When the Moon was squared by Uranus

Good news! I finally have a full-time job. I started my work in Mae Sot earlier this week, but will tell you more about it later. The past month has been very busy and I did not have the time to write blog entries. I did make notes though, and I'd like to first share some of my earlier adventures with you. Since there is enough material for about three entries, I will post it piecewise every half a week or so, until I have completely updated you.

I wrote my last blog in March, a month I spent between Kanchanaburi and Bangkok. In Bangkok to look for jobs and visit schools, in Kanchanaburi to escape the smog and heat. At some point during that month the Moon squared Uranus, although I would not have been aware of the fact if I had not been together with my Scottish friend John. The conversation went something like this:

J: '...it is an inauspicious date because on Friday, the Moon squares Uranus.'
R: 'My what? Excuse me, what did you say?'
J: 'The Moon squares Uranus, the planet Uranus, I mean.'

Besides the obvious misunderstanding, I am not sure how this can fit with the laws of geometry: two objects do not make a square, as far as I know. But I did not introduce John to you yet: he is a teacher too, and we spent more than a month together in Bangkok and Kanchanaburi, both searching for jobs. John is very interested in astrology and one of the first things he'll do when you meet him, is try to guess your zodiac sign. He also renewed my interest in the works of Karl Marx and William Godwin, and made me aware of a strange similarity between the Thai language and the language spoken by the Martians in the movie 'Mars Attacks'.

When I planned to once more leave Kanchanaburi for Bangkok, John warned me that Uranus' influence would be very strong on the day of my next job interview. And so I travelled to Bangkok, wondering if such an abstract thing as the square between the Moon and Uranus could influence the outcome of my interview, and why. I could not think of a reason. After a long journey I arrived in Bangkok, where I took a room in a guesthouse I frequent. The next day I dressed as well as I could, because the school is a private institute with a good reputation. But this is steaming hot Bangkok, a city that suffers a saunatic climate. Walking on the street or sitting in a bus in leather shoes, wearing a shirt and a tie, that is impossible without getting soaked in your own sweat. So I had to take a taxi (aircon inside) to the school. Overall, I spent quite a lot of money and time on my interview.

The school looked very posh. A big car park, marble and glass buildings, and in front of the buildings a small park with fountains and a well-kept lawn. At the gate of the school, I was made to wait. In the Sun mind you, not a nice thing when it is over 40 degrees. Instead of being led in, an American man came to the gate and asked me my name and business. After I told him we had an appointment, he disappeared to check. Five minutes later he was back to tell me the appointment had been cancelled, and I should have been informed. I was really baffled, because I had not been notified. This still did not seem to bother him in the slightest, he just told me to be off. There was not even an apology.

I had similar bad experiences with other schools in Bangkok. They are privately owned institutes where the managers drive Mercedeses, the students are spoiled by wealthy parents, the parents complain when results are bad and the teachers get fired over such complaints (no, you can not let a student fail a test in Thailand, after all, their parents pay!). Communication about job applications is rare or absent. The schools treat their teachers like commodities that can be disposed at will. A group of schools was not functioning at all for a couple of weeks because the teachers held a strike to get the director fired in January. The school that refused to see me at the gate was one of them.

That evening, I decided I did not want to work in Bangkok at all. I wrote another email to a school in Maesot, far away up north. The pay they offered was only half of that in Bangkok, but the communication had been nice. I visited the school the next week. I was received by the manager of the English program and he convinced me to sign a contract. No hassles, no insults, no absurd demands, and a cooperative, friendly atmosphere. I love my new job and the school already. Not being able to secure a job in Bangkok became a blessing in the end. I wonder if Uranus helped me.

Because my job started at the end of April, I still had a couple of weeks off to travel. I went south. At the 8th of April, I was in the small provincial city of Krabi, from where I visited the beaches and islands of Ao Nang and Phang-Nga. Tropical paradise yes, but an overcrowded tropical paradise, especially during the Thai school holidays (March-April). You can lie on a beach, you can swim in the sea, but you never do it alone. Nevertheless, Krabi was a nice stop-over. Like most Thai cities, Krabi has a lively night market resembling a fair, with excellent street food. And the limestone cliffs of Phang-Nga are absolutely stunning. Some of them are over a hundred meters high, towering above small fishing villages with pole houses. One smaller solitary monolith, standing in the sea in front of a small bay, was where part of the James Bond movie 'The Man with the Golden Gun' was shot. If you are a criminal with plans to take over the world, this is not a good place for a hide-out though. Because the place is full of tourists taking snap-shots of the cliffs and themselves. The tourists, I find, become a sight in themselves. And after all, where else can you say you travelled with a tour company by the name of 'James Bond Turtle Adventure'?