allane

Some general advice to anyone who is leaving one job where he has a Work Permit, and taking a new job where he wants to obtain one:

1. Do not quit your old job any earlier than you have to. When you quit a job, you only have 7 days to either leave the county, or find a new job AND have your new employer complete and submit all the necessary paperwork.

2. If you are on good terms with your old employer, ask him if will keep your old Work Permit active (i.e. not return it to the Labour Dept.), until your new employer is up to speed, and is well within one week of having everything ready to submit.

You may want to ask your new employer to enter your "start date" as a date later then when you actually started working. Having an overlap did not cause me a problem because I was dealing with two different labour offices, but things might be different if both of your employers are dealing with the same office.

3. If possible accompany the repesentatives of both schools to all the necessary offices. If there is a missing signature, or any other small problem, you can attend to it on the spot, saving precious time, if you are trying to get things done within 7 days.

I do not have any information on Media Kids, but here are some thoughts on your question about workload:

22 - 24 hrs. per week is just "do-able", but only if you do not have to do any lesson planning or marking.

If you are working in an elementary or high school, you should allow about 1 hour marking time for every hour of teaching time. From my experience, it is essential that the students know that the time with the foreign teacher counts for something in terms of their grade. That requires that you give them a markable assignment approximately every second class, and that you grade it and return it to them.

Conversely, if all that you are going to do is walk in, talk and wave your arms around, and then walk out, you will very quickly get to the point where the students are ignoring you, and waiting for the Thai English teacher to come in to give them enough knowledge to pass the written exam.

If you are going to be able to do enough marking that the students regard you as a teacher (rather than an entertainer or clown), your in-class time should be no more than 16 - 18 hrs./week, say 16 if you are a beginner, perhaps 18 if you are teaching the same course as you have taught previously.

However, my concern is not necessarily getting the top kids at that age who happen to know or have picked up a little, but weeding out those who have learning difficulties and/or concentration problems that end up holding the whole class back.

As a high school teacher, I concur with your comment above. If anything, it is probably even more a propos at the Prathom 1 level.

At the school where I work, we have a Pre-entrance test, which is intended to weed out those with little or no background/aptitude in English. I am not involved in the administrative side of things, but I presume that those who fall below a certain minimum score on the Pre-entrance Test are not allowed to write the actual Entrance Test, which happens a month or so later.

The Songkran Statutory Holiday is always April 13, 14 and 15. Day of the week is irrelevant.

On the subject of fires: Does anyone know what was on fire Sunday evening, the 11th, at about 8:00 p.m., perhaps in Rat Burana or Bang Khun Thien Districts ? As I was going north on Taksin Road, I must have met 15 fire trucks, and an ambulance or two, going southbound.

I searched the Bkk. Post and Nation websites this morning, but didn't find anything.

Nobody likes them, but everybody shops at them.

I too have used St. Louis Hospital for several years, and have indeed recommended them before on this forum. I am still not ready to withdraw that recommendation, HOWEVER:

The last time or two that I went there, I felt that I was being referred to specialists for minor problems that should have been attended to in the first instance by a GP. More recently, I have used Mahaesak Hospital, a small place just off the east side of Mahaesak Road. I have only been there a couple of times, again for small problems, but I am thoroughly satisfied: - fast service

- English speaking doctors

- and, low prices - probably at least 25% less than St. Louis for coparable services

As I said, this is a smaller place, so I don't know if they provide a full range of medical services. But for now, they have won my patronage, though I retain St. Louis as my second choice.

Both are palaces. I believe that the former is the residence of Princess Sirinthon, and the latter is the residence of the Crown Prince.

Yes, I think Rick is in error on this. It is obviously risky to make a statement about "all Post Offices in Thailand", but I think that their Saturday hours are 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

Bus # 177 does use the Taksin Bridge.

First thing is to ignore the above post by allane.

Re: Condo...The money can come from outside LOS, it does not have to be earned here. You can own a condo in your own name, as you only "own" the space, you do not own the land.

I said that you CAN use money earned in Thailand, I did not say that you can not bring money from outside.

With regard to this question of usufructs, let me get this straight: You are going to give her money to buy a house, which of course will be registered in her name. She will give you a piece of paper, which will have to be interpreted by a Thai judge at some point in the future, after she has declared that the marriage or relationship is over, that she never wants to see you again, and certainly has no desire to sell the property, just so you can get your share of the proceeds ?

I might buy a dog on that basis, but only if it was a mixed breed !

As a foreigner,you have the right to leave Thailand, if you don't like the laws here. All of the other rights rest with her.

Re 1: Check this link: www.dol.go.th, then find "Thailand" and "Condominium Act". Condominium Act (No.3) B.E. 2542 (1999), Section 5 (5) would appear to provide that you can use money which you already have in Thailand, provided that you have a non-resident or foreign currency account.

Re 2: Agreements to sidestep the law are null and void. It is no different than if I sign a contract with someone to kill you. Similarly, people can not sign their constitutional rights away, even if they want to, and any document where they purport to do so can be rescinded by them at any time, or declared null and void by the courts.

Re: Driver's Licence

If you do decide to maintain your US Driver's Licence, is it soon to expire ? If yes, you may want to delay your departure until after you have renewed it. Then you will not be faced with a choice between either letting it lapse, or an expensive flight back there to present your face in the licensing office to be photographed. The licensing office may have a website where you can find out how much flexibility you have in terms of renewing it on the actual date of expiry.

When making telephone enquiries, be aware that the person on the other end may have call display. It can be hard to say you are calling on behalf of someone else, while she is looking at your home phone number on her telephone screen.

Some things to think about regarding your home-country credit cards:

1. Most credit card companies will cancel your card if it is not used for some time (maybe one year ?). Try to ascertain the rules on this, so you can use it enough to ensure that it is not cancelled.

2. Some credit card issuers will not send a new credit card to an address outside of the home country. If this is the case, you will need to provide a US address, where a reliable person will be able to receive your new credit card, at the time your current one will expire. And if you do this, you will need to ensure that the person there promptly advises you of the amount owing each month. You need to think about what will happen when that person is on vacation etc. I don't think that you can provide the credit card company with one address to receive your monthly bill, and another to receive your new credit card.

Of course, be careful how, you phrase your questions to the credit card company - you don't want to say anything which may cause your credit card issuers to cancel your cards, or put a warning mark next to your name,merely because you have made an enquiry.

3. Bring your American cheque book with you, so you can easily pay whatever bills you will still be incurring back home, without having to pay bank charges and exchange charges each time.

4. Do not rely on the internet for paying bills. This is an undeveloped country with shaky technology. And it is full of unethical people, both Thai and foreign. Any assurance that the internet is secure is worth nothing.

On the north side of Talingchan Road, there is an outdoor swimming pool at the intersection with the new north-south expressway which runs up from Siam University. (sorry, if it has a name, I don't know it). Stand on the pedestrian bridge which crosses Talingchan Road, look north, and you should see the pool, right in front of you.

I have never swam there, so don't know any of the particulars about it.

The "Rh" Factor is either + or -. Sorry, but a fast Google search on my part did not reveal what "Rh" actually stands for.

You might be referring to Srinakharinwirot Univ., which is a public university.

I would concur with the part about not attempting to stage a nativity scene. I tried that a few years ago, but had to abandon the idea. Finding an ass took me no time at all, but I had a h--- of a time trying to find three wise men and a virgin.

Check Pradiphat Road, which is the first main road which runs west from Phahonyothin Road, just south of the Saphan Kwai BTS Station. There are several low - mid range hotels along there.

Neither of these would be described as being near Bangkok, but they maybe as near as any, given that hotsprings are generally associated with mountainous areas:

1. Hin Dat Hotsprings in Kanchanaburi province - just off of the north side of Hwy. 323, about 10 km before Thongphaphum.

2. Suanpheung Hotsprings in Ratchburi province, in Ampheu Suanpheung, west of Jombung, almost to the Burmese border. (This might be the one for which you saw the directional signs.)

It might be best to contact your home country embassy, and ask if someone there wuould do it. If necessary, that person could sign some sort of statutory declaration, recognised in the home country, saying that you had sat the exam, that they had witnessed you doing it etc. etc.

ARC International is a charity with an office at 37/1 Petchburi 15 in Bangkok. They do relief work in Burma, but might be aware of resources for Burmese people living in Bangkok.

As a non-American, I have not paid a lot of attention to this. But, an American colleague mentioned something about a gathering planned on US election day at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel, beginning at 7:00 a.m. Probably best to check with the hotel in advance, or drop in if you are able to.

I need a 1 metre long strap for a suitcase, with a snap hook on each end. Any ideas where I can buy one ?

Fortunate for the foreigners, at least.