I have now published It All Started in Mandalay and I am working on my second book, the Life and Times of Sonia Singal, a Holocaust Survivor who spent her war years hiding and resisting in a Polish Forest. When I was in Toronto and could look out the window and see scenes like the one above, it was relatively easy to write. Now that I am in Thailand on an island in the south, these are the scenes I see every day everywhere around me. It is about 35 degrees and when I get home from school I jump in the pool, not rush to my desk.

What I have discovered the hard way, is that to write successfully you need a few conditions.
1. You actually do need a desk. I am writing on my lap right now and both me and the computer are very warm.
2. You must have a routine. You cannot write whenever the muse dictates, because if you do wait, you will never finish any task.
3. You will have to exercise your imagination. I find youtube frankly very helpful. As I am writing about the winter of 1943 I can actually find things on yourtube that can stimulate my thinking.
4. You have to have clear goals and write a certain amount every day and always keep your eye on the prize.
5. Forget about a social life. You better like your own company. We all have a story in us, but only a select few can actually have the discipline to write a novel or other type of writing. 
6. Constantly get readers to review what you have written and do not be afraid to adapt their comments. One way might even be to have a readers' club use your draft as one of their works 

In the interests of full disclosure, I am now working in Phuket, so let me talk a little bit about Thailand here and Phuket specifically. 

Phuket is an island for tourists and if you like what it offers for tourists you will be fine. There are myriad bars, shooting ranges, go cart courses, lion shows, lady boy shows, golf courses and so on. If you are not into any of the above, this is also not a problem. You can find deserted beaches, small quiet villages, out of the way restaurants and roads that have not seen a car for days. You just have to know where to look. 

You can see you can have your fill of treasures, either swimming on a deserted beach, picking fruit at your leisure or visiting a Temple. This one is at Chalong but there are Temples everywhere. I went for a big Buddha celebration last week where we had to light a candle and walk around the Temple three times. Three and Seven seem to be a sacred number in many religions. My candle kept going out because of the wind and the person walking beside me kept relighting it for me which was kind of nice and so typically Thai.

Yesterday after school,  I decided to go to the beach because it was 34 degrees centigrade, to-night after school I think I will play golf and this week-end take a bridge off the island to look at some limestone cliffs. Does life get any better than this?

There is a novel in you for sure. I have only been here for about one month and I have so many stories to tell about sexuality and sex, theft and intrigue and professional conduct. Just add a sprinkling of imagination and you have a story! 

One of the teachers at the school used to come to Thailand to have his teeth fixed at the same time he was having a vacation. He told me he saw the most beautiful women in the world in the dentist's office and kept asking her out on a date. She refused repeatedly but he finally wore her down and now she is his wife. I love that storybook ending, although it probably would not sell....too perfect. 

Talking about wives, one teacher left teaching altogether and returned to her home country. We later found out that her husband was having a transgender operation and will come back to the school as a women after the summer. Now that has got to be a great story.

Another story was the robbery in my apartment last week. I could write a murder mystery about that. Only one guy had a key to get into my safe through the back door and he is an older British gentleman who manages the apartment. Because of his age and accent you would not think it was him. The maid is always talking and laughing and appears too jovial for the theft and then there is an immigrant who changes light bulbs and was the only one in my room alone. Of course they all deny it, so you could write a book setting one of them up and then in the last chapter have a surprise character come in and steal the money.

As a friend of mine told me who taught computers, no matter what happens you always have a story to tell. Why not read my book, It All Started in Mandalay and tell me what you thought of my old stories I turned into a novel. If you are in Asia you can buy it from Asia books and if you are elsewhere just go to your favourite site where you buy books. I would love to get feedback BEFORE I write the next one

Luckily, I have never been robbed in Vietnam with a motor bike or any other way, but  I do remember a teacher last year who had her backpack stolen the first day she was out walking about. She was simply strolling down one of the streets when a  scooter roared by ( if a scooter can roar) and cut the shoulder straps of her backpack and made off with her passport, purse and so on. 

This was a tremendous problem for her getting all of the documents back but to her credit she stayed on and had a great year. 

One of the guys was telling me that he used to keep two wallets. In the wallet closet to the road he used to keep no money whatsoever and in his other pocket on the street side he placed his wallet with the money.. Others kept a purse of sorts underneath their shirts or around their waste with the zipper to the front. 

I was never robbed in all of my time in Vietnam ( Ho Chi Minh) but keep your wits about you at ll times. Hard to avoid moped traffic in Ho Chi MInh City since they come up on the sidewalk and all kinds of other crazy places.

However, I am on an island in Thailand right now and money was taken right out of my safe in my serviced apartment. I lived in a serviced apartment in Bangkok for years without a problem. I guess the moral of the story is that getting robbed can happen anytime, anywhere and we simply have to be aware of our surroundings and potential dangers. I think in Asia most crimes are probably crimes of opportunities rather than intent. I suspect I left my safe door ajar and the cleaning person simply opened the door and helped him or her self. . 


Be safe, be careful and be lucky but take the chance. Explore the world. Teach abroad. You have nothing to lose but adventure and making a difference!  If you lose some money so be it. It is only cash and you will still have so much to smile about! Look at the pictures. And take this advice. Even if money is stolen, you have one more story to tell!

Some countries are definitely safer to live than others, I suppose depending on the degree of wealth in that country. 

I remember seeing a big bill in the men's washroom on the sink counter when I worked in Singapore. I waited for at least a week and no one would take it. The janitors left it alone as did the other sink users! 

I spent the money, I admit, since no one wold take it. Thank you to whoever was the owner! The paradox, of course, would be if it was mine.

Take the chance, come and teach abroad, have fun, have adventure, do a good job teaching and if you lose some money just one more experience you can tell your grandchildren about and much less pain, I will say, then falling off a motorcycle which every teacher seems to do at least once in their career. 

Sometimes when we are teaching in Asia, or for that matter anywhere else in the world, we tend to forget that we are not teaching math or science or art...we are teaching kids and the reason the parents want us here and pay the big money is not just our handsome white faces but our ability to teach their children English.

A few tips if you are teaching in Asia:
 use key visuals when you are teaching a concept
 always use English in class
 write a glossary of key words on the board before the lesson
talk at a n normal speed...do not speed up
and the 1000 and one other techniques you can find at places like Dave's ESL cafe at http://www.eslcafe.com/ideas/

Never give up on kids. If you are reading this blog, you can certainly read English and probably speak and write. How did you learn? Are you soooo smart? Don't you think you students can also learn by listening and practicing? Learning a foreign language is tough, especially the older you get, but NEVER give up on kids! 

They can and will learn English if you force them to speak English in your class.