A few weeks ago I lost both my dogs...Puppy first and then Chok. I cannot even begin to mention the pain and grief I went through during this time.
My cute little Chok
Both dogs suffered greatly. The disease that gripped them was leptospirosis, from rats...the veterinarian told me. I have no idea how they contracted the disease, but Puppy obviously contracted it first and Chok, who was always on Puppy's heels and followed everything he did, got the disease next.
My wonderful Puppy
So, my kids are gone...
Boo boo, my lone kitty, is the lone survivor and I don't hold out on luck for her, since she kills and often eats rats on a bi-monthly, if not more frequent, basis. But, for now she's okay.
With my dogs gone, I now have nothing holding me to this sordid country. I have been exploring the want ads and will grab whatever is available when it comes up.
Boo boo has a boyfriend up the road and I know his owner, so her future is not complicated. I'd just leave her with the guy and let him take care of her. In fact, I've already mentioned to him that I might not be living here long and he has acknowledged that he is willing to take Boo boo if need be.
I've had a few opportunities pass my way and most, while sketchy, want me to show up on their doorstep for an interview. It has always amazed me how some of these employers think we are free to just fly here and there, thousands of miles from our home base, for a short interview and then fly back at a cost in the upper thousands of baht.
However, some are more reasonable and want to schedule an interview either over the phone or via Skype or similar. So, as of this weekend I've equipped myself with the necessary equipment...a webcam, microphone, etc., and am now prepared to do some serious business.
I don't really care where I end up...Mongolia, Japan, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia (money is good but not a first choice though), Chile, Uruguay, San Salvador...they are all looking for teachers, but unfortunately, I'm an old fart at age 56 and many want to pass me by for this...Asia, for sure, is terribly prejudiced regarding age...and not just for foreigners.
The thing is...Songsaeng school is applying the pressure. Most schools give foreigners a class load of anywhere from fourteen classes a week, up to sixteen. I'm pushing thirty. That's just too much...especially given that the school has asked me to prepare a "special curriculum" (after I've already supplied them with a forty-nine page...massive curriculum for the school year, that...in my humble opinion is not only top notch, but way overboard for this school) for the low-life, scumbag, lazy-assed, losers who are the students in Mathayom 1/1, 1/2, 2/1, and 2/2....the reason being (of course) that the majority of the students from those classes failed my course. Mathayom 1/1, exclusively, currently holds the record with over 82% failure rate. The little pricks listen to music on their mp3 players, don't write anything in their notebooks, and basically just don't care. All just a lazy bunch of brainless lumps.
Typical of many Thai schools...it's not the student's fault...it's the teacher. So, the school wants me to do a bunch of make-work and want me to "entertain" the little scumbags in the lower classes...somehow, magically raising their grades. "Make the classes more interesting so they will do better," the high-classed bitch says to me...."No way," I say...I'm not a freaking entertainer...I'm a goddamned English teacher! And besides, if I came up with the best lesson plans in the whole world, it wouldn't matter since the idiots don't pay any attention in class and certainly don't write anything in their notebooks. So how, pray-tell, can you intimate that this is my fault?"
Basically I said to the high-classed bitch, "I'm tired Juliet. I'm freaking tired of all these classes. Most schools give foreigners fourteen, fifteen classes..but here I have to do twenty-nine...thirty classes. I don't have the time to be inventive...to work on curriculum....so, if the school wants me to do up another curriculum...screw them. Screw the school and what "they" want. If you don't like it...fire me. I don't really friggin' care. I am, at this point, very disappointed in this school and I am really not very happy working here any more."
Boom baby!
The thing is...the school knows all too well how to brown-nose their students and most likely squeeze money out of their parents...but what they don't know is how to treat their employees or listen to their employees concerns and problems.
I'm most certainly not the only employee who is unhappy with the school. There are many more and most of them have openly admitted they are not returning after this school year is over. A bit of a quandary I suppose, since the school has already held a meeting for the Thai teachers (I'm typically left out since most of the administrative staff cannot speak English, so their meetings are held in Thai) and openly mentioned that they don't have the money to hire new teachers, since many Thai teachers have complained about the unfair work loads and have suggested the school hire more employees to take off the excess pressure.
You see, Thai teachers who quit before their contract is finished, have to reimburse the school in cash. One such employee is / was my Muslim girlfriend Na. She got a job in Kuala Lumpur working for an Australian company in customer service and since she quit the school only two days after the end of term one, she had to reimburse Songsaeng Commercial School for 20,000 baht.
Ridiculous.
All said...and more to come!
-Jeeem-
