No Travels for Timmy

Wow, long time no blog!  Well, what can I say, it is a little bit difficult to go travelling around the world when borders, airports and the like are shut everywhere due to the ongoing situation with the Covid-19 virus.  So, my life has undergone something of a change from the previous five years to say the least, no more living in a tent, constantly on the move.  Rather I am stuck here in Thailand, I have a house, a car, and even a job!

My house and car.

Well - while I do very much miss my family back in England, the prospect of leaving (largely virus-free) Thailand to go back to disease-ridden, expensive Europe wasn't especially appealing.  And in fact I was already thinking of taking a year or so out of travelling, I kind of felt like I needed a break, and having my own place at least a while.  So, it seemed like a good idea to rent a house for a year and get a teaching job here - these are by far the easiest jobs for a foreigner to get in this country.  In a way, my timing was very good, given that I can't really travel at the moment, I might as well keep my self busy, do something productive and even earn a bit of money.  On the other hand, this is surely the worst possible year for me to start my first ever teaching job, the various regulations the Thai government have brought in cause me all kinds of problems, for one I have to somehow teach a class where half the kids are in the room, and the rest streaming the lesson at home (pretty much impossible to be honest), and also one day a week I have to turn up an hour early to help with the temperature checking / hand sanitising rituals.

With my TEFL certificate.  Totally ready to teach, oh yes.

I could also go on at considerable length about the many, many difficulties involved in teaching here.  The Thai education system, initially created around the end of the 19th century and based on European systems at that time, has perhaps advanced a few decades towards modernity in the intervening century.  It is also hampered by a uniquely Thai tendency towards absurd bureacracy and an extreme, unhelpful deference towards figures of authority - basically no matter how foolish or counterproductive a dictat from on high may be, all the Thai staff will jump to obey and expect the foreigners to do the same.  I will not go into any detail though, for fear of getting in trouble!

Photos to go with this post can be found here.