yourauntbob

After almost 5 years here I speak, read, and understand about as much as a 3-4 year old child. This doesnt sound like a lot but I find it extremely useful in many situations. I study online and the occasional private lesson on and off.

I have known people who were able to pick it up near fluent in a year, and others who have been here for 10 years that know less than me. It all depends on the persons aptitude and effort.

The shows are helping lower Thai intelligence on the whole. Not sure about the chicken or egg, but the shows are designed in a way that there is absolutely no thinking involved when watching. In western sitcoms/drama's etc shows generally leave a few dots that need to be connected (not that they are all that intellectually stimulating), but here in Thailand they spell everything out in ridiculous monologues. This may not seem all that important, but if you watch a western show with a Thai person even with subtitles (or if they know English) it has been my experience they will be utterly confused. For a long time my g/f would continually look at me and ask "what that mean?" or "what just happened" etc when watching American television (with proper subtitles).

Recently in my class I was showing western TV ads to my students and asking them their thoughts. Note: International school and most of my students can speak English quite well but they still had trouble following logical conclusions because they were not spelled out explicitly. In fact, some of my students took the commercials home and had their parent watch them (most of whom also speak English, and some commercials required very little English language) and their parents had trouble connecting the dots as well. Example of one some had trouble with (

Thai schools need to start teaching critical thinking skills or Thailand will never emerge to its potential. (note: I have 1 period per week dedicated to critical thinking for all my classes)

After reading more posts I am noticing that almost everybody on here is blaming the friend who opened the door. Yes, this person should be looking before opening the door but as I stated above, the motorbike was breaking the law. It is not legal in Thailand to ride on the middle strip and pass cars. With all the complaining I normally see on TV about Thai's not following the the law I am surprised nobody is noticing this. Have we been here so long that even farangs no longer care about the rules on the books?

so is it legal to open left door or any door in between the traffic in the middle lane? Or open a door without looking the traffic? No it is not legal.

C'mon man, please be objective. Just blame a farang first time in your life.

I blame farangs all the time. Many of us are ignorant (including myself) sometimes. In THIS case both parties were at fault and neither person should compensate or be compensated.

I always cover the keypad when I'm sticking my PIN in.

I always cover the keypad when I'm sticking my PIN in.

Is there some double entendre there?

What do you call a dog with short legs and steel balls?

Sparky!!!!

How do you know your on a plane full of Englishmen?

When the engine stops you can still hear whining

Pantip plaza has a seller of the devise, I did not see the liquid there though.

After reading more posts I am noticing that almost everybody on here is blaming the friend who opened the door. Yes, this person should be looking before opening the door but as I stated above, the motorbike was breaking the law. It is not legal in Thailand to ride on the middle strip and pass cars. With all the complaining I normally see on TV about Thai's not following the the law I am surprised nobody is noticing this. Have we been here so long that even farangs no longer care about the rules on the books?

Cant believe this post, never mind I'll bite,

"my friend in the back seat opened up the left side door (without looking for traffic) and a motorcycle taxi ran into / bumped into the door that she opened"

Please pray tell me why the Thai should be out of pocket because of the actions of the dozy cow who opened the door without looking?

No wonder TEFLrs get such a bad name on here.

it is illegal to pass on the left. just because we have become accustom to having motorbikes drive in between cars does not make it legal or right. The motorbike was breaking the law and in all reality should be the one responsible for any monetary damage.

just my 2 cents

A man comes home from work one day and says to his wife "Honey pack your bags, I just won the lottery"

Wife asks "Should I pack for warm weather or cold weather?"

Husband "I dont care, just get the he11 out!"

A man finds a lamp and rubs it. Suddenly a gene appears

Gene: "I will grant you three wishes with one catch, your mother-in-law will receive twice whatever you wish?"

Wish one: I want ten million dollars. A suitcase appears with ten million dollars and two suitcases appear in front of his mother-in -law each with ten million dollars

Wish two: I want a mansion on the beach. A mansion appears on the beach, two more mansions then appear on either side of his for his mother-in-law

The man thinks for a second

Wish Three: Beat me half to death....

A guy is walking down a San Diego beach one day and stumbles upon a lamp. He rubs the lamp and a gene appears and tells him he gets one wish.

The man thinks for a second; "I have always wanted to visit Hawaii but am afraid to fly and get sea sick easily, build me a bridge from here to Hawaii"

The gene responds "do you know how much cement, architecture, and other materials that would consume? please select something requiring less effort"

The man again thinks and says "Ok I got it and this will not cost anything; help me understand women"

The gene thinks for a second and responds "do you want that bridge two lanes or four?"

Q: Whats the difference between peanut butter and jam?

A: You can not peanut butter you c@ck in a girl

Some of the international schools have the same schedule as the schools in foreign countries as in starting in August/September (US).

If you are a real teacher as I am, Thailand is not a good choice unless you just want to get away for a year or two. It is nothing like you have been trained to do. In the US you are in control of your class and it's grades where in Thailand you have no control over anything and you are treated like yesterday's trash. There are a lot of emploment agencies now that schools are preferring verses direct employment and they are really bad for teachers here. They wash out teachers on a whim and the salaries are lower. Everytime you get new employment you have to spent a ton of money to leave the country and get a new visa because your visa is attached to your job. Think about it before you jump into this hell hole.

I am a real teacher. I simply dont have a teaching diploma from the west. There are many bad teachers here, but there are also many bad teachers in the USA as well. Having a certificate does not make you a "real" teacher, connecting with students does.

OP, check the websites of schools you might be interested to teach at. Many international schools will post job openings online and you can apply directly from Hawaii. Here is a list to get you started (http://www.isat.or.th/index.php?option=com_cbimzsearch&view=cbimzlist&Itemid=130)

The people making these rules are rather ignorant. I don't mean that in an insulting manner, its just they genuinely don't understand what they are talking about. There have been numerous people working in schools I have worked that were considered NES simply because of their passport. The same is true in reverse, but because the schools obviously don't have the capability to judge English abilities they need to rely on generalizations such as which country your from.

a friend of mine went to a clinic to get some small freckles removed from his face, they ended up burning several scars onto his cheeks, forehead, and jaw line which have yet to go away (6 months and counting now).

i simply dont trust the "clinics" in Thailand, too many are filled with people who should not be practicing medicine in any capacity.

These loan sharks can be nice old rich ladies. It not that simple. The problem is that the Thai state do not protect their people against this practice.

Its not that people are not protected. Its that as with many things here, people ignore the law. To legally lend in Thailand you need a banking license, and if you go through a proper bank there are regulations and restrictions against "predatory lending." The laws do not allow such loans so people go to loan sharks and other "scum" to get loans that banks are not allowed to give out. You cant have it both ways. Either banks should be allowed to get compensated for large risks, or people should not be able to get the loan. Dont blame the government for people skirting the law.

"In fact, George Bush Jr. got elected twice by raising hell about Osama Bin Laden and al-Qadea"

Two things, George W. Bush is not "Jr"

He did not get his first term due to Osama bin Laden and al-Qadea, before 9/11 most Americans didn't know who Osama was. In fact, through 3 presidential debates in 2000 the topic of terrorism only came up once in passing.

Its sad that so called "reporters" are either so ill informed or simply dont check facts.

Im hung like a horse, otherwise I got nothin....

First good thing positive i have heard of KFC in a long time. Good to hear, still wont eat there...

just be yourself and enjoy it.

stay busy, many get bored after a time, get grumpy and turn to alcahol.

plenty to do if you look around.

HEY! I resemble that remark

I was stopped recently on Suk near Ekamai just after dark by two policemen on a motorbike. One approached and asked what I was doing. He was very polite and asked to look in my small bag. Sure, I said. He looked. I had another bag with a camera and asked if he wanted to look in it. He said no. Asked if he wanted to see my driver's license. He said no, no problem. Some small talk followed, he thanked me an left.

Seemed a bit strange at the time.

i have had similar 4-5 times near sukumvit / ko san areas, they are probably looking for drugs. they never ask for my ID or any other info. Once I was with the missus coming back from ko chang and at the Ekami bus station they pulled me to the side and searched through my stuff. They took everything out of my bag, opened up my wallet/cig pack and patted me down. When the missus tried to hand over her bag they waved it off without even looking inside.

I was stopped and searched by a Thong Lo cop but he didn't ask to see my passport. I read a lot of friend of a friend stories here on thaivisa but I don't know in person anyone who carries their passport or who has ever had a problem from not so doing.

perfectly put!

Super slow for me as well on True in outer NE Bangkok. Let's move this to forum support.

same here but using TOT

The chickens joined the Union????????????????

Know how you feel....clothes above size "L" around here have trebled. Still the same quality though.

Brilliant!!! love it!