Esperanto Back from ThailandAuthor: David Poulson Saluton denove, Sawadee krup, Hello again, and a Happy Easter to all of the readers of the Esperanto Topic.! Here I am again, finally, having just arrived back in Perth after my 60-day stay in Thailand. (It was only supposed to be a 35-day visit but - well, what can I say? Things do not always go according to plan.) I have come back a little lighter in both body and pocket and a whole lot richer in experience. The only real negative aspect to my visit was the fact that I did not have any access to the Internet and computing facilities during the time I was there and so I must apologize for the fact that I have not posted an article to the Esperanto topic since February 23rd. And now, having come back to Perth on Sunday Feebruary 8th, I have a 60-day back-log of email and Internet-related business to catch up with which, as I know you will appreciate, I quite a job! It will take me some time to get up-to-date, especially as I have some urgent business to take care of (see next paragraph) but I can promise you that my next article will appear on Friday April 20th. And, from that date, I will resume my normal publishing schedule, posting articles to appear on the second and fourth Friday of each month. So you can also exxpect to see articles on Friday May the 11th and Friday May the 25th. I am planning to return to Thailand in the middle or end of May to take up an offer of employment at a university in Chiang Mai teaching academic writing to the lecturing staff there. However, because the university is quite advanced, I will have access to a computer lab and will be provided with an Internet account. So there is no reason to believe that I will be unable to continue posting regular articles to the Esperanto Topic. At the moment I am very busy negotiating a contract by email, aranging for copies of my CV and academic qualifications to be sent to Chiang Mai, and I need to arrange a contract and work-permit. So. as you can see, I have a lot on my plate this week. I would very much like to tell you more about my visit to Thailand, about the suitability (or lack of it) of English as a second language for Thais, and about prospects for promoting Esperanto in that country. However, that is a very large and difficult subject and before I can begin to put it and put my thoughts down in some coherent and sensible fashion, I will have to think, reflect and plan carefully. So, for the moment, I propose to put that subject on the back burner and leave it for a while. Next way, I am going to leave Asia and introduce a competely new theme in the Esperanto Topic. Please join me on Friday the 20th. Hope to see you then. |