Callmeishmael

I guess the truth hurts!

50 is an old person??? ????

Not just the UK, many European countries are the same. Years ago my mother fell and broke her wrist while on holiday in Italy. After having her wrist set and put in a cast she went to pay. The receptionist didn't speak much English so she got the doctor who said, "this isn't America, you don't have to pay for hospital treatment here".

I spent my first 4 years in Thailand struggling to teach English at a couple of Government Schools. It was really disheartening to try to get through a decent lesson and I really had a hard time at first. After a couple of years though, I learned enough about classroom management to get most of the kids to pay attention and at least go through the motions. Then I got a job in an EP program in one of the "famous" schools in Bangkok. What a difference! I could really communicate with the kids, they really wanted to learn and really tried hard to do the lessons I prepared. A new school director let all of the experienced foreign teachers go at the end of the year, but several of us moved to a decent private EP school and I have been there ever since. (teaching Science, not English, as my degree is in one of the sciences). I realize that this doesn't really answer the OPs question, but really, getting out of an impossible situation is sometimes the only thing to do.

My cat was bilingual. She would ignore me in Thai AND English!