scorecard

I thought Buddhism taught non violance?

Wow, I've got a headache now. Don't fight please girls.

" ...make them raid the condo... " Good luck with ordering the police what to do. And good luck with offering the police bribes. It can work, it can also get you into big trouble. _________________________________________ Even if she did burn the chanote it can be replaced. If she did burn it, would that really achieve anything for her? No. Do you really want a gf with this level of intelligence? Did you keep a copy of both sides of the Chanote? Very easy thing to do, using smartphone. As others have said many Thais, many whole families survive very well on a quarter of 40,000Baht a month. Plenty survive on 10,000Baht a month with kids going to school and paying rent or mortgage payments. A question. Is she in love with you? The answer is obvious. Another question. Are you in love with her or are you in love with the idea of having a gf in another country?

I rather doubt they are making the rehabilitation progress they are claiming?

Yes because he wanted a specific degree and it was only available at one Thai uni and only in Thai language. Further, before he started his uni studies my son did his research and discovered that to get employment in his chosen field he needed to have a degree as above, not negotiable. It's a fruitless argument and now some years ago, to argue whether he made the right decision. However he did get the position he wanted and he's since developed a good career.

25+ years ago many times I transferred funds from Australia to 2 mainstream Thai banks. It took 2 weeks to 2 months for the funds to appear in my Thai bank accounts. Plus discussion with the bank offices in Bkk was a waste of time, no listening just repeated 'check with your bank in Australia'. And I'm talking about years before the WWW, and phone calls to OZ very very expensive. Today I get 2 pensions transferred from OZ every month. It's in my Thai bank within an hour, or less.

I can't really discuss the costs of my son's education in S'pore, I was working on a project based in Thailand and in Singapore, but client from S'pore. In the initial discussion re payment the client asked if there was anything they could 'handle' in S'pore as an attempt to reduce their cash outlay re professional fees to me. I knew they had strong ties to an education foundation in S'pore so I floated the idea of a deal re my son attending HS in S'pore. It worked. And for my son it changed his life for the better and it's helped him since HS to gain a valuable career. Sacked in Thailand. Sure there's many regulations and precedents involved but there's no real drive, by anybody to improve the Thai education situation or pedagogy (methodology) or to recognize that 'someone' seems to be bringing something valuable to the situation/valuable for students. In fact there's very little to zero focus on what's good/better for students. A different e.g., my son could have continued and received a degree from the National Uni of S'pore but he realized he needed to return to Thailand for Uni. Day one in Bkk he put up his hand and said 'ajahn, ajahn' (teacher/teacher). The teacher was a quite old female dragon. She walked up to him and put her face right in his face and said 'What is your name' and gave him some serious abuse about his rudeness. He stated his name (typical Thai first name, family name obviously farang), she scanned the student list and yelled various wrong / stupid pronunciations of his family name, then said 'when you change your name to a nice Thai name I will teach you'. She taught several subjects in the first semester/first year. For the first 2 semesters she failed him for every subject. Son made some enquiries whether he could challenge the grades she had given. He was quickly advised to NOT discuss this any further. The other students also pushed him to drop the matter. Back to Thai HS, older teachers have a lot of power, they pushed as a 'mob'; they claimed he was young and had no knowledge and was inexperienced and was being very disrespectful to them, etc. Reality is that they can't see there's a problem and they are obsessed with the level of respect they believe they should have. Solution by the headmistress who was frightened of the older 'mob' was to sack my son. Headmistress was also frightened the 'mob' would take action to remove her and that was possible because in some schools teachers/older teachers have a vote in regard to appointment/continuation of schools heads. HOMESCHOOL. Unfortunately I have no experience in this area, and I regret I can't offer any suggestions however I have little doubt there's a lot of valuabel advice / methodology / curiculum and content on the WWW. Sounds like a lot of very hard work and I admire any parent who is ready to take this on. Good luck with this.

Nice points but I wonder how much time and effort companies like Foodland (and others) put into confirming that in all aspects the product is as described on the bottle and whether the brand name is a registered/recognized/respected brand name in the originating country? E.g. Does Foodland (and the others) get a full analysis of the contents from a fully qualified and totally respected laboratory and same for many products?

Sure, you make your comments in the way you prefer and I make my comments the way I prefer.

Yep Jimmy, it's just so confusing.

Do you believe everything Thai politicians say? (Or politicians from any country?)

FROM ABOVE: "...as she says the teachers are very limited in nearly everything they can do or teach. And with home schooling you can bring in more of your own education being it with books or homework. ..." From my undertanding a very accurate comment/analysis. My Thai son and his Thai wife both have a Thai Bachelor of Education Degree, both have moved into other employment because they became so demoralized with the education system. Further, my Thai son (raised to be fluent in both Thai and English) did his last 2 years of high school in SIngapore and therefore experienced student centered learning, continuous push to talk, to ask questions, to do basic research etc., to learn in teams and to frame questions etc., etc., all in the classroom. At the time I was travelling regularly betewwen Bkk and S'pore, often day trips for work, and he therefore had regular contact with family, sometimes just an hour, but worthwhile. When he went to Singapore he had never asked a question in the classroom. The first time he came home to Bkk was 2 months after he started in S'pore. He got off the aircraft and into the car and WOW, a very different young man wanting to immediately discuss human rights, methods of analysis and many more adult subjects and he was well capable of constructing his questions/comments etc. Later when he did extended work experience in 2 Bkk high schools for his B. Ed. he ran into big trouble. He made the kids feel comfortable to ask questions etc., he put them in ever changing teams and introduced team appraoched to learning, student centered learning, team and individual presentations and more. BUT, the older Thai teachers found out quickly and protested en masse to the headmistress, and they demanded he be sacked. And he was sacked. It ain't gunna change soon.

No.

So ... and walking through the mud probably still available for at least a couple or three more years.

Here's the web address for the official Centrlink banking abroad document: c.link%20bank%20abroad%20payments%20start%20up%20doc%20%20%20aus178-2006l-f.pdf The original Centrelink form (it's also available online inside the web addrees above): See attachment. NOTE: 1. Full street address of the Thai bank branch is not needed, just name of town etc. 2. See SWIFT / BIC. SWIFT code is what you need. Every bank in Thailand has a SWIFT code. Ask at the branch or call the bank call centre. The SWIFT code is not restricted information. Ignore BIC, doesn't apply. C'link banking to K Bank.pdf

I can't find my original copy of the actual Centrelink form I submitted by e.mail, however just below I've attached a Word copy of the actual very simple Centrelink form: Name of bank Kasikorn Bank (K Bank) Address of bank Thailand SWIFT KASITHBK Account number Name of account holder Can be joint savings account Bank writes something to confirm the account name and account number is correct. Thai bank then adds and endorses their own stamp. Customer signature and date Customer name (can be a joint savings account) Customers Centrelink Reference number XXX XXX XXX X

Yes it is very simple if you're sure you do have 'portability'*. Just call the Centrlink International office in Hobart, free call from Thailand just dial 0018006114136. Always answered quickly, always pleasant, focused and helpful. They will explain where to download the required form (just one form). *portability - meaning you have qualified for permanent portability of payments (meaning the place/country where the funds are sent is portable across the world). It can be changed as often as you wish. If you're not sure about Portability perhaps call the Centrelink Hobart free call number and initially act dumb and ask 'Do I qualify for portability of payment?' Then ask where to download the bank form mentioned above On the downloaded form write in the details you know (your account name**, bank name, branch**, account no. etc.), then take it to your Thai bank and ask them to write something simple to confirm that the bank account details and the SWIFT code you have entered are correct and they add and sign a bank stamp. All completed in a couple of minutes. ** Account name can be a joint savings account (e.g. my OAP is paid into a joint savings account at K Bank, account name is myself and my adult Thai son). Branch doesn't need to be the full street address, just 'Roi Et' or similar. My understanding is that Centrelink prefer the second name on a joint savings account is a family member, but it can be anybody. Also ensure you ask the Centrelink officer for the very specific e.mail address to send a scanned/photoed copy of the completed bank form. When I did this I was concerned that they might not be able to read the details (especially the account number) that I had hand written on the form. So I typed a simple Word document, just a list of the words and numbers I had hand written on the bank form, in big font. Then I printed my Word ddocument and added this document to the attachments on the e.mail to Centrelink International: - Attachment 1 - The completed Centrelink banking form with stamp etc., from K Bank. - Attachment 2 - My Word document (as just above, with names and numbers typed in big font). No signature. You can also mail the fully completed bank form to them if you prefer, for this ensure you get the correct Centrelink mailing address when you call them. If you go this overall route your payments are changed to a 4 weekly cycle (every 4th Thursday). However my 4 weekly payment goes into my K Bank joint savings account about 10.00 am on the Monday after the 4th Thursday. No big deal. My K Bank account is set up so that I get an immediate 'ding' on my phone to indicate there's an SMS message showing there's been some activity funds in / funds out on my joint savings account. This always shows in Thai Baht. With K Bank you can set up a 'CREDIT ADVICE'. Every time K Bank deposits these payments to your savings/joint savings account you get a fully detailed e.mail from your bank. I'd be surprised if SCB don't have the same facility. When I get the credit advice it's already been converted to Thai Baht. But the credit advice document does also show the AUD amount. It's difficult to understand whether Centrelink pays the international bank transfer fee or not, but if you are paying it's a very small amount (guess less than 200Baht). Your receiving Thai bank also make a charge to your savings account each time. I get the full OAP, the K Bank charge each time is 120Baht. It does take a few weeks for Centrelink to get you transferred and fully up and running in the 4 weekly payment cycle. Not surprised. When I changed to the 4 weekly cycle, they very quickly confirmed receipt of the bank transfer form (above) by e.mail, then sent me a couple of progressive e.mails to confirm they were going through the steps to get me into the 4 weekly cycle and the date I would get the first international transfer and the first payment did appear as they advised re date. Hope the above helps, please yell if I can explain further. For any Aussie also receiving payments from the DVA they also have a 4 weekly payment system to your bank abroad, also very easy to set up. Good luck.

Or, if willing, settle for an alternative. We gave up buying 'olive oil' with obvious Italian brand names a few years ago when there was a news article that most of these brand names were the same company and the bottles contained between about 20% to 50% real/cheap olive oil, plus other oil (not from olives) to top up the bottles. We went to Sunflower oil, it seems to get good write ups and the taste is not strong or harsh. Further, My Thai son who is the family chef and his Thai wife are both qualified nutrition experts and they won't allow palm oils into the house. Honey, I don't know. However my son buys botttles of honey from a man who goes door to door once every month, it's in old whisky bottles, and each bottle has a piece of honey comb (in a plastic bag) attached to it, very reasonable price. Tastes pretty good. The kids love it on their corn flakes with milk.

Naah, definitely brake failure.

I wonder: - How many hours a week are devoted specifically to Scouting in Thai schools? - What do they actually do during those hours? - Is there a curiculum and is it followed? - What specific subjects are in the curiculum? - Who teaches the lesssons?

Which really means October 2024 or later.

And in so doing create another problem.

I mean damage to the hard drive.

And some prefer SSD because there's supposedly a lot less change of damage if the notebook is dropped. Is that true?

So much for equal opportunity and best person for the job.