Firelily

Is it a real danger, direct debit messing up an SCB account? I arranged my bills to be paid this way just last week because I am sick of water and electricity bills landing in my postbox just a day or two before the due date, making it impossible to pay them at 7-11 if I am away for a day, and requiring inconvenient trips to the companies involved, of course strictly in working hours. Is it possible to put a limit on the amount the utility companies can take from my account at any one time? I need to check with the bank again

Pattaya?!

Probably depends where you are. I only needed the regular "are you breathing? OK" medical certificate. The Labour Office must have known what I had got as I was there and back in 10 minutes. This was middle of June.

the new requirements came into effect sometime in July. keep in mind when you give local advice to colleagues and friends

Green Bus, the same company that runs CM to Chiang Rai . haven't taken it, only seen the ads.

how could it possibly be 9 hours when CM to BKK is usually anything between 9 and 10 hours?

I thought Thai school terms are the way they are for a good reason.

Good luck to all those rural teachers and students who will have to stay in classrooms without air conditioning all through March and April, and literally swim to school in October.

I sort of understand how they can force someone to stay "alive" against their will in countries with free health care - but in Thailand, if a family cannot foot the bill, or refuses to, will they continue the "treatment", keep someone on life support for example, or what?

I received another 1-year visa and work permit extension without a teaching licence OR a waiver, seemed very straight-forward. Clerk still maintains that teaching licences are impossible to get even for qualified teachers like me and most of my Thai colleagues and she has never heard about waivers. For the 4th time, she submitted proof that the school asked for a teacher's licence on my behalf and that's all. I really don't know what to think about this whole issue now, but I'm glad it worked out.

> You sound a little over concerned.. (New to Chiang Mai I suppose?)

With all due respect - been here 5 years by the way - I have 28 students I am responsible for, and my school has taken a stick-the-head-in-the-silt attitude. I was hoping if something happens I will find out some 15 minutes earlier through thaivisa than any other channel. Parents would have to get here and take the kids before I could go anywhere and that could take hours, and if it gets a little worse, I would have to pack up all the important stuff in my classroom and move it upstairs. So, yes, I am concerned, if I am allowed to be. I like to know what is coming, and not just let it ooops flood the classroom (worst case scenario), Thai style.

Thanks for the updates to everyone, much appreciated.

The subsidized power is aimed at the poorer Thai community NOT freeloading Farang, the OP and some of you other guys really need to take a good look at yourselves and start paying your way!

if I live in a house owned by a Thai and get bills of 00.00 baht on her name (used to, not anymore), should I go and bang at the gates of the electricity company and insist that I want to pay those 150 or so baht a month or what? actually, you may have been able to convince me to do that if 1, I hadn't had to take time off work to go to the company 2, I had known it actually does help a poor family. but I don't even think their computer systems would have allowed me to pay even if I insisted.

Our clerk reserved an appointment for my annual visa extension last week, she said it is now a requirement to get an appointment? No idea, but I had never seen this many people at immigration (the long weekend definitely didn't help, though), no seats inside, quite a crowd outside. They were running late and it took us an hour to get the extension. No idea how it would have gone without an appointment, but compared to the entire mornings I had to spend there in previous years, this was a definite improvement now.

sounds like I am about to get my first electricity bill in almost 6 years

This is the first time I have ever heard about free uniforms.

don't know where you lived in Eastern Europe..... I got my first shots there no problem..... just had to find the department of tropical medicine for some of them.

anyway.

first I went to Rajawet hospital for boosters but had to wait for ages, and turned out they didn't have HepA. then went to a clinic to get the rest. HepB is 600 baht and you need 3 shots over 6 months. I don't remember the prices of the others.

As far as I am aware, the PISA tests assess reading comprehension and complex thinking and problem-solving skills in maths and science - would not hurt if the Thai system moved towards "passing" these tests!

But I am extremely pessimistic....

This document says that it has ALL the publicly available questions, their answers, and country-by-country stats for every question, worth a glance (it is 318 pages and took me ages to open)

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/47/23/41943106.pdf

anyone knows of replacement for the Carrefour brand orange-flavoured chocolate? all other chocolate is impossibly expensive or crap

I don't understand, sounds like a local whim, I know a bunch of people who are Thai citizens only and have Arabic names. If those are allowed, maybe in case of resistance from officials at the registration office, one could try to claim to be Christian and say that the chosen name is a good, traditional Christian name meaning this and that? Just an idea.

My school submitted the documents for a second waiver a couple of weeks ago - I am still told I cannot get a teaching licence even though I have the right qualifications, in theory, no more hoops to jump - but they just go "ajarn, don't worry, it difficult, Thai teacher don't have too same same you".

I'm really wondering what is going to happen.

Someone pls confirm that a waiver cannot be transferred from one school to another, but a TL can....

Thanks

:jap:

Siam Commercial Bank debit card with internet banking --> no credit card fee for booking!

I do like to book a window seat as a treat for scenic flights, like flying over Bali, or to someplace new :-)

Nice to know that quite a few people will be avoiding the scams in the future, that means more promotional price tickets left for the rest of us.

I am aware of the "rule" for walking into traffic, however, with the layout of that winding road leading up to Doi Suthep, I would also walk up (and down as well!) on the left. Downhill traffic in those tight corners on the right appears more dangerous to me than having traffic from behind - the latter can spot pedestrians way ahead, not just in the very last moment.

What I absolutely dread is unlit and completely quiet bicycles.

Personally, I have nothing against the word "farang" in contexts where people don't know my name, or talk about foreigners in general.

However, in these 6 years I have been a kindergarten teacher, I have never heard a child called by their surname or addressed directly as "farang". Actually, for me, the surname sounds more offensive, most kids this age don't even remember their own surnames, it's just so rarely used and totally inappropriate. I think first I would deal with the problem casually, like, "oh I hear you cannot remember my kid's given name, it is Samantha, this is how we spell it, but we also call her Ploy." If this fails completely, there are still other options to get the point across, I would not get confrontational on week 3 of school if it can be avoided.

SCB debit card with internet banking, you don't even have to pay credit card fee on top of everything else, it is free. only works with flights within or to/from Thailand, though, not for their other routes.

I don't think a rating system would solve a lot of problems - but at least it would cut down on the number of kindergarten kids who come to school and draw pictures of a couple in a tub drinking green cocktails, try out strangling each other with a piece of string, cannot build anything but guns (out of Lego, blocks, pencils, anything), scream, yell and pull hair to settle arguments, and according to my Thai colleague, use insulting language only found in soaps. At the age of 5 or 7. Just because of a parent or two who are too busy / lazy to care for them and stick them in front of the tv.

> I don't think they actually complain about anything in Thailand, it causes conflict.

Bruce, any job openings in your school?

The parents are almost worse than the kids and management combined.

so, if I move to another house in the same street (I am in Nong Hoy, Chiang Mai), is there a possibility to keep the old Premier package I started 2.5 years ago? I pay by the month, 1167 baht. I would really hate to pay 2500 for their only existing Premier package, and the standard packages, I don't really know how good they are. this one has been very reliable, and with speeds that are suitable for streaming, youtube and uploading photos. I would hate to lose it all.

(I would be tempted to buy a long cable and redirect it, I would only need 30 metres or so to bridge the gap to the new place.....)

any advice really welcome.

A Thai colleague I used to work with told me that a few years ago she had applied for an assistant job in one of the reputable international schools (the kindergarten section) in Chiang Mai, and she was totally shocked to find out that the salary was actually lower than she was earning at the time in a regular Thai school (kindergarten). Around 10,000. Considering the fees these schools are collecting.... it is nothing short of disgusting not even trying to give a semi-decent salary to Thai staff.