janejira

I worked with an agency when I first came to Thailand. Look for one that will send you visa documents to you in your country so that you can get the proper visa before entering (saves hassles later), and also offers reimbursement for work permit expenses.

If you can, look for something that is a semester long contract. If you love where you are after the first semester, sign on again. If not, then it was only a half of a year and you can try to find something else yourself. That's what I did.

Good luck!

I just wanted to offer another viewpoint. I'm an expat teacher (foreign female) in Thailand. I've been in a relationship with a Thai man for almost 5 years now. We have been talking more about our future and when we have children. We are in our late 20s. He has told me that by that time we have kids (probably within the next 3 years) he hopes to earn enough so that I don't have to worry about working and can stay home to take care of the kids until they are old enough to go to school. I've politely protested this idea, because I enjoy teaching and would go crazy staying at home all day.

His response, then, was that if I wanted to keep on working, he would be more than happy to become the "househusband" to look after our home and the kids.

We don't live near his family and my family doesn't live in Thailand. I think the idea is that either one of us needs to stay home with the kids or we will have to pay a stranger to take care of our family. It seems that the has a strong preference that one of us stays home.

If I am in the USA, I expect people to speak English and get frustrated when people try to make the country "dual language" with Spanish. There is nothing wrong with speaking Spanish in the USA, but English is the national language and people should know how to speak it. I feel the same way about Thai and Thailand.

I'm not sure if anyone has touched on this yet, but as far as I know the USA has no "national language." Several states have made English the official language, but the US as a whole does not have one.

That being said, I don't understand your expectation that everyone in the US should know how to speak English.

To add to what asanee has said,

If you decide to take the ARL (Airport Link) then the BTS to Victory Monument, when you walk out of the BTS and reach Victory Monument traffic circle you can go left or right, go down the the staircase on the left to get to the bus stop. That is where the 515 picks up passengers. There is also a van at the bottom of the stairs that goes to Mahidol, Salaya if you do not want to take the 515 bus. I'm not sure how much it costs, but I am guessing it is around 30 baht. It would be faster than the bus since it would not be making as many stops along the way.

I think that it can work as long as you trust each other, are capable of waiting, and have some sort of goal that you are working towards (las in you know when you are going to be together again).

I've been in a long distance relationship for more than a year now and we've worked out a "plan". I or he could spend the little money we have saved up now to be together for a month or two,or we wait another year or so and we could both be in the same place for as long as we both choose.

If it doesn't work out, then thats just another part of life. (But I'm hoping that's not the case)

I am reading ม้าก้านกล้วย (Banana Tree Horse) by ไพวรินทร์ ขาวงาม (Paiwarin Khao-Ngam) for a Thai poetry. Although it is not translated side by side, the poem is first given in Thai and then translated into English in a poetic form (some of the content is shifted around to help the rhyme, but so far it has been rather nicely translated)

If you search the title of the poem I believe that you can find a full text in both Thai and English online.

Good luck!

Wow! That is way more detailed (and useful) than I was expecting.

Thanks so much!

I was wondering if anyone would know how to say the equivalent of "I pulled a muscle" in Thai, as in "I threw the ball too hard and I pulled a muscle"

Thank you!

When I lived in Thailand I went to Khao Sarn Road about once or twice a month as a "celebration" after exams or presentations with my Thai and non-Thai classmates (we were master's students).

Granted we went to the same restaurants and pubs everytime and avoided certain establishments, we found it quite enjoyable and the waitstaff was very friendly.

I think that people can choose what they make of it.

I don't like being called a "farang" and my close Thai friends, boyfriend, and his friends all know this and therefore refrain from referring to me as a "farang" when I am in their presence. I don't think that all of them understand why I do not like this word, but they are respectful enough not to call me that. (Who knows what they say when I'm not around though )

I met my bf in a bar close to a university that I used to attend in Thailand. It was my birthday and I was out with two other girls. He worked there so he put on the happy birthday song and gave me a small cake later on in the night. We talked only briefly during this night.

I had no intention of going back to that bar to see him because I was sort of seeing someone else at the time (unofficially). However, a friend of mine went into that bar about 3 weeks later and he asked if I would be joining them. She sent me a SMS that he had asked about me so I decided to go back the next weekend.

That weekend when we went back we talked more. My friend and I stayed after close to finish a beverage and he closed up. We talked outside. He asked where I lived because he knew that we both lived on the same side of the university and he seemed concerned about my friend and me getting home safely. My friend went to a 7-11 and while she was gone he asked if he could kiss me (and I said yes). We went home separately and did not exchange contact information.

Three days later there was a note left at the front desk of my apartment building for me with his name and phone number on it. (Now that I think about it, I guess that can be seen as sort of stalkerly, but I thought it was sweet) I sent him a SMS and we have talked every day since.

We've been together for almost 7 months now. Unfortunately, 3 of those months have been long distance

I have an acquaintance that will sometimes write "I" and "you" when talking on msn in Thai. She said that it was just faster for her to type that rather than to type out our names all of the time.

It does get rather confusing sometimes though.

Hello Ladies

Let me tell you my story. I lived in Thailand from 2006-2008, I loved it. My Thai is pretty good and I have a Thai boyfriend. This past September I came back to Canada to study for a year and the plan was to return to Thailand once I finished school, my boyfriend wanted to get married and I was excited about this.

Goodness this post makes me nervous. That sounds exactly like my boyfriend and me. I'm studying in the USA and he is still in Thailand. (However, no news from him that anything has gone amiss. Hopefully there will never be.)

Once you make a decision and stick with it I think that you will feel much better. If you decide to stay with him then you should be prepared to fully forgive him. Otherwise, this incident will just hang over the relationship. If you cannot do this, then I think that it is just best to cut your losses now.

You left in September and he cheated on you in November. That is a really short time period, and you still have the rest of the year to go if you decide to go back to Thailand.

I have one of the Talking-Dict electronic dictionaries. I believe it is the Elegant model (the blue one)

The reason that I bought it was because it was cheaper than many of the other models (5000 Baht) and I was only interested in having a Thai-Eng/ Eng-Thai dictionary. It works very well for what I bought it for.

It is possible to download "e-books" off of the website, however these are all in Thai and rather difficult for me to understand at my level of Thai. It is also possible to play MP3s and the radio on it which I take advantage of often.

There are multiple dictionaries on it but I rarely use more than the Thai-Eng, Eng-Thai and Eng-Eng dictionaries. If you go to the manufacturer's website they have everything listed for all of their models. I believe it is talkingdict.com

Usually, for me, it seems that if I am not trying to meet someone then I end up finding someone. That has been true for both in my home country and in Thailand.

If you are just looking for some movies and lakorns with subs you can try www.crunchyroll.com After a couple of uses you will need to register, but the registration is free.

The subs are not professional, but it is enough to understand what is going on.

There are also movies and dramas from other countries in Asia on there. To find Thailand just search thdrama or thmovie and a list pops up.