chonabot

Some nice and some humorous replies chaps - made me nearly forget the issue - thanks

I'm off to sleep, perchance to dream of skullduggery and nefarious revenge plots.....

But in all honesty I'll probably book the School Marching band for 3am Wednesday week....

Thanks chaps - meds have kicked in and I feel about 95 years old - otherwise I would have knocked already.

Isn't it funny that these things happen when you are least equipped to deal with them?

I'm sure wifey will take the flamethrower route when she gets back from polishing the goldfish

First let me say this is not a Thai or Farang bashing thread

I'm feeling a bit under the weather - diagnosed with Flu yesterday

My wife and son are out and I was chilling in the garden.

We live in a fairly big house in the city of Kalasin, and the surrounding houses are as big if not bigger.

I teach at the main school, most of the neighbours are either retired or have good jobs, judging by their cars/attire

I noticed the neighbours behind our house were chatting rather loudly, then one of them started shouting.

The word 'Farang' was used many times and since then he hasn't stopped.

I understand enough Thai to hear he is generalising about us and not me in particular - at least I thought !

I'm back in the house and a load of plant matter came flying into the garden, with a loud laughter from 2 or 3 people.

Ok I'm a big boy and not overly worried, but I'm sure if I flung it back things would escalate.

I guess because of my medical state I am thinking it through a lot more than had I been 100 % - Lord knows what would have happened had I been on the wine.

It's another hour before my wife comes back - I'm going to see what happens next - maybe nothing/maybe not.

Has anyone had a similar incident and would did/would you do?

ps I'm pretty sure he's drunk

Do you feel any pain as if your liver is enlarged? I used to get this a lot. I was drinking two large bottles of whisky and about 5-10 beers a day for years

Crikey - you must be a teacher too

Nothing too painful - if I over indulged I feel a twinge or 2 the next day - but that was one of the rare times I was in Scotland visiting my folks and yes I had a few drams

A bottle of wine a week, whether over the week or at one sitting is nothing. Christ, ask Frenchman! Nothing wrong with 2 or three glasses of wine in the evening. Those Thai soaps will drive a sane man to drinking. But, if you find yourself with nothing to do during the day, yeah, you need to find something.

I'm getting ready to start building a house. It will have a lot of cabinets and built-ins. I will build all those myself and think it may take 2 or 3 years to finish it all. There are trees to trim, weeds to spray, gardens to plant, weeds to spray and things to fix! So much to do, so little time! If you have nothing to do, come see me; I'll put you to work!

Cheers - but I teach in the day time - another reason for the need of a drink at the end of the week

Great replies and advice - maybe my wife's concern has rubbed off on me too much - but I will definitely be seeking out some new hobbies nonetheless.

I'm having a health check done as soon this poxy flu has shifted also.

Thanks

To clarify, are you drinking the bottle of wine at one sitting or over the span of the week? It doesn't sound like a lot but I'm not a medical professional...... Hopefully, Sheryl will be along soon. No harm in getting a checkup, especially if you decide to make exercising one of your hobbies.

In one sitting/session.

I drink 5 + litres of cider in any given 17 hour waken day ,this has gone on for 20 years ...My liver is fine ,stop being a hypercondriac & have a drink on me.

That's the first time I've ever been called that...thanks for the chuckle

Thanks Phuturatica

I've just come back from the hospital and apparently I have Flu

Ohno! That's rubbish! Where abouts are you based?! The flu was doing the rounds here in Bangkok late September time. I was shot down for a whole week with it. I caught it off my students.

I second everything I said in my first post. There is nothing you can really do for the Flu except nurture the aches and pains and rest until you feel better.

I'm in Kalasin, kind of lucky it's the half term and hopefully I'll be ok by the end of the week

I have an unbelievable amount of tablets to take - they gave me a painkilling shot that made me feel great...and then it wore off hehe.

Thanks for the advice again

Thanks Phuturatica

I've just come back from the hospital and apparently I have Flu

Update - the day before I started to feel this way we visited the Local Hotel swimming pool.

The chlorine/ph levels are way out and I swallowed a little bit of water by accident - the sore throat I have now is very similar to that incident.

I tend to drink a bottle of decent red wine 4 times a month - hardly ever drink beer and never spirits.

I recently went a month without and had no issues except feeling a bit bored whilst the mrs was watching Thai soaps.

It made me realise that I need to resurrect a few of my many hobbies - ones not centred around booze.

I'm 47 and have probably drank this amount for the last 15 years - from 20 - 32 I was pretty fit and drank very little.

I used to look over old photos of me and notice there was glass in my hand pretty often...lol

Should I have a scan to see if the red stuff has affected my liver?

Cheers in advance

I've felt pretty crap for about 2 days - symptoms as above plus night sweats last night.

I had Dengue fever about 2 months ago and the feeling is similar, except no rash.

I'm one of those who prefers to tough it out, hoping for a viral infection instead of something more serious ( even though they can be... )

I feel drained and then have a 2 hour kip - wake up feeling good. And then an hour later feel crap again.

From my experience in the Hospital/Doctors they will give me a load of pills possibly a painful injection and send me on my way.

Does anyone have the same opinion as me , also has anyone felt this way and believe I am being dumb by trying to get rid myself?

I'm taking lots of liquids but find it hard to eat as my throat hurts.

With your qualifications I would be looking for minimum 60k baht. You'll be on campus from ~8 to ~4.... that is the layout of the "good" Thai schools anyway. The international sort I don't know about.

The 30k schools are conveyor belts. All things being equal, that turnover should be enough to make you think anyway.

If I was you I'd try to figure out who is head of EP at about a half dozen "good" schools, walk in and make a good 5 minute impression on him. Let him know you are here solidly, not a transient. Try to make sure he has your contact info in his phone when you leave and knows your name. Sending CV's here is weird.... it is like the lotto... so odd.

Most schools in Thailand are filled with drunk native speakers wreaking of cigarette smoke and cheap perfume. I'm from Bulgaria but atleast I'm not an alcoholic and I cant find a job paying me more than 20 thousand baht a month!

In our school both smoke-reaking alcoholic English teachers were French

I've had about 5 'Gardeners' in as many months - they need to be vetted if possible.

Some have done half the job and then demanded half the money - I agreed once and then waited 3 weeks for them to return - they needed more money for Lao.

There are some good ones but even theses tend to have a drink problem - There is a lady gardener who is very good and doesn't drink, but she is booked for months ahead.

Mine was 1987 or 1988 not sure - I was 22/23 and came here with 3 mates from Bristol

We stayed at the Royal Garden Plaza and I remember they were supposed to meet another 15 or 20 friends from Bristol.

After 2 or 3 laps of Pattaya in a baht bus and still no sign of the posse I decided enough was enough and told them I would see them later.

The bus stopped outside the Best Friend Boxing bar......the rest is history

COYS

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Chelsea have failed to win in their last six Premier League visits to White Hart Lane since a 2-0 victory in August 2005 with goals from Asier Del Horno and Damien Duff.
  
• Victory for Tottenham would be their 50th over Chelsea in all competitions.
  

Edited out the bit where it says Chelsea have won 61.....lol

http://www.mercedes-.../pricelist.html

Mercedes manufactures cars in Thailand. One of the advantages of reading a thread before posting is you would know things like that.

Ok - consider this thread read

Mercedes are hardly an affordable choice for the masses when bought new here or overseas.

Is there a source that shows all of the models of cars that are built here?

I'm betting that over half of them are Vigos's and D-max and other derivatives.

Possibly cornered that market as the imported options are not affordable.

How about people who don't know the difference between a large drunken man and an animal? Like, if I said go to the store and get a chicken they might come back home with an aging sexpat!

Last time I checked - homo sapiens were animals, definitely not plant life - with a few exceptions.

http://a-z-animals.com/animals/human/

Does anyone remember 'Loong John's '?

Near the central road if I recall correctly.

He used to serve up the best Roast dinner in town about 20 plus years ago.

You chose the meat you wanted and then he told you ' we have peas, carrots and cabbage...you can have 2...'

Once i asked for all 3 and he nearly blew a glaswegian fuse.....

ps I think he barred me after that....

Great stuff - thanks

Ivan's post 3 offered some good methods.

Move them apart.

Find out what the trouble-making students like - football, whatever. Incoporate it into the lesson.

Tell the students if they want to speak they must put up their hand.

Any one that doesn't suffers CONSEQUENCE.

There needs to be consequence to their actions. If the only consequence is that the teacher gets upset then they will continue to do it as it doesn't effect them. Writing their names on the board and three strokes and the parents get called will work only if their parents really care (Thai parents normally do due to respect for education loss of face etc) but some don't. Some aren't home.

Why not punish other students when they speak. Assign a talkative student to a well liked student. Everytime they talkative student talks the well-liked student has to come to front of the classroom and write lines on the board.

Thais have very tight groups and peers, even as kids.

I guess with classes that size you are using a microphone? You have a ruler that makes a noise when it hits the table? You know how to clap your hands to get everyones attention? You know how to use that attention once you got it?

good luck.

No microphone - even in the 60 student classes - my voice is loud enough.

But I may well use the ruler/whiteboard eraser for effect.

Yes I can clap my hands - please advise on how to act thereafter?

I've been told elsewhere that the kids are just bored of me and I should just teach the ones who are interested

I kind of see the sense but I am concerned that eventually I will lose the whole classes and other classes if I take that attitude.

Thanks Scott - I think a few do not really like English - the Thai English teacher teaches them 3 times per week and I also teach 3 ( one plus my 2 extras )

So 6 periods of an unfavoured subject can seem a bit like overkill.