June 2, 2006
I just had my phone interview for Thailand. I spoke with a woman at Bell Centres, a native English-speaking teacher recruiting company located in the UK. It went really well. It was such a different experience from my interview for the NOVA Japan company. This woman was so friendly and willing to answer my questions; she wanted to know about me as a teacher and she asked meaningful questions. The NOVA Japan guy was hurried, uninterested in who I am, unappreciative of my time and wouldn’t even shake my hand at the end of the interview. I could say a few more words about him, but those words would reflect well on me.
If I were to teach in Thailand through Bell, I would be employed not by Bell but by the Thai schools themselves. I expressed interest in living and working in Bangkok, but also said I would be flexible with my location. She asked when I would be available to begin teaching, and I said that date was flexible, too. I’m hoping to stay in New Haven through the summer so I can work at Roomba a lot; and I’m tossing around the idea of taking a TESOL course in New Zealand (or another awesome place) before teaching for real. I feel really good about our conversation.
But who knows? I spent most of last night making my mind wander the globe, thinking of possibilities and concerns. Dennis didn’t get home until 3 this morning, or a little later, and I didn’t really fall back to sleep until 4 or 4:30. I kept imagining getting off of the plane at the airport outside of Bangkok and not knowing what to do next. Everything will be different where I go next. Language, money, streets — ¬¶everything I’ve been used to here. What if no one meets me there when I get off the plane? What if I have to find my way around Bangkok to a hotel? What in the world will I do?
So that was one of the first questions I asked the woman from Bell. She put my mind at ease, told me in her calm British accent that they ease their teachers into their new situation — ¬¶and I felt better.
It’s hard for me to believe that I’m pursuing an overseas teaching post. I’ve been hoping to do this for years and now I’m finally doing it. In a couple of weekends I’m going to Philadelphia to find out about other vacancies in different countries in International schools. Those teaching commitments are for two years minimum, so that prospect is kind of nerve-wracking. But I’ll go there and try to find something that seems to be a good fit; if not, I feel okay about not working in an International school. I feel good about finding something somewhere.