Explanation

So, I haven't posted for quite a while. Not anything particularly unusual about that.

However, you may also notice that my blog now has a lot less posts listed than it did, say, yesterday. That is unusual. Here's the explanation:

I lost my job at my former school back in March, and I am now working at a different school in Uttaradit. Teay and I are doing great, things have worked out for the best so don't be worried. There's a whole lot that I could say about what happened, a lot that I want to say about what happened, but I suppose that it is probably best to move on. But to serve as a transition, I'll just touch on a few things:

I had a lot of positive experiences at my former place of employment, worked with a lot of good people, had great students, and I wish there was a better way to acknowledge and remember those positives. However, I think that the disruption of this wipe of old posts was necessary, for reasons I will remark on in a bit.

About my job experience at that location, I think I tried my best and I believe that I did a good job there; I stand by my performance. I am not best impressed with how things panned out there, but I'll leave it at that.

I would like to leave up those old posts out of respect for my former coworkers and students. However, I am also aware that the content and tone of my blog has been a factor that I know encouraged new applicants while I was there, and presumably could serve the same function even now. Putting this as delicately as possible, I now feel that I must withdraw such tacit endorsements.

I could accomplish that by leaving the old posts and adding a new one that sets the record straight more directly. I am strongly tempted to do just that. However, that method is even less kosher here than in Western culture, and there's plenty of pitfalls going that route even in the West. One does not engage in mudslinging without getting ones' hands dirty.


So I feel that this wipe of most of my older posts is probably the best way forward. However, beyond that I'm now rather reluctant to post much of anything specific about my employment here; good or bad. Things are going well at my new school -- don't be concerned about me, I feel that everything has panned out into a much better situation. But in the future I will probably be posting little or nothing about my work experiences and focusing on travel and culture things, similar to those of my older posts that have survived my purge. (a blog title change away from "Teaching in Thailand" may be in order, I'll see what I think)

That also means that it is unlikely that my posts and updates will become much more frequent than they have been recently, although I've let quite a few go since March as a result of indecision about how to proceed, so I may get ambitious and catch up on a few of those missed post opportunities (USA trip comes to mind!).

In the event that anyone reading this has any specific questions about what happened or what I'm doing now, I may have specific answers for you, but contacting me through email would be better.

And I guess that will have to suffice.