Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving: A Novella

So it is official, there is no teaching work right now in Thailand for me. Maris apparently snagged the last job. I had intentions of creating flyers for private lessons, but I was a bit weary of working without a permit and worried that the wrong person could see the flyer. Then Maris said I should make business cards that say I am a teacher and give them to some businesses insinuating that I could do private lessons. That sounded like a better idea. So I created a design for a business card and toss the idea around to some expats who work here. One Swedish diver told me that tourist police attempt to bust those working without work permits as divers occasionally, taking photos of all the divers when they first cast off in the morning. They photograph them in their work shirts then take the photos to the owners of the dive shops asking for "this" persons work permit. If they cannot provide, that person in the photo gets fined 100K baht, roughly 3,300 dollars and then is kicked out of the country.

So I scrapped the business card idea. There are still two hotels that I know of that might want me to teach English for them, they are beautiful resorts and I happen to know someone now at both of them, one being my landlord. Side note, Maris said "our Thai Landlord" last night and it made me thing "Thailand Lord". Not funny but a side not none the less.

So I will continue with what I am doing now and that is contacting Gaew, the lady that got Maris her job, and asking around. There is one girl here who is teaching and doesn't like the job, so it MIGHT be opening up soon.

Bottom line is, if things stay like they ar, I will have to stick it out somehow until February (end of semester) and wait for the new year to begin in March. We will see if something pans out.

With that said, I have actually begun a novel, I just finished the 65th page and its really taking shape. So technically I am a writer now right?

Anyhow, I have to go pick Maris up from work, then we go help our friend pick up ingredients for a huge thanksgiving feast tonight, so excited.

Take care and til next time

_Brock
Posted by BrockTalkinThai at 1:51 PM

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 27, 2009 at 2:51 AM

    Don't give up the dream, hopefully something will come through in time. Hope that you and Maris have a great Thanksgiving feast with your friends there. Writing sounds like a good idea to help the time go by until the job comes through, you never know, you might come up with a best seller. Good luck. --- Uncle Wade

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  2. AnonymousDecember 1, 2009 at 9:39 AM

    Brock,
    You are a natural at writing (like Maris and Photography). I will be the first to stand in line for hours to buy that book! When you get your job, (notice I didn't say if) continue with your writing. You spin an excellent yarn and you're clever and funny to boot. We could be seeing you next on Oprah's best books!
    MommyH

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The Beginning

The Beginning

I am a 25 year old, southern Gent. I've been bothered by the fact that I've not traveled the world or even left the country, sans a trip to Cancun when I was in High School, but that was so muddled with tequila and strip clubs (sorry mom), that It doesn't REALLY count- that I have decided to take a adventure across the globe with the love of my life.

All I needed was a motivator, I needed someone to push me to travel and tell me, "Now's the time to do this, and we should totally do it". She came, she said those magic words and now we've got our bags packed, watching the calendar.
 
I had intentions on moving to New York City with my girlfriend. We are both really big into music and both have a spot in our hearts for the city. The opportunity escaped us after having our hopes deflated by the freaky rent prices there. We kind of ditched the New York idea immediately following a trip there and the mention of Thailand. 

We had always tossed around the idea of traveling together. I knew I wanted to travel with her. The first place she mentioned was Thailand, and after 20 minutes on Craigslist, checking out places and prices, we were sold (prob not the best way to chose where you want to spend your life, but that's just how it happened, and this is my story). Thailand it was.

So here we are 6 months later, a ticket for Bangkok dated August 4th in our hands. When people ask us how long we will be in Thailand, we say "Indefinitely". We are ready for a life change, something that might coax us into never coming back.

I have been dreaming of the sand and the crystal beaches since we mentioned the move, I have also had nightmares of being locked up and having to deal with a girlfriend who has been kidnapped by some crazy python handler, but those are just dreams.

The truth is, I have never been so excited and nervous at the same time for anything in my life. Right, now as I sit on my couch in South Knoxville looking out the window at the homemade bird feeders we made, on a hot Sunday afternoon, it blows my mind to think that in a little under two months, I might be laying in the sand with the tide riding up my mini bathing suit, with some concoction of a random Thai's design to sip in one hand, watching long-tailed boats float over the horizon, holding the love of my life in the other.

I expect to be shocked, excited, impressed, disappointed, lost, scared, found, happy, comfortable, uncomfortable, drunk, frightened, enlightened, ready to come home, ready to stay forever- all at different times on this journey.  

But one thing that will never change will be when I am an old man, maybe back in South Knoxville, sitting on my porch in a rocking chair with my old wife, widdling some crazy little thing old men on porches widdle, I will be able to look over to my wife and ask, "Remember that time we went into that local bar in Thailand and we saw that Thai Prostitute perform that "Ping-Pong show?" I am glad we shared that moment together."  

And she will say, "Brock that's disgusting" and then smile a little bit.


_Brock