Jim's quiet musings . . .

Hi folks,

The picture above has absolutely no bearing on the subject at hand, but it did come up in a Google Image search for “BUSY.” 

I figured I’d add it since it’s most definitely an attention getter if nothing else…heh, heh, heh...(Hi Bob!)

 

I really haven’t had the time to do much updating on this blog for one particular reason…

I’ve had a difficult time the past few months at school, having to deal with the new classroom assistant the school assigned to me, named Somkid…or as I have nicknamed her, “Somkid the Slug.” No doubt, one of the most lazy, stupid women I’ve ever met in my life.

 

Although I told the school before signing my last contract, “Please, please give me a good assistant. One, who speaks fairly good English, won’t talk on their damned cell phone during class, and who has a fairly good attention to detail.”  What I got was almost the exact opposite.

Without going into too much sordid detail, I began complaining about Somkid several months ago but naturally my complaints fell to deaf ears. Nothing was done other than someone telling her to please try to get along with me. 

The problems got worse and like many things in Thai society, were never dealt with until finally coming to a head, with my giving the school an ultimatum….”Either you get me another assistant or I’m gone.”   Yet another time in my life when I throw all caution to the wind and bet on my own odds.

Now Somkid is gone.  My own odds once again won out...

That, in and of itself, is a good thing.  But, (there’s always a butt) the school told me they could not furnish me with a new assistant, so I’d have to either learn to work with Somkid, or work alone.

I chose to work alone.

I cited that with Somkid in the classroom, she was never an asset of any sort, but yet a burden.

 

So now I’m working alone in my classroom with only the help of the “so-called” Thai English teachers, which is a stretch to say the least in calling them English teachers.   Even the term teacher is a stretch.  Most are excessively lazy or don’t speak even a lick of English…

The Thai educational system….what a farce!

Now my workload is heavy, but not so much I can't handle it.   I’m just very, very busy lately and have to bring my work home with me, something I swore I’d never, ever, do again after working in corrections some seven years ago.

 

But hey, vacation time (approximately one month of a semester break) is fast approaching and already I’m designing a streamlined method for tackling the extra work I have now, and lining things up so I can still deliver quality lessons and easily stay on top of things. 

-Jeeem-