PeaceBlondie

For us Western men (yes, even some of us gay, formerly straight men) it's difficult to see what can be so pornographic about a woman's belly button.

I asked a Thai foreign exchange student (17 years old) what his biggest culture shock was, in moving from northern Thailand to California:

"A man and a woman, kissing in public!"

I haven't met a falung teacher in Thailand yet that has said they enjoyed their job, or the conditions under which they work, or the salary that they receive, or the respect they get from their students and fellow educators. 

It makes one wonder as to their choice of profession and location. 

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We have never met. But i enjoy my job very much.

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Likewise, we've apparently never met, but I like my job, in spite of the difficulties. I've never heard of anybody having a perfect job. I don't have to work a lick, and I enjoy teaching English in Thailand, and so do many others.

Didn't Will Rogers say, "I never met a man who didn't like TEFL"?

But if there's anything that's 'too big to fail' it's got to be the USA. Even Japan didn't fail when the Nikei index and the Tokyo real estate market fell. Aren't those two Japanese markets still well below their all-time highs, decades later? And South Korea's oglilopolies weren't allowed to fall. Airlines and motor companies in the USA don't fall completely (some, not others).

Unless, of course, we're already at that point where the real people in power - the money - know the emperor's been naked for a decade, and they're doing everything possible to prop up the dollar no matter what.

For example: I see the exchange rate is battering the dollar, but the US stock market (oh, the S&P 500, anyway) is doing rather well. My mutual fund, even allowing for the currency devaluation, is still worth much more now than when I came to Thailand about 19 months ago.

I read a pre-1991 book that reviewed the fall of most of the empires throughout history. Author's point was that the empires decayed from within so rapidly that it was very easy to be conqured from outside. That's far more true today: look how the Soviet empire fell almost instantly.

And don't markets reach a breaking point where they fall much further than any good reason would say? Just as the bull markets are sometimes vastly overvalued, don't bear markets bring ridiculously low values to some commodities?

Chris, I think the extent of 'separation grief' can be exaggerated. If you'd never moved more than a couple of times in your life, if you've had faculty tenure in the same university for 20 years, if you're still in contact with family and friends from 30 years ago - yes, it would be hard to move. And yes, there are culture shocks, adaptations. No number of visits as 'tourist' can prepare you 100% to be permanent 'resident.'

If I know your story, you're retiring from a lifetime career - that's a big move. I did it after 22 years in the same career, and it was as easy as saying "adios" to Texas and "Hola" to Nicaragua when my friend greeted me at the airport in Managua.

If you're an extrovert who needs regular, substantive conversation in English, you'll need to hook up with some expats here (but most of them are.....less than fully desirable as friends, but that's true everywhere).

Say goodbye and don't expect life-long Americans to understand (some will be just plain jealous). Immigrants to America (who inspired me to make my move) will understand, once they overcome their initial confusion ("What? you want to LEAVE America?").

It is so different here, but I still love it. You may feel more liberation than grief at losing all that stuff and all those connections. And after you've been overseas for a year, you'll get reverse culture shock on your return visit home.

Hopefully this is not a thread for how to find UNDERAGE teens. Anyway, if it's so unacceptable to be gay in Thailand high schools - as much so as in most western schools - why do both the public high schools in our provincial capital have at least 20% outrageous flaming katoeys? And they're made fun of, but they're still popular. Some of the best students, as well. On the 15th of this month I'll mourn the anniversary of the death of our best student, who was very out of the closet, and everybody in the school and community took party in the lengthy death rituals, and there were no dry eyes at the cremation.

But I'll agree that some of those who eventually come out of the closet are in there during high school. Then again, my friend the 30-ish gay artist from Bangkok thought it was fashionable to be katoey in high school and then become bisexual or strraight later in life!

Actually Mike, ever since I was in Tapachula, Chiapas in 2000 trying to get to Chiang Rai (there's another story), I just do it like this:

Use travelocity or other website to build an itinerary complete with flight numbers and times. Print it and walk into the travel agency and say, "Match this." If I've done my homework well, the agency will undercut it less than 10% and issue me the ticket on the spot.

Interesting approach, this "Observer" has. He's got his mind made up about a few things (fine), and wants to hear opinions from folks who in most cases haven't done the teaching bit. And he seems to have a burr in his saddle against the TEFL schools in Thailand.

Hey, Observer, have you observed any mackerel on the shore in Bournemouth lately whilst watching the birds on the shoreline?

How much does the CELTA cost in London? Anything close to 630 quid?

What?

Como?

Que?

Huh?

Whazat?

You're teaching down south, where lots of kids are named "Ali."

The downsides, if that's what you're really looking for, include:

too low pay, sometimes long hours, too low pay, a terrible lack of communication, too low pay, hot working conditions, too low pay, large classes (in govt. schools), management that considers you to be a highly respected servant, poor management ---- and did I mention the pay?

And the advantages, the upside....you don't want to know. Also, you only want to hear from people who've tried it and quit. Kind of narrows the field, unless you've already heard the other side objectively.

Oh, did I mention the pay's too low?

Just a comment about budgeting. I suspect that Thais know how to get by on the money they have. But they don't really plan ahead. They have a nestegg somewhere (or family that can bail them out of an unexpected major expense), but don't like to plan ahead.

You start nailing them down, like "How much do you spend on a, b, and c?" and they don't know and don't want to figure it out. Maybe it's that type of critical analysis they're not good at, or they think the future is too uncertain. But I think a 'budget' that you write down on a piece of paper makes no sense to them. Maybe I'm wrong.

Coming over the Ping River bridge at 5 p.m. almost every day, I usually get a direct shot of Doi Suthep. Today, it was shrouded in smoke and dust. I got almost to Rim Kahm before I could make out the summit, and still couldn't see the wat. Getting worse and worse.

I stopped wearing my red jacket on the 70 kilometers of daily commuting. The jacket's dirty within ten days. If I don't wear a jacket in the hot season, the dress shirt is soiled when I get to work.

The charts I use are in the 38-42 baht to the dollar range. Why is that table twice as high - is it a different index altogether?

My thanks to one and all, especially since nobody's flamed me for being flameless. I'll try that 'mai sai prick' even though my American vocabulary hesitates to say 'prick' out loud. An ajarn at my school today suggested that instead of saying "soon pet" it might be more clear to say "pet soon." Maybe I can say, "Mai pet, pet soon, mai sai prik" and hope they get the message.

Seriously - even though chilis are the national food, the Thais should have a way to say "no chilis at all, not as solid peppers, not as a powder, not in the sauce." Until they figure it out, I'll assume Thai cooks are ----*&^^%%$$#บบยนีพะบนยหำลัเบนีรำพัะบีำพบันยรำพบเย่ ๘ NO SWEARING ALLOWED ON Thaivisa.com.

It took decades, but I've gone from a white-haired toe-head kid to a blond to a dirty blond and now it's a combination of brown, yellow, and grey. But it's very thick and long and I've got the hairiest head of anybody I know that's collecting Social Security, so I'll keep being a light brown. And if it gets too gray, I might get it all dyed consistently light brownish yellow.

If you lost your teeth, would you get falsies, not only to chew with, but to smile with? Hearing aid, prosthetic limb? Do you use deodorant or mouth wash? Sure, it's not the same, but where do you draw the line, and why does it matter if you don't draw the line?

And if the women can wear all kinds of makeup and falsies, what's wrong with a man dyeing his hair or getting a really good hairpiece?

Good for you, ChangNoi1 - but other people in other provinces, including Chiang Mai I think, say that even if they were exempted from a driving test and a written test, they still have to take the reaction test and 1 or 2 depth perception tests (and maybe color blindness, too).

So is it just the roll of the dice? What happens if you get unlucky - would I be blackballed, or just told to come back when my depth perception improves?

What about the $5 American in exchange for 250Bt ??

Last time I checked, the US$ was 39 baht, meaning the Thai immigration dept/officials are pocketing 55 baht on every farang who wants an American fiver. But that goes without saying around Thailand.

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So you're paying 55 baht for a service fee. The convenience of not having to go to the bank would make the loss of 55 baht seem just fine to me. Fair and reasonable, in my book.

If it bugs you, go to the bank and do the exchange yourself

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Hang on a minute?

I don't remember anything about the Thai Immigration being involved in the $5 deal?

This is the Burmese immigration exacting their own tax.

The used to accept 250 baht instead of $5, now they only accept $, and

apparently have someone "recycling" the dollars?

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Astral, your last sentence ends with a question mark, but does it apply to the whole sentence? If Burmese Immigration formerly accepted 250 baht when it was 40 to the dollar, that's over US$6. Now they accept US$5 bills - ONLY - which the Thai immigration officer behind the glass window at the passport booth in Thailand is selling for 250 baht. It still costs us farang 250 baht, and the silly little green paper is hardly even currency at that point; it's a token paper. I have a great token story.....from Mexico. Two, in fact.

I only suspect that the junta's generals are recycling those $5 bills to buy something that the oppressive govt. of Myanmar needs to buy.

PET MAK

Also, lots of Thai food, even when it has no spice, smells nasty and tastes terrible.

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Ped Mak means very hot.............you sure you've got it right

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Well, I was so excited last night that I typed it wrong. But yes, I know to say "Mai Pet" and they act like they don't understand Thai. So tell me please

Mai means no, and pet means spicy, so mai pet should mean no spice. Somebody else has commented that I should say something else, but I doubt their brain can hear the sounds. How about 'Soon pet' which I think should mean zero spices? But it doesn't matter; Thais are so full of Thainess and spiciness that the absence of spice would be anti-Thai or they might think it's sacriligeous not to have spicy food.

My point is, that Thais don't understand this; they can't comprehend this in their own language, even if you get the vowel tones right. They wouldn't know non-spicy if they found it. Even well-meaning friends and coworkers have told me time and again, "Oh, that doesn't have any spices" but it does. They are incapable of knowing the absence of spiciness. I don't know if their taste buds work at that level.

Nothing spoils my meal more than pain. Sometimes it ruins my day. Next time, I may just spit it back onto the plate and start drinking everybody's water, whether or not it's effective in putting out the fire.

The nakedest emperor of all is Allen nud_e Greenspan.

One of my favorite/least favorite topics about Thailand.

I cannot eat spicy anything. We're not talking about preference or mere taste, we're talking about INABILITY. Or pain. It literally hurts my mouth tissues, burns my mouth. You wouldn't cause more pain if you inserted rusty blades in my mouth.

Thais (at least upcountry) are absolutely f---ing incapable of comprehending this. Their Thainess prevents them from understanding that spicy food HURTS. They think something's 'pet mak' when it's only got five furnaces of ###### inside it, rather than 59. They do not understand two of the simplest words in their own language: no, and spice. No spice means no spice, kojai?

I wish more Thais understood like the ones you seem to know - that farang tend to be unable or unwilling to eat VERY spicy. They are absolutlely moronic about believing that food can be served with absolutely no spice at all. I eat lunch regularly with Thai teachers with advanced degrees who don't begin to commence to start to understand two basic words of Thai:

PET MAK

Also, lots of Thai food, even when it has no spice, smells nasty and tastes terrible.

Okay; come ahead and 'give it a go.' By the way, these guys weren't being too rough on you (they're much worse when they're drunk or in a bad mood). We can tell you're sincere and motivated, so get ready and come ahead. Good luck.

The US annual budget deficit is running at over 410 BILLION dollars, and that's really a lot higher if you subtract the pension funds (Social Security) going in and out. The current account (foreign exchange or trade) is much worse. Bush and Congress are spending 1,400 dollars per capita more than they're bringing in with taxes - probably 2,000 if you leave off the pension funds - and there's no end in sight for all this red ink. Then if you consider the unfunded and underfunded pension liabilities, it's much worse.

80 or 90 billion is the estimate for the cost of the Iraq war but that's a wild guess; nobody begins to know; could be 290 or 990 billion (probably around 400 billion before it's over) above the astronomical cost of running the world's police force.

I just withdrew 10,900 baht and it cost $286 plus $3 ATM fee: a yield of 37.7 baht per dollar. A year ago it was more like a net yield of 40.5, so there's roughly 10% loss in a year. Where's the bottom of this curve?

All right you guys, I don't know much about technical analysis. I started exchanging my cash dollars for cash baht a couple of months ago when the exchange rate was 41:1. It's now about 38.6:1, and the 3-month trend looks straight downward (weaker dollar). I don't regret all those conversions I made at 40:1. Don't think I'll do any more, but I'll probably pay US$2000 for airplane tickets in March for my RTWT in April.

Anybody care to guess if the sinking dollar (against the baht) will reverse in February or March?

here's a progress report, if I may report.

STA requires a plugin which my Thai computer doesn't know how to plug in. Besides, does one need to be youth or student? how about old foget/fart teacher retiree?

Travel tech only wants 108,000 baht. Star Alliance wants 166,000 baht. I can do it myself (through Travelocity) for 66,000. Should I go to travel agent in Chiang Mai?

WHERE CAN I FIND?

A decent, knowledgable, half-fluent software repairman for a 9-month old Hewlett Packard that does lots of bad weird things? The two guys 've used aren't good enough, and I refuse to pack this one up and take to the shop for warranty work even if we could find the original invoice. I can't even save the 220-page novel that's on my hard drive, have never backed up either hard drive; it shuts off before it warms up; it's too slow even when it isn't connected to the modem; too many of my programs have the instructions in Thai, I can't get high speed service, etc.

Thanks. As you can see, I don't know how to post in colors in this forum.

Okay, so let's say after 25,000 kilometers of driving in northern Thailand, I finally want to get something besides my Texas driving license (which is still current and covers bike and car). I get an international license through the internet for about twenty bucks, right? Then I go to immigration and verify my address. What documentation do they need, besides that I've posted the same address the last ten times I entered the Kingdom? I could bring the last several monthly rent receipts in Thai and English; that's easy.

Then I go down to the license office and if I'm lucky, they only make me take two kinds of tests:

reaction time - no problem; I'm old but I'm not slow

depth perception and peripheral vision - I'll flunk.

Do they give those visual tests in Chiang Mai?