Job hunting and motorbikes:Gettin' Rainy Wit It

Quick update on the last couple of days:

Yesterday I got my first definite rejection email, which actually felt like progress; at least I can close the file so to speak on that particular school, though I wish there were more schools I could say that about. The search continues.

Later that afternoon, I decided to go rent a motorbike so I could drive around the city and get my bearings a bit more. I have to say, it was awesome. I now understand why people risk their lives every day on motorcycles, and I was just on a glorified go-cart! Riding around in the open air, moving in and out and around and through traffic (cautiously) was such a blast, I could’ve done it all day. I didn’t do it all day because it started raining around 5:30 or so, and I wasn’t wearing a jacket so I was forced to head back to the hostel. I went out again later that night when the rain died down a bit, and it was again something truly special. Walking is great for beaches and shopping malls, but when you really want to get to know the layout of a city, you gotta get something with an engine. All that I was missing was some music, but I sang loudly to myself, knowing my joyous crooning would be inaudible to those around me, drowned out by the roar (or dull growl) of my 125 CC Honda engine, with automatic transmission of course.

This morning I was woken up at 9 to the loud annoying ring of my Thai cell phone, and quickly went outside to answer it, as there were others in my room sleeping. The conversation went something like this:

“Hello?”

“Hello Ian?”

“Yes..”

“This is Jack Neale from The Prince Royal’s College, we received an email from you yesterday regarding some open teaching positions?”

“Oh, yes! Thanks for contacting me, how are you?”

“I’m doing well. We looked over your resume and were wondering if you could come in for an interview today.”

“Yes of course, I’d love to!”

“Great, could you come in at 10? We have another interview starting then and you could fill out the paper work while we conduct that interview”

(remembering that its 9:05 now and I still have sleep in my eyes) “Um, yes.. sure, I can be there by 10… where is your school?...”

So I got directions, quickly showered and shaved, got some nice clothes out of my huge duffle that I’ve mostly been keeping in storage, did my best to smooth out the wrinkles, threw everything on and headed out to the main road by 9:45 to catch a tuk tuk over to the school (luckily it is quite close to where I am staying). I nearly drove there myself on my beloved mini bike that I still had use of for several more hours, but I decided it would be poor form to show up to an interview with rain-soaked clothes and helmet hair.

I arrived just on time, and had a nice chat with a girl (also interviewing) from Colorado before the interview (I asked where she was from in CO. and she said “A little ski town called Vail..?” as if I’d be unfamiliar…). The interview went really well as far as I can tell, and I expect to hear back from them one way or another by the end of the week or beginning of next. Cross your fingers everyone, let’s hope things work out. So I can stop job hunting.

I didn’t get much else done for the rest of the day; took the bike out when the rain died down a bit, watched “She’s Out of My League” with Thai subtitles, and tried to ignore the abnormally cold and wet weather (the temperature got all the way down to 60! Outrageous and unacceptable)

Still livin’ the dream and hoping for good news. More updates to come soon.

Good Night and Good Luck, (has that tag line ever been used by anyone?)

izd