Still Looking

Let me start at the end of the day and work backwards. I had two important things to accomplish today. I went for a job interview at the most prestigious public school in Thailand and I had to get a visa for my trip to Burma. Both were intersting. I have had experience before looking for embassies. For some reason, in Bangkok anyway, they are non descript and hard to find...probably on purpose. When I went to the Vietnamese embassy it was virtually impossible to find and the Mynamar embassy not far behind. The treatment in both was the same. Lousy!

I was there before the crack of dawn and waited until it opened at 9 am. I filled out the papers, affixed my pictures with the glue they provided and passed them over to the clerk. Since I am going Tuesday morning(and Monday is a holiday in Bangkok) I needed the visa with express service today. Even though it says this is possible in on the web and in my books, I had to plead and beg for him to do this. For some reason, when I told him I lived in Bangkok and was a school principal, he seemed to cave. When you are in such a bureaucratic atmosphere, you are absolutely at their whim.

After that experience, I rushed to an interview at a local public high school downtown for a 10 o'clock appointment. Apparently, all of the key government officials send their kids there and it has a wonderful history. It reminded me in many ways of Jarvis Collegiate since Jarvis has the Rosedale crowed yet is a public school.

When they saw me, they said I was too old, overqualified and didn't want me to go home June 5 which is the first thing I told them since school starts May 1. I spoke with them for a few minutes, then was about to leave since they told me I had too many things going against me. The head of the department walked in and talked for a few more minutes and when I was really getting ready to leave again, said anything was possible in Thailand and was told they were going to invite me back to do a demonstration lesson. It is actually very appealing to me to finish my career back as a teacher ( albeit with 50 kids in the class) but kids all the same. I am frankly energized just thinking about it.

Then back to the embassy to pick up the passport. The area, Sathorn Road is really interesting and I spent a few hours walking past a number of interesting things. There was a fascinating Hindu temple, very colourful and busy. I noticed that everybody who passed prayed. I wonder if Buddhists pray to all Gods? Would they put their hands in submission and pray in front of a synagogue or church like the bus driver who stopped the bus and puts his hands in a prayer position?

Finally, when my feet were getting sore I hopped on a bus and just went. Bangkok is so huge I simply had never seen this area before and was absolutely fascinated. This was the 'real' Bangkok as opposed to the Manhantinized Bangkok I know in the Sukhumvit area where all of the foreigners live.

Tomorrow I am off to Chaing Rai, as far north in Thailand as you can go, Tuesday to Burma for a week of presenting workshops and the thirteenth or fourteenth off for a Songkran holiday with teacher friends. I am also considering going to Australia for Pesach on the 18th if I do not have a job so have passport and travel.Isn't life great?

Feeding the Ego!

This time, there are no pictures, just feelings. I should have quit my job years ago. It is so much fun looking for a new job. Last night, a Thai entrepreneur took me to supper at a restaurant that could have been Carmen's or Harry Barberians's in Toronto. It had the dark wood, the waiters dressed in tuxedos, the knives and forks and the restaurant filled with farangs. The only thing that was different was the cost of the wine, which was outrageously high for some reason, probably having to do with the import tax. We had some cheap Australian wine which cost $30 ish.

Anyway, back to the story. This lady wants to set up an international school for farangs and she asked me to run it. She said she would take care of all the paperwork ( I presume that means bribes to grease the wheels of the permits etc). Sort of an exciting offer( but I am not interested)

I had just run from an interview in another part of town with a Singaporean company. They run schools, management courses and something else in Burma, Vietnam, Singapore, Bali etc. I think I went for a teacher interview but got offered my choice of four jobs...a superintendent for all of the schools they own in Vietnam, a principal in Burma, the curriculum coordinator for all of their schools( I would stay in Bangkok and travel to their various sites) or teacher trainer. They are flying me to Rangoon next week and then Mandalay the following week to do some teacher training. I said I would do two all day sessions for them( I am crazy?) I feel like Daniel, travelling the world and getting someone else to pay for it! It is quite flattering that I could sell myself so quickly to these various and sundry types.

They wanted me to go tomorrow but I can't because I am going to Laos in a few days to visit Yui's aunt and uncle ( my Thai teacher). It is kind of hard to fit everything in. For example, yesterday, during the Burma interview the phone rang twice, which I rudely answered because I am expecting more calls for job interviews and I don't have an answering service. Remember I told you about the golfer's girlfriend, the dermatologist. She wants to improve her English ( which is perfect, by the way) so I told her to call me between patients if she had a minute and we would practice. What a hoot!

I also got a call from a students' father. Word of explanation. One of the things I am most proud of is setting up a mentor system at the school for the students who were failing most subjects. We had a little meeting and I asked for teacher volunteers( so I tapped them on the shoulder, volunteers, shmalanteers what is the difference) and the teachers that were interested took on a student or two to guide them through the semester. The student I took on passed all her subjects except one...history naturally. I think the reason is that I showed her someone else cared about her, I put the teachers on notice that they better differentiate instruction for her because I was asking about her all the time, and I used to drop into her classes for five minutes. It was great. I learned about the instruction in the school and she figured she had to get to work.

I don't know how I am going to fit my golf game in Monday morning with my golf instructor. I have another job interview for a principal's job Sunday afternoon and the Bangkok Post has lots of jobs on Saturday (to-day). Hopefully I won't get any interviews for Monday morning. We are playing match play for 50 baht a hole and he is giving me a stroke and a half per hole. I don't know exactly what that means, other than the fact that he will be taking some money from me at the end of the round. I don't even know the difference between match play and stroke play really.

Anyway, the bottom line is that job seeking is fun and I should have done it years ago. Unfortunately, jobs came too easy for me at the Ministry, University of Toronto etc. I never had to hustle. In fact, I am not even sure I want a job...I just like the hunt.

Retirement

I am looking out the window at an exquisite colour. It is not quite sunrise but we are getting awfully close. I can't break the stupid habit of waking up at 5:30 but at least I can now go back to bed after I play around on the computer for an hour or so...until I have to wake up at 10 for my golf lesson that is!

Let me tell you what I have been doing for the past few days...going backwards in time. Last night, I had prearranged a Muay Thai boxing match for my staff where we got in for free. The regular price for sitting ringside was about 2,000 baht a person, but our seats were complimentary. Let me try to give the picture of the excitement as we reached the 5th and final round of each bout and the frenzied crowd, spurred on by the Thai drums screamed for their favourite boxer i.e. the one that they were betting on. Of course, gambling is illegal in Thailand, sort of.

After the match, I took a leisurely walk home from Thong Lor and Petchuburi. I talked to people along the way, meandered in to stores, saw things I normally had no time for. Did I mention I took my Thai teacher to the match? We met at the university downtown and took the canal to the stadium. Everyone on campus was dressed in a uniform, probably the only place in the world where university students have to wear a uniform, which reflects strongly on Thai culture. Conformity is the way of this world, which is I guess the reason I am writing this blog at 6 in the morning instead of going to work! I had a drink with Yui's friends and they were duly impressed with my Thai, even though Yui was really annoyed because she says I just am stubborn and refuse to learn the patterns or syntax of speech. Little does she know how hard I am trying.She thinks I am messing up on purpose.

At lunch, my golf instructor took me out to lunch with his girl friend. I never would have found this little Vietnamese restaurant unless I went with them. It turns out that she is a dermatologist ( and gorgeous, as an aside). She wanted me to teach her English, but guess what, her English is perfect: she just lacks the confidence to speak. I gave her homework to write what she did after lunch and I will read it when I take my lesson today. I'm confident it will be perfect. Unfortunately, many brilliant people are not risk takers, which I think is about what learning a language is all about. I speak to anyone anywhere and even though they give me this blank stare, I persist. I assume I will never learn the language, but if I didn't speak that would be guaranteed.

By the way, never did have that golf lesson yesterday. We were too busy setting up a golf business. Um is going to set it up on this end and I will try to get clients in Toronto. Any ideas on how I can do this?

OK, let me continue to regress, as I think about what I did for the last few days. I have applied for about a dozen jobs, had three interviews and constantly get phoned for more, had one massage, had a doctor's appointment for a heat rash, and went dancing at a nightclub. Not bad for being retired for two days, eh? Have to go to the bank then back to bed. I am rather curious to see if they are going to pay me for this month.

To retire or work?

I loved being a principal. Hmmm.... Do I want to end my career with a job I loved, or do I want to continue to seek work, make some money and keep my mind occupied?

Yesterday, I resigned my post as principal. I had a disagreement with the owner of the school as to how she was dealing with a student who had stolen some money. Interesting way to end my career, to resign over a bad kid, but I felt it was a matter of principle. I had designed an elegant solution to the problem and she interfered. How strange life is. You work with all kinds of good people and you quit over someone who is clearly troubled.

Can I get used to lying in bed, reading the paper, getting a massage every day, playing golf night or day, seeing the wonderful sights and people of Thailand, or do I want to work? Naturally, my disciplined training went into gear and I already had an interview yesterday afternoon with an employment agency teaching conversational English to high school kids. This job appeals to me a lot because it would be a most fitting end to a teaching career, back in the classroom. On the other hand, I have an interview Sunday for a principal's job, I think for a Thai international school.

There are a few websites around that post jobs for guys like me. I know time is not on my side and if I don't get a job as in right now, I will be playing golf for the rest of my life or setting up my own business. If I choose education, I know I must continue without a break in the action.

This morning, I am thinking I should not even bother looking for a job. Am I crazy? What is wrong with retirement? I know guys my age all go through this continually, but it is my turn now. The one fixed thing is that I am leaving Thailand June 5 for Canada. What happens between now and June 5 is anyone's guess. Perhaps I should go and see a fortune teller like everyone else in Thailand does!

Going Back in History...Sukkotai

I was really looking forward to this week-end since we were flying to the thirteenth century capital of Thailand, Sukkotai. Ayyuthia, abut an hour from Bangkok and the second capital of Thailand was just fantastic and I was led to understand by a history colleague that this was way better than Ayyuthia, my favourite place in Thailand so far.

The trip kind of got started on a sour note as they would not let me take my backpack on the plane because I had my nail scissors inside. With about 30 minutes to go before the flight, I retrieved my knapsack and ran back to the check in counter to put my bag in the storage carriage. Sounds easy…right? What you have to understand is that just getting my bag back was a major hassle, then running about 2 kilometers to get back to the check counter, only to be told that it was too late. After lots of tears and gasping for breath, they took pity on me and let me send the bag underneath the plane. Problem solved…right? Wrong, I now had to run all of the way back to make the plane.

However, when we arrived at the Sukkotai airport, it was all worth it. As you can see from the pictures, it is an absolutely charming airport, welcome drink, snacks and all. It just had a great feel to it, especially when they came and literally handed me my bag.

Now, to get the serious business of siteseeing. We got our bicycles in this 40 degree heat and headed out the historical ‘park’ to see all of the monuments. Most of the buildings were Wats or temples and they are all constructed the same way. Each temple had an outer courtyard where the people came to meet and greet, and inner coronation room just for the monks and behind that a Buddha image. Most of them were built based on the ordinal points. You can see from the pictures that all that is left from the meeting area are the pillars obviously to hold up some kind of roof. The bigger wats are surrounded by a wall and a moat and you can see the influence of the Kmers which ruled this area in the 14th century. When you look at the Stupa’s, the bell shaped things you see in the pictures you often see serpents surrounding some of the base which is a Cambodian influence.

What I can’t quite figure out is why there are so many different wats, often very close to each other. I am going to have to research to find out how many people lived in the area in the 13 and 14th centuries. Did people congregate to do business, pray and reflect or did they actually live within the walls of the Wat and therefore needed protection from each other? As I think of Toronto, we certainly do not have so many places of worship per person as they had in Sukkotai. There were literally major temples with hundred of yards of each other.

I am also trying to get a grasp of the significance of the Buddha and what it stands for. From what I have read, the early religions were animistic, that is, they believed in the spirit world. I still see this all over Bangkok and Thailand. Every home or business has the alter outside and in the mornings garlands and food are offered up. Each time a taxi passes one they make the wai. Frankly, I wish they would just keep their hands on the wheel.

The next evolution of religion came latger as gods were assigned to help answer questions, I suppose. Finally, this rich guy in India, protected all his life by his parents, gave up his wife and new child and at the age of 29 gave up materialism, shaved his head and entered the world as an aesthetic. Certainly the modern notion of family values did not apply at this time. What I could not figure out for ages was how this influence got to Thailand from India, but in looking at a map today I see that you can go overland from northern India to Thailand via Burma. So, Hinduism spread from India, somehow transformed via the Buddha to Buddhism and spread throughout the southeast.

So, instead of multiple Gods, there was one god, Buddha that is worshipped, even though that is not really the case since Buddha simply means you have reached the ultimate stage of enlightenment and Gotama would certainly not have wanted to be worshipped. Having said that, all of the various Buddha poses you see in the pictures of Sukkotai represent various poses such as tranquility, humility and so on and as you visit Wats throughout Thailand there are often multiple images of Buddhas in different poses

I have my reading cut out for me. Can’t wait to go to Angkor Wat during Songkran in April. From what I have heard, everything pales in comparison.

Lesser Known Sites

One of the problems of going to the lesser known sites is getting there. The instructions are usually poorly written in the guide books and taxi drivers don’t want to take you, even if they do know where it is, because it is off the beaten track and they may not get another fare so easily. Bangkok cab drivers are generally great but they do have the option of not taking you which can be inconvenient at times. For example, when they change shifts around 6 they want to end up in a certain place to exchange cabs with the other driver and if you are not going where they want to go you are out of luck!

Yesterday, after trying a few cabs, we finally did get one to take us to a little known museum called the Phaya Thai Palace. As you can see from the pictures, Sylvia and the building manager are studying the Bangkok map to show the taxi driver although the map is in English and they only read Thai, but that is another matter. After finally convincing a cabdriver to take us and having the doorman explain where we were going, about 100 yards down the road we head a big and the cab suddenly stopped. Since no-one was hurt, I assumed the diesel just blew up but since he didn’t kill anyone or hit another car we just jumped out and got into the cab behind us, without the manager or doorman telling the cabdriver where to go. I simply said Phaya Thai Palace. The Phaya Thai was ok, but I had no idea how to say Palace, which was the rub!

There is a Phaya Thai BTS station which the driver kept talking about but I could not get him to understand palace or museum. We finally got near the area and when in doubt, you always ask the motorcycle guys who know the area. They told the driver where the Phaya Thai Palace was and the cab driver dutifully took us there, a brand new condominium called “Phaya Thai Palace.” Great, but no cigar. This did not remotely look like the palace of Rama V and his consorts or wives? After laughing, the concierge told us where to go and off we went ( again!).Of course, we had to hire another cab since our driver had long since left after he dropped us off.

We eventually found it. I know, you think I am now going to say it was closed, but it wasn’t! We had a delightful tour from a volunteer docent who worked in the adjoining hospital during the week. The palace dated back about a century and it was very nice. What kind of upsets me is that we saw the ‘Roman’ gardens, the frescoes on the ceilings like the ‘Italians’, British Gothic features and so on. Did the Thais at the turn of the last century have such an inferiority complex that they could not take pride in their own architecture? There was nothing Thai about this place and the bitter irony is that the Thais do build very unique things not found anywhere else in the world as I will talk about in a second. Certainly the Americans have no problem building and boasting about what they have created. They don’t have to go to see other parts of the world to get affirmation that what they have is good.

Anyway, after going to the Thaya Phaya Palace, we went to the Suan Pakkad Palace, a collection of traditional Thai houses housing exhibiting lots of artifacts. You can see the pictures of the great mask collection, for instance. What is so interesting about Thai houses is that they are built on stilts, so they don’t float away during the rainy season. I am continually amazed at how open they are with the first floor usually being completely open to the world to see ( to say nothing of the mosquitoes) and the second floor having the bedrooms with lots of windows usually open. There are no bathrooms, since these are usually a separate area outside the actual house.

This style of house can be seen from the most modest house on the island of Koh Kred to the most elegant Thai house on Sukhumvit 38. The only difference is that the elegant house is surrounded by high walls,guard dogs and barbed wire fences whereas the houses on Koh Kred are open to the world to see and probably visit!

To-day the Harris’ are coming from Toronto so we will have some fun taking them around and may even get a chance to do some more grown up things as we did with Ricky. It will certainly be great for them to get out of the snow, which seems incredible this year from what I see in the pictures from Toronto.

Going to the Hong Nam...again!

The last time Sylvia had to rush to the bathroom (in Hanoi on December 25), we ended up sitting in the first row of a wonderful Christmas performance in the Hanoi cathedral. Little old Christian ladies were being turned away at the church door but since Sylvia was already in the church (in the bathroom) Josh and I were invited in also. You can read all about it in an earlier blog, I suspect December 26.

This time, we were walking along the beach at Jomtien, the closest beach to Bangkok that foreigners frequent when Sylvia had to desperately go to the bathroom (again) just as we were passing a real estate office. Since she went in I dutifully followed her and ended up buying a house (maybe).

As Sylvia was in the bathroom, I asked the sales agent what would be the best value for baht for purchasing a property in this golfers’ paradise and she told me her company was co-sponsoring a housing developing close to three golf courses in North Pattaya. She said it was the best value for money and better than a condo etc.

Let me tell you a little bit about Pattaya Last year there was a 119% increase in tourism over the same period in 2006. It has whatever one is looking for be it sex, seedy bars on Walking Street, elegant restaurants and secluded beaches, million dollar homes and great golf courses. The reason Pattaya is the number one tourist attraction in Thailand is because it has everything and the value of properties, at the moment, is going nowhere but up. If I end up buying this house, with my record, I could turn around the whole market, I am sure.

Now, let me tell you about the house they showed us. It was about 1700 square feet, about the same size as our first Thornhill home. There seemed to be a huge living room –dining room kitchen and three great bedrooms each with their own bathroom and view of pool… oh, did I mention it had a 4 meter by 6 meter pool for each house in this subdivision? It was furnished and ready to go for something like 4 million baht or $120,000. It is actually quite appealing and who knows whether I will end up buying something, all because Sylvia had to use the washroom!

When I was in the real estate office, this fast talking Aussie manager offered me a job selling real estate. I always thought it would be fun to be a principal and now I am one I see I was right. It is fun. I also always wanted to go into real estate and now I have my chance. Let’s see…Canada and the snow or Pattaya and working in real estate? Let’s see if I am as good as I think I am.

I got the ultimate compliment this morning as I was waiting for Sylvia on the beach and talking with a massage lady using my stock three or four phrases of Thai like excuse me, what is your name, how’s it going, great to see you etc when the lady told me my Thai girlfriend must be doing a good job teaching me. She seemed to be in shock when Sylvia met up with us since the last time I looked she does not remotely look Thai!

Another oddity that happened this week-end is that we were involved in our first car accident. Considering how people drive around here, I can’t believe this is the first or last. I am just wondering why it took so long for it to happen. When we get too close to cars on the road, I usually just close my eyes and pretend it is a amusement ride and hope that when I open my eyes I am still alive.

As for this particular accident, a car turned in front of our taxi or songtaw and what I found interesting is that I see how men and women are wired differently. All the women in the songtaw screamed like in a Disney ride and the men seemed to just be observers. In fact, the guy sitting beside me just nonchalantly got off the bus and flagged down another cab as if this was an hourly occurrence.

Now we are just relaxing by the pool in a great hotel called the Avalon. Sylvia is complaining about being too hot and is constantly going in the pool( for those of you sitting in Toronto with snow up to your eyebrows.) Josh, what a great year to get our driveway shoveled by a truck. It makes up for the last few years where we just threw out our money.

Hope you are enjoying the winter as much as we are here.