TEFL on Samui
Looking back at the date of my last entry, this is a good day to blog. Let me get underway with a little catch-up in the space-time continuim.
Way back when, on January 1st, I was picked up at my Bangkok hotel by a MOTORCYCLE! Usually I travel light, but I'm prepared to be overseas for awhile so I am equipped to meet the role of traveller, student, teacher and backpacker. This translated into four bags, and a very wobbly motorcycle ride to my tourist bus.
In most of Asia, if one is of sound mind, body and not prone to addiction, there is no need to stay awake when you want to sleep nor sleep when you want to stay awake. I dropped two valiums, read a bit, listened to my walkman and was GONE until waking up when the bus stopped the next morning.
Suratthani is the departure point for boats heading to Koh Samui. We pulled in at 5:30 am to a small travel agency-slash-restaurant. Then it was a two-hour wait for a transfer bus to take us the remaining fifteen minutes to the ferry. Call me a cynic, but I think this was just to increase the chances of our dishing out money for coffee, sandwiches and snacks.
Anyway, slightly groggy but functional, I eventually crossed water and docked on Samui, the third largest island in Thailand. The most populated area, Chaweng, is where my TEFL course was being held and my lodging awaited...
Back to the present:
I truly enjoyed the TEFL class. Had an excellent teacher, got a handle on how to create a teaching plan, and the group of 6th-graders I practiced on were incredibly sweet kids. But (and, this is a major 'but'): I had enrolled in this class under the auspices of Text and Talk, a company headquartered in Bangkok. During week five of this six-week course, I discovered that the Koh Samui branch had broken away from the parent company. This meant that my certificate would not carry the weight that I was expecting, and that I wouldn't have the job resources of this company to draw on.
Long story short: Text and Talk has offered my class a free course elsewhere, and on February 21st I begin my 6-week TEFL course (again) on the island of Phuket. To be honest, this really doesn't harsh my mellow. Phuket was one of the areas heavily hit by the tsunami, and I think I'll have an interesting time there. If not, well, Phuk et.
So I have had leisurely last week here in the sun and surf of Koh Samui. Today I'm meeting up with a friend from the States, and we'll probably head to another nearby island for a few days.
Every three months I have to leave the Country, even if only for five minutes to renew my visa. So, post island-hopping, I'll drop down to Malaysia for a quick border run. Then, onward to Phuket.
I've also used this free week to email my resume to some potential employers. The top three at the moment, or at least the most interesting, are:
1. Teaching buddhist monks English, one night a week, in exchange for free room and board at the monastary. My income would come from teaching classes at the nearby Buddhist University.
2. Working as the resident English instructor and trainer at a posh island resort.
3. English teacher at an all-girls Catholic boarding school.
Next blog: Sex in Asia.
P.S. That was not a segue.
