Job Discussion Forums

[teachercreature]

Hey, everbody! Thanks for all the encouraging info you've put on here. I'm in Phnom Penh now with the on-arrival business visa. I'm going to Siem Rep today. My Detroit Delta airlines told me I might be denied passage by Korean Airlines when I got to Chicago, but when I got there KA non-nonchalantly let me go; just as people here had written.

Does anybody in Siem Rep want a roommate with whom to share costs or know someone who does, especially Filipinos? Where do the Siem Rep English-speakers hang out and what schools are good to apply there? I have 3 months' experience teaching experience in China (recommendation letters in Chinese), no certification, and a BA in Linguistics from Michigan State University. I'm over here to be with the Filipina wife I met in China while the US visa takes forever.

I might get certified someday, but my real career is as an academic of ancient languages (Egyptian hieroglyphs in particular). Asians pretty much just want entertainment, so I'm actually not the greatest English teacher, but there's a place for everyone it seems. I'll be in Siem Reap to be close to Angkor Wat and the Sanskrit and Old Khmer inscriptions. I wonder if there's books somewhere at Siem Reap so I could read some of the inscriptions. I found Jenner's new dictionaries of Pre-Angkorian Khmer and Angkorian Khmer and they were really cool, though I think most of the inscriptions are religious stuff in Sanskrit. That's why I've considered just staying at Phnom Penh. I wish I had had the wherewithall a year ago to make my way to the Shang Dynasty province in China so I could've seen more real oracle bones. But then no wife, so things work out well.

We were in far NE China, Changchun, a nice academic hub for studying ancient civilizations. If anybody knows anybody in Cambodia interested in that kind of stuff, message me on this forum so we could meet up. I do everything, but my preference is for the oldest writings, hieroglyphic. Cambodia is like a Maya or Rongorongo-surrogate to me. All the writing systems of India and SE Asia are actually from the same place as the Roman, from Egyptian 1900BC through Aramaic, all coming from Brahmi like 200BC or so. Even Mongolian and Korean are from Aramaic, but they're from a northerly branch, thru Old Uighur. I also think that Chinese is eventually from Sumerian, but most experts in the field think it's a local invention, which is just poorly-supported consensus, like what keeps Ruhlen's Proto-World model as heresy. Mayan probably is. Anyway... Everybody's got a hobby.

I did a report on Ethiopic and Brahmi-based writing a while ago, and it'd be neat to see one in action, especially in something as gigantic as Angkor. Part of the package is the old Hindu stuff, too, which is interesting. Never seen that in person.


I'm going to try to find a decent $8 guesthouse for the time being and just make the rounds like Khmerhit described in one post. I have dress clothes all ready, resumes with imbeded photos, all that stuff.

[teachercreature]

I'm in Siem Reap. I ran into a Basque guy and he told me that because it's rainy season, I should demand 3 dollars a night until I find a place that'll do it. It was the same thing in China and almost in the Philippines. These slimy Asians will cheat you out of penny if they could -your last one even! This is my last night here for 8.

I need to find the expats.

Someone wrote somewhere that 150 / month was hard to find in PP, and another that he saw ads for 30 / month with a family. The Basque guy said that a good long-term deal would be 60 / month, about 2 / day. I hope I can find some honest, helpful expats. These Asians give me the creeps with their genuine soullessness. Some days I wish I was back in Montana or Utah. Who knows what the real price is here?

I remember that post where some guy was cheated out of 100 from his workplace. Typical language school, from what I hear.

[bluetortilla]

[MrMrLuckyKhan]

[bluetortilla]

Good one Lucky.
We do need compassion though. Who knows what makes a person bitter? Everyone suffers because of it.

Anyway, Cambodia sounds like a really awesome place. I can't wait to go.