I've been hearing that a lot lately. It means "no have room." I wish I could say I had an apartment, but the agony continues. I went back to the place by Victory Monument, but a Japanese guy took it. That’s OK, because it wasn’t that great.

So, I’m going to pull a Kerry, and flip-flop on a major issue. I work eight hours a day, five days a week, so I am hardly ever at home. Food is so cheap, it would be silly to actually cook at home, unless you enjoy cooking. So I eat every single meal out. The only thing I use my apartment for is sleeping at night, surfing the web/playing games for a few hours in the evening, and getting ready for work in the morning. While it would be fun to live in a lively part of town, location isn’t crucial, if it is close to the Skytrain. Thus, I plan to check out some of the “mansions” close to work.

Work is going well, so far. Since it is the summer term, I only teach one section of Preparatory Mathematics, six hours a week. The rest of the time I have to sit in my cubicle, which sucks. I’m slowly learning how I have to teach the math class through experience. The students are great, and unlike the little bastards I was teaching before, they will sit it their seats and stay mostly quiet. But they do still get bored easily, and will start murmuring.

These are English, Management, and Marketing majors who failed the math entrance exam. So they aren’t particularly excited about studying math. And, since English isn’t their first language, they don’t understand a lot of what I say (some of the murmuring is actually students explaining to each other what I’m saying). I’m finding that they don’t get much out of the “lecture” portion of class, and that I have to involve them more in working problems. Happily, there is no expectation for me to entertain them and play games.

Some of the students are really bright, and hang on my every word. For the rest, copying is the way to go. Since there’s nothing I can do to stop them from copying the homework, it was suggested to me that I don’t grade it, and only check that they did it. I wish that they would understand that since the homework is only 15% of their grade, and the exams are worth 85%, copying the homework and not understanding it will cause them to fail the exams, and thus the course, since that is the majority of the grade. Luckily for them, though, they only need 35% to pass.

This gig’s overall very good, perhaps the best teaching job in Thailand outside of being a CELTA instructor. If they give me some extra classes in the fall, I can make a lot of money (but still far below the poverty line in the US). The university has amazingly beautiful facilities, and lots of high-tech gadgets (opaque projectors in every room!). Since it’s a private university, it’s expensive, and they definitely reinvest some of that money in the school. Also, I’m teaching subjects I am good at to adults.

Like all things, though, nothing is perfect. Like any job in Thailand, there is a complete lack of communications from “on high.” Nobody volunteers any information, so I have to ask my coworkers. We have to be here eight hours a day, from 8:30 to 5:00. There is no such thing as flex time, and you electronically sign in, so somebody will know if you are late one day, or leave early. The upshot of being here all day is that I get to experience a surreal Thai office, which I’ll write about eventually.

Finally, even though my salary is good, there is no health insurance. If I get hit by a tuk tuk, I will be covered by a nominal accident policy, but if I get sick, I will be on my own. So I will have to buy something with my own money. I think this arrangement is actually pretty standard.

All things considered, this is a kick-ass job!