bkkatl

7 hours ago, simon43 said:

When teaching younger students, it can be necessary to 'manhandle' them, but only as a means to guide them in the room, not to assault them. 

Having taught younger children for years, both in the US and here in Thailand, I've never encountered a case in which manhandling a child was necessary. 

5 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Targeting TV personalities seems daft to me - not exactly going to change their current clowns is it

Well ... seeing that two have been fired and food panda and others are reconsidering the partnership with minor food group, a supporter of the Junta, I'd say it is having some positive affect. Money talks and if advertisers start to pull the money from shows, and people stop eating pizza comapny folks will start to listen. For a reference see also any number of American idiots, shows, and businesses who've run afowl of the boycotters. 

On 4/4/2020 at 8:53 AM, RandolphGB said:

They boarded their planes thinking they would shortly be home, seeing family again, without ever being told that they would have to spend 14 days in a quarantine prison. It’s understandable that they were angry. Many would not have returned if they had known what would happen.

On 4/4/2020 at 12:25 PM, ChouDoufu said:

not really communist, despite the outdated label.  (to be rich is glorious!)  i'd go with authoritarian, perhaps totalitarian, but not as far as dictatorship.  there is the single main party, but just as with east germany, there are a number of small, controlled "opposition" parties.

 

after all, nobody would claim north korea is a "peoples democratic republic."

 

i expect things will go very badly with thailand in the next month if they can't get the population under control.  the government will panic, they will see the success china has had controlling the spread, and they will request assistance in setting up similar systems to track individuals. 

 

all will be done with good intentions of course, for national security.  and maybe next year when there's a vaccine and this is all over, the new measures will not go away.  as with the inappropriately-titled "patriot act", new powers gifted to the government won't ever be relinquished.

 

 

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. - Benjaman Franklin 

52 minutes ago, The Farang said:

Okay, so if I buy a doctor's jacket, wear sunglasses while working indoors,  and put my hand on the table in a methodical way,  then I must be a professional and you can believe my lies.

Yes. We should give it a go, no? Maybe we can earn some extra income. 

8 hours ago, Solinvictus said:

They will be missed being called 'Chinese.' But I think they will be happy to be back home.

Your post brought this to mind:

1 hour ago, tomazbodner said:

Maybe they do, and will correct that immediately. NO foreigners allowed in, including those with valid WP. See, fixed it.

**New restrictions taking effect at midnight include the closing of all border crossings except for Thai nationals, diplomats and their families, and foreigners with work permits or other official documents allowing them to work in Thailand.**

It seems to me if you have a work permit you can come return.

Not sure why you are saying no foreigners will be allowed in even with valid work permits

36 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Interesting. Are these from 1 barracks. If so the entire base needs to be quarantined immediately. Spanish flu took off from an army barracks. If they're from different bases then the problem just got bigger. 9:00 curfew. Ok you can go and spread the virus but make sure you're back by 9. 

Beginning tomorrow the curfew is 8 pm for us all so why should it be any different for soldiers not on duty? 

It's funny that already having insurance one needs more insurance. You'd think no matter the sickness you'd be covered. Granted there are certain things you can't do that keep you from being covered but needing to buy add-on insurance to cover getting the devil's flu should be fraud. If my wife goes to work as the government is demanding of her and she gets covid those <deleted> should pay for it. 

The Mrs. works in the Ministry of Industry and is quite happy with new arrangement. Her office will alternate between two day and three day work weeks.  This week it's Tuesday and Thursday and next Monday, Wednesday, Friday. 

Although the other BS about hand sanitizer, thorough cleaning she says isn't true. They havent done a deep clean of her building yet. 

Other buildings in the same complex have had a worker get the virus. Only that bulding was shut down.  The others were left open.  This despite all the workers in the complex sharing the same cafeteria, 7-11, coffee shops, etc. 

I got a free mask today at DIY. They had them for free at the check out counter. 

We also bought two masks at the local linen store when the Mrs. and I went into buy some cotton material for a project at her office.  

2 hours ago, DrTuner said:

Or it's been stirring all the time and some other unknown variable has caused the epidemic to slow down. The weather argument does have merits, but I'm still not fully convinced. Will need to wait and see again for more information.

It's starting to warm up in America and the cases are coming more rapidly. Warm weather states like Florida and So. Cal aren't immune. At the end of summer, Pneumonia cases will spike because the virus/bacteria has been festering in the warm weather. Just a few observations from my time watching TV medical dramas. 

2 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

And I've yet to see/hear any news from the Dept of Disease Control yet on today's latest tally of new CV cases... after the 32 case increase from Sunday... Usually, they've updated by this time of the day.

 

 

At least 1 

Having only voted libertarian since 2008 as a disgruntled Republican I can safely say that if it comes down to Trump or Bernie, I'd throw my libertarianism out the window and vote for Bernie. But if it's Joe the Pro I'll be punching my ballot for a third party again. Albeit the libertarian nominees are the worst they've been in a while. 

On 9/23/2011 at 3:59 PM, HeavyDrinker said:

It's amazing how many "businessmen" (usually TEFLers trying to dabble in something else) have similar problems once they think it's time to "move on up the ladder".

I wonder if it has anything to do with which particular pool they pluck their Thai "girlfriends" from early in their time here?

I'm with #1 here. You were probably her meal ticket and girls of a certain nature don't like to lose said meal ticket. Give her a pay off and that will be an end to it.

Trust me, her behaviour is highly unlikely to be down to your good looks and charm, no matter how good looking or charming you may be.

It has nothing to do with the pool we get them from. I had a respectable Thai teacher at an international school from a pretty wealthu family (not high so but no where close to por) and when I ended it she left without a fight. But three months later when she saw me and a new girl the trouble started. She did and still is threatening me for money etc. The new girl suggest it's time to go to the police. 

4 minutes ago, khunpa said:

Was cold here i Chiang Mai in the beginning of the outbreak in China and when lots of people from Wuhan was flying in. 
 

Honestly I think the low numbers here can only be due to the heavy consumption of Som Tam. Or the PM simply ordering the virus to stop spreading.

 

Nothing else make sense.

 

 

I'm not sure we can equate the "cold" weather in Chiang Mai to a South Korean winter. 

28 minutes ago, smedly said:

yes nothing going on in S' Korea

South Korea is currently experiencing it's winter season and therefore it's cold (8 degrees at the moment.) It's also not Southeast Asia which you know of course. Hence the point of the post in that you were responding to.

I wish my favorite football team never sold Brett Farve. 

29 minutes ago, Thaiwrath said:

If this meant the school directors, it would be the best solution.

Instead, they will continue to increase their personal wealth, by paying less wages to future teachers, than that allocated by the education ministry.

A Few Thoughts From My Experience

On the contract my company or agency says that the teacher's salary is 60,000฿....while only paying the teacher about 40,000฿ a month. The Thai teachers through gossip  see this and look down on and even hate the foreigner teachers think we there is this gigantic pay gap thus creating a less than ideal work place. So the school and agency lie about the salary..... and all the while the director gets huge kick backs for signing with the agency. 

Most schools want the agency to do the paper work associated with the Visas and work permits. So until the government has some kind of streamlined Visa process for English teachers don't expect the agency to go anywhere. 

And as usual the corruption associated with agency and the school directors will almost ensure that the agency's don't go anywhere. 

The agency I work for only pays is for 9  1/2 months. They refuse to hold the salary and disperse it over 12 months which means most teachers are out the door quick to new and greener pastures. The long Thai holidays October, March- May means no money for the foreign teacher so they are usually done after one term. 

This too is the norm and not the exception. 

Moreover, the total lack of support from the schools in supporting the foreign teacher put the teacher at a huge disadvanatge. Especially when many of the students have such poor English already. Thai schools assign assistant or co-teachers but in my experience those teachers show up about 20% of the time. 

3 hours ago, Assurancetourix said:

I'm going to be the devil's advocate and go along with our Thai friends who are on this forum:

We have the same, often much worse, in our own countries in Europe or the USA.

I sometimes compare these two countries that I know well: France where I was born and lived 57 years and Thailand where I have lived for 14 years;

When we try to dig a little and it's easy now with the internet, I realized that the corrupt in Thailand are still playing in the kindergarten playground compared to even France.
here, corruption is a few or several million baht;
in France it often rises to several billion euros.
Not really the same order of magnitude ....

I agree. Thai people often say that my country isnt corrupt but I tell them it's full of corruption and the money involved is breath taking. Western countries have been corrupt for so long it's hardly noticeable. Not to mention imperialism, racism, wars that all were faught because of western countries, etcๆๆๆ. So for the white folks to be so racist to Thai's on this forum kind of shows how uncritical we can be of our own kind. Everyday there is murder, drunk driving deaths, stupid preventable accidents that kill people in our own countries but we come on to this website and trash the Thai people, who for the most part  have welcomed us into their country with open arms, so we can get our feeling of superiority. 

Self reflection is much harder than looking outward and criticizing those around us.