Why am I not rich?

Pimp my ride

The good news is we returned to school on Monday morning after the weekend to find that teacher Glenn had not been fired immediately and he was in school. This all made what was happening on Friday all the more confusing but I am genuinely glad that he doesn't have to leave the school immediately. From what we have gathered, he has until the end of September on his contract and the time between now and then to persuade the school to get him his work permit. I'm pleased that he can stay at the school for the duration we are here- how else will I find out the important information such as which students are dating who?! In all seriousness, it is really nice to have a western teacher here sometimes. Although he may not be the greatest source of information, it's nice to be able to bond with someone who understands how sad it is to have to live without bread.

Yesterday was also the day where we went on a school trip to the Laguna resort in Phuket and not going to

Zeen working it

lie it was so exciting! Anything which means I don't have to sit in the office all afternoon when I don't have a lesson is deemed as exciting in my books- and a 5/6 star resort definitely does! The aim of the trip was for the resort to advertise their internships to the hospitality EP 1 and 2 students as, in their second year, the students must complete an internship in a hotel. If they are successful, the hotel will then offer them a job. So off we went with the students in the school bus (a vehicle which most definitely wouldn't have passed any MOT/safety tests in the UK but it was fun none the less) to the resort, about an hour away from the school. It became apparent that even though it was less than a 60 minute drive, Thai field trips include a trip to 7/11 for emergency cheese toastie supplies on both the way there and the way back. I wouldn't have been complaining if I remembered my purse, but alas..

They did seem inspired.. I promise

We arrived at one of the most beautiful resorts I have ever seen. The sight of elephants walking around a massive lake greeted us and definitely got my hopes up (having been in Thailand 5 weeks today I STILL haven't been on an elephant trek. This motivated me to try and book one on the phone to a woman with poor English so whether I actually get on an elephant who knows. But my trip to Asia will have been wasted if I return to the UK without an obligatory I-went-to-Thailand-on-my-gap-yaarrrr-elephant-selfie) but the rest of the resort was stunning. I can see why, even in low season, tourists pay ridiculous amounts of money to come here. We were lead into a conference room where the students were given a presentation on how to apply to be an intern at the Laguna resort- entirely in English. Although these were students from the English programme and their English is somewhat stronger than a lot of other pupils, they still seemed to struggle a bit and seemed a bit overwhelmed by the whole experience. Unfortunately, the hotel will only accept interns if they have a CV in English and their interviews will be in English as well. Realistically, none of the students have strong enough English for them to

Mine and James' golf buggy selfie

apply for receptionist roles but hopefully the EP 2 students are good enough for some of the kitchen/house keeping positions. The EP 2s seemed very keen on the idea and I'd be a very proud teacher if they managed to secure an internship! I'm starting to become really attached to Thalang Technical College and I just want the best for all the classes I teach- they really are great kids who work very hard (the majority of the time!) The hotel also provided a coffee and cake break, and as these are two things I can never say no to, I knew the field trip was going to be a success from this moment on.

This is the most gorgeous pool I've ever seen

After this we were taken on a tour of some of the villas which was not a bad way to spend an afternoon. First we were shown round one which valued at around 30,000 baht a night which is a measly £600. Admittedly the entire place was absolutely gorgeous and I would not hesitate for a second if anyone wanted to take me there (parents/Will I am looking at you). I left the villa thinking it couldn't get much better before being shown around a 200,000 baht a night villa complete with two pools- one you can sit down in and get served champagne and canopies whenever you should wish (yes that is £10,000 a night). There is also a Thai building which looks like a temple and contains two sun loungers that, should you find life in your £10,000 a night villa too stressful, you can beckon over a Thai masseuse to your apartment. It was so beautiful! I can't even imagine being that rich so that spending £10,000 a night on an apartment in Phuket isn't an issue- who
are these people?! So we left sadly as my student loan cannot cover this champagne lifestyle.

All in all the kids seemed to have fun (I know I most certainly did!) and it definitely seemed to inspire EP 2 to apply to work there as interns! I'm happy for them- it's not really in Thai culture for them to have very high aspirations so it's nice that they want to aim for something more difficult and upmarket.

The back garden. All yours for £10,000 a night...

Today was fine- I went from three lessons which I had scheduled to one as my afternoon ones keep getting canceled for some reason. It's a shame in England that telling a teacher there is no lesson as you have to prepare for a meeting doesn't really have the same success rate- here the pupils seem to tell the teachers when the lesson is cancelled. The lessons I do manage to teach though I'm really enjoying. I feel much more motivated to teach and I'm finding it easier to communicate with the students and get them engaged and I am beginning to feel like I'm making a small difference to the education of these kids. It's a shame that pretty much as I am beginning to get into teaching and get to know the pupils that I'll be gone in about 4 weeks. Crazy.