Today Thailand votes for a new PM and other various political positions. It's like a circus! Thailand has their election day on a Sunday between 8 AM and 3 PM and the night before, no alcohol is allowed to be served or sold at restaurants and grocery stores. So it was rather quiet last night. Kind of a good idea to have, since Thailand has the highest alcoholic rate in all of Asia.
Right now, as I'm writing, Golf is still asleep. I don't know if he's decided to vote today or not. He says all of the candidates are awful and that no real democracy exists after you've put your ballot in the box. In other words, once someone is elected, they care little for their constituants. So he's not exactly excited about making the trip all the way back to Saphan Kwai to vote.
If he doesn't vote, either way we plan to go to a Wal-Mart equivalent store to take a look at baby things and maybe even buy something. I want to see how much bassinettes cost and maybe get a few other things to get us started. I have not yet bought ONE thing for our little bundle of joy, and now that I've started my sixth month of pregnancy, I think it's not too early. I'm excited!
Other than that, we will stay at home because I have to finish two more final exams. I nearly finished two yesterday and they are all due on Monday, so even if I don't completely finish, I still have all day on Monday to get it done.
And Monday will certainly be interesting because on Friday afternoon, just before quitting time, all us foreign teachers (with the exception of 3 -- one of whom was sick but would have joined us) went in and told admin that we were not going to go to this Saturday function (on the 12th) of babysitting 200 little kindergarteners. See, two weeks ago we were told of this event used to promote G1 to kindergartners (or I should say, their parents) and it's this art contest. Admin said not to worry, we didn't have to come. Well last week they changed their mind and said we did have to come. First of all, the parents don't talk to us foreign teachers. They just want to see white faces there at the school, like a stage prop. So our job would be to stand around and be bored, then entertain these little tiny kids who are petrified of our big white selves as it is because we don't speak Thai either! It's utter bull crap. It's insulting that they want us there as stage props. All of us have better things to do than show up for three hours on our Saturday for no other purpose. So I proposed the idea to admin that if parents want proof of foreign staff, then show them this promotional video the school had made for TV spots. It has plenty of footage of various foreign teachers in action, including the G1 teacher. Plus we have two issues of our English language newsletter which interviews several other foreign teachers. So we not only complained, but gave solutions to the problem that we thought were reasonable.
And some of us foreign teachers who are already teaching an extra EFL class would have to work additional hours because the hours, from 9-12 are the same hours they teach and there are no extra classrooms. The weekend after that (19th) is parent-teacher meetings, on a Saturday too. So that's two Saturdays in a row that are axed. We're not happy, and the EFL teachers are even less happy. I'll be curious to see what happens. For those teachers who teach extra on Saturdays, it could mean a possible 14 day work period of no break and they are refusing. How about offering a refund to the parents who paid for the EFL classes for those two Saturdays? No, the school is too greedy for the money. And those teachers already felt like they were doing the school a favor by volunteering to teach (they get paid, but they don't like going in on Satrudays! Who does?!?) Anyway, with all of us refusing at once, we shall see what happens. Is the boss going to fire all of us? How would that look to the parents already there? To be continued on Monday....
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