A Year in Thailand: Husband, Father, Teacher

Well my year in Thailand is up! I am still here and it look as if I might well be here for the forseeable future. The headline reads something like "Husband,Father, Teacher" and at this level the changes in my life since arriving here a year ago are mind boggling.


When I boarded the plane a year ago I knew I was going to get married in a matter of a few days after my arrival. I had a multiple entry non-immigrant visa which gave me a bit over a year here and I had the funds to finance such a length of stay without working. So I was expecting to stay but I also accepted that inability to get work might result in a return to London.


I think I would have said that I would have liked to be a parent and that I would have liked to work here and generate income. I am amazed, however, by the speed with which Luna conceived and as I write our son, Benedict, is firmly latched onto his mother's left breast. Benedict is now three months' old.


We believe Benedict was conceived on our wedding night. This is not mere wishful thinking on our part. We have plausible reasons to believe this but these are better not shared here! In fact there have been a series of things that convince me we are being looked after. Anyway the long and short of it all is I am very happily married and now we have a beautiful son.


It is difficult to explain how this has affected me. I distinctly recall acknowledging inwardly, a few days after Luna's pregnancy was confirmed, that I needed to drive a little more carefully! Tonight I was happy to leave work at the earliest opportunity, because I wanted to spend a little time with Luna and Benedict.

I shared an hour or so with Benedict immediately after his birth, while Luna recovered from her trip to theatre. Awesome! I cannot possibly describe my joy watching our little boy.


I have loved every moment of being married, well most of them (!), and likewise being a father. Benedict remains a joy. Currently making a lot of noise, loves to gurgle away when he hears familiar voices, and he is very interested in his hands and fingers. So far so good. He recently slept from 8:00 pm to 4:00 am. He is coming along very well.


We celebrate our first wedding anniversary in a few weeks and I can only say I love my wife very much and enjoy our life together.


For me Benedict has been a great blessing from conception onwards. Every aspect of Luna's pregnancy was relatively smooth, apart from an early concern about low lying placenta. This resolved itself naturally as Luna's pregnancy progressed.


Much to some people's concern we were very active for most of Luna's pregnancy. Some people seemd to think Luna should be confined to her bed for the duration. We had a lovely holiday in the south of Thailand taking in Khao Sok National Park in Surat Thani Province and a pleasant few days on Koh Phi Phi and we kept on the move right up to Benedict's birth.


Then came teaching. I started teaching Science & Maths to Grade 5 & 6 students in the local bilingual school in May. This is yet another venture into the unknown. I am really enjoying it. I am finding it challenging, frustrating, sapping, and everything really. I am glad to have completed my first term today and to be on holiday.


The job means there is life in Thailand beyond the year. I'll reserve further comment on teaching until the end of my holiday as my views right now might be unreliable! However I have a visa and work permit which will take me through until next April.


So what about living in Thailand? Well it is a strange experience. In some respects I would say the language means it is fairly impenetrable. I don't really know a lot about what's going on locally or even nationally. Not over interested either to be honest. The internet keeps me reasonably up to speed and I think it would be fair to say the overall political situation here is unstable short to medium term. The economy, tourism in particular, has suffered badly because of the well reported problems over the last 12 months. Maybe no bad thing in the longer term as I think Thailand as a tourist destination is massively hyped. Amazing Thailand is wearing a little thin. Time to rejig I think.


Whatever the promotional material may say the Thais really don't like us. I don't mean to be critical or unfair or even to be partial. However the government jealously guards everything Thai. At one level this protectionism is good, why should western corporate or individual finance buy up Thailand's economy? There is no doubt that if non-Thais could buy property then there would have been unprecedented speculation on the price of real estate and this would have put home ownership out of the reach of many people. A bit like what you get in London where property prices have been so great that ordinary people are really priced out of the market.


I guess when you see the types that hang out in Thailand and see what they get up to then perhaps that would make you a little jaundiced too! Thank God we are far away from the bright lights and dancing girls or boys!


However I survive very well in Thai. I have managed to get a wedding certificate, a driving license, Benedict's birth certificate, a baptism certificate too, (which incidentally says he was baptised before he was born!) My greatest achievement was to buy a car at an auction in Bangkok, and then to register a change of ownership at the local land transport office. Plus I am a freak in that I will drive in Bangkok! So none of this stuff is insurmountable.


And then I have not atrophyed on Thailand's golf courses. In fact I have hardly played recently. I have developed a real, active and ongoing interest in birds. Little did I know I was bang in the middle of one of the bird watching destinations in S E Asia. I do now and my knowledge and understanding of things avian is increasing. I have just been watching the southbound migration of raptors over the last few days in Chumpon, in the south of Thailand, and I saw a lot of Oriental Honey Buzzards, big fellows, and Chinese and Japanese Sparrowhawks! Plus I feel very proud that after about twenty minutes of observation, allowing for the bird's coming in and out of view as it scampered about in the tree, that I was able to identify an Arctic Warbler. Now if you pull out one of the field guides to Thailand's birds and turn to the warblers' section, you should understand why I am proud.


I like it here in Thailand, I like the Thais, I like the approach they have to most things and I can cope with most of the negative stuff. It is refreshingly different even if Tescos are here! I think you have to take the place seriously. There are not many places in the world where monks take to the streets every morning, barefooted and wearing saffron robes, and are in effect supported and sustained by the generosity and kindness of the general public. But it is a difficult and challenging place at the same time.


So that is my year in Thailand. For me it has been pretty amazing. Beyond my wildest dreams.