Barry Cowger

Well, first off, thank you for having me on.
I came from a middle-class family; youngest of three brothers. Grew up in Seattle. Parents are both musicians. My dad's a retired music teacher and recording artist. Picked up the drums at age 8. Was in numerous rock-bands 'till I 'retired' at 25. Started to travel in 1996 and never looked back. I've been to 25 countries; lived in six of those: India, Nepal, China, Czech Republic and Holland. Picked up Dutch along the way. So as a Yankee, I'd like to think I'm not totally language challenged.

Living in a very old and classy city like Prague was great; very inspirational. Old world. I was hired by Linguarama, a UK based business language school. They paid their teachers very well. I taught one-on-one mostly, going to the clients' offices. 15 hrs a week. But the winters are brutal. October is a good time to go. But it can begin to get cold even then. Bring your mittens.

My school paid for our flats too, on top of our salary. Other teachers were jealous. We made about 250 Pounds, free and clear, in 1996-8. So it was good money. We had other bennies too.

The beer is great. Gambrinus and Budvar were my faves. This is pretty amazing stuff. I really wouldn't call myself a drinker, but a pint or two after slogging through a few hard-core business English lessons tasted great. Cheap too.

Not my experience. Prague has good public transport. Our school gave us tube passes, which we could use anytime. So I didn't have to brave the taxis.

Actually I came directly from Mac Leod Ganj, India. The Dalai Lama has his residence there. I sat Vipassana 3 hrs a day, everyday, for almost 2 years. This'll clear your head! I came to Khon Kaen directly, because I have a friend here who is management at The Hotel Kosa. This is my first visit to Thailand. March 3rd 2008 will be my one-year anniversary.

No. Lucky that, tho. I was sick for a month when I arrived; recovering from India you might say. I stayed at Hotel Kosa, gratis. Nice friend, huh?

Yes. There are jobs here for sure. I have a new post here, which I am looking forward to. You can also get part-time gigs too. Khon Kaen University is here. So there are lots of kids who are thinking English here. I like KK because it's not really a tourist destination.

Yeah, I'm doing ok there. I had a nurse girlfriend for a few months. It all seemed to be going good until she wanted a huge sum of money. It's a numbers game. Just keep perspective on things and a guy like me will be fine. Lose perspective, and proportion and it can get pretty messy pretty quickly. But in all, it's very nice to be here! I think I'll be in KK for a while.

Yes. As most of us know it's easy to see where improvements can be made. This is how I got my second primary school job, only two months after I began teaching here in KK. But I encountered the same thing: lack of organization, even though I was assured this would not be the case again. Wrong! The kids are great, of course. But management is too "Thai-style" for me.

I woke up one morning and had an idea to approach the mayor of KK because things were still going the same way. Drives me nuts. (In hindsight, it was a procedural mistake to just go into the mayor's office. I would not recommend that a teacher just waltz into a higher-ups office of your choice and start to make some suggestions). In any case, I did. He was alarmed at what I told him. He called a meeting for later that day. There were nine of us present; the director of my school, other directors and teachers, etc. I had already scribbled out my ideas. But now I had it all printed out with charts and so forth from my pc. It was a three-year program where I took 100 students (25 per class, 4 classes day, which came out to 20 hours a week!) and followed these 100 kids through three years, starting at grade 2, graduating at the end of grade 5. I also asked for a whiteboard, and overhead projector, my own classroom and a pay raise.

None. I saw him on the first day I went to his office. Good karma, I guess. Or bad, depending on how you look at it.

Yes. He verbally approved the program, with everthing I was asking for; with everything I had laid out in my proposal.

Yeah. I didn't get the original agreement in writing! The moral of the story here is, get it in writing. Words are cheap. I got everything I asked for, even my own classroom. But when I met with this certain director two weeks later, in an attempt to assure myself that we will still on track with this program, she didn't budge on the salary hike. I reminded her that the mayor himself approved the whole deal two weeks earlier, so what's the problem? I think they would have gotten a pretty good deal. Who ever heard of a teacher signing on for three years at a primary school? As some of us know, they can be a real circus. I like the school, the teachers, and the kids. But when someone doesn't keep their word, who has had a history of this with me (third time's a charm) I gave my 30 day notice.

I have a new gig in town. And I think this is going to be a better match for everyone. I've matriculated into the higher grades. The school in question has a good rep and I like the director. His English is very good and I hear that he looks after 'his' teachers. It'll be good for me because I think I'll be going home with a sense of having done something worthwhile. It'll be good for the students because I think they'll be getting a decent teacher. The moral of the story here might be: find an environment that will bring out your own skills to everyone's advantage. I guess you could say my first year was learning about this as well.