The Siamerican

Farewell to the month of March, greetings to the full-on Thai summer that comes with April! March 2010 represents yet another month beginning and ending on the full moon, as is anticipated for April and May, before things get back to random wack in June.  If you recall the January and February both started and ended on full moons.

With March behind, I can also say goodbye to the clouds of insecurity which the year’s third month brought, regarding my immediate future, particularly employment status for the rest of the year. With the eleven (ten and a half) month teaching contract at the inner city Catholic school having expired on March 19, I was coerced back into the job hunt yet again to secure a new teaching gig for the next Thai school term beginning in May.

Using the usual internet channels with my finetuned CV and email introduction, I was fortunate to get one particular call back for a bilingual program position in the northern Bangkok suburb, Rangsit in Pathumthani province.
Earlier last month, I went to an initial interview one Saturday, meeting the fellow American, bilingual Program administrator/manager .

The main attraction of this new position is that being a bilingual program as opposed to ‘English only’ program, my bilingual skills will prove to be useful and asset for the job, as opposed to suppressed and me forced to front that I’m only an American English speaking farang.

Second, the Administration is completely aware of my student situation which will have me studying my last semester at University in August through December, flexible to have me take off some days to clear things with professors at Uni so that I can assure degree completion by the end of the year.

Finally, being that everything at this company / school seems to be on the books, legit as far as legalities and formalities, there will be much pressure and room for clear cut professional development, i.e. after I have finally gotten my B.A. , incentive will be offered for acquiring a legit education graduate certificate / teachers license.

Satisfied with the potential position details, I was enthusastic when contacted back for  a second interview to meet other associates and teachers in the program, last Friday. At that point, it was in all in the air as there was still one other candidate I was competing with, though was told I had the upper hand. All I could do was try to remain positive and hope for the best, trying not to get too confident in case I were to lose out and had to continue the hunt elsewhere.

From what I could tell from that last meeting, all seemed to go smooth, and come last Monday, I was finally offered a full year contract, dictating that I’ll have to relocate to Rangsit in the next month or so to be ready for the job beginning mid May.

Today, I’ll head up there to submit some of my documents and finalize the contract details, also aiming to find out specific details to start preparing for the new position, which should see me teaching Science, Health, English, and even Physical Ed at the primary level.

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