puchooay

Yes just been in had a chat with a friendly English speaking official got all the info needed will get my paper work all prepared then when we go in to get blue book (house still being built looking to do blue book in about 3 weeks) take my paperwork in and get them both done at same time got the officials number will ring her on the day she says she will then look out for us and sort it out!! Was only in for half hour no ticket needed today.

Oh, something new within the Amphoe / Immigration circus?

So far: Thai National gets blue house book, Farang gets yellow house book.

Never mind, regardless if the house book is blue, yellow, pink or purple, it assures the Farang of NO property rights whatsoever.

Cheers.

Correct . It just stops the need for a Cert of Residence if doing business that needs one of them.

Quite right. The yellow house book does not offer any rights on the property. There are other methods that do.

I here about people going to Immigration to get a certificate of residence. I personally have never come a cross any transactions that require it.

The wild boar could be cooked nice and slow. Fry with some onions, garlic and ginger. Add a cinnamon stick a couple of star anise and some orange peel and enough water to cover. Low heat for about 3 hours.

I would use the empty cans to grow tomato plants and when they fruit I can make some real sauce.

My understanding is that Isaan is the part of Laos which the French did not want, when they created Indochine. Laos had been a tribute Kingdom of Siam and Siam was not quite sure what to do with it, eventually deciding to annexe it, and make it part of Thailand. They changed the name from Lao to Isaan meaning northeast. They did the same with Lanna, which they called Nua (north).

Isaan language is basically Lao or a dialect of same, which evolved to be slightly different. Quite a number of the older people cannot speak Thai, due to lack of education or interest when they were young. The darker skin is a mystery to me, but the slave story is unlikely.

Isaan people form the largest demographic grouping in Thailand today and outnumber Thai ethnic people. This is reflected in the great red/yellow political division which is best left to the local population to sort out.

That's a nice story but you are only taking about north and middle Issan. When you say "Issan language" you mean one of the Issan languages. Try telling the people of southern Issan that their language is Lao.

If you are dirt-poor (my wife's family background, not dissing yours) it pays to concentrate on learning stuff that puts food in your mouth*! Intellectual study is for the effete developed world.

*and having as much fun as you can eke out of life.

Having almost nothing and smiling a lot, enjoying life was part of my decision to move to Asia.

My first trip to India after graduation opened my eyes and I found it fascinating that all the poor people I'd met obviously had more fun in life than rich, or middle class people in Europe.

.My mom and dad in law are great people and they're not asking for money. There's an ASEAN research that Isaan farmers are the poorest farmers from all the other nine ASEAN countries.

I truly hope that there'll be a government in the near future, who honors their people in the northeast and build factories and more to give them a job.

I used to live in my wife's village 15 years ago and life's really hard. These people deserve to receive help, but it seems that they're only used when the reds and yellows bribed them to vote for them.'

It's very easy to understand why so many of them are trying to find a better life and become bar girls. They do not have many choices and even to get a child into a "better school" is almost impossible for most of them.

" Better schools" are asking for an "entrance fee" of 20 to 50 K. Then the problem with transport, etc....

It's really time for the right government. Enough of this Junta bullshit.

Governments help the Issan people when they want to. Only parties with the Issan people on their side can form a government. The problem is that the government won't educate the masses.

That means that they remain ignorant to what is going on. As touched upon in a previous post, most Issan people seem happy with this.

Try to explain what will happen with AEC and they are simply not interested. Not much thinking beyond today.

Why can't you get lard here? Where there's pigs there's lard.

I work overseas doing 2 month on 1 month off roster. I never had a problem returning to Thailand on a tourist visa until now. Depending on which immigration officer you meet at your re entry it may be a problem. I have been told that I will be denied entry unless I have organise a visa before arrival. Working in West africa the closest Thai embassy is about 2000kms away.Looks like they are going to lose another quality tourist

Sounds like you are not entering on a tourist visa but rather a visa exempt.

You can trade car batteries when you buy a new on. I got 500 baht for my last one.

I've shopped and bought items at six different Global House Stores including the Buriram Global House. I've paid the Global House delivery fees to my home in a town North of Buriram and to a village near Hau Fai. Curtain Rods were less money at the Buriram Global House than I priced at the Buriram Homepro. But for serious power tools or a good selection of name brand hand tools I shop at family owned builders merchants that are the authorized repair facilities for name brand tools. I bought a Stanley Bailey 12 - 004 hand plane today at a promotional price from a store owner who understands and speaks Thai and English. Home Pro in Buriram has at least two staff who speak English, but that had not been my personal experience at the Buriram Thai Watsadu store or the Buriram Global House after 5p.m. The Buriram Global House was not able to arrange for a ready mix concrete truck delivery to my village house while a family owned store could easily arrange for a concrete bucket on a crane to provide ready mix concrete this Monday. I had to pay extra for the crane and the bucket but the ready mixed price was lower than I was quoted by CPAC and BestPac in Buriram.

Shop there or work there? 555

I get my granules or oxo cubes locally here in Buriram. PM me details and I will get some sent by EMS.

You say that your daughter was born in UK. Does she have a Thai passport?

I can import bacon from Norway. 1st class much cheaper. Very expensive everything on this menu, but if you are hi-class, maybe its ok. I will stay with the excellent Thai chicken and pork. I can buy Norwegian Salmon and Mackerel in Makro. Mackerel 89 thb a kilo. Fresh Salmon 280 bath per kilo.

No body asked you to buy anything and everyone on here knows where to buy local produce.

Rather than spout off about the price,why not congratulate the people running this operation and wish them luck for the future.

I take my hat off to anyone attempting to operate any sort or business venture here especially one which has the odds stacked firmly against it due over taxation of goods that most natives wouldn't give a second glance to.

A fantastic opportunity for people in remoter parts of the nation to indulge in a little bit of the taste of home.

There are a couple of guys in Buriram who have been offering this kind of service successfully for quite a few years now. I believe they deliver to many places around Thailand. Good luck to the OP but it is hardly a new thing

I really do think you are missing the point. This isn't about sausages and bacon from the Buriram Pie man or Yorkies in Pattaya.

Firstly they offer a whole lot more than pies and sausage and secondly the give away is in the name, Passion to me and the OP may disagree, this isn't a day to day food delivery service, this is for people who are passionate about quality food.

I and many of my friends have ever had a problem with the quality of the vast selection of our current supplier. Top class and fantastic value.

I can import bacon from Norway. 1st class much cheaper. Very expensive everything on this menu, but if you are hi-class, maybe its ok. I will stay with the excellent Thai chicken and pork. I can buy Norwegian Salmon and Mackerel in Makro. Mackerel 89 thb a kilo. Fresh Salmon 280 bath per kilo.

No body asked you to buy anything and everyone on here knows where to buy local produce.

Rather than spout off about the price,why not congratulate the people running this operation and wish them luck for the future.

I take my hat off to anyone attempting to operate any sort or business venture here especially one which has the odds stacked firmly against it due over taxation of goods that most natives wouldn't give a second glance to.

A fantastic opportunity for people in remoter parts of the nation to indulge in a little bit of the taste of home.

There are a couple of guys in Buriram who have been offering this kind of service successfully for quite a few years now. I believe they deliver to many places around Thailand. Good luck to the OP but it is hardly a new thing

A week or two in the fridge will make it rock hard. You need some where with humidity control. The only possible thing you could do is to vacuum pack it and wet age it.

Hi again Barrie. Sorry to have to use your thread to put down a rather stupid poster, that's how it goes on here at times.

I won't go on about selling your house and things but just want to point out one thing that people seem to be missing.

You've told us your monetary position as it stands now but have you thought about 10, 20 or even 30 years time?

At 44/45 you have not built up enough years for a full UK pension. I know you would get a reduced one.

Do you have a company or private pension?

You might get by right now but as you get older you will need extra income as things wear out including yourself!

250,000/350,000 may be doable now but in 10 years time will not be enough!

I really think that you and GF working in UK for at least another 10 years would make your position so much easier!

For as little as 1900 baht a month you can pay your contributions and top up to obtain a full UK pension.

At 45 years old alrerady the OP is going to receive the pension at 67.

I'm sorry to have to tell you that you are viewing all this through "rose tinted spectacles!"

First off your 250,000 baht is not nearly enough, 4 times that should be a starting point!

Do not, repeat DO NOT sell your property in the UK. That will increase in value but property here increases very little if at all!

At 45 you are far too young to take up Thai life style and although you're trying to convince yourself you won't, I would be willing to bet money that you will be bored before you're 50!

EDITED

You really do need to step back and think about what you are doing and take things a lot slower!

Good luck whatever you decide!

This post is about living in Thailand. You seem to be living in the dark ages.

The OP is asking for advice and all you can come up with is a stupid comment! Most of your posts seem to be the same!

If you cannot think of anything useful I suggest you crawl back under your stone and stay there!!

I wonder why you have cropped your post before replying??

The piece to which I was referring is not quoted. You obviously now think that it was wide of the mark.

Thanks for making that apparent.

I believe this guy has got his head screwed on right but I just question if his ideas are unrealistic about living like a Thai farmer at the age of 45.

+1

And not only that, paying for the privilege of being one.

That 3 million baht for the house build is ringing big alarm bells in my head.

Who in their right mind at the age of 45 gives up, house, job, family and friends to move half way round the world to live like a peasant?

No mention made of what type of visa the OP will be on.

No mention made of future pension plans, etc etc, this doesnt pass the logic test.

Keep the house in the UK rent it out, and rent some place for 5k baht per month here.

The OP will go stir crazy from cabin fever.

I guess you probably haven't read the whole thread.

Why not rent a house in that general location and save the 60,000 squid for later. Get a teaching job for up to 30,000b a month then things might be different?

You say you can adapt to village life/food/bugs but what is the longest period of time that you have done this to date? Most cannot live like that, but some do and the highlight of their life is a trip in another Farangs car to Big C.

I wish you well but am playing the devils advocate here???

Not quite devils advocate. More like miserable generaliser.

What aspect of my post suggests that I am miserable?

I am having a great life here in Thailand but will not belittle myself by saying what I have or haven't got in public. I believe that I am a respected member of the community. Can you honestly say the same, puchooay? I hope you can.

I believe this guy has got his head screwed on right but I just question if his ideas are unrealistic about living like a Thai farmer at the age of 45.

You should read what you wrote. "Most"??? Really? Who is this lone farang with a car? I am respected in many communities.

Back to the OP. You say you have been together for a while already. I say give it a go. You are about the same age as me. Village life is great. Do you have any hobbies? You will need a little to do from time to time.

You are right in wondering whether they just write on the board and the students just copy. My stepson has an exercise book full of stuff he has copied and cannot read more than a word or two. When I queried the content of his lesson his reply in Thai was exactly as you are wondering, He stated she, the teacher enters classroom, writes on board, tells the kids to copy and immediately walks out leaving students to do their copying which is often taken from them at the end of lesson by teacher's re-entry. It is a rare occasion when the students are able to bring these exercise books home. Not being a teacher but having in the past taught adult electronic engineers some computer science, with regular exams to check progress, my mind just cannot comprehend the amount of wasted time incurred by the students.

I do hope all your effort is rewarding you with some success. I wonder how many appreciate it?

Sorry, had a “ban flu” (BTW, thanks for the really helpful pills!) and wasn’t able to post for a few days. I finally had to do the seminar alone, while our coordinator just sat there on her huge posterior and let me do the two day thingy alone. Stress times three.

I went to bed last night at 1.30 am, as I had to prepare a lot of stuff for today that wasn't even planned and wanted to share my experience(s) with those who're interested and might have to prepare and conduct similar seminars in the near future.

It seems that there'll be plenty of seminars in the next weeks, where they’ll need your help. The order comes from OBEC and the educational area offices have to select the candidates they might think they’re capable of doing it. Got another one this coming weekend, then a few starting in the middle of next month.

Those who scored A 1 should be taught stuff/ vocabulary/ listening and reading assignments from the next higher level. High school teachers should score higher than primary school teachers, but I've had some trainees for the last two days, who obviously had no idea about easiest English.

. There were English teachers who scored A 0 in their CEFR test, which doesn't even exist.

One of the trainees was our high school teacher, who's covering levels from M 1 to M 3. She scored A 1 and I could see that she felt very uncomfortable to sit in this seminar.

Just watching their faces when they're listening to some easy English from the CEFR website immediately showed me that most of them basically understood nil.

Based on that I prepared my activities and there's only one youngish guy who could answer quite a few questions, very smart and talkative. Only one out of so many….

On the first day, I gave them an easy "check in a hotel activity", which I had done with M 3 students a few moons ago. I "scrambled the sentences up" and they had to find the first sentence from the clerk, then the guest, etc. Holy buffalo god.....

I had students in M 3, who did that in ten, or fifteen minutes and gave me the sheet back, without a mistake. But these high school teachers did not even know very often used and easy vocabulary?

Just wondering if they write something on the board and let the kids copy that into their notebooks…

I do not know if the rural location could be the reason for their poor language skills, but it's very hard work to get them going, never had such a difficult group before.

Of course was the reason always the same that they didn't graduate in English.

For those who're interested, I've got some decent material and I'm willing to share it with people who might or might not have a problem do prepare such a seminar and conduct it in a way that the teachers also learn something……..

The OBEC wants to see what material trainers were using and they might give you an evaluation on that. It’s not that they’re using a cheap excuse to get your materiel. Anyway, you can put a watermark on it, or put a password in.

Need to go to sleep now, have a nice week. Monday six hours of grade one and two, also science and math. Hurray…

Thanks for your post. I can assure you that it’s not just in English lessons that students from primary to secondary level are copying some stuff right off the board into their notebooks, without even knowing what they’re writing…..

When you ask them an easy question, they can’t answer them. I was watching a Thai colleague while I printed something out in the same room, how she taught a “health” lesson to grade nine students.

I saw a human heart and all its parts and functions on a big screen, a lot of explanation written underneath how the blood circulation works, certain parts of the heart, the function of red and white blood cells, etc…

Unfortunately, was the lesson taught without any explanation about the function of the parts of the heart, neither a brief introduction about the function of red and white blood cells?

I made a joke and asked the teacher ( in Thai) if the white blood cells would transport oxygen through the body and she said yes, while the students continued to copy the whole page into their notebooks.

Of course won’t all become doctors, or nurses, but it’s usually wasted time, when teachers give lessons where they know nothing about it. One of these students was the son of a friend of mine and I was asking him a few days later at his home what the function(s) of red blood cells were.

He knew absolutely nothing about the whole topic which he studied for a few weeks and finally told me that hemoglobin in “white blood cells” protects the body of diseases.

And then the Boy Scout movement tops it all. It’s not the students’ fault, it’s the system.

Finally, the shocking truth about the Thai educational system. Our son is a student at a technical college and I know that quite a few of his classmates (17 years old) really struggle to spell the month July in Thai. I pronounce it: Go-Ra_Ka-Da- Komm, or also spelled “Korakaḍākhom” in Thai กรกฎาคม . No more to add.

No wonder they couldn't spell it with that pronunciation.

Why not rent a house in that general location and save the 60,000 squid for later. Get a teaching job for up to 30,000b a month then things might be different?

You say you can adapt to village life/food/bugs but what is the longest period of time that you have done this to date? Most cannot live like that, but some do and the highlight of their life is a trip in another Farangs car to Big C.

I wish you well but am playing the devils advocate here???

Not quite devils advocate. More like miserable generaliser.

I'm sorry to have to tell you that you are viewing all this through "rose tinted spectacles!"

First off your 250,000 baht is not nearly enough, 4 times that should be a starting point!

Do not, repeat DO NOT sell your property in the UK. That will increase in value but property here increases very little if at all!

At 45 you are far too young to take up Thai life style and although you're trying to convince yourself you won't, I would be willing to bet money that you will be bored before you're 50!

You may well get on with your Thai family in Udon and you may well pick up Thai enough to have a conversation but have you any idea what these people talk about? Most of them have no knowledge of the outside world, they life revolves around their back yard! Could you get by on a conversation about the price of rice, how was your somtam or how many chickens you have day in day out?

TV may be your last resort when you become bored! Have you ever watched Thai TV? Even if you can get western programs on True you will find they are repeated that many times you can quote them line for line!

I could go on like this but instead just tell you to take it easy, visit Thailand but do not move here yet! If you still feel you want to move here give at least another 10 years but make sure you have more money to back you up.

Sorry to have been blunt but some of the others have let you think living here is a breath of fresh air when for 365 days a year it is hot and humid!

Almost forgot, this is no longer a cheap country! If you need farang foods you will find these at least twice the price back home, sometimes even more! Thais can "eat off the land" by that I mean they can eat certain leaves etc. Can you?

You really do need to step back and think about what you are doing and take things a lot slower!

Good luck whatever you decide!

This post is about living in Thailand. You seem to be living in the dark ages.

< snip> Actually It probably is fair to criticize your English as you are suppose to be a teacher! Imagine a bank manager or accountant who couldn't count properly.Or a doctor who didn't know much about medicine!! Your in a professional occupation but quite clearly lack the skills needed to succeed. You also, quite clearly, hate your job. Why don't you just leave and find a job that you can do professionally??

It's 'teachers' like you who perpetuate the problems in education here. It's also extremely unfair on the students as they deserve to be taught properly and given the best chance in life. Sorry If I'm being harsh but it is what it is! <snip ends here>

Thanks for your criticism, please tell me where I wrote that I "hate" what I'm doing? I hate when coordinators of schools are trying to give you their responsibilities. I hate it when school directors steal the money of parents who pay good money for their kids' education.

And a few more things.

Should I start to criticize your English now? Dude, it's "you're in a occupation", not your in a "occupation." But you might not even know that, because you always write it wrong?

It's not in my interest splitting hairs here.

One more poster who's got nothing to say that's "a sort of" related to the topic, just criticizing my language efficiency?

Mods, please be so kind and shut down this thread, it doesn't make any sense if there's nobody familiar with the topic, or maybe not willing to share his, or her experience " helping the superiors of a school in this country" to find an employee.

Why are you so adverse to advice?

You are always posting about how you always have to do everything yourself but as soon as some one offers a way out you shut the door.

I have never known anyone who seeks advice but does not accept it as much as you do.

Now you want to close another thread just because you dont like the course it is taking. My advice now would be to stop posting.

Sorry OP, but half way through your initial post I gave up trying to read it. Your written English is pretty darn bad, and makes it a pain to read. :-(

Sorry bigt, that my post(s) seem to stress you out. Others might have different ways to handle things that seem to be difficult to deal with.

It works for me to write about some stuff that bugs me and to be honest, I don't give a flying kangaroo about your opinion about my written English.

Please just skip reading my posts in the future and you might find out that life can be more fun. Thanks a lot in advance for your honestly.

Seeing as you are an English teacher, would it not be better to ask advice on how you may improve your English?

Basic rules for the o.p.

1) dummy up . When they have an obnoxious task for you pretend you don't understand. Have them explain it to you a hundred times and show you how to do it.

Pretend ignorance of all IT and have them show you your way to proceed.

2 ) Be super pleasant and polite .... Nod a lot .... Then do nothing.

3) This is war. Snuggle up to your enemies. Be sociably friendly with all your colleagues .... Even have an after hour beer with them....get them on your side ...... But then do nothing outside your job remit unless you want to and enjoy it.

4) Suck up to any parents you meet. They can make useful unspoken alias.

5) Think Thai ..... Behave Thai. When in Rome etc.

Would you be so kind and let me know where you buy your stash?

I decided to pretend to be dead, similar to a situation when a black bear's approaching me in the woods of lower northeast.<+>.)

And don't publish your colleagues ' work online. That will surely cut down the amount of applications.

Pi#@ing down in Buriram. About 2 hours now.