This is Thailand. Chapter 9: Striptease in the bank. Part I.
Some people say that all good things must come to an end. I was happy that Songkran had finished, because everything that happened on Koh Lanta could not be classified as good. I came back to Bangkok sad, tired and full of new thoughts. I really wanted to make everything good but the results were not. On the other hand I felt good that it was all over and that now I could get back to my teacher’s routine. The ghost from the Houben hotel thankfully didn’t follow us and Piam began to act normally again. We slept almost through all of Sunday. On Monday, it was time to begin something that was mysteriously called “The Special Semester.”
Link to the previous post: This is Thailand. Chapter 8: Vacation with ghosts. Part 8 - Last.
I wasn’t sure how it worked in the other departments of the college, but when it came to English, I only had one group. My pupils had just graduated from high school and all spoke a relatively good level of English. Ahead of them and me was 8 weeks of language classes. Intensive, because they are conducted every day for three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. Oh my Buddha!
View from the skybar at Lebua at State Tower hotel in Bangkok - the same were parts of the movie The Hangover 2: Bangok were filmed. Photo: @mareklenarcik.
The beginning wasn’t too bad. The kids were a bit shy, but they generally knew what I was teaching them. The group contained more than 40 students, and for most of them this was their first time in higher education. Thai primary and secondary schools are renowned for imitating zoological gardens with small monkeys running around everywhere. There were different rules in the college though and part of my job was to make sure that these were kept. Guy gave me 21 teaching hours, the last 9 he was supposed to teach himself. In theory, after the course the students were supposed to be able to study further in English. They would probably be able to do it, especially in this system where you bump up the students’ marks if they don’t reach the criteria. These were at least my thoughts after my first set of exams, where I had to bend the criteria to ensure that my students passed. Even after I did that, they came to me to complain about their low marks.
Given the fact that I lived so close to the college, I opted for classes in English for Hotel Business, which took place every Sunday. Ok, living close had nothing to do with it. These were extra classes for representatives of the hotel and tourism industries and the college was paying 500 baht an hour for them. An extra 3,000 baht for the next six Sundays in a row would be good for my home budget. The group consisted of ten people – a few managers of some of the more famous hotels, one representative of the nearby Dusit Princess hotel and two owners of restaurants. They represented different language levels from zero to almost fluent, and they all needed to participate in one, specialist course that required an intermediate level of English. It was interesting to find them on the same course. Was it greed?
Piam and I didn’t talk about the ghost of Koh Lanta anymore. It looked like she had finally realized that she had crossed the line. Since we returned, she was so nice to me that I’d forgotten everything bad that she had done. Engaged in my college work, I stopped looking at the calendar. One day, I finished classes, loosened my shirt, removed the tie and marched home as usual. Sweating like a pig, I opened the door to my flat and saw Piam lighting up candles on a birthday cake. For me. I had a birthday today. Her and Apple sang a “Happy Birthday” to me and it touched me to my very core. I had completely forgotten about my 28th birthday. Just before I blew out the candles, Piam insisted that I make a wish. I didn’t really believe in it but I had nothing to lose. I wanted her to always be as good to me as she was right now. Always. I wanted the things that happened on Koh Lanta to never return. I wondered if my wish would be granted...
To Be Continued...