An Elephant Building

Did you know that there is a building that looks like an elephant? I mean it- an elephant! I wouldn't have a clue, living in this overbuilt, over-polluted city, but I happen to commute to this building that looks like an elephant every day. This sad, odd looking building (that is shaped like an elephant) has few tenants living in it's front and rear legs. A scant few businesses line it's lower levels, however most come abruptly and leave just as hastily. In the elephant's trunk is a beautiful ballroom, typically reserved for weddings and other large ceremonies of local cultural significance. Then on the auspicious third and not so auspicious fourth floors of the elephant's grand trunk, which extends fully flush to the ground, is a place of enlightenment; a place where dreams are pursued; a locale of learning that lies outside normal limits. This mecca of knowledge is what we call AUA, or the American University Alumni English Language Center if you lack brevity. Although I am an anthropologist at heart and by the words on my degree, I am currently teaching English at AUA, and I have been doing so for almost two years.

From the trunk of this grand elephant I work, play, and learn day in and day out, and I wanted to reveal the truth of my feelings towards this majestic place covered in a thick coat of nonsense by writing this first blog entry. The truth that I speak of is this: I thoroughly enjoy teaching English from inside the olfactory glands of a iron elephant, but I can't wait to resign my position here to travel on to new horizons.

As I confront the possibility of spending another six months in professional and personal limbo, I (and my wife) see a great opportunity to share my experiences and knowledge of this place- starting from the auspicious third floor of the elephant building in Bangkok, Thailand and extending to wherever my travels, my knowledge, and my imagination might lead. In the coming months I intend to post a great deal of information, stories (fiction and nonfiction), and other ideas that can be put into language into this blog. I hope that is interesting, entertaining, and maybe even instructive.