know I could not have done it without all that encouragement. A big THANK YOU to everyone! My first day of teaching is Wednesday, but I'm going in on Tuesday to observe the K2 teacher I'll be subbing for until the end of the term in mid-July. My first full term with my K1 kids won't start until September, so here's to keeping sane until then!

Eep! In other daily life news...

One of my favorite things about living here is the fact that my cousin is an awesome badminton player. She played on her high school and college teams, but says table tennis is where she really excels. While I am no badminton pro, it is probably the only sport I like to play, AND we can now play on a regulation court indoors (no wind!!!) at Lumpini Park where the Thai national team practices!

Logan bragged that he is really good, even though he has never offered to play with me before!

This group had a whole tub of birdies!

Anyone can book the courts here in one hour sessions if you call ahead. It's not air conditioned, but that means you can get a pretty good workout going fast. Most of the people who play here are extremely good. A lot of university and high school teams can be seen practicing here as well. I think it would be safe to say that I was, hands down, the worst player on any of the courts today. But what I lack in skill, I make up for with hilarious attempts at hitting the birdie without having to run!


Switching gears, I'd like to introduce our apartment cat, Mr. Meow-gi!
Okay, so Mr. Meow-gi is actually a girl, but I like calling her Mister. When we come home at night, she usually darts out from behind a plant and into the front door within a blink. She roams through the halls meowing at doors she knows have occupants at whatever hour she pleases. She is getting fed from someone and doesn't appear to be flea-ridden, so we have given her our seal of approval as apartment cat! Plus, she reminds me of Mr. Oliver Beck! Meow!


Since we were going to play badminton today, I had to take the baby to Central World for some shoes. Most people only get paid once towards the end of each month and there was some free K-Pop type show going on, so the mall was crazy busy around the atrium.

When I'm down, at least I know OK! magazine will be there for me.

Some singer ("Ron") went on and the squeals pierced the air like a million harpies.

Mall art

Thailand hates fatties.

And what would a post be without an excess of food shots?!

As previously mentioned, I love corn! Asians have a propensity to combine corn and milk, which I am not the biggest fan of outside of ice cream. Many vendors serve their corn just grilled, on the cob or sliced. I think I can get my order down to just salt and margarine, but in the meantime, I still long for my elote con todo en un vaso sin mayonaise picante, please!

Elote Thai style: salt, sugar, margarine, evaporated milk

Do your eyes deceive you?!
Of course not! That's right, pork belly is street food here, and it is as yummy as it sounds. A little pricey at 50฿ ($1.46USD), but worth every satang!

This item was advertised as a "gyros," but clearly looks more like a Taco Bell chalupa. (Okay, I've never had a Taco Bell chalupa, but I just Googled "chalupa" and it seems about right.)

Logan describes this as, "the most disgusting thing I've had since I've been here, but I loved it. It was all shades of wrong."

Crepe stands are everywhere! This is mainly due to Japanese trend influencing. I like mine with some type of berry jam or bananas, but you can get meatier versions or sweeter ones with ice cream or nutella. Anything is possible!

I was afraid I'd miss some good old fatty doughnuts, but Thailand has some of the most delicious, artery clogging concoctions out there! They must be frying them in palm oil or something extra unhealthy because they are moist no matter the time of day.

Pre-movie snack w/some Dunkin Donuts iced coffee.
(P.S. Go see Up! in 3-D with someone you love! We both cried during it.)

Indian food from the Central Childlom department store foodcourt was a long awaited meat smorgasbord. I was so hungry by the time we got there, it was tandoori platter/lamb biryani/garlic naan/lassi festival time in my tummy...

Man, now I'm hungry, but it's almost bedtime!

Last but not least, I leave you with dinner from Japanese chain Pepper Lunch (aka the DIY Steak Restaurant).

Beef curry rice Set #2 (in the back, Logs is eating a limited time "Taco" rice meal)

So the deal with Pepper Lunch is that they bring you your food in a super hot iron pan. The paper ring is there to remind you not to burn yourself. Since the pan is sizzling hot, the meat comes out uncooked, and you slowly move it around and cook it to your desired (and hopefully not food poisoned) eye-balled temperature on the iron pan. We were sitting next to the big poster promoting the fact that their beef comes from happy and healthy cows from New Zealand and Australia. Okay, sure. It was not expensive and quick, so we'll probably go back. I'm going to stick with non-curry items from now on because, like Korean BBQ, the scent of sizzled meat and their seasonings stick to your hair and clothes.