Firelily

I'm no good googling in Thai so I cannot pull up a reference for the king's speech. I heard it and we were discussing it the day after. could have been 2005 or 2006 or 2007. maybe not a birthday speech, but some other occasion, sorry, don't remember more.

I've only been here 6 years, but I am sick of grownups moaning about a simple word that's being used all over, affectionately or rudely, just like any other word in the language. most words are kinda flexible in any language.

I asked a bunch of good questions a while back, about the implications of the word, about farang and Thai identities, anyone bothered to address those, or is it easier to get stuck up on a simple word and go round and round scratching the surface? well, your kids, not mine, will be your issues soon, not mine, better start thinking sooner rather than later....

the reentry is valid as long as your visa is valid, whenever it is, be it two weeks from now or ten months.

HM the King referred to foreigners as "farangs" a few years ago during his birthday speech. To me that decided once and for all that the word does not necessarily mean looking down on us (I don't think he looks down on foreigners and even if he did, he would not use a derogatory term in his position).

Also, I think the tones on the word farang make it sound worse than it is. The tone sounds like the frustration that creeps into English when you say something like "you moron!"

I thought there was a completely different issue here as well.

I am not a parent, but a couple of years ago I knew a young boy who was half Thai, half white American. By some freak genetic accident, he ended up looking completely white, not a look kreung. He has never lived anywhere else, he grew up Thai, cannot even speak English like a native speaker. He is Thai, what else would he be? Yet, because of his looks, he gets all those whispers behind his back that we get, at the market, playground etc, always treated as a tourist, being talked to in English, and people questioning his Thainess even when they figure out his mother is Thai and he is Thai. What is this going to do to his identity in the long run, who knows.

I may have missed a point here - for me the problem / issue in the OP was that no, farang is not a correct label, because the children are actually Thai, or it is a very significant part of their identity. (Can a farang ever be Thai?)

I don't mind being called farang, I am one, but if I had a child with a Thai husband, my kid would be Thai as well as farang, not just a plain farang, and I would be upset if people identified them as non-Thai. (Are Thai and farang mutually exclusive labels, then?)

I live in Chiang Mai, last year I did my 90-day reporting in Mae Hong Son, had successfully done it in Krabi and Samut Prakan before (90 days always coinciding with term breaks). Is this not allowed anymore?

"If you have 24 credits in education you are alright too. No need to test."

What makes one credit? A course taken for a semester, 1 hour per week?

By the way, I would like to see a crackdown on drunk driving.

If I ride a motorcycle without a helmet, I don't endanger anyone. The guys who cannot even think in a straight line let alone drive, they do.

Sure, it is a little harder to spot from a distance so the police would have to actually put in some work there. Not likely to happen.

Thanks for the warning that they are out there at all hours now.

I am not sure how much protection these helmets are in case of an accident. All I know is that if I wear a "proper" helmet, then I cannot see and hear everything I would like to around me, and I get a migraine being locked up longer than 30 mins or so. So, the only choice is a probably useless helmet that at least keeps the police off my back.

By any chance, are they checking driving licences as well? I have one of those - so, just asking.

just a reminder for everyone that the 5 shots treatment only lasts 2 or 3 years - if you get bitten again after that, you need to start over.

Thank you. I talked to the person in charge of our visas and work permits again and she does not seem to be aware of any recent changes.

Could someone possibly spell "teaching licence waiver" for me in Thai?

My school still denies that I have one, which makes me worried. None of us seem to have a licence or waiver, though we all have valid work permits. Strange, but some of us are worried about changing jobs now.

Thanks.

Nong Hoy , Chiang Mai: works fine for me tonight. finally, I can open blog comments - blogspot entries were accessible yesterday, just not the comments. same with the blog providers from my home country. weird. now all back to normal, albeit still slow.

Nong Hoy, Chiang Mai - painfully slow all day, only today, and a weird bunch of random websites don't work, certain news items, only a couple of forums, etc. glad to know it's not just me

Any chances of finding strawberry that isn't picked a week too early - before it is anywhere near ripe? I love strawberries but they really make me want to cry....

I don't think it is accessible from Thaton by public transport, that road is for motorcycles. Taking the bus to Chiang Rai should be very straight-forward.

I googled "get to doi mae salong" and this came up immediately - How to get there: Doi Mae Salong is located on Route 1089, 40 kilometres from Mae Chan. It is possible to get to the mountain by bus from Chiang Rai to Ban Basang (fare 15 Baht) where you can pick up a Songtaew to the mountain top (50 Baht).

I've seen lots of kids aged 5-7 starting to learn Thai at our school and over the years I've heard about their progress.

The crucial factor seems to be how much support they are getting at home - reading, speaking, writing Thai, expanding their vocabulary, reviewing homework. Without Thai spoken in the family or with friends, the whole thing just tends to hang in the air for them. A tutor helps but cannot be expected to do magic.

Personally, I would not put a kid with zero Thai into a Thai school, bilingual or not, private or not, beyond grade 1 (age 7), unless they are very talented. If they are struggling with reading and writing in their native language, forget it, they won't be able to pick up Thai writing starting 3 years behind. If they haven't even started reading and writing in their native language (some countries only start reading and writing with kids aged 7), it would be extremely difficult too to work out the basic concepts of blending and segmenting in a foreign language. Not to mention potential self-esteem problems if the child is shy and not very sociable to start with.

Even the whole Thai concept of "sit on your bum and listen to the teacher for 7 periods a day" may be too much to handle. Does the school system where they grew up have 7 periods a day filled with frontal teaching, reading, writing and other bookwork, with minimal project work, group work or creative activities? Can the kids adjust to monotonous days, or do they tend to be very active, outspoken, opinionated? This adjustment may be extremely difficult too. The Thai system favours those cute little boys and girls who don't ask too many questions, work quietly and neatly, don't squirm on their chairs, and soak up data like a sponge.

Also, Thailand simply does not have a school systems with lots of immigrants and lots of experience with addressing their needs - in England or the US teachers would know what to do with a 12-year-old who speaks absolutely no English, there are systems and materials in place, whereas the Thai teachers have no clue.

"Gold leaves" are ghost money - meant to be sent to their ancestors so they don't go without, and to ghosts, spirits and gods as offering.

wikipedia: joss_paper gives a nice explanation if you would like to know more.

I thought corporal punishment was banned in all schools, at least on paper....?

It is actually in our contract that we are not allowed to hit students. When a new colleague witnessed a Thai teacher hitting small children regularly and for no reason, she decided that whatever the consequences, she was not going to put up with it, marched immediately straight to the big boss and made a complaint. The rest of us had been too coward to make an issue, fearing that we would lose our jobs or would be accused of making things up. Things were resolved only months later and very quietly, trying to avoid loss of face for everyone involved. I really wish we had done something earlier.

Of course, if you do this, anything can happen depending on the prevalent practices in your school or the management structure. If you have a farang boss and a contract that actually prohibits physical abuse, you have better chances than with a Thai-only management where they all pretend everything is according to law but they all resort to the cane behind closed doors..... Also, obviously you get your voice heard a lot more easily if you have been around for years and do a good job, as opposed to a complaint on your first week. Actually, I suspect it must be a very different experience to work in a school managed by Thais only, who mostly care about appearances and saving face before everything else, including students. With a foreign management, I think there are better chances of things being done properly... sort of, at least.

Teaching younger kids, I am not familiar with the secondary school curriculum.

However, from the attitudes of grown-ups I meet, mostly educated people, I gather that through their history classes they are taught to look down on all their neighbours who are savages and hurt Thailand considerably (conveniently overlooking the fact that Thais must have inflicted some damage as well), and this sets the scene for the way they brutally exploit refugees and migrant workers from these countries with very unfortunate 20th century histories.

When I went on a holiday to Burma, everyone I talked to expressed profound shock that I am willing to visit the "enemy" and there is nothing to see there anyway, those people have no culture. This included the prathom social studies teacher at my school. When I showed her photos on my return, she said she had never seen pictures of Bagan before.

I find this tendency very disturbing as it affects people on the ground today - otherwise who cares about history being polished here and there, and some mediocre people glorified just to create a national identity.

Foggy Bottom, I have no idea what's going on in universities, I only know that Thai teachers who teach classes of 40-50 kids to read and write and take care of them 9 hours a day in rural government schools earn 6000 baht or less a month.

I had these bugs in unopened packs of Italian pasta - though much fewer than in the opened packs. Never before in 5 years.

Now they all go in the fridge and it seems ok.

Does anyone remember if the same shops can also do cassette to CD? I have a bunch of stuff still on tapes that I cannot find anywhere on CDs. Thanks.

thanks, I have not seen this sign yet.

I wish card: 200-baht vouchers for purchases over 1000 baht several times a year. discount on selected items for card holders only. I have no idea about the points.

Does the partial closure of Surin islands mean that it is still possible to stay at the national park campsite and snorkel some of the reefs?

The national park reservation website accepts online reservations at the moment - not updated yet.

I usually find that bursting into tears works, it is something they just cannot deal with, and everyone scrambles to solve my problem