First Day of Work

There’s always some uncertainty when beginning a new position. The need to make a good first impression and the pressure to do well can be stressful. Oddly, I’ve felt none of those. Of course I did make a good first impression when I met my colleagues for the first time last Friday and I wasn’t nervous, just anxious.

Since Labor Day, I haven’t worked but have spent the time organizing my life to fit into two checked bags and a small carryon bag. That took nearly the entire month of September and then I hopped on a plane and left. Once I arrived in Bangkok, I learned that the semester was ending and didn’t start up again until the end of October, so it’s more waiting.

My first day of work, I had stress dreams that I was going to miss the van and not know how to get to the university. I therefore woke up at 5am, ninety minutes before my alarm. After changing my outfit twice, I agreed on gray dress pants, a deep plum button down top and ballet slipper Crocs. I then paced my apartment and occasionally looked outside for the van. Anxious, I finally called my co-worker who told me the van arrives at 7:45, not the standard 7:30am on off-semester hours. The van arrived late but we still managed to get on campus by 8:05 because there was surprisingly very little traffic.

Something I am learning very quickly: there is always traffic in Bangkok and it’s especially maddening during rush hour, but for some reason, that morning, there was very little.

Once on campus I was informed that the curriculum-planning meeting wasn’t set to begin until 10am, which mean I had two hours to kill. Once people started coming in I was introduced to every single person at the university and then given a tour of the campus.

By 10am teachers started to drift in and the meeting commenced in a conference room. For the next five hours I listened, a lot and then did even more listening and added the occasional nod of my head in agreement or a comment. I learned much but it was still exhausting nonetheless. Noon is considered lunchtime but after a ten minute discussion of whether or not we should break, order in, or just plow through, we opted for the third option. By 3pm I didn’t want to think about planning, building syllabi, or matching themes to outside resources. I also hadn’t eaten since 6am.

After the meeting concluded, I continued to receive an informal education on what to “expect” in my job, what is said and unsaid and to give Thailand six to twelve months before forming an opinion on whether I love it or hate it. Apparently everyone I’ve spoken to has said the same thing. Thailand will either grow on me, or at the end of the contract I will be dying to get out of the country.

The culture for sure is different than what I’ve experienced so far in Asia as each country has it’s own quirks, frustrations and challenges, but that’s what happens when people live elsewhere and that’s also part of the fun. I’m logging that away for a rainy day and will have to see what I think six months from now.