Category: Work

Burning bloodsuckers at Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

These vids were taken at the teacher’s accommodations we rented (House 109) at Khao Yai National Park from November 9 to 11, 2009. It rained every day, which brings the leeches out in great numbers. I had a few actually on my feet during different times, but none were on long enough to feast on my ambrosial blood. Too bad.

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Part 1 is very blurry and hard to see, but contains brutal leech burning imagery as an added bonus:

Thai language note: These leeches, on land, are called “taak.” Ones in the water are “prin” (pronounced like pudding in Japanese without the hard “r”) The hand-sized ones in the water are called “prin quai” (buffalo leeches).

Surveying Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

Last week, while tripping balls on cold medicine and mourning the loss of our pink chicken, I mentioned going on a scouting trip for our upcoming International Camp. Here are some photos which are neither international nor even educational, but I like them anyway. If you’re lucky I may even throw in the odd caption.
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Khao Yai National Park. Entrance fees for Thais: 20 Baht. For foreigners: 200 Baht. Yet somehow, I got in for the Thai rate (because my coworkers told me to shut up so I could pass as Thai. Thanks, girls!)
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The dormitories we were supposed to stay at, but will no longer be able to because our financial dept. didn’t make the transfer on time…
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This totally reminds me of Full Metal Jacket.. PRIVATE PYLE WHERE R U!!
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Can we infer that there’s a 500 Baht penalty for leaving food outside the Room?
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Snail shoe rack? I forgot to ask what’s written in Thai.. but maybe it’s better kept as a mystery.

A Visa Crawl

Long-term foreign residents of Thailand not fortunate (unfortunate?) enough to have a permanent residency or Thailand Elite card must apply for visa extensions, usually every year. It’s pretty much expected to be a long and drawn-out process. This year proved to be no exception. We left Mahasarakham at 6:15 AM and arrived at Mukdahan immigration shortly after 9.
Because the idiots in our personnel department couldn’t get our documents together, our trip had been delayed until one of the busiest days of the year – just a couple days before many people’s contracts (and hence visas) end.
The whole day was long and tiring; I spent most of it standing at the application window watching our stack of applications not moving on the counter for about 5 hours straight and joking with the immigration official, fellow teachers, and other random applicants. Let’s just cut to the chase and say that we left the immigration office after 7 PM, nearly three hours after official closing time.
I have to give props where they’re due and say that the two officials working the window really worked hard and got everybody through with a minimum of fuss, all things considered. They were also very nice, patient, and understanding, which hasn’t been the case in the past at either Muk or Nong Khai immigration.
The next and final step in this process is getting our work permits renewed, and since the aforementioned idiots in Personnel managed to delay our paperwork for this as well, we were unable to go today and are forced to go tomorrow. It has to get done tomorrow, or we have to leave the country and our visas will be canceled. That might cause a bit of a stir, even by the low standards of Personnel, so I’m pretty sure they’ll be ready. I just hope they’re done in the morning like we’ve been promised, because I’m teaching a community learning class in the afternoon…
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UPDATE 9/30: I FINISHED! I FINISHED! I FINISHED! No more of this bullshit for another year (except for reports every 90 days)!!!

Dutch wives et al

Speaking of writing class, one of the earlier assignments was to write from the point of view of an object. Imagine my surprise when one of my students said she wanted to write from the POV of a “Dutch wife.”
This term actually came up in her Thai-English electronic dictionary and upon questioning her about it, I came to understand that she was talking about a dakimakura, or body pillow. I suggested she use the word body pillow, but was intrigued by the use of “Dutch wife.” You see, in my experience with the Japanese language, it basically only means a blow-up sex doll, and I didn’t even know it was used in English. Here it is, though, complete with the meaning of dakimakura listed at the top: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_wife
So I guess this is just part of learning something new every day. Also, it’s hard to get my mind out of the gutter, because THE GUTTER IS ITS HOME.

1:50 AM

I’m grading writing exams and listening to Houses of the Holy. Definitely my favorite Zepp. I tried grading earlier in the evening but Max would come and take my pen away every time. Eventually I grew tired of getting nothing done and crashed out on the couch. when I woke up it was dark throughout the house and the fan that Nam had thoughtfully pointed at me hadn’t kept the mosquitoes from biting the hell out of my legs. Once I got up for water I remembered the grading I’d been doing and now I sit here, scratching my legs and appreciating a quiet house (save for The Rain Song).
Damn, even the songs I don’t really like on this album are pretty goddamn good.