Gecko

I have decided to stop trying to update people with my work situation until something definite happens. (Latest plan, yet to be confirmed: I will work with Early Childhood Centres, rather than schools - i.e. equivalent to pre-school nurseries. They come under the Ministry of Interior,  via local "sub-district" authorities, rather than under the Ministry of Education, so will need to start at the beginning with getting official permission from all the right people etc.....)
One very positive thing to report, though - my coordinator has returned and started work yesterday. Today I took him to meet Alice and her coordinator, so he could start to get an insight into the role from someone who has been doing it for a while. They discovered they come from the same town!

On a totally non-work note - since moving to this area, I have been hearing most evenings a very distinctive animal call. For a while I wondered what on earth it was, and then was told that it is a type of lizard. It is very loud, and sometimes it seemed to be right outside the back door. Then, the other evening when I went out to do the washing up, I saw one on the wall and realised that it had indeed been right outside the back door. I was wishing I could share the experience, especially the call, on my blog, and then it occurred to me that I probably could find something on Google images/Youtube.

It is called a tokay gecko and is quite large, about a foot long, with very distinctive spotted markings.

You can here it calling here, here and here!