Life as a teacher; through the eyes of ‘Teacher Flanci’ (The Thai word for 'Francis')

Teaching is much better than it’s made out to be. I suppose this mainly comes down to the fact that I’m teaching in the Kingdom of Thailand, rather than the United Kingdom. The 2 Kingdoms are worlds apart in more instances than one.

I’m just over 2 weeks into teaching, and so far so good. Being the first time that I have really done something like this, meant that I was in for many surprises; both good and bad, but mainly good. A lot of this comes down to my particular placement; it seems to fit like a glove; rather than one of those puzzles you find in a charity shop with a few pieces missing (which I find is rather annoying). The school, location, people, and children, have turned it from a good experience to a truly great one. It is still very early days; with four and a half months still to go, anything can happen!

Let’s start with the school. I teach at a Matayom School called Muangsuratthani (secondary to you Brits). It has around 2500 or so pupils whose age’s range from 12 all the way up to about 18/19. I teach about 18hrs a week and teach all the M1’s, M2’s, and some of the M6’s, so I mainly teach the nippers. In all honesty though, all Thai children seem like nippers; compared to their British counterparts they are nothing alike. They all seem childish and innocent; even the 18/19 year olds. It’s hard to grasp that some are actually adults! As an example, the naughty kids in the UK will probably provoke the teacher until the teacher gives up and wants to punch the student in the face; calling him/her names, and just being a rude and cocky git in general; even being abusive and threatening. There is none of this sort of horseplay in Thailand. My naughtiest student probably threw a Digimon card at me; and how did I react? Shout? Kick him out the class? Cane him? (this is allowed here, but I’m not sure on the legality of a farang caning students here, would be interesting to find out though ;-D) No. I threw the card out the window and the whole class roared out in laughter, and then incorporated ‘No Digmon’ into the class rules. The Thai students are pretty good natured, and seem quite happy; they’re like big kids really. They seem to adore the English teachers, and will go out their way to shout ‘hello’ at you, call you ‘handsome’, or sometimes in my case call me ‘Harry Potter’ (with which I respond ‘Jackie Chan’). This respect (well respect in a funny sort of way) is the thing missing from the establishments back in the UK; the students will even ‘Y’ you when you walk past them (put their hands together as if they’re praying at you), it’s still a strange phenomenon to me, but I kind of like it. The teaching bit of it is quite fun too. It is funny when they are trying to pronounce the letter ‘r’ or ‘l’, and they don’t really tend to have the ‘s’ sound  on the end of words, hence ‘Flanci’; I look forward to teaching tongue twisters :p.

Location, location, location; all important when choosing somewhere to live. I’m about 700km south of Bangkok, in a place called Suratthani. It’s not the best place in the world, but then again it’s not the worst, I can think of far worse places. It’s ideal for the week; there’s plenty of bars, clubs, and places to eat to keep you busy, but it just hasn’t got that pzaz. Oh well! A short ferry ride away are the beautiful islands of Koh Samui; Koh Phang Ngang; and Koh Tao. All great places to relax by the beach, go scuba diving or party; especially Koh Phang Ngang for a full moon party. As of yet, I’m still to explore these little treasures as I’m low on funds, but come pay day, I’ll be able to have a weekend getaway every few weeks. My apartments a little on the expensive side by Thai standards but dirt cheap when compared to back home (£100 a month for a fully furnished, air-conditioned modern apartment, with a security guard, not that he’s a very good one though). The main thing is I’m happy, so I don’t mind spending that little bit extra. Despite the school only being a 15 minute walk away; it is too hot to walk, especially in the morning. I end up getting to school needing another shower! Talking about showers, did I mention I have hot water, refreshing though it is, I am fed up of cold ones!

There are probably around 60 other farang (foreign) teachers in Surat, who all seem like a good bunch of people; especially the teachers that I work with; Tiggs and Sarah. They have made the whole process of settling in, meeting others, and general day-to-day things so much easier for me. Despite being a little bit older than me; what they lack in youthfulness, they make up for in spirit; both are top notch people.  There are a lot of Yanks in Surat. The Brits seem to be outnumbered by about 9 to 1, which isn’t exactly a bad thing, but there’s only so many times you can hear the word awesome. That’s not awesome. However, they too, are indeed awesome, and seem to be a good laugh, especially on a night out. Awesome!

A brief message to my fellow Koh Changers if you are reading this:

‘I haven’t forgotten about you lovely people. Despite not meeting you on a number of occasions already, you are dearly missed. My lack of Baht has stopped me from meeting up with you on the weekends, but give it a few weeks until pay day, and we can celebrate with a full moon party and a good old fashioned catch up.’

Back to the blog….

Well the end of this post really. I will have plenty more to write about shortly and still have some things on the drawing board; so please, be patient, and speak shortly.

Hat Yai/ Hat Nay

Sorry it’s taken so long to post. The past few weeks have been a bit of a bumpy ride, in terms of schools, placements, accommodation, well everything to be honest. The elements of Koh Chang are still on the drawing board and will be up soon (I hope), so I’ll leave you with what’s been going on lately.

I’m currently based in Hat Yai for now; all the way down south next to the Malaysian border; and have done for the past week or so. It’s not the best place in the world; in fact it’s one of the worst, and should be renamed ‘Hat Nay’. There is literally nothing to do here!

Since leaving the wonderful island of Koh Chang on the 15^th October; it’s been the first chance I’ve really had to sit down and relax. For 5 days I was in limbo, travelling from one place to another, and being herded like a sheep. I didn’t know whether I was coming or going. From Koh Chang it was about 6/7 hours of travelling on a minibus and ferry to go to Bangkok; where everyone was feeling slightly sorry for themselves because of the final night on the island previously. Having put up with Pippa feeling a bit iffy for the whole journey did make us feel slightly better about ourselves, however I’m sure the feeling wasn’t mutual. Saturday night included a trip to the famous Khao San Road; a place where it is custom for all backpackers to visit. It was a very lively place, full of bars, market stalls, food stalls, and everything else that tourists would want. The plan was to take it easy, as the next morning I would be departing on a 17 hour train journey down south, but like most things in Thailand; plans change.

The night started off fairly slowly, but as the poisonous cocktails started flowing; so did everything else. At one point Jodi and Katie thought it would be a great idea to eat some deep-fried insects; and 2 minutes later Jodi, Katie, Sophie and myself were enjoying a deep-fried grasshopper; head, wings, legs and everything else. I say enjoying very mildly, as I was retching throughout. This thing, tasted like a very salty pork scratching, and even thinking about it now is making my stomach turn, I really do not know how the others did not even wretch! 

A little while after in a bar, this little boy named Nine, who was in fact 10 years old came round with a bunch or roses and challenged me to a thumb war competition,but wanted a 100 Baht for the privilege, after some

negotiation, 20 Baht was agreed; I didn’t want to rob him; or so I thought. The little bugger had obviously been practicing for a while, and didn’t completely follow the rules, but fair play to him; he did well so I paid up, and was given a rose for my humble efforts. After fleecing most of the group, we moved on across the road, and found a place with a really good dancer; but the one thing on all our minds, was whether this person was male or female. We still do not know, even after getting up and dancing with her, Nigel was the first to do so, rather he got dragged into dancing with her; the crowd went wild. 

Present were the Koh Chang crew, and these very feminine Thai men, so they also enjoyed this dance off. From there on the whole night was spent dancing with this other group, feeling welcomed, but slightly uncomfortable, with many a rose being exchanged. The other highlight of the night was the abundance of random hats which were worn. Ciara, Katie and Jodi, had found these hats with bells, mirrors, trinkets and all sorts on them; Sophie had found a rainbow wizard hat, and myself a Rastafarian hat. The night ended on a high for all, and was another night of farewells and arivedercis.

Sunday morning was a bit of a rush to get everything prepared for the long train journey ahead, and was really the first time in which the group would be separated for good.  (You will soon come to see that there are many goodbyes in this post, especially in my case. Nobody can seem to get rid of me, as I keep coming back). After saying our goodbyes, we were off to the station; next stop Hat Yai.

Hat Yai arrived after 17 hours later; feeling exhausted from the long journey, and not knowing what was going to happen next, all we wanted was a proper sleep and a shower. The train journey had been miserable; God knows what 3^rd class would have been like! Kristen and I had been informed that we would be going to our placements that day. We had no idea whether we would be teaching that day, or even how we would get to our schools. After a while the group were picked up and taken to the Teacha (Teaching Agency) offices. Everyone was given information about the schools and told they would be going in the next few days. I was given the news ‘I’ll tell you separately, but there’s nothing to worry about’. After worrying for ages, (what do you expect, if you tell someone not to worry that’s the first thing they’re going to do) I was told that I would have an interview at a boarding school in a few hours, against someone who had taught before, was smartly dressed and had had a little bit of time to settle; what chance did I have. I was given a quick chance to say goodbye to my friends, and was carted off with all my belongings, in case I got the position. (I must also add that I was given the opportunity to change because of my persistent nagging, but this only included putting some smart trousers on at the roadside, and a quick spray, so I still looked like crap). After reaching the school, I found out that the position would be to start the following day, and that I could live on site, in a rather run down hut. Despite not wanting the job, and not standing a chance; God knows why I still tried my best at the interview. (I suppose my competitive nature got in the way). Pictures were taken and given to the director for the final outcome, but we would have to stupidly find out after getting back to the Teacha offices, an hour away. As soon as we arrived I found out the good news, I had not been offered the job! (Inside I was happy but also slightly disheartened; I can’t win!) I was once again reunited with some of the Koh Chang crew, and told that I instead had a place in Surat Thani and would be going the next morning at 8 o’ clock on the dot, to find my new home for the coming term.

After probably the 3^rd or 4^th best shower that I’d ever had, we again went out for the last supper. The place in which we ate, had a live singer who turned out to be the owner. He had a nice voice, but was not in any way as good as our own Billy Dee’s; who sang ‘No Woman No Cry’, and had the whole place cheering! For the 3 of us leaving the following morning, it would probably have been sensible to get an early night with the others, but instead we went for a very long wander in Hat Yai, 5km in fact! After unsuccessful attempts to find anything open, a taxi, or our way home, we came across this small food place which was pretty empty. Trying to get directions back seemed quite intense, but after buying one beer between 3 people we were offered a much appreciated lift home. Despite waiting for what seemed like forever, we were scooted off back to our hostel for no charge, other than a beer; so happy days!

The next morning at 8 o’clock Thai time (08:40 to everyone else) Kristen, Becky and myself were off in hope of finding our new homes, unaware that we would be picking up others on the way and squeezing into the minibus. It was such a weird occurrence when we picked up the others. They were the Koh Lipe crew; and had also come through ETA, but had trained on a different island. Finding out that they had done some training in a school left us feeling very unprepared; however I still think we had the better end of the deal. We had a nicer island, huts on the beach, lots to do and explore, Thai lessons and our own little Jonnie the dog! We would then spend the next 2 days finding places to live for everyone on board, visiting schools, and saying many more goodbyes.

It took an age to get to the towns, but accommodation seemed fairly straight forward at first. The first place was Thung Song, and would be home to Kristen and also some from Koh Lipe. We drove straight to a townhouse, with 2 bedrooms, 2 balconies, 2 bathrooms, a living room and kitchen all for 5,000 Baht a month (That’s only £100 a month for a whole house to those back in the UK). After being given the tour, they were told they must decide whether they want it there and then, with no option to view other accommodation first. It all worked out well, and random pieces of furniture kept arriving from nowhere throughout the day. Becky and myself stayed here the night and got picked up in the morning rather than looking at other people’s houses. I’m slightly jealous of this place; a park 5 minutes up the road, a huge night market, and plenty to do in town a further 5 minutes up the road. The night concluded with a rather toned down housewarming party; but nonetheless a nice one…..and then there were two.

Next morning at the usual precise Thai time, we were picked up and on our way to Wiang Sa to find a home for Becky. There was a nice little block with townhouses that we came across where fellow teachers at her school lived, but no means of finding out who the owners were. After much waiting around and questions being asked Becky found a huge place that was unfurnished and across the road from the others, but wanted a 20,000 Baht deposit, which is huge money out here, even split two ways. There was no choice but to keep ringing the other teachers who were currently on holiday in the hope of maybe securing something there for the meantime. It was agreed that Becky would stay there until the weekend, and on their return she would stay with them. After another emotional goodbye and realising that I was no by myself, we tried to find a place for the other person on the bus. This lady (60 years old!) was not having any of it and wanted the same deal as Becky, so we were briefly acquainted and then I was off again.

Arriving at Surat Thani at about 4 in the evening on Wednesday, I was hungry, tired and wanted a place I could call home. Being a large town, it was likely that I would not have such nice places to live as the others, and would be an apartment somewhere. The agency had a lead with an apartment, so we drove there. It turned out that the owner was away, so that was a dead end. The next few hours entailed in driving around to any apartment block we could find and asking. 6 apartment blocks and many rejections later, we were getting desperate. Being turned away for being a farang (foreigner) is the norm out here, but slightly disheartening when all you want to do is settle down. But not as disheartening as calling 12 more apartment blocks and finding out that they're all full!! It was then decided that I could travel back to Hat Nay and do some part time work in schools, as money was running low.  Just as we were leaving we found a place with a room, and that’s pretty much all it was. 2,500 Baht (£50) a month for a bed, fridge, TV and no window. Although I was desperate, I ‘m glad that I held out.

At least I can say I found a positive in all this though. I got to see my school (Muang Surat), which has 3000 students, and that I had some sort of idea about what was to come in terms of accommodation.

So I’m back in Hat Nay, got to see the crowd AGAIN! And have only been given 1 day’s work. If I’d have known that I wouldn’t get anymore work, I probably would have gone to Bangkok to volunteer with the flood and help out, or gone to Koh Phi Phi and most likely have spent money I didn’t have, but would have had a way better time than here. It’s just been the waiting around, not knowing what the state of play is till the night before. It inhibits what you can plan and do, and has started to drive me a little bit insane. But it has also in a small way been a godsend. I’ve finally been able to let my mind and body catch up with each other!

I should be off again (for the final time) on Friday to Surat Thani; where I hope this time round there will be somewhere to live. If not I’ll probably be back in Hat Nay, and crying myself to sleep for the foreseeable future! 

Thailand Travel Adventures!

Sorry that this post has been a little bit late, but the past week or so has been absolutely amazing. I have had the opportunity to travel to a number of locations and meet many new people before my training to teach English to school children begins, there will be much more to come shortly, but first of all, the week of travel.

The journey to Phuket was very long, and very uncomfortable, so on arrival to Phuket the only thing on my mind was sleep. Having took a tuk-tuk (made from a Bedford Rascal), started our ascend into the stunning scenery and views that Phuket had to offer, and finally arriving I was able to have my well deserved rest, followed by a trip to the beach, in which I had found paradise. With beautiful views; the sun, the sea, a beer, and a cigar I was in heaven (you will come to find that I find heaven many times on this trip; it just keeps getting better and better).

Patong, the tourist capital of Phuket was the plan for the evening. A fish spa treatment, however, was not. Yet despite this, I had the pleasure of experiencing this slightly camp, but also oddly enjoyable experience, and also saw an unbelievable amount of middle aged English people with Thai women (which isn’t much of a surprise to be honest).

The day trip to Phang Nga bay was a real eye-opener, and started with a trip to the Wat Suan Kuha Temple. The temple is inhibited by monkeys, which sounds quite funky, but they’re absolutely everywhere and have rabies, so it was a real challenge to get a good picture, whilst avoiding being bitten and attacked by some of the mother monkeys looking after their young. Next, was the longboat ride around some of the local islands, including where the James Bond film ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ was filmed, and a Sea Gypsy Village. Seeing these was beyond belief, especially the Sea Gypsy Village, as this was a village in the middle of the sea made on stilts, which serves great seafood by the way. The longboat as the name suggests was a very long wooden boat, powered by a huge six cylinder diesel engine without a muffler, this ensured a very relaxing cruise around the islands….I wish!

The next stop on the travelling trip was Koh Phi Phi, by boat, in which I thought that was never going to end, and almost resulted in me emptying my guts despite the sea not even being very choppy. On arrival I was given the pleasant opportunity to pay to enter the island and be harassed by ten’s of Thai’s trying to flog boat rides and such things. Getting to the hostel was an absolute nightmare though. With regrettably large bags, no taxis on the island, and steep hills, we were slightly buggered. But eventually, after a phone call to the hostel we had our bags transported by a very kind porter. In the evening, after a late night swim, I was able to enjoy my first experience of Muay Thai (Thai Boxing), with a bucket (Bottle of rum and a can of coke, actually served in a bucket) all for under £3! It was really good to watch this, especially in a reggae bar, but I suffered for it in the morning after having passed out!

Trying to climb up the very steep 270 odd steps with a hangover isn’t the best thing in the world, but as they say; ‘he who dares’ , meant that I was able to see some stunning views over Koh Phi Phi, it was well worth the walk, both up and down. The next place on the list was Krabi (well a place called Railay to be precise). This is a small place is part of the mainland but only accessible by boat because of the huge cliffs which make it impossible to get to any other way! The trip there could have been much worse than it actually was because there was a storm as we were travelling by boat, sitting outside at the front meant I got a soaking, but this was miles better than throwing up! On arriving, it was a really nice place, with beaches on all sides, a resort right by the sea and small enough to see the whole place in one day. In the evening I had the fortunate opportunity to find heaven…again! This place was a scary walk in the dark away; going through random paths in the pitch black with trees and noises all around. I couldn’t believe my luck after walking for about 20 minutes. I found a place which had an open fire, played reggae, and had huts in the cliffs/trees. I was so happy and relaxed in this place, I couldn’t help but smile…it was brilliant!

The only downside was when I got back home I had to spend a good few hours practising my sowing skills, because the numpties who handled the baggage on the boats were practising their throwing skills.

I woke up absolutely shattered the following morning, and was also dreading the 12 hour journey by bus back to Bangkok, but it had to be done! The transport is also so rudimentary, having to walk out to sea to get to the boat with my huge bag and the driver paling out water for the whole journey, and eventually squeezing into a coach, in which I still believe that a stowaway was put with the baggage. This is because before stopping for a break, the driver would always stop 2 minutes before to open and close a door out back! Anyway on arrival to Bangkok my baggage was still intact with nothing missing so we continued our journey to the hostel where we would soon meet many of the others on the TEFL Heaven group!  

This is my first post from half way across the globe and so far so good. Thailand is very interesting, yet very odd place all at the same time. I can't really say if it's living up to my expectations just yet, as to be honest, I didn't know what to expect; but so far I am really enjoying it, and that's the main point.

The journey started with a 6ish hour flight to Doha in Qatar, followed by another 6 to Bangkok. Qatar seemed a warm and prosperous place to be, with a multitude of different people and a mix of the expensive to the very expensive products in duty free....$350 USD for a box of 25 cigars!! The journey was fine, the food was great, and some of the views over Dubai were spectacular. Not being able to sleep for much of the flight due to screaming babies, meant that I could test the on-flight entertainment, which was actually quite good, allowing me to catch up with a legal drama; 'The Lincoln Lawyer' (which carries my recommendation), Peep Show, Family Guy and some funny French film.

On arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok at around 19:00, it was already dark, still very warm and very humid. We had to navigate our way through passport control, which took forever, and then find our way to our hostel which has the best name in the world, 'We Bangkok'. The taxi ride was an adventure, ducking and diving through traffic,  drivers on motorbikes with no helmets whizzing past, and driving on the wrong side of the road from time to time too. On getting to the Hostel we found that in our dorms there were others from the same company as us that were due to do their training on Koh Samui for the TEFL qualifications. So being able to speak to others in a similar boat to us was reassuring.

Our first day in Bangkok was an absolute nightmare, it involved traipsing around Bangkok to book a bus ticket to Phuket, getting ripped off by a Tuk-Tuk driver and breaking into Emily's suitcase to get her keys out. On the positive side we were able to visit Wat Po (the reclining Buddha), and the Chatuchak Weekend Market,  both which are huge! The day started off with trying to book an overnight bus ticket to Phuket, qhich seemed impossible from the very start....online and over the phone didn't seem to work...so we got a Tuk-Tuk to the Thai Tourism Office which seemed to make no difference. The Tuk-Tuk driver then agreed to take us to the bus terminal....but instead took us to a random tour centre and would not take us elsewhere. We regrettably had to pay him so he could bugger off and leave us alone and then get a taxi instead. Despite this the ride in the Tuk-Tuk can only be described as mental, with these self-fabricated carts, just whizzing around the streets of Bangkok. After finally sorting the ticket we were on our way to Wat Po, where a massive Buddha lies. We ended up spending more time taking pictures of a cat then the actual Buddha, but it was worth going see it, because words cant describe how big this sacred sculpture is.

We didn't spend long at Chatuchak Market, but it was a real eye-opener. The size of the market, coupled with the range of products available is staggering. You can buy objects that range from clothes, skulls, and swords, to dogs!

With little time to spare to catch our bus, we headed back to the hostel to grab our things. What was supposed to be something simple almost turned into a nightmare, with Emily having a blonde moment and locking her padlock keys for both the locker and her suitcase inside of her suitcase. Coming from Essex, I (aka the Great Houdini), had the required skills necessary to break into the case by using my magic tool and to save the damsel in distress. After this we would be on our way to Bangkok Bus Terminal to alight our bus to Phuket. The traffic on the way was horrendous, I knew traffic in Bangkok was bad, but lots of this was bumper to bumper and very slow moving.

Having boarded the bus, just in the nick of time, we were on our way to Phuket...This journey would take 12 hours overnight and leave us completely drained the next morning due to lack of sleep.

Not Long Left - One Week Till Thailand!

This day has come about so quickly, yet it has also felt like it has taken an age. Many preparations have now been made, and have either resulted in me being left with a sore arm, or a slightly lighter wallet, and nothing much else to show for it. Despite this, I am still very excited, although slightly nervous for what lies ahead....A whole new experience, including meeting many new people, visiting great sights, becoming a qualified TEFL Teacher and making an impact on my pupils futures. I think it is this final part which worries me most however. Teaching conversational English to children when one comes from Essex, is bound to end in tears. Apart from this small mishap, what else could possibly go wrong?


I have the fortunate opportunity to travel to Thailand, a week before my training on the paradise island of Koh Chang begins. This week should be both very fun and very interesting. The thought of travelling in a completely new and foreign place is a little scary but will be an unforgettable experience, and at least I wont be going it alone. The plan is to spend the first night in Bankgok, then go down to Phuket, and on to Koh Phi Phi and Krabi before heading back to Bangkok for the long month of training.