12th September 2010

Time flies! The main news is that Neil is working!! He was approached by the school because a new learning support teacher just did not turn up when the rest of us did in August. It must have been a bit of a shock for the school but they approached Neil and when they found out that he had a lot of special needs knowledge they took him on. I can hear Phil sighing! But Neil is loving it - he works in SECONDARY and is in classes supporting the children which has always been his interest

‘Up every morning at 5, it’s a wonder that we keep alive tired and yawning, upon this cold morning’, only it isn’t cold and I really enjoy going in to work. I support pupils throughout Secondary both in classes and on a one to one basis. It is a real privilege being a part of the lessons and watching the different staff teach. My days whizz by and they pay me as well. It’s great to be working in a different age group and I am learning masses. I’m in science with Years 7 and 8, geography with years 7, 8 and 9 and English with years 7 and 11. I am doing work reviews with year 11 students and have responsibility for Learning Support in Year 10. Hopefully it will give us enough money to buy a car fairly soon so we can start exploring the fabulous nature reserves not too far away.

Next week, as part of a secondary team building event, Eunice and I (Eunice as my dependant!) will go to beautiful pristine forest to do something called Flight of the Gibbons. I’ll tell you more once I’ve been but I know it involves flying through the treetops on ropes!

Last weekend Neil decided to give me a treat and took me, on Sunday, by taxi to the Skytrain then to the river. We waited (I was worried we were going to the snake farm!) and then a boat came that looked like a house on water and ferried us to the Marriott Hotel half a mile down river. There then followed a truly decadent day. From 11.30am to 3pm we were wined and dined for brunch. It was nothing like I have experienced before. The food was incredible with everything from traditional breakfast to BBQ meat and fish; from oysters, crab and lobster to every cold meat you can think of; from smoked fish (lots of salmon) to hummus, olives and salads; from the biggest chocolate fountain to a table groaning with desserts and from dim sum to a wonderful cheese table. Our wine glasses were constantly filled and we could have got sozzled on cocktails, etc, etc. We were inside an oak panelled room so there was air conditioning but we also went (half way through the meal) (did I just write 'meal'? More like a food safari!) outside to sit in the lush, tropical grounds in a Salle under the palm trees, just to have a break before we started again. We really had to pace ourselves otherwise we would have been ill! Finally, 3 o’clock arrived and we boarded the boat ride back, gazing at the amazing Bangkok skyline of modern skyscrapers on a backdrop of towering cumulus clouds. The monsoon is never far away at this time of year.

We are now settling into the life style. Meals out every night, BBQs round the pool and we have increased the housekeeper’s hours to come twice a week now I’m a working man. She cleans, washes, irons, folds even my underpants. (Maurice, who lives next door, claims his maid makes origami figures out of his undies. Hence the expression ‘is that a rearing stallion in your trousers or just a piece of origami!’). Back to Khun Sia, she also does most of our shopping and sews buttons on my trousers. Talking of which, I am rather compromised because when I came out to Bangkok, I had no intentions of working so as a result I have only two pairs of trousers and a few shirts. So, on the recommendation of Eunice’s Head of Year we set off on the Skytrain to Nana on Sukumvit Road. It is a notorious red light area and lots of butt ugly farang try to re-kindle their youth by cruising this road. It turns your stomach a bit. But the street is vibrant and full of tailors, hence our visit there. We made our way to Marty’s the tailor. You walk into the air conditioned shop to be greeted on both sides by rows and rows of fabrics in a dazzling range of colours. The shop is run by an Indian family who speak excellent English and pamper you with drinks whilst they take every measurement conceivable. I told them I would like a white shirt and twenty different shades of white in a range of textures were laid in front of me. Did I want two breast pockets or one, how did I want my collar, was it to be slim fit, the choice was bewildering. I selected three pairs of trousers, seven shirts and a range of ties which I will collect next week. It makes you feel so special! After we left the tailors we went two hundred metres down Sukumvit and to a superb restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms. A percentage of your money is donated to birth control charities. It was night time and you walk through a romantic garden with soft lighting to show you the way. It was Eunice who pointed out that the lampshades were all crafted out of condoms. We then sat in a room festooned with fairy lights hanging amongst the creepers that dangle from the roof and had yet another superb meal. Eunice had noticed on the menu that for an extra 60 baht you could have an invigorating foot massage and we both willingly went to the adjoining room full of anticipation. More on that next time.

We had a busy day yesterday visiting the best hospital in Bangkok. No, not because we over-ate last week. It is like a huge international hotel - super clean and efficient - but it also hosts a huge ex-pat fair which we visited to look at crafts and go to stalls about wine, daily British newspaper to order, (which Eunice is engrossed in at this very moment but true to form did not arrive until half way through Sunday afternoon) The British Club(!), learning to dive, where to send my 'maid' to learn how to cook for me, holidays once a month for Bangkokians (not tourists of-course!), how to get any meal I fancy delivered to the apartment within an hour of me ordering it and so on and so on! Gordon Bennett! Some people live an amazing lifestyle - and I think ours is great! Too many! in this writing I'll have to have a word with myself; I think I only allowed 2 in each piece of year 6 writing.

Well I must finish as there is an amazingly huge thunder storm on the way and all the electricity may fail.

For those who are interested in birds

Short walk out this morning around school grounds:


brown shrike

olive-backed sunbird

paddyfield pipit

yellow-vented bulbul

streak-eared bulbul

indian roller

common myna

white-vented myna

tree sparrow

pied fantail

coppersmith barbet

zebra dove

red-collared dove

spotted dove

scarlet-backed flowerpecker

asian palm swift

barn swallow

black bittern

chinese pond heron

common iora

large-billed crow