It's not hard for a native English speaker with any college degree to find work here in Thailand. Joe had already set up a few contacts for me before I even arrived, and within my first week I had two jobs and had started working. I liked to think of myself as a freelance English speaker: I taught a few small classes at the university where Joe works, on the weekends I taught kids at a local private English school, and in my free time I edited theses for grad students. This was all fine and good, but I still found myself with plenty of free time, and when the opportunity for more stable work presented itself, I couldn't resist.
I learned of a position opening up with an Australian company from a friend who is just finishing her contract, she passed on my resume, and poof I got a phone call from one of the directors of the program wanting to interview me that same day. Ironically, we could not meet in person for the interview as I was leaving town to participate in a "camp" for the graduating English majors at the university to help them revise their resumes and practice mock interviews. Needless to say I got the job (but not until I passed a brief spelling and grammar test), and I had great fun torturing the students with difficult questions during their interviews (they were quite lucky spelling and grammar didn't count).
After returning to KK on Sunday afternoon, I had to leave again on Monday for Lao since my visa was expiring. Now all I needed to do to renew my visa for 30 days was leave the country, so we drove two hours up to Lao, I crossed the border (paid my 30 US dollars), went to the bathroom, and turned around and came right back to Thailand. Legal again!
Tuesday night I again left KK, this time for Bangkok where I needed to complete two days of training before I would be "qualified" for my new job. Of course all expenses were taken care of by the company, including the nice one-hour flight each direction (instead of the steamy eight-hour bus) and a hotel/apartment that was much more elegant than my current abode. Training was about what I expected it would be (although I've signed a very serious privacy statement-so no details!!). I also let it slip that Wednesday was my birthday, and my new bosses were nice enough to take me and a few other company members out to dinner at a nice bar/restaurant where I was serenaded (in very good English) by the live band. Although it would have been much sweeter had Joe (or anyone I had known longer than 24 hours) been there, I can't complain too much.
Thursday night I returned to KK, and hopefully I'll be staying put for a while. Although with my new salary and paid vacation time, you can bet there will be more international traveling in the future.
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