Flyover Territory- Nick Hanlon

Flyover Territory

In July of 2012 I started my teaching career by teaching one  full day a week at Sri Donchai,a small primary school about 20 km south of Chiang Mai.

I was also doing three and a half hours on Sunday at a small boarding school which is a part of Prince Royal College.

At Sri Donchai,you can see the planes climb over head.You’re in flyover territory.While I was happy teaching kids up to 13 in classes of up to 40 as a start to my career,I knew one day that I would have to get on that plane.Seeing those planes climb one after another triggered ambition,envy,desire.Teaching a primary school in Thailand is pretty damn sweet.

So long as you accept that your not there to teach but rather be someone who can combine child-minding with arts and crafts,some games and then maybe some teaching.

Hey,the kids were sweet,the administrators were nice to me and my fellow teacher,Fai.And the food was great!It was the right start but my journey had just begun.

And onto Lanna Polytechnical College.The first morning I walked in there my fellow teacher told me not to touch the dogs lying about because they are prone to bite.None of my fellow teachers enjoyed it.Classes could be up to a maximum of 51 and the students were rowdy if not downright disrespectful.The rumours were also circulating that our agency was going to lose the contract to the College because another agency had underbid us.That is,their teachers had to work longer hours and accept a slightly lower wage.You taught 18 classes a week,each class once a week.With each class lasting once a week the students had no chance to advance their English in an average class of 30-40.Education is not a priority with the Thai government.Met some good people of course but eventually my agency lost the contract.

So it was on with the suit and tie and get out there handing out C.V.'s like it was confetti.That was a year ago now.The temperature was 30-35 degrees everyday.Seemingly an endless parade of interviews and knockbacks.One morning sticks in my memory.I came for an interview in a full suit and tie,leather shoes,hair cut.My competition for the job that morning was a young women in a short skirt and no jacket.Of course I don't know whether she got the job-but I sure didn't.

That morning shaped my thinking."O.K.,two can play this game".By that I mean I should apply for a job which that young women has absolutely no chance of getting.

A few days later I was walking down past my local cafe-restaurant when Mike from America gave me a tip about a job being offered in Saudi Arabia.

Mike had been in Morocco and had developed some contacts, one of whom knew about this contract which was due to start in May.

The pay was about four times more than what I'd been receiving in Thailand.No taxes, no rent, all flights paid for.

So I did a couple of interviews online and the boss over there in Jeddah, seemed to like me and sent over a contract to sign.

The second interview I did online I remember having to dodge the world's biggest water fight in order to get in to the internet cafe.

Sitting there, slightly wet, thankfully Tim on the other end didn't have a camera.

And then there was nothing for about a month.I really thought the contract had fallen through. So I took up some work

at a couple of English language schools. Back to 1,000 baht a day or $30 U.S. a day for seven and a half hours work.

Well,that was the worst case scenario. Group classes of only 6 or so, a lot of tutorial classes as well. I was really wondering what had happened to that job in Saudi.

Y.M.C.A. was great, positive vibe, met a smart Chinese student and there was a smart hotel restaurant around the corner. Chiang Mai at it's best.

The other joint will have to go nameless because they just couldn't get it together.Too much mindless paperwork. Low pay and a don't care attitude from the staff.

Thailand's flip side.

Then one day I was walking to a restaurant on a Sunday about noon. I decided to check my emails just off the cuff. It was there,the plane tickets had been emailed!

Now there was three hours to print out the tickets, pay my rent, get showered and changed ,collect my already packed bags and get on a tuk-tuk to the airport.

There was no lunch for me that day.Tim from Jeddah rang me as I was printing out the tickets in the shop.This was May the 19th,2013. Now the dream was being realized.

A T.E.F.L. certificate had given me wings .A few calls to friends to say good-bye. Just couldn't believe it.Those days of watching the big metal bird climb into

the sky from that primary school were now a memory. It felt so good to sit the airplane seat and buckle on the seat belt. From nothing came something.

Now I'm back in Thailand just doing a bit of online work,taking it easy because I can afford to.The days of living precariously broke have passed by for me because of the

Saudi job. It was great to experience a different way of life and make you appreciate how good we have it. A lot of my fellow teachers out in the sand pit quit early.

Me, I stuck at it. One day at a time. Mike had written that my fellow quiz team members said I would quit but they don't really know me. I knew how damn precious this opportunity was and I wasn't going to stuff it up. Pride was on the line. A great football coach said that you have to be "smart enough to know how to win and dumb enough to think that it's important."Just give the job 100%.You're not there to enjoy yourself,you're there to bloody well work.And I'd had a gutful of being broke and unsatisfied.

So I stuck at it.

From here the future now looks good.I'll pick up some more online work because it's the most satisfying form of teaching that you can do. In Saudi Arabia I had put a quote by my late friend Frannie McGuire on the wall of my classroom"Teachers are interested in outcomes, not incomes". To her,teaching was a mission. I always try and remember

that,even as I see another plane climb away into the sky.

Nick Hanlon