I am taking the family on a work trip from now. It will be an overnight bus ride, followed by a boat ride to Koh Samet and a smaller ferry-to-shore. We plan to return on Monday night, just in time to finish preparation for the new school term.
Category: Work
Off to Hua Hin
Tomorrow I’m off on a faculty trip to Suan Dusit University in Bangkok, then to Hua Hin the next day. I’ll be back on the 6th. Haven’t been to Hua Hin since our honeymoon, nor to the beach for far too long..
Manual Ejection Jigs
Worthless. Priceless.
Lunch break
I’m eating a plate of crab fried rice that looked unremarkable, but actually tastes quite amazing. This is a touristy dish that I pass on in Thailand because it’s usually got bits of shell in it, but it’s what they made for me today, and I’m glad they did – there’s huge chunks of crab meat hidden in the middle, and the egg was crispy with a runny yolk. Yum.
Meanwhile, there’s a guy who looks like jesuscristo floating in the huge hotel pool. If he turns it into wine, I’m calling off the afternoon lecture..
It’s called “prep”
Note to organizers:
If you hire me to lecture at a conference or other event, please do not change the topics five minutes after it starts.
That is all.
Thanks for the D
I was in a bank the other day, holding Max and waiting for Nam to finish renewing our car insurance, when a student from a while back spotted me and came in to say hi. Then she started tearing up and thanked me repeatedly for passing her last year, and pointed down to her bulging midsection.
“I’m six months pregnant,” she said, “and I just don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t graduated yet.”
I remembered her case very well – it had been a tough call, with various problems if I chose to help her, but in the end, I passed her. I dealt with the problems. I forgot about her class and started teaching new ones… and now she was here.
I was kind of embarrassed, but I squeezed Max closer, and looked her in the eyes and told her to be a good mom.
—
It’s 50,000% better to be told someone’s pregnant after you make a decision like that than before.
Cold. And sleepy
4:30 AM. Meeting in front of my office for trip to Wang Nam Keow. Students arranged the time. Why am I the only one here?
Dawn in Laem Ngop
From the front of our bungalows, we can see Koh Chang.
Laem Ngop, Trat
That’s where we are. Ain’t a bigeye around that can say it properly, either. Sounds like Ho Chi Min hockin’ a loogie or something.
Work experience visit
Our two students at the resort in Saraburi are doing well… Or at least one is pulling the other along. That’s just how it is sometimes.
The 5 we are visiting in this tiny harbor village in Trat, however, seem to have it a lot harder. They are working at a Tourist Authority of Thailand office here which seems an improbable situation at the least, since there isn’t even a 7-11 in town (a primary indicator that you are in the middle of nowhere in Thailand). Anyhow, we will visit them at the office in an official capacity first thing in the morning.
As a sidenote, we entertained ourselves this evening by catching little crabs at low tide on the rocks our bungalows overlook. They look just like the one I used for bait fishing for sheepshead at Catalina with my dad when I was an Indian Scout.