Alfred has already warned me about going on about mosquitoes - he says that if you choose to move to a country with mosquitoes, there is no point complaining about them all the time. But, having invested in an electric tennis racquet for swatting them, I then decided to try and find some sort of electric mosquito-killer that I could just leave on all the time and this brought about an exciting foray into the world of Chinese electronic products! I will let the pictures speak for themselves - suffice to say that reading the English-language instructions on Chinese products continues to be a never-ending joy! (Alfred: Do pay special attention to the instructions and don't be distracted by the amazing visual design concepts!).
TEACHING
So we are both teaching now, Martine in the Institut Français on Lane Xang and me in AVIS Rent-a-Car plus Maurizio, with a few other possibilities in the pipeline. Teaching in AVIS is fun though the 'classroom' does present some interesting challenges! Originally, the classroom (usually used as a storage room plus lunch space) looked like the first two pictures.
Then Keo added a proper whiteboard and a magnetic board (which is really useful). Now, however, due to space shortages, some additional desks have had to be moved in, at some of which people actually work during my class!!
Now, there are 37 people working in AVIS but, thankfully, turnout at class has been comparatively low because, let's face it, where would I put them!! They are lovely, enthusiastic students and not at all shy or reticent about joining in or taking part in activities but they do range from people with Intermediate-level English to those who don't know the Western alphabet or numbers, so that's a bit of a challenge!!
READING
One of the great pleasures of moving here has been the chance to catch up on reading. Currently I am reading two books - 'Killed at the Whim of a Hat' by Colin Cotterill (because I have finished his series of books set in Laos, so I have moved on to his Thai novels)(Alfred: the title is a quote from George W. Bush, by the way, in case you were wondering) and 'Exquisite Revenge' by Abby Green (Mills & Boon)(Alfred: .............em, ...wh-....., sorry?), which is the first Mills & Boon I have ever read (Alfred: Hello? Mills & Boon? This is a departure from the norm ..... oh, hang on: Abby Green? That's really Daisy Cummins, isn't it. Checking up on your past pupils again, eh?). Two really excellent books by Robert Cooper on Laos have been invaluable, a pile of old Science Fiction and some new stuff as well (strongly recommend Paolo Bacigalupi's books set in a futuristic Thailand) and rereading old favourites like Barbara Tuchman, Anthony Beevor, Stephen Ambrose, Iain M. Banks and so on. Having a Kindle app on my phone is amazing (Alfred: Just as well there are plenty of bathrooms in the house, for Martine's sake and that of visitors!).
A couple of recommendations:
All the Dr Siri books by Colin Cotteril (see previous blog entry)
Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
The WindupGirl by Paolo Bacigalupi (SF)
Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words by Bill Bryson
Selected Essays by Gore Vidal
The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin (an old old favourite)
The Gathering by Anne Enright (Alfred: Actually, Ruairí and Martine listened to this as an audiobook - read by the amazing Fiona Shaw, brilliant performance!)
The Crimean War by Orlando Figes
Das Reich by Max Hastings
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (Alfred: But we now know it is really J.K. Rowling)
Old Man's War series by John Scalzi (SF)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
(Alfred: Oh yes, if you DID read the last blog entry you may remember our confusion over the identity of the real writer of the series set on the West Bank. Well, when Ruairí followed the blog link on Colin Cotterill's page, it took him to the International Crime Writers' blog and the entry quoted was from Matt Rees, not Colin Cotterill! But they look good and I figure that may be our next read).
I also tried reading The Lord of the Rings in French ... and gave up almost immediately. Mind you, it's hard to read it in English at my age, rather more heavy going than one remembers from one's teenage years!
TRIPS TO THAILAND
As neither of us have permanent visas, once a month we have to travel across the Friendship Bridge into Thailand in order to return and renew our visas. The first two times was pretty heavy going - interminable queues and a real sense of a day wasted - but now that we have explored Nong Khai a little more, we look forward to these trips (Alfred: Let's be honest, since you found out where Tesco's is). A chance to stock up on items we can't easily find here or, to be honest, that are of much better quality in Thailand. Our shopping list this time consisted of:
- bike lubricant
- socks (men's)
- A4 plastic folders, coloured card and a stapler that takes No. 10 staples
- shoes (women's)
- tops
- plant food
But we also ended buying a few more things, as one does!
- sheets
- deep-fried marinated pork bits
- spanners
- a door-knob
- Thai Basil
- four miniature pineapples
- green beans
- fresh ginger (surprisingly hard to find good ginger here)
- gardening gloves
- three different kinds of mushroom
- yoghurt
- pulses (including the charmingly-named 'Job's Tears')
- paper napkins
- a kit for refilling printer cartridges
- hair dye
There may have been more. And we had an amazing Japanese meal which left us both so stuffed we swore we could never eat again (Alfred: They did).
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