scorecard

Variety of bread, butter/margarine, vegemite all available at Rimping supermarkets.

I have lectured at several high profile Thai universities. Most of the students were from very wealthy / very prominent 'hi-so' families, many involved in corruption, collusion, sale of illegal / unapproved products, scams and more. Many of these students less than honest about who actually completed many assignments. Some other examples: - reason for missing lectures: I went to Hong Kong for 2 days with my mum for shopping. you can't expect me to let her go alone'. - but my family only had 1 car and driver on that day.

What are taxi enforcers?

Re the last sentence, that's the thinking of my extended Thai family. One extended family member in particular is totally convinced that all farang have unlimited money. The Thai man involved (a middle aged overweight loud know all about every subject is now the brother in law of my Thai son. When my Thai son was arranging his wedding to lady boy's sister the lady boy told all extended family members (regardless of age, employed / unemployed or whatever) that after the wedding they would all be receiving 50,000Baht a month from the Australian government. He told me son he had informed all the extended family they would be receiving 50,000Baht a month. My Son told him taht's not true at all. So lady boy called the Australian embassy in Bkk and asked what the family members had to do to start receiving 50,000Baht a month. The embassy staff told him this was totally not true. Ladyboy shared this with my son and added 'you can't trust farang embassy staff they tell lies.

Sure, used for protection ...

The shoes' also on the other foot: - when will the US stop interfering in the affairs of many other nations and stop encouraging / starting wars between other nations?

That's a big assumption. Many are Thai citizens from birth. Their parents / grandparents holding Thai citizenship from birth and with long-term history. Question: Do you really believe the Thai media / Thai news services does any such check?

Whether you like it or not, the 'few sentences' you mention are revealing. Many folks can share stories about unqualified / unethical 'teachers' who regularly miss work and it seems often enough on Mondays or Fridays. Also turn up in class with no preparation whatever and/or show cartoons / you tube vids not relevant to the class, etc., for several hours every day with no analysis of the English heard and not connected to any function of English which should be an anchor point for lessons. And disappear for an hour to go to nearby coffee shop to smoke etc. And arrive back into the classroom 30 / 40 etc., minutes late after lunch, leaving the kids unsupervised often needing the teacher in the next room to swap between rooms to keep the unsupervised kids in line / take the noise level down. Also regularly arrive at work smelling of alcohol. I'm aware of one case of a US girl employed as a math teacher for primary kids. Regularly she asked parents sitting outside the class room to help her / teach her. One big example, the 'teacher' girl came out of the class room, approached several parents and said 'tomorrow I have to teach long division but I don't know how to do it. Can one of you (parents) come into the room tomorrow as an 'invited expert' and teach the class or teach me long division at lunch time tomorrow? ' Parents complained, she was dismissed on the spot. That class had several fill in teachers and/or no math teacher for about 45 days.

Or he cheated on her.

It's possible and it's not realistic for you to suggest it's not possible.

So?

Many are Thai citizens with Indian heredity and therefore can own buildings in Sukhumvit area or anywhere in Thailand. Their parents / grandparents are Thai citizens going back several generations.

Keep in mind that many Indians born in Thailand have Indian heritage through their Indian parents / grandparents having Thai citizenship, often going back several generations.

There's a couple of quite decent Indian restaurants in CM.

Or plastic bags, lots of nice very drinkable wines now sold in thicker plastic bags. Taste is fine (to me).

Living in the west / in Thailand. It's more than costs. Years back I got asked many time 'Why do you hate your birth country? (Typical western country.) My response every time 'I don't hate my birth county or any country or any person. Nowadays I really enjoy living in / emersed in a quite different culture - an Asian culture. I can't see myself returning to live in a culture (western culture) where I'm not enjoying the daily life, not enjoying the typical activities, behaviors, attitudes, priorities, food that surrounds me where I am in Asia. A couple of times I got responses 'but why don't you just try to move back to your original western county culture? I just responded 'I don't want to try', and changed the subject.

I'm waiting for / expecting one or several strong well organized clever EU countries to rise up and smack trump around his ears and kill his tariff games, and I have no doubt they can do just that.

Looks like a game player.

Is this a serious focused discussion?

A diversion, why not answer the specific question.

You mentioned "....Thais expect, as a Westerner, that I have a university degree from Europe?" You mention "...from Europe". Are you serious on that point? Plenty of other countries where you can attend classes / study online for a bachelor degree. What subject would you study for your bachelor degree? (Regardless of location, online / in classroom study.) But keep in mind that teaching employment (especially English) in Thailand is a very mixed picture. You mention teach English, are you fully up to date with current attitudes / qualifications which schools look for? There's websites which might be worth looking at re that question which can put you in touch with current teachers. Regardless, there's still schools which aren't serious about teacher qualifications and will accept any document which appears to be somehow linked. A question for you: Would you personally employ a foreigner who has a bachelor degree (in any subject) gained online for a position to teach English? Another question: If you are a foreign parent would you accept a foreigner to teach your kids English (all skills) who just has a degree in any subject gained online*? And if the degree is not in the area of English development, same question, 'would you accept that foreigner as capable of teaching your kids English (all skills)? (* Philippines doesn't have a good reputation for online degrees. E.g. Who completed the assignments etc? Does the uni offering the online Bachelor degree give assignments then provide the student with answers to the assignments?) Same question If you are a foreign parent would you accept a foreigner to teach your kids English but I add...'and the foreigner has not attended any form of study specific to teaching English? Perhaps others more up to date in this area might like to add their thoughts / experiences.

Not true there's many media reports that his approval ratings in all states etc., are falling fast.

I had a Canadian friend in B hospital Pattaya. He was seriously ill with little chance of recovery. Just after admittance the hospital accountant came to friends room, got details of my fiends bank account etc., then requested my friend sign a continuing authorization for the hospital accountant to go to the bank every day and withdraw funds to clear the charges for the last 24 hrs. This continued every day for several months until the Canadian passed on, next day the accountant made a final withdrawal, all bills settled.

Old friend just mentioned - many times the US has gone ahead, little discussion and moved big contingents of troops to many other countries. And in those days the US had a lead role in NATO, didn't bother to ask the receiving / surrounding countries, just moved the troop in, built offices and barracks, airports, weapons storages etc.