wasabi

Wow this is a good idea. I'll buy some books from you next time I'm in Thailand. Every little bit counts right?

<snip>

I have a BA in English but I wasn't the best student.

<snip>

such a degree would increase my pay and job oppurtunities

<snip>

Sorry, couldn't resist.

ok good catch, but I hope I get some other replies.

John Mark Karr arrested for domestic violence

Last updated: 7/7/2007 8:35:10 AM

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. - 9NEWS has confirmed through NBC News that John Mark Karr has been arrested and is being charged with two counts of domestic violence.

Georgia Police Spokesman Lt. Keith Zgonc tells NBC News that Karr was arrested as a result of an argument involving himself, his girlfriend and his father.

9news.com

no smoke without fire .........................

**However it was later found Mr. Karr in fact had no girlfriend nor father but rather was arguing with his other delusional selves.

I originally posted this on Ajarn.com but thought some here might be able to offer feedback.

Does anyone know much about this? I see a graduate diploma and Master's. I think I'd prefer the Master's. But I don't really know enough about each to make an educated decision. Pun not intended

Diploma

http://www.tu.ac.th/org/litu/doc_english/dipte_e.htm

Master's

http://www.tu.ac.th/org/litu/doc_english/mate_e.htm

In the admission section of the Master's there is a requirement I can't find more detail about. I have tried to email them without reply.

"3. Applicants must meet the requirements in "Number 8: Admission" of Thammasat University's Graduate School under the 1985 Master of Arts Programs Section."

I have a BA in English but I wasn't the best student. My GPA is in the low 2 range. I'm hoping this doesn't bar me from entrance. I do happen to know two visiting professors of Thammasat (Farang who are visiting at Thammasat) who study Thai at the same Thai temple as myself, so I could get a letter of recommendation from one or both if this would help my chances.

Also it says this degree has courses only offered on weekends. Under the Academic system heading, While this could allow me to work while I got my degree if I got a TEFL cert. I would rather study intensively and get the degree faster. However that's not a show stopper for me, I just wonder if other Uni's offer a faster track.

I am very interested in getting more education however I don't want to invest my time and money into a degree that wouldn't be a solid investment. Does anyone know if a Master's from Thammasat would be worth the time and money careerwise? From what I can tell the total cost for foriegners is only 170,500 Baht, quite a bargain. If that is indeed the cost than the only question that remains is it a worthwhile use of time?

I've heard the arguments that Thai degrees are not worth the paper they are printed on, but if such a degree would increase my pay and job oppurtunities proportionately to the time and money invested to obtain it in Thailand that's good enough for me.

Thanks in advance for any information on this.

Does this work with Windows Vista? I have found many applications that worked with XP don't work with Vista.

Why are you leaving Thailand?

Just recently and I mean just a few weeks ago I have begun to change. I have been totally enraptured by LOS for several years now. I have always seen it's flaws but have been able to suspend my disbelief and dislike and allow the things I like to shine through. Now the things I don't like are gaining precedence in my mind as I focus on what I think is important. I don't like the pollution, corruption, low wages and being hustled. I like the food, language, Buddhism, architecture, geography and women (more on that in a bit) I have gone back and forth before but I have a feeling a more lasting impression is forming. I'm not going to sit here go into more detail about my dislikes and bash LOS. My country USA has it's share of illogic and problems. It's just I'm starting to think the best thing for me is to continue living here for the indefinite future.

I can definitely say I like LOS for more than the woman, but I can just as easily say if it weren't for them I wouldn't bother going there. I like their beauty and their easy going and considerate nature. I know you can't paint an entire nation with the same brush but what I've mentioned are common traits. The curse for many is if you want to have a relationship with a Thai woman it's got a higher degree of success in Thailand due to Thai's being close to their family and most of us being attracted to a Thai ladies cultural upbringing which may be lost if she leaves her familiar milieu, but you have lower odds of success career wise in Thailand and also must deal with the other elements of Thailand you may see as detractions in spite of your darling teerak's undying love helping you to ignore many of them. Since having a relationship with a Thai woman is my main attraction to Thailand and I believe higher odds of success for that exist by staying in Thailand I have previously wanted to live there in spite of it's flaws. However I have come to realize without a solid career my odds of a successful relationship also diminish. It's been a tug of war but I've decided if I ever do pursue a relationship with a Thai woman she'll probably have to come here for it to work. If I was independently wealthy or ready to retire I'd think differently but I think if I don't stay here I may never get to retire and in the long run will be unhappy.

I think America will be great again, just a slight 8 year detour with chimp at the helm. China will choke on the fumes of their showcase cities and charcoal burning walmart trinket sweatshops.

Nobody is talking about what they paid and here is where I would like to add some info. I got divorced a couple of years ago, in Los Angeles, we didn't have any kids to fight about, did not dispute who owned our business, (we both said we owned 50% each) and this is a no fault state for divorce.

We NEVER went to court, and yet my bills were over 150,000 USD and my husband had to pay his equal bills and more which meant he got stuck with over $200,000 USD. How can a young couple, with no children, who don't have disputes about who owns the business, and don't have any other abnormal disputes, and who never went to to court, end up with more than $350,000 of legal bills?????

Many people I think in Thailand think they can retire very well from just the money we paid to our lawyers. I can't imagine, if we had children to fight about we would have needed $1 million dollars to even get it all going. How many people have that much money, and how is this for the good of the children????

Spending this much on lawyers is ridiculous and to all the men out there who think only they got screwed out of money by their farang wives, let me say, farang women got screwed out of a lot of money also. My husband planned for several years our divorce, had gotten loans I never signed for, never knew about, he had a second house and a second car to take all his lovers to, and he stole a lot of money from our jointly owned business, and never paid taxes on that which can implicate me.

So, if you feel bad you probably have the right to, but I thought I would write a little bit of my story so you don't feel too bad.

Are you talking about a divorce between a Thai and farang, married by Thai law? I went through this personally and also under the no fault stipulation. I found it very painless, fair and inexpensive. My ex wife and I agreed on an out of court settlement which is a private matter. However the Thai court fees paid at the LA consulate in the USA were no more than $100 I have no idea where your exorbitant bills are arising from. Were those lawyer fees? For a no fault divorce lawyers are not required. In fact nothing is required but for both parties to sign the no fault document and pay the minimal Thai consulate fees.

There is not really an expat focused job site, due to their being few expat jobs advertised, in 3 years here I have had 6 Expat jobs (I run a recruitment company) and its not really something we search for. You tend to be over there, and the job is over here, if you are serious about working here, yes there are jobs, but in all reality, they are not going to be advertised, therfore you need to be over here, network, mingle, walk the streets looking for company names you know, attend Chamber of Commece events, join a social / golf / toastmasters club, put yourself out there. Give yourself a good 3 months, (6 would be better) and you might get something.

Thx for your reply.

I want to land a job before coming to Thailand, is it possible somehow or the chances're low?

Any other comments which direction to move?

I think it is possible but the odds are not in our favor, as the previous poster said, being on the ground in Thailand greatly enhances your chances.From the employers perspective we are most likely just another farang who took a holiday in Thailand met a bargirl and now wants to extend the holiday There are thousands of guys like you and me shooting off resumes from our homes in the western world hoping for just that, but unless you really have a skill that can't be found elsewhere the guy on the ground is going to beat us every time. It's a big gamble to give up your life here and go for that, one I haven't been prepared to take yet.

I just asked this in a recent thread, it seems a better bet is Singapore, particularly with your Chinese language skills. I too would love to live in Thailand but finance jobs seems few and far between.

Try this http://www.thai-language.com/default.aspx?ref=tonecalc

I can't get that calculator to work even with IE. How do u get it to recalc?

I dont know whether this is relevant, a couple of years ago we were taking a group of friends on a tour of thailand,one of them had obviously read Lonely planet, because he knew everything about Bkk according to him the Indra Regent was a hotbed of vice and roaches, but he knew of a highly recommended guesthouse also near Pratunam, so there we went for a couple of days, on the 2nd day my wife stumbled on one of the houseboys in our room going through one of our suitcases, needless to say the houseboy was sacked, later on we decided to ship one of our suitcases back home filled with souvenirs that our guests had bought so we could ship them back to england for them, we had no further problems, but this is where the story really starts 8 weeks ago we started to check the state of our suitcases to see if they would last another trip, the large one that we had sent back by sea was a bit battered and smelt funny, so we decided to throw it away , we checked all the pckets and to our horror in the lining we found a very large ziploc bag full of a brown oily substance, we dread to think what would have happened if we had been caught with it at Don Muang, after over 40 years of travelling asia learned something new again, we wont make the same mistake again, as my german friends used to say, Holzauge sei Wachsam!!(young Gerd can Translate ) Nignoy

I always check all my pockets before check out, if i must stow my bags I check them again in the bathroom of the airport I'm arriving at before clearing customs. To the OP's point I once heard, "In life there are millions of chances to keep your mouth shut, take all of them"

Regarding Grammar, my English grammar is very good but this is due to the fact I'm a farang not because I know the rules well. How many of you English teachers actually know the rules that dictate grammar and how many just know it due to being a native speaker? Is it possible to teach English if you have solid grammar but only by instinct?

All of this is not done in a few months. More like years! Not everyone has an idea as youtube and a buyer like google.

But it is still possible. Never give up!

I think those youtube guys went from concept to multi-multi millions in less than a year! I wish I thought of that.

Thank you for all the replies. I'm 32 degree in English but 5+ years in finance and before that 6 years as tech support for a university. I currently am working for a large endowment who has investments in hedge funds, Venture capital, real estate, commodities stocks, bonds basically everything which has given me exposure to the mechanics of a wide variety of investments and how they are recorded and measured. As far as being a person who makes investment decisions, that's not something I'm knowledgeable about. I'm more of an operations guy who also knows how to measure how well an investment did after the fact and how to manage the databases and software that do so. A while back I did see a job that was almost an exact match to mine in Singapore, I applied but didn't get a reply, as I mentioned my odds were probably greatly decreased due to the fact I'm applying from far away.

Perhaps I judged Singapore too quickly. I have been there and found it dull, but I haven't full explored it. Living in Thailand is what I'd like best but if I could commute there frequently that may be acceptable. I'm also very interested in improving my Thai which I've studied for 3 years and living in Thailand would be the easiest way to do so.

I once talked to my employer about telecommuting, they considered it but then rejected it. I was sympathetic to this because it would have been setting a new precedent and there are a few of my duties I'd be unable to do remotely though I could still do the bulk of my job.

It's hard for me to criticize another country's leadership when mine, USA has GW Bush. Even if the majority hadn't come to realize he is a buffoon who can hardly complete a sentence I still would dislike him. He probably has done some good things but above all a leader should be a diplomatic who ushers in goodwill amongst nations for the benefit of his/her own. GW has only caused our image to go down with his cowboy antics. We have lost respect and are losing dominance in nearly every industry.

I for one appreciate reading this. It doesn't change my opinion about Thailand but it is a point of interest. I'd like to see the video.

please don't give up a decent job to become an english teacher here.... leave that to the people with no former jobs.

I make no judgment on those who wish to be English teachers in TH, but the more I research that career path the less appealing it seems as a job for me. Thailand is where I want to live and I'm willing to make some sacrifices but the sacrifices continue to seem too great to make it a satisfying move for the long term. One alternative I bump into over and over is the possibility of working in Singapore, which has a strong financial sector. I find Singapore boring and not nearly as enticing as Thailand but it is only an hour flight away so I may have to explore this option again.

I have applied to jobs in Singapore before with no reply, most likely the fact I live in California USA makes it unlikely anyone over there will take me seriously. I don't know how I could go about living in Thailand or Singapore for the duration of my job seeking pursuit, any ideas on that front? Is it realistic I could go over there on a 3 month visa land a job then come back to get rid of my things and make the move?

If I was Tony Jaa I might get involved but in real life fights are very dangerous, you could lose an eye, a limb your life. There are circumstances I would fight but not likely in the event of a stranger, of course I have compassion for them but you can't save the world.

I'm exploring career options in Thailand. I've seen a few jobs I may be qualified for but am not sure if such jobs are open to Farangs. Here's an example of one. It's not exactly what I'm looking for but close enough.

http://server2.jobthai.com/En/findjob/job_...?Code=100463171

Presently I am a Performance Analyst for an investment organization, I run and create reports and calculate investment returns, but I don't expect to find this exact job in Thailand. I also have experience as a Portfolio administrator and it's this type of work I'm hoping might be open to me. I realize teaching English is the career path followed by many but I'm wondering what else is out there.

This one still bugs me after 28 years learning Thai. 'Ter' means you, as applied to a female partner. Same spelling (sera eh, tor tong, aw ang) also means 'she'. 'Kow' means 'he'. Use as 'she' is incorrect.

So, when talking to one's teerak, how to avoid the confusion arising from the use of 'ter' which can mean both 'you' and 'her'?

I was just talking to my friend, A Thai girl, about this last night. She said Ter can mean you and she and if you're close friends, even he and you for a male. Basically it seems to depend on context. For example if you say Kitteung Ter to your girlfriend she's not going to think you are saying I miss she.

My friend posted this in a conversation

ทุกสิ่งจะไม่หวนคืน..เหมือนเวลาที่ย้อนกลับมาไม่ได้

She said it means time will not go back as it was, however I can't quite figure out how she got that meaning.

ทุกสิ่งจะไม่หวนคืน..เหมือนเวลาที่ย้อนกลับมาไม่ได้

Everything will not return same time that return not able

That's how I literally read it and I know the syntax of Thai is different but this sentence still seems clunky to me. The concept of returning seems to be expressed redundantly even though different words are used หวนคืน and ย้อนกลับ. I would write it like this to more clearly express time will not return the same as it was before

ทุกสิ่งจะไม่หวนคืน..เหมือนมาก่อน

it's this last half that has me stumped

เวลาที่ย้อนกลับมาไม่ได้

I'm sure she's right but can someone explain why the latter part should be written the way she has?

The sentence is making a conparison. The first half loosely says that things don't come back, the second half compares it to time. Basically it says, "Things don't come back, just like time that can't be turned back." In English I might say something like, "Just as time cannot be turned back, neither do things (lost/past) come back." It's comparing "things" with "time-that-can't-be-turned-back"

Now that you explain it that way it makes more sense. I was trying to force it into her translation, but I think yours is more accurate.

My friend posted this in a conversation

ทุกสิ่งจะไม่หวนคืน..เหมือนเวลาที่ย้อนกลับมาไม่ได้

She said it means time will not go back as it was, however I can't quite figure out how she got that meaning.

ทุกสิ่งจะไม่หวนคืน..เหมือนเวลาที่ย้อนกลับมาไม่ได้

Everything will not return same time that return not able

That's how I literally read it and I know the syntax of Thai is different but this sentence still seems clunky to me. The concept of returning seems to be expressed redundantly even though different words are used หวนคืน and ย้อนกลับ. I would write it like this to more clearly express time will not return the same as it was before

ทุกสิ่งจะไม่หวนคืน..เหมือนมาก่อน

it's this last half that has me stumped

เวลาที่ย้อนกลับมาไม่ได้

I'm sure she's right but can someone explain why the latter part should be written the way she has?

I thought this was a well written article by someone who has at least a decent vocabulary and sense of humor and not someone who has spent about 5 minutes in BKK yet claims to be an expert.

I have ridden Motosai taxis a few times and always regret it! I'm a somewhat risk adverse person and riding one of those taxis always feels like tempting fate. I guess the reason is being in a hurry and having no faster way to get where I need to go. I too have had my knees scrape against buses and come millimeters away from being jammed between merging Songtaews.