Even though my leave has been approved for August I still have to jump through some more hoops it would seem. I have to give my employer an itinerary for my trip that includes which hotels I will be staying at and how long etc... Clearly the concept of "playing it by ear" has not caught on at all with regards to vacations. Also, they need contact details. Like, how can I be contacted if there's an emergency, will I be taking my mobile phone?? What kind of emergency are they talking about? I don't have any family here so what could possibly happen that the school would think they need to let me know about immediately? I gave them my e-mail address and they were heaps concerned that it wouldn't be enough information for them to get in contact. Is not the whole point of a holiday so that you can escape your normal life and not be seen, heard or thought of for a few weeks? I would love to know what they think they are going to tell me that can't wait until I get home. Oh, the rainy season has started, did you close all your windows? Oh, we heard that there was a car crash in Thailand, it wasn't you was it? Oh, there was a slight earth tremor, we had better go and look inside your house and see if it is all OK, where's your spare key? That would be the best ever, if they could come up with an excuse to actually enter my house and have a snoop around. They'd be loving it.
Do they think that if I run into trouble I will be calling them for help? I think I might try my family or the Australian Embassy before I ring them. Someone was telling me on the weekend that when westerners go on holidays here, espcially to places in SE Asia their contracting organisation often freaks out when the teacher disappears off the radar for a few days and starts sending out distress signals to all other westerners in the area trying to track down their wayward employee. I find it really weird that your employer would feel they need to pay so much attention to your safety. It is a bit presumptuous to believe that they could be more concerned than your own family and friends and to believe that it is their responsibility to "watch" you because no one else is. Plus, being quite an independantly minded person, I just don't like the idea that they think they need to look out for me. Do they think that a 23 year old woman is incapable of handling travel alone? Clearly the answer is yes, because they are so impressed by my ability to do anything from travelling to driving alone. On the news the other night there was this massive expose about how young women are (shock horror) beginning to eat at restaurants, you'll never believe this, all alone!! What is the world coming to when a grown adult female can walk into a restaurant, order food and eat it all by herself??! What does she do while she eats?? Just think? Doesn't she feel embarrassed because people think she has no friends? Doesn't she feel intimidated by the men around her also eating alone? Other activities some highly adventurous young women are shocking society with include going to movies, walking and travelling alone, without a companion, without a man, without even another giggling girl for company!
Good grief. Is this yet another social problem that needs solving? How do we get the girls back in their boxes?
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