An Education

...is what the last couple of weeks, I can safely say, has been. The Touring Magician is a way for me to share the trials and tribulations of my life in Thailand. Starting my job at a government university here most definitely falls into the former category.

I don't have a problem with the students. They are very polite and really rather charming. However the institution leaves a little to be desired on the organisational front. I was forewarned that Thai administration could be a slippery beast, however merely describing it as bad doesn't really do it justice. Comparisons between elbows and less savoury anotomical features spring immediately to mind. I doubt they could even find the brewery. It's probably for the best if you don't ask exactly what's wrong. You're likely to get a reply starting with "Oh! How long have you got?", followed at least an hour later by "...and ANOTHER thing..." Please don't say I didn't warn you.

Tribulations-wise (and on a happier note), it's my birthday today! It's a big one too. One of those ones that ends in a nought. Time to leave twenty-something-dom behind. I'm pleased to say it doesn't bother me at all. It means I have a whole new decade to fill with strange and interesting experiences. At least, it does if the last ten years were anything to go by. Thank you to all my friends and family who sent cards and messages 6000 miles to get to me. They all made me smile.

Oooh...pictures!

I was looking at my digital camera today, and I realised that I have lots of pictures that I'm not doing anything with. So here is a selection of some that I like...


Ladies and gentlemen, I give you exhibit A. Meet Mr Anthony. As you can see, easily startled, but otherwise altogether a thoroughly good egg.



Ah yes. Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner that I love... Carmarthen, a town near the coast of South Wales. Thinking about it, it's probably more to do with the fact that this is where I grew up.



Now, of course, I live in Thailand. This is part of the garden shared by the residents of Taopoon Mansion. You can just about make out the edge of the fountain that's beyond the seating area. What you can't see are the steps beyond the fountain that lead up to the swimming pool. Our apatment is just out of shot to the right, so from the balcony we look straight out at the garden. I say "our apartment" because I share it with...




You! Yes, that's right, you!
This is Ken. Aw, look at his cheeky little grin. It's great living with him. He's taken very good care of me while I've been finding my feet in Bangkok.

Now pay attention 007. This is the (in)famous 7 Eleven shop, currently spreading through Thailand at a rate that would make the WHO weep. Every block in Bangkok has at least two of these. With a name like "7 Eleven" you'd expect them to be open from 7 to...well, you know. Actually they stay open 24 hours a day. This one is just outside Taopoon Mansion so it's perfect for those late night snack runs.



Here's Gareth. He's my best friend from school and is pictured here with his lovely wife, Tracey...Gareth's the one on the right. This was taken shortly after they moved into their fantastic new house. I've actually just missed his birthday - oops. Oh well, as a special birthday treat, and so you can see how long we've known each other...






...the two of us when we were about 14.

I actually did some teaching today.

My first lessons with Wall Street weren't supposed to be until tomorrow, but due to lack of staff I was called at the last minute. Shockingly, it was rather good fun. Hooray!



I had a lovely morning too. As well as the Encounters at Wall Street (that's what they call classes there - one teacher with a maximum of four students) they also hold social clubs and complementary classes for larger groups of students. It's a good opportunity for people to practice their English in an informal setting, and a chance to make some new friends too. Well this morning there was a outside social club. A couple of the teachers and about fifteen students went to a shelter for women and orphaned children on the outskirts of Bangkok. We took along lots of clothes, food and toys and spent the morning playing games with them. There was even a short magic show which went down extremely well with the kids. They were already asking when we'd go back by the time we left. We want to do it again, as does our centre director, so it could well become a regular event on the Wall Street calendar.

After a bit of a break...

I'm back! I know it's been a long time and all The Touring Magician has to show for it is a nifty sudoku feature, but in my defense I have been rather busy. The course at the Text-and-Talk Academy proved to be rather time consuming. However it came to an end at the beginning of last week and I'm pleased to report that it went rather well. Here's the proof...

They do have swish certificates, don't they? Anyway I had a great time, made some lovely, new friends and learnt all manner of exciting things about teaching and English grammar. I'm confident that I can go out into the world knowing all about passive voice constructions, tag questions, tenses of all shapes and sizes and how to gratuitously split infinitives. Hooray!

Ken and I have been to Uthai Thani a couple of time recently. That's the province where most of his family live. It's about 3 hours drive north of Bangkok and can be reached by coach or by one of the minibuses that career backwards and forwards across Thailand to just about any location you'd care to mention. It's nice to get out into the countryside to a smaller town. Although it's very different to the UK, it still reminds me of home in a lot of ways. We were there over the weekend but came back on Tuesday to see Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can 3. We were there for the Songkran festival too. That's the Thai new year which was the week before the end of my TEFL course. Everything closes for a week so everone can run around throw buckets of ice cold water at each other and generally have a very nice time indeed, thank you very much.

Now that it's all over I have jobs to start thinking about. I've just landed myself a part-time position at one of the big language schools very near to where I live. If your interested, have a look at http://www.wallstreet.in.th (If you do, the first thing you'll want to do is click on English at the top right of the screen). I'll be teaching at the Ladprao centre. Then I have a full-time job at Borpit Pimuk University teaching business English from the beginning of next month. I just hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew.

Back to school

Today was the third day of my TEFL course at the Text-and-Talk Academy on Phaholyothin Road in Bangkok.

And here it is

There's eight of us altogether. Emily, Erin and William are from the U.S., Cobus and Yoakim are from South Africa, there's a Frenchman called Philippe and, besides me, only one other Brit called Patrick. We seem to be off to a good start, but we already have our first exam tomorrow morning and it counts towards our final grade. They don't waste any time at T&T. So it's revision time.

That's our classroom and Keith our trainer

Two weeks in

and I think I'm starting to adapt to life in the Big Mango. I had been to Thailand only once before, for three weeks last November, and the weather then was wonderful. I knew that it was going to be much hotter at this time of the year, and one of my few concerns about moving was how I would cope with the climate. Having prepared myself to step off the plane and into an unbearable heat haze on arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was nowhere near as hot as I had imagined it might be. In fact for the past two weeks it's been my Thai friends complaining that it's too hot, while I'm just glad that it isn't cold and raining every day. Monsoon season is still a few months away, but that will be a different story all together.

Bangkok by night

So far I've had a pretty relaxing time. Everything is so cheap that it makes eating out or going to the movies far more affordable than it ever was in London. In fact it costs less to buy a hot meal on the street than it does to buy the ingredients and cook for yourself. Consequently very few apartments have kitchens. So no oven unfortunately, which means no baking, however there are a multitude of ways to indulge my sweet tooth here in a land where, seemingly, condensed milk goes with everything.

Tomorrow marks a change though. Tomorrow I begin my TEFL course in preparation for the teaching job I have lined up to begin in June. No more easy life, oh no. As of tomorrow, for the next six weeks, I will be working the grueling hours of 10am till 4pm, a whole four days a week. I might even have to tolerate lunch breaks as well. How will I ever cope?

In the beginning...

Well, here we are at last. I've been meaning to get round to this for quite some time, but finally this marks the beginning of my exploits as The Touring Magician. Before I get too carried away though, I ought to set the scene. Allow me to backtrack a little.

Up until 18th February 2007 I was working as an Explainer at the Science Museum in London. A noble profession, as I'm sure my friends there would tell you, largely involving the blowing of
a) pretty bubbles and
b) things up
for the entertainment of the masses. However, a rather large and exciting change was just around the corner. The next couple of days were spent packing most of my belongings into suitcases, then early in the morning of the following Wednesday my very good friend Ken and I headed off in a taxi to Heathrow airport where I said farewell to the country I have called home for the best part of thirty years - the lovely, if slightly cold and wet, UK.

Later that morning we arrived in Brussels and met up with one of Ken's friends, Horst, who was to be our host and tour guide until the next leg of our journey on the Friday. Having been treated to the sights of Brussels (as well as some excellent Belgian chocolate and beer) we travelled by train to Horst's home town of Hasselt where we met his partner, Simson as well as more of Ken's friends. Friday afternoon saw a little road trip from Hasselt briefly through the Netherlands and onto Germany. We caught an evening flight from Frankfurt airport to our final destination and my new home...

Thailand.

Being seen off by The Family Lawrence