gerryBScot

Get your buddy to go see a cardiologist. There are a range of options depending on the diagnosis - life style changes, medication, surgery, pacemakers etc. When I was under investigation in my 40s I was told in theatre that in general terms the prognoses for an arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat are much less drastic than say for blocked arteries. However it depends on the diagnoses so that is why your buddy needs to leg it into a hospital post-haste and get checked out.

Thanks for the help folks. Order placed and awaiting confirmation and delivery. So far so good with a saving of about 1250 baht for two months supply.

I do it about three to four times a year from my pharmacist in BKK to Chiang Mai for the very same reason you want to try it. I have done this for about three years now and there has never been a problem.

Thank you could you given me the name of your pharmacy as the ones I have tried so far don't want to ship. Many thanks

We need more of this, going straight to the heart of the problem and demonstrating how utterly unresponsive the system is to the needs of young learners. Young people are naturally inquisitive and thoughtful - the unique contribution of the Thai education system is the way it seeks to hammer every last bit of criticality and originality out of its students.

Just want to check that there is no law prohibiting the use of the postal service for sending medicines. I'm thinking of asking a pharmacy in BKK to send me meds up country in order to benefit from much cheaper prices even with the addition of EMS and packing. Just want to ensure I do not fall foul of the law. Many thanks

Sounds like you have a well thought through plan and I agree with you about living in Thailand - especially if you have found a place where you feel comfortable at home. My wife and I are both teachers and we love where we live in Thailand but neither of us are Thai and so there is nothing in the Thai system for us and especially for our two kids. We will inevitably leave when the right job comes up and that has to be one with an international curriculum to facilitate their entry into higher education.

I would suggest that one way by which you can help your kids is getting your hands on some quality kids books and leaving them around for both of them to discover. Then make a point of reading to them and encouraging them to read to you. Get them interested in reading - I am 100% sure that reading is the key factor in any language development and thereafter it is the foundation of most learning.

A further thought, if you have the means, might be to engage a private tutor. You might be able to find a highly qualified and experienced filipino teacher in Phuket and there could even be possibilities about engaging such a person as a full time home tutor. I realise that there are some here who are against using filipinos and there is no doubt that there are good and bad filipino teachers, just like there are good and bad teachers. However there are some excellent filipino teachers out there and if you could find one of them then it might work out well for your situation. Let me declare an interest - my wife is a filipino, she's educated to Masters level, has almost 20 years of classroom experience and to all intents and purposes is a native speaker. She's the real deal and most of her buddies are of a similar calibre. Just some food for thought.

Good luck and best wishes.

I'd be surprised if a UK school started teaching kids to read at 4. The National Curriculum specifies learning based on games and play for 4-5 years old. This is the sort of nonsense that goes on in Thailand where they believe that there is some sort of advantage in teaching children to read and write Thai and also throw in some English from 2 years on. I think it is grotesque to see small children wearing school uniforms chained to desks doing formal learning activities as I see everyday of my working life. I think it sets these children back enormously in their education and development. I think it is one of the factors that needs to be considered when the overall system is appraised.

Your kids are lucky because you actually care about what happens to them. I suggest you keep enquiring because there are a few pearls in Thailand. I hear great reports about our local state secondary school in provincial Thailand. If your wife is Thai get her to get onto this because there are good schools outside of the international sector but that info tends to be passed on by word of mouth. It's like restaurants - you need recommendations.

It's all very misleading. International school is a broad concept. In reality there is only a handful of international schools in Thailand that offer the best schooling in Thailand and which stand comparison with the best schools in the world. You'll pay a lot of money for this similar to the same amount in your home country. Most other international schools in Thailand are hybrid and some feature 99% Thai students - they serve parents who are status seekers, of a sort of 'golf club' mentality.

Then there are bilingual programmes, private concerns, often run by a Catholic diocese or a private business interest, a great idea in theory but they are patchy and bilingual is usually a misnomer. They suffer from all the nonsense that pervades the state sector and the lower tier (majority) international schools. It's actually debatable if students get anything that resembles an education in these schools. In truth students would often be better off in the better government schools.

There is no doubt that a strong parental interest in their children's education and well-being will be far more telling than any other consideration. You can buy sex, but you can't buy love. You can buy an education, but you can't buy intelligence blah blah blah

I don't consider myself to be intellectual, but this is I think very much a relative term. I am from a working class family, poor background, I started programming computers at 11, passed my city and guilds in programming at 14, started work in IT at 16, stopped working in IT at 41 when I think I had reached the top in my field at least salary wise around £500 per day, mostly everything I knew I learnt on the job and self taught. I saved and bought properties and now manage my properties, I have about 140 tenants and have a net worth of near 1 million, but I don't consider myself rich because I never seem to have a spare penny/baht and any money I do have I expand my business buy another property. Hopefully I will have something to give my children when they are older.

I have little to no interest in teaching. I do like playing with my children, hugging them and loving them lots, I would prefer to have a happy child that poo's their pants than an unhappy child that does not poo their pants. For me the more I try to teach my children the more unhappy they seem to be, rather leave them alone to learn at their own pace and they seem to be more happy, jumping around, playing and laughing, they are only young once, let them enjoy their childhood.

as for my children education and ability, we as parents can give them the best we can afford, or guilt driven to give them, however what they will achieve in life is either in them in the first place or not regardless of the teaching they receive.

I'm not suggesting you try to teach your children anything that is not within your range of abilities. For instance I think it would be difficult to teach a child to read without some prior training or experience. However when you leave books out for kids, read to them and ask questions about what you read to them then you are doing something amazing. In the grand scheme of academic development I'm not sure that a parent can do much more than to encourage their children to read. Learn to read then read to learn. A child that reads confidently can direct their own learning.

In terms of your future you need to consider if you will be in Thailand long-term. If so the IFUGAO degree is probably your best option and is one of the cheaper options. If you want something that you can travel with the Sunderland or Nottingham PGCEi degrees are better but more expensive options.

It's all very misleading. International school is a broad concept. In reality there is only a handful of international schools in Thailand that offer the best schooling in Thailand and which stand comparison with the best schools in the world. You'll pay a lot of money for this similar to the same amount in your home country. Most other international schools in Thailand are hybrid and some feature 99% Thai students - they serve parents who are status seekers, of a sort of 'golf club' mentality.

Then there are bilingual programmes, private concerns, often run by a Catholic diocese or a private business interest, a great idea in theory but they are patchy and bilingual is usually a misnomer. They suffer from all the nonsense that pervades the state sector and the lower tier (majority) international schools. It's actually debatable if students get anything that resembles an education in these schools. In truth students would often be better off in the better government schools.

There is no doubt that a strong parental interest in their children's education and well-being will be far more telling than any other consideration. You can buy sex, but you can't buy love. You can buy an education, but you can't buy intelligence blah blah blah

Hi I also have been struggling with alcohol abuse and really want to move to Thailand but have been too scared that I'll drink myself to death.

For members who have their drinking under control is there any advise you can share? Are the rehabs good in Thailand and other support? What about as meetings are there lots? Are doctors understanding of how to deal with alcoholics over there?

Any help you can provide us much appreciated. Thanks.

Aussienote many do drink themselves to death here same as everywhere else in the world. Most alcoholics die without recognising the problem. Alcoholism is not a phenomenon that exclusively targets people on skid row. It is in fact the ultimate equal opportunity experience. It certainly takes many into the gutter and the truth is few people actually get out of the gutter once they are there. So I salute the ones that do get off the street. They really are the miracles and most of them do it through AA.

Most alkies have homes, families and jobs in order to keep drinking. In the end I got rid of everything that was good in my life and while I wasn't on the street or park bench it would be fair to say I had brought the park bench into my squalid quarters on which I religiously paid the rent every month. I needed to get sober in my own space before I came out here and in fact I was six years sober when I decided to come out here, in fact just for a year and primarily to get married, as I met the woman of my dreams who happened to live and work here. Seven years later, and even more happily married to the same woman and with the addition of two kids, I'm now working here and I have progressively lessened my AA involvement. In effect I'm a loner but when I am in town I go to meetings and I still engage with other alkies on line etc.

I don't feel any temptation to drink. I need to be careful however and so I keep myself grounded, connected and in good spiritual order. I understand that one day I might find myself in a supermarket and a bottle may sparkle at me and tell me one drink would be ok and that I may well be powerless. A few days ago I saw a picture of a pint of real beer and it triggered something very uncomfortable in me.

I really wouldn't come out here until you feel strong in yourself and your recovery. There are many additional factors about life here that can become very challenging for folk in recovery. So tread carefully.

Thank you that's good advice and I appreciate it a lot.

I do think I've found a cure to alcoholism called the Sinclair method: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sinclair_Method it's taken a few months but it seems to be removing the obsession thoughts of alcohol that I've been hearing in the the rooms that never goes away even after decades. I want to help others especially after 4 rehabs and years trying this over years. It certainly seems possible even though no professionals seem to want to help.

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I have many many years and do not have a craving or even an idea to drink .

People that tell you they have obsession thoughts of alcohol after decades are certainly not following any of the suggestions in AA.

People might have a sudden thought about it once in a while but they are not obsessed with it. I will admit I have had three dreams about it. One I woke up with a hangover but never a desire to drink.

I hope the system you are working on works out for you. If not come back to AA and don't listen to those people with decades that have obsessive thinking about it. There are many of us who don't even give it a thought. Going to have a look at that system as I have never heard of it before. It might have some thing in it to help me improve my life.

In closing I would like to mention that in the forward to the first edition of the big book it say's We of Alcoholics Anonymous are a fellowship of 100 men and women who have recovered from a hopeless state of mind and body.

It does not say we are cured It is very specific about what they have recovered from. Obsessive thinking after decades is not recovery from a hopeless state of mind.

Very well said Big Carl. I remember being in a meeting when someone was talking about their discomfort about a drinking dream and asking what they could do about it and someone said to them to make sure they got as much down their necks as they could possibly manage! I've removed the expletives as appropriate for this forum but you can probably imagine, it brought the house down

I think the Thais also have a very strange attitude to education in general and language learning in particular. My daughter goes to a provincial bilingual school, I am a Brit NES and mum is filipino. Our lingua franca is English and the girl is to all intents and purposes a NES. I had what I can only describe as a surreal discussion with the highly decorated Executive Director which was to establish whether I wanted my girl to learn Thai as most other foreigners were happy for their sproggs to do the English programme. I say surreal because my thinking was I want my daughter to learn languages and it's more the process of learning a language, developing the skills of language learning and feeling confident in using another language that interests me than whether it is Thai, English, Latin, Serb-croation or Scots Gaelic. Notwithstanding PhDs and D Phil awards on the office walls, this good lady looked at me in horror as I suggested that learning a new language at an early age was likely to be a good way of developing a child's cognitive abilities and I wanted my little darling to get as much of it as possible. And then I confirmed the good lady's worst fears. I said I was utterly uninterested in her exam performance in any subject as she is barely four years old and that I really would be unconcerned if her grades were low. My sense actually was they were trying their damnedest to wriggle out of teaching the bab. They couldn't give me any good reason why my little treasure should not learn Thai. In fact the system here is such a joke that much as I love living here it is time to get going in order to try and get the weans into a decent school and system.

Being a NES, even with a degree that took four years or more, doesn't actually qualify you to teach English or any other subject. Not in Thailand or anywhere else. In the Thai context, the use of NESs is simply promotional in most instances. It looks good and impresses the parents. It's purely about getting bums on seats or rather sitting at desks and paying fees especially in the private sector. It might be reasonable to think that a bilingual programme which has been in existence for 15 years might have developed some expertise in teaching its Thai students English. Not where I work. It's a crude money making operation and that is it. The school system is a real mess, it really fails both the kids and the parents though the much-moaned-about irony is that everyone passes.

Hi I also have been struggling with alcohol abuse and really want to move to Thailand but have been too scared that I'll drink myself to death.

For members who have their drinking under control is there any advise you can share? Are the rehabs good in Thailand and other support? What about as meetings are there lots? Are doctors understanding of how to deal with alcoholics over there?

Any help you can provide us much appreciated. Thanks.

Aussienote many do drink themselves to death here same as everywhere else in the world. Most alcoholics die without recognising the problem. Alcoholism is not a phenomenon that exclusively targets people on skid row. It is in fact the ultimate equal opportunity experience. It certainly takes many into the gutter and the truth is few people actually get out of the gutter once they are there. So I salute the ones that do get off the street. They really are the miracles and most of them do it through AA.

Most alkies have homes, families and jobs in order to keep drinking. In the end I got rid of everything that was good in my life and while I wasn't on the street or park bench it would be fair to say I had brought the park bench into my squalid quarters on which I religiously paid the rent every month. I needed to get sober in my own space before I came out here and in fact I was six years sober when I decided to come out here, in fact just for a year and primarily to get married, as I met the woman of my dreams who happened to live and work here. Seven years later, and even more happily married to the same woman and with the addition of two kids, I'm now working here and I have progressively lessened my AA involvement. In effect I'm a loner but when I am in town I go to meetings and I still engage with other alkies on line etc.

I don't feel any temptation to drink. I need to be careful however and so I keep myself grounded, connected and in good spiritual order. I understand that one day I might find myself in a supermarket and a bottle may sparkle at me and tell me one drink would be ok and that I may well be powerless. A few days ago I saw a picture of a pint of real beer and it triggered something very uncomfortable in me.

I really wouldn't come out here until you feel strong in yourself and your recovery. There are many additional factors about life here that can become very challenging for folk in recovery. So tread carefully.

I reckon there are more appropriate forums for learners than this one although participating in the discussions could clearly assist.But it's quite an applied skill and I could understand why other media might be more attractive.

My post wasn't about TVF only. I was also trying to get a Thai colleague on the boat, to join in here and another teaching forum.

You can get news in English from several sources, learn new vocabulary and be part of a topic specific discussion.

There's plenty of reading involved and I think it's a great tool for Thais to find out more about their own country in English, understand the difference between a "mate" and a "dude"., etc.....

There's a Thai on the teaching forum a while ago, but I haven't read anything from her for a long time. Maybe the result of an ordinary assault, which is quite common here.

I think that is the real issue - come on here innocently for a chat and get ripped to sheds for your efforts. Interesting juxtaposition of different cultural approaches for sure!

I reckon there are more appropriate forums for learners than this one although participating in the discussions could clearly assist.But it's quite an applied skill and I could understand why other media might be more attractive.

We stayed there last year for the first time on a brief trip into town. Bundled in with my wife, mother-in-law and two kids and got a decent room - well two bedrooms - for just shy of 2,000. My missus and her mum are filipinas. We were welcomed and looked after well. Nice, helpful staff. Not so much as a whiff of cat pee. Good, reasonably priced restaurant. It has a library too which is a nice touch. Would stay there again without any hesitation. They also answer email enquiries. I think all the stuff about sex tourists and behaviour is a little over the top but the net effect is you'll have a quiet, peaceful stay.

Is a coupon system not more likely to make a corrupt system more corrupt? You can't run or administer any system when the sole objectives of the people in the system is to identify and exploit the weaknesses in it. And I'm referring to school managers who must take a page proportion of the blame for the state of the system; it follows from this that you must also blame the people who manage the managers for failing to do their jobs effectively. It is in these areas that the changes need to occur.

I agree with the suggestion made here about reading and I think your plan to get her to read aloud for 30 mins is an excellent one. Can I suggest you preview the reading material and devise some concept check questions, simple yes or no questions that will help you gauge her understanding. SO if she was to read a sentence like: "She went to Chiang Mai on Tuesday", you might ask her: "Is she still there now?". As you become better at this you might then ask her how she would say this sentence if the person was still there. You might also help her comprehension and entertain her by rereading the passages she reads to you but by using opposites and she then reads the corrected sentence back to you. She might benefit also from using an upper secondary school series like Solutions published by Oxford University Press. Good luck to you both.

On the other hand, how can people be "better educated" in a country that is so piss poor? I do believe that somebody who went through high school in an European country has much more knowledge than a Filipino who really graduated at a university.

Lost in Isaan, with your fine German education, you really should know the answer to this question. Clearly it is a rhetorical question. So it tells us more about your prejudices than addressing the conundrum that despite poverty and adversity some people are able to flourish academically and intellectually. Not all, some.

I know Filipinos and I know other folk from many parts of the world who have overcome such adversity. Not many, just some. I know many more who got drunk, incarcerated, drugged up, died.... What helped the ones to succeed were simple things like a caring parent or sibling or relative, caring teachers and a supportive school environment, in short people who cared and who were interested.

The fact that there is such an acute teacher shortage in Thailand is the issue. Importing even more filipino teachers may provide a partial solution equivalent to filling gaps but it hardly addresses the problems that have led to the shortage in the first place. Bringing in more filipinos is attractive because they are cheap and unlikely to dig their heels in. The one thing no one wants here in Thailand is a debate or a consultation process - the equivalent of a commission on education is long over due. I don't doubt the general has been in consultation with the private sector. Many of the schools in this sector would love to replace their established and expensive NES teachers with NNES imports. The parents won't wear this right now because many of them want their children to be educated by NES, preferably white. Let me add I disapprove of this but this is how it is here. It will be easier to ease out the core of good quality NES teachers if the market is flooded by more imports. Sadly it is not going to change a damn thing - the downward spiral will continue along its merry way...

I don't really know what is available in Thailand but AA will certainly assist in the longer term. The problem is the short term. A clinical detox is really quite simple and gets you over the worst of the early stages so you stop rattling. If you are experiencing severe DTs then a clinical detox is essential as DTs can kill. However your problem really begins when you leave the detox. How are you going to stay stopped then? This is where AA and other services may assist. There's nothing to stop you attending any AA meeting - might be a good idea and given you some pointers.

Hi, I am the cockroach man.

Give it a little more time, more patience & your new friends will be cockroaches- there will be no other.

Please post photos of you & your new friends.

Fang, dear partner in crime, this applies to us all. In time we will all be on familiar terms with the lower orders!

Thanks for the encouragement I have received in this topic, as for the guy that told me that I would soon be under the ground with cockroaches coming out of my eyes.... well...

I started to note my daily intake but didn't keep it up as I found that I was managing three days on a 24 pack of beer, which is better than two packs (or more) every two days.

First day: first beer at 10am, then one every hour, a catastrophe, that was a 13 a day recipe.

So on to first beer at 11 or 11.30am, one every 90 minutes, no cheating, apart from the last beer which follows on from the last scheduled time.

Problems: I feel obliged to take a beer at the scheduled time even though I could hold out longer. I have occasionally, while working or sleeping, forgotten a beer.Otherwise it works, my wallet says thank you as does my wife. It all sounds rather pedantic and particular but I see it as a step in the right direction.

After stupidly looking at the bagfuls of ginger that we have and wondering what to do with it, we started making ice cold ginger tea with lime, I pin some hope on this.

So the next step will be to follow one piece of advice and try one day a week without beer, not sure I can do that.

Cooked it may be that an alcohol free day is too ambitious and some times it can be very bad for morale to try to do something and to fail. That sense of failure was always a 'what the **** ' moment for me and led me to get hammered. Perhaps start with one evening and see how that goes, in particular see how it affects your sleep. Also bear in mind that it may take a few weeks to notice any positive effect, so please be patient. Just some suggestions! Good luck.