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