Can entrepeneurism go too far?

Allow me to share some profound comments (somewhat paraphrased) that I have recently developed a deeper appreciation of:

"There is a time and place for everything under the sun" - The Philosopher in Ecclesiastes
"You can have too much of a good thing" - Max Headroom

I have reflected previously upon the joy of massages in Thailand, but the above wisdom applies even to something as brilliant as a massage. For example, when using the urinal in a men's public toilet. Yes, I have now experienced this phenomenon on two separate occasions. Without going into too much detail, I go to use the facilities in a restaurant or pub, minding my own business, and the next thing I know there's a wet towel being put across the back of my neck and some guy starts massaging my shoulders. This continues until I finish doing what I initially went in for, at which point the whole thing gets banged up a notch and the guy grabs my chin and the back of my head and twists it so that my neck cracks, chiropractor style, quickly followed by cracking my back as well. Of course, the guy expects a tip for this uninvited service, which I can't help but give because it's quite possibly his only job and even though the establishment obviously allows him to be there, he certainly won't be getting paid any salary for it. Personally, I blame capitalism for this - such shenanigans would never happen under communism! There are just so many problems with this I'm not sure where to begin. Firstly, it's very sexist - the poor females don't get to experience this unique slice of Thai hospitality. Secondly, it only seems to happen at the urinals - if they're all full and you have to use a cubicle you also miss out. Thirdly, if people have the foresight to develop a massage service in a toilet, why not in places where they would be really appreciated - such as airport departure lounges, Bangkok traffic jams or dentist waiting rooms? These are just some of the issues that these bathroom masseurs need to sort out in my humble opinion.

Anyway, enough about the eccentricities of Thai toilets. Things are still going rather well for me over here. Work is still busy. My nights mostly disappear after getting back from school between 4 and 6, maybe having a quick swim, going out for some food (proud to say I still have zero cooking implements), checking email and a brief bit of relaxing watching TV or reading a book. As usual the most interesting things have been happening on weekends.

Two weekends ago I went up to Chiang Mai with a group from school to do some white water rafting. We flew up on Friday evening (I love Air Asia!) and arrived in time to have a night out in Chiang Mai city, which is the second-biggest city in Thailand, but completely different to the capital. It is much smaller and has a much more rural feel to it. I actually really liked it - it reminded me a little of Vietnam. The next day we headed north for a couple of hours to a place called Chiang Dao where we did the rafting. It was a lot of fun, except for one point going through the worst rapids of the day and the raft I was in capsized. It was a little bit scary as two of us got caught in a swirly bit of rapid and kept getting sucked under. Fortunately there were some guys from the rafting company on the far side of the river with ropes who were able to pull us out of the water. Two of the others in the raft ended up floating down river about 100 metres, which would also have been quite unnerving. Fortunately though we all survived with no significant injuries. The next day we did the same bit of river but there was actually a lot more water due to the rain we had overnight, meaning that the river flowed a lot faster but the rapids weren't as churning. The biggest disappointment though was that the Aussies lost to Johnny Wilkinson (curse him!) in the rugby and because we were in the middle of rural Chiang Mai we didn't get to see it and had to rely on text messages for score updates.

This past weekend I stayed in Bangkok and just pottered around a bit. I deliberately wanted to take things a bit easier this weekend because I have been quite tired generally and my weekends have been quite busy and so I haven't had much of a chance to just switch off. However, before you all start to feel too sorry for me, this Thursday night I am going away again for the school's half-term break. I am going down to spend a week and a bit on a couple of the islands south of Bangkok: Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Tao. The plan is just to do some relaxing, eating, drinking, diving, exploring and more relaxing. There are a few of us from school going and I am really looking forward to it. I know this won't be the last time I say this, but I do love school holidays.

The other thing I feel I must comment on is the upcoming Australian election. It just so happens to be on my birthday and I am SO pleased that I won't be in Australia having to endure the obscene propaghanda and crap that makes up an Aussie election campaign. Of course, those of you who know me well will no doubt know what I am most wishing for my birthday this year! Cheers all.

When in doubt, blame your environment

Being surrounded as I am by Poms, and bearing in mind the evolutionary notion that one adapts to one's surroundings, I feel the need to have a bit of a whinge. Basically, I'm having to work rather hard over here. For example, today I started work at 7am (as I do every morning) and basically worked non-stop until 6:15pm tonight. Trust me when I say that having worked for the last 6 years as a public servant, I'm not used to such long hours. And you'll be stunned to learn that this is not the latest I have finished work since being here - one night a couple of weeks ago I didn't leave work til 8pm! Shocking, no? On top of this, I made a promise to myself that I would never take work home with me to finish, yet just in the last 2 weeks I have done this no less than twice.

Now while every teacher that I now work with, along with all my friends (and one brother) who happen to be teachers will have absolutely no sympathy for me (as they do this all the time), I am but a simple counsellor and not respecting one's own professional boundaries is rightly frowned upon in counselling circles. However, the fact remains that there is a lot of work to keep me busy at the moment. Most of my days are spent seeing students and then after the students finish school at 2:30, I generally have to type up notes. Occasionally I have students and/or parents come to see me after school as well. On top of all this, I have to prepare a couple of programs that I'm delivering at the moment.

In all honesty, I'm not really complaining about all this. Yes, work is fairly hectic at times, but generally it's quite interesting and rewarding. And I have a fairly nice office and counselling room in which to work:

This is my office area - a bit cramped unfortunately.

This is the counselling room - less cramped fortunately.

And this is view out of the window - very pleasant.

The other thing I get to do at school is run the school cricket program. Admittedly, the program is fairly modest at the moment, but there are plans to build it up over time. So I spend an hour or so every Monday in the cricket nets with some of the students. I am also finding other sporting activities to enjoy after school. On Tuesday arvos I play indoor football (or soccer if you must) with some other staff in the school's brand new and mighty impressive sports hall, and on Wednesdays I've just started playing squash on the school's squash courts. On Thursdays I'm taking Thai lessons through the school, meaning that most of my afternoons are taken up with something productive. It's definitely one of the advantages of being a part of such a large and diverse "community".

The other great thing I've been able to do is go away on weekends. Since my last post I've been to Ko Samet for one weekend, which is a small-ish island about 3 hours south-east of Bangkok. It's not hugely developed (yet!) so it still has a bit of a beach bungalow-rustic feel to it, which is reall nice. It is a great spot and a brilliant spot to spend a weekend. Here's a few photos: the first two are of the beach, the second is taken from the place we were staying, looking towards the beach.

The weekend just gone I was in Bangkok, where I spent all of Saturday in a pub watching, of all things, the AFL grand final. A group from school was going and I sort of felt obliged to go, even though I was supremely disinterested in the game itself. It was a fun day though. This coming weekend I'm off again, this time to go white water rafting in Chiang Mai, again as part of an unofficial school trip. It should be a lot of fun.

So let me take back my whingey comments at the beginning of this post. Although work is busy and I have to work long hours occasionally, the good things about working here far outweigh the bad. There are so many opportunities that I am making the most of and mostly really enjoying. Fortunately, it's fairly rare that one of these opportunities turns out to be a bit disturbing. For example, when I decided to buy something new from the market on my way home tonight: what I guessed was barbecued chicken skewers in fact turned out to be barbecued chunks of fat (possibly chicken, but who knows) and what looked an awful like barbecued pork skewers was in actuality barbecued pieces of kidney (I think). Ahh, the joys of Thai food!

Til next time, cheers!