Hello all,
Again, I've been inactive in making a post, but that doesn't mean I've been doing the same in my life.
So far, I have a couple major updates:
1) I changed jobs in January.
2) with said job-change, I also moved to another city
Now that's out of the way, let's talk about what's been happening since... let's say December.
My old job, teaching adult staff in a hospital English pertaining to the hospital, as well as business and conversational English, it was a great position. I loved spending time working hands-on with my students when I taught, doing roleplay activities, making jokes that they understood, and getting to know about each one on and off the clock. My students seemed to share affection to me as well, giving a respectful bow, also known as a wai (I can explain this later in a post about Thai culture that I've learned). The issue I had, though, was that although the students were excited to call me their teacher, many failed to consistently come into class to learn, and therefore made little or no progress. There were also a few students that obviously showed no motivation to try learning, but it was a very small number. Going back to my students, how did this affect my work? Well, I would report to my higher-ups, about the progress we were making, and if I couldn't show progress, it would make no sense to keep me on the payroll, from a business perspective. I'm not saying that I was only a number to my bosses; in fact, we had strategic meetings to discuss a plan for the next year: what tactics to take, what worked last year, and what didn't, but we both understood that neither of us wanted to waste time or money on something that may be ineffective. That can be the downside of a job where both client and employee are both responsible for the end result.
In addition to the steady decline at my work, I began to feel a bit isolated in the town I lived. Yes, I had friends, but many of them had begun to get involved in more things outside of the friendship, so my friends clusters were dissipating. It was getting to be lonely and I found myself more frequently visiting the city I now reside in, going from one weekend a month, to every weekend.
In November, a shining opportunity happened: a friend of mine decided she wanted to go back to the United States, leaving a job opening at her work. She apparently thought of me first for this position, and sent me to her boss for an interview. A week later, interview in and out, and it felt like a perfect fit. The principal even felt that it was more than fortunate that I had been sent her way on short notice. As soon as I received the offer, I gave in my 30-days notice to my former work, explaining that as much as I loved the job, I wasn't seeing the progress I wanted to make happen, at work or in my personal development, and we split amicably. This also was perfect timing, because it was just around that time that my contract and visa would be renewed, and I saved the effort of going through the hassle of paperwork.
Looking back, do I miss it? Absolutely, but that is just a stage in my life I can reminisce about for now, as I'm working towards the future.
Now, with the new job, I will have to admit, the paperwork process has been a bit tricky, (It's different when you change a job from renewing a visa with the same job) I had to leave the country for a few days to apply for my new Non-Immigrant B visa so that I could apply for a new work permit (which allows me to have a bank account here), and continue living in Thailand. Though it's been a little bit difficult, I successfully cleared these hurdles, and still am working in the Land of Smiles! Four months in and my outlook on how things are going has improved drastically.
No longer am I feeling homesick., and my thirst for new adventures has been re-energized!
Until next time,
K.
