As a young 53 year old mature age Australian graduate with an Early Childhood BA major, I recently completed a short but enriching three years in the kingdom. A government anuban for a short three-month contract, a private bilingual school for a one-year contract and another small town P1 homeroom teacher job in the northwest.

I completed all contract years with good references and had always had happy students and parents. I had tried to give all my own learning and ability to the three cohorts I worked with.

I had been applying since February for new teaching positions as my last contract was nearing an end on March 31st, wherein I'd been advised I would be replaced by a non-NES and that the school director sought female teachers instead.

I'd followed all leads kindly afforded online and by word of mouth. Months of applying nation-wide to easily more than 100 employers saw me with one 25,000 baht high school offer. I didn't accept it on precedent value alone, for the benefit of future teachers.

Yesterday I landed in Hong Kong on my way to China. I miss somtum already but its clear Thailand doesn't care much about hiring me; the gaps between finding work were becoming untenable - months at a time, this time specifically five months without work.

I'd like to return to Thailand to retire, but sadly right now I must go to where the work is for the coming years. Thanks for listening,

Gary