vanessa_vanillasky

hey good luck to both of you

Apologies to Stickman and Dana for stealing a snippet of Dana's post.

"HOLD MY BABY?"

I see a kite festival in a park in BKK and wander onto the grounds. I see a bench. I sit down. There is a Thai mother with a baby on the bench. We exchange smiles and hellos. I smile and make baby talk at the child. I say something about the kites in the sky being suay maak. She agrees and says I speak excellent Thai. I say "Nit noy Thai." More smiling and head bobbing. An excellent day in Thailand and a fun time with a real Thai. What could go wrong? Presently she turns and points to herself and points across the field and says "Hong naam". She has to go to the bathroom. She holds the baby towards me. She wants to know if I will hold her baby for her while she goes to the bathroom. Of course I will. I am flattered and proud to be asked. She walks away. In her absence I have the best time making baby talk. People walking by look on approvingly. I try to look nonchalant as if Thais are always trusting me with their children. It's great to be involved with the real Thailand and with real Thais and I am thrilled to be included in a teensy weensy way in the fabric of the culture. After about twenty minutes mom comes back. I return her child. The mom holds out her hand and says "100 baht". "What for?" I say. She wants me to give her 100 baht for helping her go to the bathroom by looking after her child. As I rise from the bench and take the first step my knee nearly fails me so disoriented and disappointed am I by the experience. Thailand. Sometimes I feel sorry for Thailand. You wouldn't wish this on any country. Later I wondered if she pulled this routine on five farangs a day. Sometimes people like to email me and tell me that I am not sensitive to the culture and that there is lots I don't know about the Kingdom. Maybe I am one of the lucky ones.

WEIRD !!!

are you sure its Savannaket???? the consul in Savannaket are run by two very nice man, as the matter of fact they are most helpful the last time i went there to get my visa ... (and the last time was just last month) maybe its not the people that work there who have attittude problem, maybe its ........... 

hahaha...yes, I'm quite certain as to where I go when I travel.

As with any government posting, personnel are subject to change and so it seems apparently that the dragon lady is there no more. That is a tremendous improvement to all who utilize the consulate as evidently she had been there for decades abusing customers. I have not been there after my initial visit as I was too turned off. If the new guys are nice, then wonderful.

btw, I find your insinuations extremely humorous... totally erroneous, but then.. that's what makes them so funny.

you definitely have some attitude problem ... ... ...

Why do you not like my boy and call him bad names?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ... its seems that their "LITTLE BOY" went home running under his mommy's skirt ... BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Darn it, I thought it was Vientienne that had the dragon lady as well.....possibly twins do you think?

Having been to both consulate...Savannaket is far worse.

are you sure its Savannaket???? the consul in Savannaket are run by two very nice man, as the matter of fact they are most helpful the last time i went there to get my visa ... (and the last time was just last month) maybe its not the people that work there who have attittude problem, maybe its ...........

I have been staying in thailand with my family without a visa. I leave the country every other month and return. I have been doing this for 10 years. Is this still ok to do? I have been told i qualify for non immigrant visa since i have family and my work is in the U.S. But not able to immediatley deposit 400,000 baht in an account. (I will in a few months). I'm just wondering if i might have trouble entering country next week when i have to leave Thailand.

Again i've never had problems in the past, but have read in places, this activity not permitted any more. Is this true?

if you been doing this for 10 LONG YEARS ... i dont see any problems for doing it now, my guess is that you can still do it for another 10 more years. but why in heavens earth that you didnt just get a visa it will be easier for you, imagine 10 years with no visa ?!

i find that copious amounts of beer generally does the trick 

seriously though...

i agree that maintaining the enthusiasm and energy teaching requires is critically important - even for the most experienced teachers...

i attend many teacher conferences & workshops in the LoS. they helps me to learn new approaches for handling difficult situations, and the creative ideas and enthusiasm of other teachers help spur me on to greater things...

I agree. It's very important for a teacher to have some outlets, hopefully not too self-destructive...

Networking with other teachers, either to share horror stories, or new teaching methodolgies, is great, and there is always something interesting going on around Bkk, for sure. Some schools even have money to send you to some of the various workshops around. I've always valued the workshops and seminars put on regularly by Chula, through the Language Center, if I remember correctly.

Networking is also a great way to make contacts for a better job.

remember your first week of teaching in the class, when you lecture to your students all they gave you was BIG smile and "mai kao chai", after a few months you can see a BIG smile and a NOD, another few more months you can start to hear their voices joining in your discussions ... and suddenly your students start chatting with you about anything and everything ... imagine this scenario ... its a good motivation

Introduce a reward system.

These are the gold stars...............

rewards inform of pencils and small tuti-frutti erasers

SHOPPING !!! Thailand is Asia's SHOPPING PARADISE !!!

Indeed Ajarn, one of the ideas I had was setting up an English school near the village that would be open to all the kids in the area and free to attend. Whether or not this would be practical or feasible I have yet to work out. I look forward to discussing this with you in the future.

I would be very interested in discussing this with you. Like you, I'm also keeping my eyes open for ways I can help support education with the resources I have..

For wamberal, I completely agree. The hardest part is often, for me, making the right contacts, with the right people. Speaking Thai is good, or at least someone with you who can, and who is thinking and understanding on your wave-length so they can better communicate and make decisions with families, puuyai baans, schools, etc., on your behalf. But, lots of caution here for the (relatively) clueless farang... like me. Lots of ways to get in over one's head, even with good intentions, as I've learned

like you im also a teacher, i help my less fortunate but deserving students by giving them monthly allowances (for foods and bus fares), i get the money through friends (farangs and thais) they are my angel networks, and now we are supporting 4 students in my school i hope that it will grow gradually and that we can help more less unfortunate kids, because we believe all they need is a chance, to have a good education and with this under their belt they will have better and a brighter future.

When in Thailand eat Thaifood.

yup and make your breath smell like stinking fish sauce

She definitely loves Mr Hugo's money ... BWAHAHAHA ... NO QUESTION ASK

a xerox copy of your passport will be just fine ... plus the xerox of your visa of course and other identifications can be also helpful such as your i.d. card from your home country or international driver license

Hello,

im am from Germany ! FGor one week i have met a girl from udon thani living in Germany for 4 years now !

I have never had a relationship with a girl from Thailand !

Can someone tell me how a Thai girl show her love ! Sniff kissing /homme etc.etc ??

She tells she loves me ! I have spoken with girlfriends of her and they all say she really loves me !!

Thanks

if you got the assurance from her friends why bother to ask???

and beside how can we know it we dont know her anyway ... but if you got $$$ they the chance is that she must love you

Hi All,

as a former banker with a finance background, this is deeply shameful and an all time low in my life. I hate cash - so I spent it all and then tried to get more with my HSBC MC. "Call issuing bank" - I did that - and was told, that's it. So I missed the check out deadline at the hotel and went to the bank again. the same!

I feared to return empty handed. - And didn't. So I haven't showered in 29 hours and am pennyless. Technically, I still have money in the bank though.

1.) The Tourist Police wouldn't let me make any calls - I hoped for the Embassy (had e-mailed them) or the bank (collect? Had a new mobile phone as collateral for paying the maybe 8 min a 7 Baht call). 2.) Other banks either. 3.) My flight to L.A. departs on the 19th and I wait for a 2nd passport with a VISA to be mailed to this hotel (Little Court, Soi Buakhao, 160 Baht/night).

I don't dream of even trying to tell this tale of stupidity and recklessness to them - I'm a landlord and know the tales :-)

Is there anything you would suggest? I'm fat, so going a few days without food will do me good. but otherwise, I'm nearly despairing. ** Is it Friday the 13th? Is jail in my future? This is scary! I never imagined I would have this kind of an issue!!!

maybe he's better off being deported ... bwahahahaha

Something fishy going on here!!!! no money? no passport? useless credit card? Hmmmmmm