"Living in Thailand"
e-book page 4
An update to the teaching
method described on page 3...
It's the end of the year, semester 2 is
finished and I can better assess what happened this year as I varied
my teaching styles from semester 1 to semester 2.
The Thai kids are used to speaking when
they want. They do NOT understand or listen when the teacher says
quiet, shut up, silence, ngee-up, etc. They keep right on talking.
They will talk whether you are quietly asking them or yelling
loudly. Makes no difference to them. They have some mechanism inside
that has been created over the years of living with Thais' and
dealing with only Thais'. Their brain tells them - when
someone tells you to be quiet, it doesn't really mean QUIET. It
means - be quieter, and don't talk as much. But, if you do anyway -
the person giving you the command is not all that serious about it
anyway - mai pen rai prevails in nearly all circumstances.
So, a foreign teacher that
was brought up believing that someone talking while he/she is
talking is rude and showing disrespect doesn't understand Thai
culture and must somehow either change that culture in the kids that
are in the class, or change him/herself to adapt to the culture and
map pen rai everything also.
I'm somewhere stuck between the two.
I know that the yelling and being very
serious and strict doesn't really work. It works for me - in the
short term, but at the end of the day or semester when I sit and
think about whether it was fun to teach the kids - I have to answer
- NOPE. It sucked. I don't LIKE to yell at the kids, yet, I believe
if they aren't silent while I'm teaching then they can't learn. Then
I'm not able to do my job. Which is unacceptable.
So, here's what I did 2nd term.
I told them I was tired of
yelling and that I wasn't going to do it much anymore. I told them
that I was not going to hit them with the ruler or whiteboard
markers anymore.
Instead I implemented a daily token system of sorts. Everyday
each student would get 3 points that goes toward their grade at the
end of the semester. These points, when added up among 40 classes
for our basic math - added up to 120 points that were possible for
the whole semester.
My tests are all worth 100 points. That meant that kids had an
opportunity to score a perfect 100% on a 120 point test each
semester. This would help some quiet kids immensely, and hurt others
that might be good academically, but clowns in the classroom.
The other thing I did so that the kids got
a better feel for what was going to happen for each class is I came
in and wrote 2 numbers on the whiteboard. I wrote the word
"Seriousness" and under it put a level from 1-10. If we had a
lot to learn that day I put an 8 or maybe a 9. I tried to usually
have 7-8 on average. Somedays were 10's. If a kid opened his mouth
on a 10 day - he was outside with his nose on the wall quickly. 10
days were no fun. But, the kids understood that 10 days were NO FUN.
If they didn't act accordingly they lost their 3 points for the day,
and possibly up to 9 other points for 3 more days depending if they
wanted to push me further after putting their nose on the wall for
15 minutes outside.
The other word I wrote on the board was "lines". Under this I wrote
2 numbers. The first was usually 100, and the second usually 200 or
more. This was the number of lines they'd write if they
screwed up bad.
The
kids never knew what I'd do if they screwed up during class. That's
a little secret to the effectiveness I think. They never knew, would I make them write lines or take away their bonus points for the day.
They knew something would happen though. Enforcing the system is
VERY important for it to work.
An example... The kids knew by 2nd
semester that they are never to talk while I'm talking. So, if I'm
talking and writing on the board and I hear someone and I'm able to
identify who it is - I just write their name on the board with a -1
or -2, or -3 up on the board - corresponding to the number of times
they had acted inappropriately in class that day.
I had to be fair - never carrying over bad
feelings for certain students to the next class. I had to treat
everyone the same. If a bad kid or a good kid spoke out
inappropriately they both lost the same number of points. Thai kids
WANT fairness. If they don't get it they'll raise hell behind your
back. For Thai kids to call you "unfair" as a teacher is a
real blow since it is something they have very high on their list of
priorities for a teacher.
So, the results of this experiment in
teaching 15 year olds math for 2nd semester...
NOBODY had to write lines except one boy
that irked me good. He lost 9 points for failing to do what I told
him to do in one day. Then he refused to write lines for homework
saying, Ajarn Vern, I don't have time at night - I have special
class... He gave me this excuse 4 times as each time I
increased the number of lines he was to write. When we got to 400
lines and he said it again we marched down to the English Program
director and set him straight.
The director was a push-over in every
instance of discipline and never wanted to call the parents of the
student for ANY reason. The kids knew this and also refused to do
what she wanted. I wisely handed over the discipline to her to save
face myself - because all the kids in the class saw this kid's
blatant refusal to do what I told him... The director made him
write 100 lines total. I never asked - but another kid told me - I said, oh, Aj. Pim is handling that now, I'm not sure what she
agreed to with him. So - I saved face. Aj. Pim saved face. The
kid saved face AND got what he wanted - to not do the lines. BUT, he
also lost 24 of his daily points just over that episode, and got a 0
out of 20 on "Responsibility" assessment in his end of year pink
book record which the parents DO see. He got a "B" that term
instead of an "A" and everyone was happy... well, everyone but him.
So - nobody else had to write lines but we
had a handful of jackasses go from A's to B's and from B's to C's
and from D's to F's on their final grades for Semester 2 because
they couldn't control themselves in my class (or anyone's class).
We had some students go from a B to an A and from D to C and F to D
also - which was nice since they understood and exploited the system
for their own good by being perfect students.
For the extra point system which added up
to 120 points in basic math...
Out of 100 students 83 got
an "A" grade resulting from the extra points. There were 15 F's.
Only 2 in-between. So - 83 students got a better grade because
of this system, and 15 got a worse grade. The other 2 - about same
as first semester. I
rarely yelled during the second semester and I didn't need to do
much more than start writing names with minus the numbers of points
they were receiving as they talked to each other. When they kept
talking I kept subtracting points. It worked really well because
they all tell each other when they see someone losing points and the
person doesn't know it yet...
So - this system was vastly superior over
last system. I also tried during this term to do some fun
stuff that lightened everyone up. We had about 10 classes that were
ranked seriousness levels of less than 5. We played some games and
had some bonus point contests where I did a problem on the board and
asked for answers to different part s of it. If someone raised their
hand first and answered correctly they'd get a bonus point. Some
kids that never raised their hands started to do it - and got some
bonus. That was cool to see...
Living in Southern Thailand - but not too far South
School finished for the term and we had a long summer break in March
and May so I went down south on the motorbike - from the Northeast
to the South on the motorbike! It was good fun. The motorbikes are
more like very fast mopeds and so they're comfortable and easy to
drive a hundred to hundred fifty kilometers at a time. I made my way
around to Pattaya, Ranong, Bangkok, Prachuap Khirikhan, Hua-hin,
Chumphon, and finally arriving where I am now in Suratthani.
A 900km trip. Maybe 550 miles. I stayed a
short time in some of the cities as I passed through - but I went
through Bangkok as quickly as I could. Riding a motorbike in Bangkok
is NO FUN at all. An accident is likely. It was raining hard during
the time I rode through so it sucked extra.
I really LOVED Prachuap Khiri Khan - a small city with some lovely
beaches that I wish I had more time for. I could see myself living
there. There were NO tourists when I was there - the huge, lovely beaches were empty! I am trying to
find a job there so I can live there for a year or so. It seems like
such a laid back place. There is no Makro, Big C or Tesco - but I
think I can live without those things. I have enough FBT shirts,
cooling powder and whitening cream for my girlfriend that we can go
without a visit to one of the big shopping stores for a while. It's
rather close to Hua-Hin, so if we get desperate for something we
could always take a motorsai (motorbike) or train trip. I decided to move away from the Northeast and go somewhere south to
live. I'd been around the ocean and beaches for 15 years in the
states and I was missing it.
With Lek, I finally gave in. I decided that when I moved from the
northeast to the south - where I am now - that Lek would come with
me. She was totally in love with me and had been for a year, while I
insisted on going out with others. She knew. Well, I told her. She never said ONE
thing when I came home late. Never mentioned ANYTHING about my
coming in at 5 am smelling of whiskey and the bar. Never said
ANYTHING about any girl I took to dinner or a movie. But now I know
she was crying inside, she didn't want anyone but me. I believe she's been faithful to me. I can trust her about 99% now.
It may take 10 more years to trust her the last 1%... but, I think
it will happen. She is really one of a kind... and yet she isn't
though. Isaan must be filled with these girls. Girls that would make
the most wonderful life part ners... I really don't think you'll find one easily in Bangkok and maybe
never find one in Phuket or Pattaya - the two prime sex-tourist
areas. The reason is that the girls in those areas are exposed to
tourists in a different way. They see tourists as ATMs. These cities
are built around money. They are expensive to live in and girls
start thinking about ways to make more money.
What to look for when trying to choose a good girl? Things to avoid
are easier to list...
Ø Girls that can't seem to get their focus away from money.
Ø Girls that work in a bar, club, massage place, or as a waitress
serving beer.
Ø Girls that have friends they hang out with that work in those
places.
Ø Girls that live in Pattaya, Phuket, Ko Samui, and Bangkok.
Ø Girls that mention money a lot... they are always asking for money
for something. They are always asking for extra money for family
problems at home for their parents and family.
Ø Girls that speak English very well. Be careful about this one. If
they spent some time abroad, ok, that's one thing. If they speak
rather fluently and they haven't been to college and many private
classes in order to hone their speaking skills then you gotta
suspect something. English is difficult to learn for Thais. As hard
as it is for us to learn Thai language. It does not come easily and
the Thai culture keeps Thais from speaking well because they lose
face every time they try to speak English and are incorrect.
Other Jobs in Thailand... Drugs, Corruption
Besides teaching jobs there are many other things one can do in
Thailand. It's fairly easy to get a work permit which is valid for a
year. This will negate having to travel outside the country to renew
your 30 or 90 day visas that don't accompany a work permit.
Usually foreigners will try their hand at setting up their own
business. The costs are low and one can get around the "2 million
baht" capital in the bank requirement by registering the business
with a lawyer in Bangkok who will charge 20,000 to 30,000 baht to do
all the paperwork and make you legal.
There are many foreigners making money illegally here. Illegal drugs
importing and exporting... pornography... It should be mentioned
that doing drugs at any level... or being close to others that are
doing drugs, buying or selling drugs, can turn into a life or death
situation. The country of Thailand doesn't have much tolerance for
drug users, buyers or sellers. Occasionally there are police sweeps
across the country - initiated by the premier in which thousands of
people are rounded up or shot dead in the street. There are often
not trials, they are just shot in the street. The papers report
little on this. The Thai people don't seem to get all that worked up
about it. They really don't like drugs in their country and don't
care much what is done to eliminate them. You really should stay FAR
away from them during your stay in Thailand.
Even if you have a small amount you can open yourself up to becoming
a victim of a scam by police or other Thai citizens. There are many
people in Thailand that are watching you as a foreigner. Some are
watching because they are curious. Some are watching to see how they
can make a little money from you. Some will try to make money from
you in a legal way. Some will try to take advantage of you
personally. Some will set you up by reporting something about you to
the police or others.
You may have a very small amount of pot (marijuana) on you. Maybe
you offer some to a girl that you find in a bar and bring back to
your room. She may or may not smoke it with you. If she has a bad
experience with you - or feels slighted or hurt in some way... or if
she is just desperate for more money she may tell her friend in the
police force that you have some pot.
The police may visit your room or find you on the street. They may
pull you over in a car or on the motorbike.
Now, the penalty for having drugs in Thailand is quite severe. You
might have a seed in your pocket. But, the police can do with you
what they will once they have you back at the police station. If at
all possible you want to get rid of the situation BEFORE you go back
to the police station. It's very easy to plant more drugs on you
once you are out of the public eye - and maybe you're standing in
the police station in your underwear and someone's sticking a
quarter kilo of smack in your pocket.
The police are looking for a little extra to supplement their
incomes. They make VERY little for the kinds of things they are
supposed to do. If you nip the problem in the bud you might only end
up paying a few thousand baht for possessing a very small amount of
drugs. If they don't offer you a way out - you should offer yourself
a way out... offer 10,000 baht to just get you out of jail
"today"... or something like that. Offer whatever you need to so
that the police stay rather friendly and aren't going to really give
it to you by upping the ante.
A quarter kilo of smack could get you sent away for a long time. 20
years? 30? There are foreigners doing that kind of insane time right
now in Thai prisons. Thai jails are not fun, so I've heard and read.
How much would you pay to get out of going to jail for 30 years? Me
too. Everything I had.
I've stayed very far away from drugs here - to the extent that I
won't even play ping-pong at a co-workers house because the one time I was there they were passing around a rose apple bong. I've found
that ALL of my co-workers smoke pot in their free time! I'm glad I
don't have to worry about that one aspect of life here. I don't
associate with ANY other foreigners from school after-hours. I feel
much safer that way. You too, if you come to live here, will have to
make a choice... it would be a tough choice for some of you.
Someone may know that about you. They may develop a plan... They'll
tell the police
I'm too afraid of jail time here or deportation. I've got a great
thing going living here in Thailand - I control who knows where I am and who has my
phone number. I pay less than $25 USD for all my phone service AND
internet service over my blue-tooth enabled phone and the internet at
work - for teachers.
Of course I couldn't live here for two years and escape completely
the corruption that happens to both farang and Thais alike. I've
been stopped 19 times while riding my motorbike in Isaan, Phuket,
and Suratthani and never once been fined or asked for a 'donation'.
But, this one time at the border of Chong Mek - where Isaan meets
neighboring "Laos" I had my first taste of corruption...
I'll post the story as I had entered it on a popular forum...
****************************************************** I cross-posted this in the general form as well, figuring that there
are many visitors that end up coming up through Isaan and to Chong
Mek to get to Laos...
Today at 1:15 pm a friend of mine (American living in Thailand,
myself (American), and his Thai wife of 5 years were stopped by
"Excise" officials.
About 1:00 pm we stopped at the duty free alcohol shop on the Laos
side of Chong mek border crossing, intending to get some beer laos
like we usually do, and also pick up a bottle of something stronger.
We had heard that the law had changed recently since Thailand was
now heavily taxing the harder liquors.
At the package store they explained to us (long-time customers) that
we were allowed to take a case of beer each and 1 bottle of whisky
each. This is what we did. We asked the owner of the store as well
as the clerks. All were of the same opinion. We don't think that
they would have scammed us by telling us the wrong amounts just so
we buy more because we are in their store once every couple weeks
buying over 2000 baht worth of goods each time.
We paid, got receipts and headed outside to find a guy with a
pushcart to take the stuff to our car on the TH side. The store
actually found us a guy to do it for 20baht.
We walked alongside him until the border and we took the footpath
and he took the road where his push cart fit easily. A border agent
checked what he had in the cart and let him through.
We kept walking and met him on the other side and walked to our car.
Upon arriving at the car a man came right up to us to look at what
was in the cart . He said that we had too much alcohol and that only
1 liter per person was allowed. I didn't understand as we had one
200ml bottle of red label, one 375 ml bottle of black label, and a
1.5 liter of baileys Irish cream. We also had 1 case of beer Laos
dark (exceptional by the way), and 1 case of beer Laos regular (both
in bottles). There were 3 of us.
The guy was very low-key and had a tattered ID card - which I didn't
believe. I insisted he call his boss and that we're not paying the
2000 baht he suggested...
As he left to go get the rest of the party, he told us to remain
there. We did - waiting about 10 minutes. Then he came with 3 other
guys. One had an "Excise" ID - #removed... he was in charge. He
explained that the guy at the border was "ARMY" and that he is under
a different group of people. NOT the same. If the border guy said
OK, it doesn't mean it's OK. He wanted to charge us 1000 baht excise
tax on the liquor we had.
We argued a lot and tried to rationalize, when I realized and my
friend did too, that they didn't want to budge. We'd have to pay
them off. My friend reaches in his pocket to get 1000 baht and asked
that we get a receipt for the "fine".
The excise official (ID - #removed) said loudly that he couldn't take
a bribe! So my friend repeated, no, no bribe, we're wrong, let us
just pay the fine - give us a receipt and we'll go.
Well the guy was embarrassed a bit now - or something wasn't going
his way, so now he said we must go to the police station to do the
paperwork. he was going to go to court against US because we were
saying he is trying to scam us. He also said that if this happened,
my friends wife would have to go to JAIL because she is the one
behind all this. THEY NEVER LOOKED AT MY FRIEND'S OR MY PASSPORT AT
ALL, just hers.
We tried to pay there and avoid the police station - because who
knows what could happen there.
Reluctantly we went to the police station - we drove - main guy (ID
- #removed) came with us in back seat. It's close to the border - 3
minute ride. The main guy starts writing lots of accusations about
my friend's wife. Calling her a smuggler and that when the court
case comes up she'll be put in jail and they'll have to pay 20,000
baht to get her out. He is threatening her with a lot of things -
making her very afraid. We weren't sure he wasn't going to put her
in jail right there.
The jail was visible from the front of the building where we were
standing at the desk he was filling out the paperwork. Two guys were
standing - one was getting strip searched - I saw him strip to his
underwear. There were 15-20 other men sitting and laying in the cell
- who knows how long they had been there. I did not have a good
feeling.
Before we left the car to walk up the police steps I had the sense
to shut the trunk - as I didn't need these clowns planting yaba on us
and upping the ante...
So, the guy berated my friend's wife and we continued to try to
rationalize. They were having none of it and told my friend's wife
if we keep pushing it - she'd go to jail.
She paid the 1000 baht. Got a receipt. The officer then said he
needed to get into the trunk to get our alcohol! We were told before
we left Chong Mek that we would keep the alcohol if we paid the 1000
baht "fine".
So a guy reaches in and grabs 4 beer Laos and that was it. Shuts the
trunk.
We drove off feeling screwed, and yet happy that she wasn't in jail
and we weren't in jail for having some cigarettes or yaba or
something else planted in the car.
What a ######ed up day at Chong Mek.
So, my question - what IS the law... we did not see a sign at the
border that the Excise guy said is there. The people at the duty
free store said they would refund us the 1000 baht AND give us 4
bottles of beer Laos when we return (we called and they remembered
us). They said that this same excise guy comes and buys 10 cases of
beer and gets it across the border every now and then with
apparently no problem.
We saw people get on the tour bus from Thailand with over 10 bottles
of alcohol for ONE PERSON.
Advising everyone to be VERY careful here. And even if you are -
LIKE WE WERE, you may still be had...
this IS Thailand - corruption can be found most places. Living in
Thailand is risky sometimes, stay smart and stay far away from
drugs.
*********************************************************
Overall this incident pales when compared with what my life is like
here. What an incredible time I'm having here - very few expenses.
Can travel every weekend somewhere. Have bare necessities for living
and yet the low stress that is a result is so nice that I don't miss
the boat, cars, SUV, expensive bicycles, stereo, laptops and video
cameras. I am self-content and contained here.
Living in Suratthani, Southern Thailand
When I came to Suratthani I took a job with a respected government
school that has a good English program. I teach only math to Mathyom
3 level kids - they are 14-15 years old and a bit hard to control at
times - especially the end of the day - but usually they are great.
They are respectful enough and I can control them when I need to.
I'm making 34,000 baht per month and don't teach any overtime. There
was an English camp I had to attend at a beach resort for 3 days
that wasn't hard-duty by any stretch of the imagination! I like it here except there are TOO DAMN MANY foreigners working
here! We have 4 people from America, 4 from England, 1 from
Switzerland. So much for living and working immersed in Thai
culture. My contract goes until March 31st so I'll stay until then.
I'll know next time I need to choose a smaller school with few
foreigners. I'd much rather be surrounded by Thais so I can learn
the culture more... learn the language more... eat their food, go to
their homes... and do what they do! I've DONE America. I don't want
to hang out with 30 foreigners from all the schools in this area at
a beach resort in Krabi... I want to go myself... just me and Lek
and I'll enjoy it so much more.
Suratthani is a great place to live though, that much is sure! It is
very close to so many great places. Ko Samui island, Ko Tao, Ko
Pangnan... Krabi, Nakhon si Thammarat, Phuket, Phangna... so many
world class places that my girlfriend and I can reach by motorbike
for a 2 or 3 day weekend. For central locations to the islands this
city is hard to beat.
Thai Holidays
Besides getting off from teaching for nearly one day each week for
some holiday or special day there are some really cool things about
Thai culture that you'll see if you stay for a year. There are some
holidays that are quite different from holidays in the west.
There is "Wai Kru" day. On this day students show respect to their
teachers by kneeling in front of them and giving flower arrangements
or flowers. It is really beautiful! The kids kneel in front of the
teachers and give the flowers, bow again and move to the side while
the next child comes and does the same. It's really something.
Shocking the difference between Thailand and the USA where there is
no real respect for the teachers.
There are usually days off school to prepare the flower arrangements
and on the actual day of "Wai Kru" there is a day off as the
students are allowed to go find teachers from the past and give them
flowers too.
"Loy Krathong" is another nice holiday. It's similar to Valentines
Day in the USA. The holiday is to "apologize to the rivers and lakes
for making them polluted" my girlfriend tells me. There are
elaborate floating flower arrangements that are put onto a
cross-section of banana tree with straight pins. It is a time when
boyfriend and girlfriend and parents and children go to the
waterways of Thailand and let loose their floating flowers...
Sometimes there is money on the flowers that is supposed to bring
good luck. But, the couple times I've seen it - the money is
collected quickly by kids and others in boats off the banks of the
river or lake! They take the money and then send the Krathongs on
their way again! Nobody really gets angry - it's part of the
tradition too. Kids as young as 7 can be seen swimming in the water
and waiting for people to launch their Krathongs into the water.
By far the coolest holiday - perhaps in the world - is "SongKran!".
This was originally a way for boys and girls to meet each other and
show respect for each other... and a way to cool off during the
hottest part of the year. However, it has degenerated into water
throwing mayhem for 3 or more days that might just be the most fun
you ever had in your life. It is for me!
On the first day the water throwing starts early. Small children
especially are throwing water by 8 am, sometimes earlier. They have
squirt guns, hoses, buckets, cups, and these huge squirters that
shoot a powerful jet of water - they are made from PVC pipe and can
shoot great distances - 30 feet or more if the wind is right. By
noon there are quite a few people in pickup trucks, on motorbikes,
walking around, and lining the streets - everyone throwing water.
The streets of even small cities like SiSaket where my girlfriend is
from, are jammed with trucks full of people throwing buckets of
water from large trash cans on the truck! There are places
throughout each city that sell large blocks of ice for 40-50 baht
each to cool the water - sometimes making it ICE COLD! There are
water fill-up places around the city that have huge 8 inch diameter
hoses filling up garbage cans full of water in pickup truck after
pickup truck all day long.
Residents bring out large speaker systems and blast music - upbeat
dance music the entire day. People are drinking and having a great
time. I saw only one major fight during the holiday during my first
SongKran... it involved a bunch of Thai guys in their early 20's
that were very drunk and someone lost face... it escalated into
bottles being broken, stomachs slashed open, necks cut open, and
people dying in the street. I was right there across from it in a
pickup truck with some kids from my 1st school and their parents.
The kids saw most of it because it happened so fast all our eyes
were glued to it. By the time we pushed the kids down where they
couldn't see it was too late - they had already seen some horrific
violence.
That was the only bad fight I saw in 2 different Songkrans though.
I've heard that certain gangs of kids target each other every year
and there are always fights - but most can be avoided. There were
some Thai guys that offered me whiskey that didn't like it when I
refused - and so I quickly drank some. As I said before, Thais lose
face quickly when drunk. Better to drink their homemade whiskey that
30 others have had from the same bottle than resist and cause a
fight!
So, this water throwing madness goes on not just for one day, but
for 3 DAYS! In Chiang Mai and some other spots they stretch it out
to a WEEK!
FOOD!
There is incredible variety to Thai food. If you've been to Thai
restaurants in the USA you've no doubt tasted some tasty dishes.
There is a very limited menu in these places. I knew though, that I
could live on only what I found in a Thai restaurant in America
because I loved it so much! I didn't have any question about whether I could eat rice everyday. I knew I could.
When I moved here and began living in Thailand I saw that there are so many other
foods here that we never see in the USA. Some of my favorite foods
are the fruits. There is incredible variety to the fruits here. Longan, Lumyai, Dragonfruit, Mangosteen, mmmmmmmm. In the states I
was able to find Lumyai for 10 dollars a pound. Here I can get a
kilogram for an average of 35 baht - less than a dollar!
The fruit is plentiful and good. I've heard that there are quite a
few pesticides used on some of them - especially the watermelon and
lumyai. I wish I had a better idea about the truth of this, and what
other fruits might get more than a light dose of them.
The food is SPICY in the northeast - Isaan region. It is all spicy.
If you say "mai pedt", (not spicy) you will still get spicy enough
that you might not be able to handle it. They spice EVERYTHING there
except deserts.
When I moved down to the south I noticed that there isn't much spice
at all. The spicy dishes aren't really spicy at all. I've grown
accustomed to the really spicy Isaan food. "Som Tam" which is spicy
papaya salad, is one of my favorites - I have to tell them "pedt
maak maa" here in the south so they get the idea to put as many
peppers into it as they can. I think the peppers are of a different
quality here in the south versus Isaan. Not nearly as hot. Som Tam
is THE favorite of Isaan natives. They are addicted to it - they
must have it everyday. If my girlfriend doesn't get it here everyday
for lunch she must have it the next day without fail.
Living in Isaan you'll see quite a few small markets that have bugs for
sale. Fried bugs of every variety. I've seen ants, spiders, frogs,
tarantulas, rice bugs, grasshoppers, crickets, big black scorpions,
and more. Anything that can be fried - meaning, anything!
In Isaan one time I had lunch with some top administrators from the
depart ment of education... the first thing the top guy ordered was
some rice bugs for appetizer. Oh, and some beer for everyone. There
is no stigma attached to those that order beer at lunch time here in
Thailand. Even among teachers! It's normal. It's easy to get used to
also...
There are many different beers in Thailand. Most of them are the 6% alcohol
variety which, to me don't taste all that great. In the USA our beer
is 2-3% alcohol and tastes better on average. However, Thailand just
came out with a new Singha Light beer which I really enjoy. I think
it has 3.5 % alcohol and it tastes a little bit like my favorite
beer of all time... BEER LAOS! If you get a change to go to Laos and
get some beer Laos in a bottle... wow, you're in for a treat. Laos
also started making some dark Beer Laos recently that is really
delicious. Either one will put a smile on your face!
Remote villages -
It's fun to drive out into the countryside in the northeast and just
go back some dirt roads... there are tiny villages - groups of 20 or
more houses where some really poor people live. They get all excited
when the see farangs and some of them wave... but all of them stare.
If you take the time to buy something at their little convenience
store or talk to a child you'll find them the nicest people in the
world.
The northeast is really tops for people and how nice they are to
strangers. They really go out of their way to be friendly and nice
to others.
FIRSTS IN Thailand
Last weekend was the under-celebrated anniversary of my first year
in Thailand. I was thinking about how many things that I did for the
first time while here. I am in my late 30's and have experienced
quite a bit of "life". Variety both of good and bad times. Moving to
another country can give you another level of good and bad. It was
that kind of change that I craved when I sold everything and moved
to Thailand a year ago. Anyway, here is my year of "1st's"...
meaning - first times that I experienced these things...
1st time I saw thin persons outnumber chubby, heavy, obese people.
1st time I saw pretty or acceptable girls outnumber ugly or
undesirable girls.
1st time I saw fat, ugly, old white men folk outnumber the young,
virile, stud puppies that seem to hang out in Tampa and the beaches.
1st time I ate bugs. (rice bugs, crickets, ants)
1st time I ate such spicy food (yum woonsen) that I sweat profusely,
felt violently ill, and recovered within an hour.
1st time I had diarrhea more than 10 days.
1st time I saw a fight where a guy was cut in the stomach with a
broken bottle and then his head was kicked and bottles were bounced
off his face after he was unconscious.
1st time I threw water at people and had water thrown at me for 24
hours over a 3-day period. (Songkran)
1st time I saw ladyboys that WERE prettier than girls.
1st time I spent less than 50 cents USD for breakfast; less than
$1.00 USD for dinner.
1st time I slept on the hard floor; a hard bed; a wooden couch.
1st time I had my crotch grabbed by anyone other than a woman.
1st time I saw people dead on the street. I've seen 4 people laying
dead on the street after motorsai accidents. Many more very badly
injured.
1st time I worried whether a friend was killed in a natural disaster
- Patong's Tsunami.
1st time my best friend was over 50 yrs old.
1st time I didn't care whether my shirt 'matched' my tie.
1st time I've had the hair on my arms 'admired' by children and
men/women alike.
1st time I haven't had pretzel rods for more than 6 months.
1st time I've taken a bus ride longer than 2 hours (10 hours
actually!).
1st time I've met people from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Burma, Ireland,
Scotland.
1st time I had home-brewed whiskey.
1st time I saw a live cobra in the wild (restroom in Phuket).
1st time I slept on a train.
1st time I saw people cut in line and nobody said anything.
1st time I got annihilated on alcohol at a bar for less than $12
USD.
1st time I saw girls under 16 selling sex.
1st time I saw a 75+ year old man with a 15 year old dinner-date.
1st time I had an oil massage.
1st time I saw a fishbowl - where the girls are behind a clear glass
pane and the guys come and pick one out like meat at the market.
1st time I heard Too-Gehs (large night geckos that make a crazy
sound)
1st time I saw black and white (zebra) mosquitoes.
1st time I saw a girl faint up close (I was teaching English to 2
young girls, private students, when one cut her finger a bit with a
knife she was shaving a pencil with. She went to restroom and
fainted, landing hard on the floor. Dad flipped out.
1st time I've slept until 5 pm.
1st time I've seen someone passed out lying face down in the sand as I walked along the beach in the morning.
1st time I've had a stranger ask me to pay for their food at the
fruit stand.
1st time I've paid for dinner for 3 at a nice restaurant and the
total was under $8.00 USD.
1st time I've had girls ask ME to go home with me.
1st time I've been 12 hours in time zones away from my parents.
1st time I've sent SMS messages from a phone.
1st time I've eaten rice everyday for months at a time.
1st time I've had friends from England, Australia, France and
Singapore.
1st time I've seen children that are NOT afraid of rats.
1st time I've seen more than 2 people on a motorbike. (5)
Hospitals and Medical Care in Thailand
So far I've been fortunate and haven't been in any major accident or
had any serious injury while here in Thailand. I have seen many
motorbike accidents - quite serious accidents. I've seen perhaps 6
people or so dead on the street, bleeding from the head usually
after a motorbike accident.
I've seen victims of accidents thrown into open pickup trucks where
they are rushed off to the hospital. Drivers who take injured to the
hospital make a couple hundred baht for taking them so there is
rarely any waiting around for an ambulance to arrive. People just
pick up the body and throw them in the truck - not at all gently
sometimes.
The worst I've had here since living in Thailand has been some red-ant bites that
got me when I didn't check a towel after my shower and they had
infested it for some reason. I had bites all over my privates and
literally everywhere. I've also had a large black wasp type thing
fly up my shorts as I rode the motorbike at 110 km per hour ( about
80mph). It stung multiple times - 6 or 7, I can't remember. I
skidded the bike to a stop, dropped the kickstand and left my
girlfriend sitting on the motorbike stunned as I ripped off my
shorts and underwear, shaking them insanely and running down an
embankment. Thais in passing cars had their faces pressed up against
their windows. Understandable since they've probably never seen a
naked farang on the highway! But, as I said, so far- nothing
serious. Motorbike injuries are by far the most common thing to
happen here.
I've escaped a couple tragedies on the motorbike over these two
years. In one case I was going too fast and 3 girls on a motorbike
pulled out in front of me - I locked up both brakes and skidded -
sideways - without flipping over - for about 30 meters... I cussed
them in English until my throat hurt. They hadn't a clue what had
even happened. Thais have a habit of just pulling out into traffic
without looking - assuming that everyone in back of them will avoid
them. That's the way it's usually done here. Unless of course some
farangs are driving behind - and we don't understand the game yet.
Another time I was driving down the road - on the left side - close
to some cars and a drunk teen on a motorbike just pushed his
motorbike out backwards (backed up) right into traffic and in my
direct line. I narrowly missed crashing into him at 70 km/hour. Good
thing there wasn't a car on the right side of me when I swerved, or
I'd have been in the hospital or morgue.
Thais are usually very predictable in how they drive. In Isaan they
are quite a bit more polite and drive slower than here in the south. I don't feel safe here driving at all. There are young teens that
are FLYING up the main road here - at 120 km/hour, racing as the sun
sets. They have no regard for where they are on the road - sometimes
far right side - sometimes passing other motorbikes on the left
side. There are such horrible accidents here - and the Thais take it
all in stride.
The Thais are Buddhist . They believe that fate comes when it comes.
There is no sense worrying about it before it comes or after it
comes. When someone dies, they die. There is little else to say
about it. Their time came. When someone dies on the street in a
motorbike accident those that are still alive and coherent aren't
even looking at their dead friend in the street. They are just happy
to be alive. They don't hug the dead person, cry over them, hold
their hand, nothing. They just leave the person in the street and go
over to talk to each other and laugh and smile. It's so surreal to
see it. I've seen this about 4 separate times during motorbike
accidents that resulted in deaths.
After a night out one of my co-workers in Isaan had a bad motorbike
accident at about 2 am one night. I didn't see it happen, but I
lived with the after-effects. I wrote the Article below and posted
it at an expat forum:
MOTORSAI ACCIDENT IN Thailand - Hospital ICU
****************
Hey Scott, I see me when I look at you. When I see your broken teeth and deeply
cut lip, your mangled chin... your shaved head with exposed brain
just beneath the thin white gauze and tape... I see me. I see me
when I look at your body covered in hair... typical hairy farang
like me. Your wild looks when you wake up from your 20 second
sleeps. It looks to me as if it's myself there in the hospital bed. I was with you at the bars... I left when you did, though only
seconds before. We were going home the same way, you live only
blocks from my house and yet I didn't wait... didn't even think you
were drunk considering you drink more often than me and I felt fine.
And who is to say if it would have mattered if you were plastered
blind... from the stories I heard from those at the scene the driver
of the other motorsai was at fault. I sincerely doubt anyone could
have avoided it.
Today as I went to get my laundry so I have clothes to wear to work
tomorrow I saw the spot in the street where you flew into the 3 Thai
teens on a motorbike with no lights on at 2 in the morning. The
white paint outline of where your motorsai lie... and the outline of
the other motorsai. I thought the paint was an outline of your body,
but the girl told me it
was to show the motorsai position. I saw me in the street there,
bleeding and unconscious... I remembered it as if I was you...
because it was me too.
The laundry girl said she heard the sound of you all crashing that
night. She came outside like everyone else and she thought it was me
she said... and I was thinking the same thing. Your 1/8 inch thin
plastic red helmet with no face-guard was lying over there (30 feet
from the crash... A boy's head hit the curb there. A girl sat there
with a huge laceration to her head and cried that she didn't want to
go to the hospital. She later went and got 20 stitches in her head.
Two Thai men tried to lift you into the pickup truck and almost
dropped you because you were so heavy. You were unconscious. Your
Thai made helmet wasn't enough to keep your brain from serious
injury.
In the hospital ICU the first image I had of you was with your
swollen, black like a tire, right eyelid, cut lip and chin, broken
teeth, bruised body... My girlfriend said later she thought it was
me at first look. I know she must have, because it WAS me. I was
there with you.
No difference that I didn't have the accident. The accident happened
inside me too. I've never experienced any trauma like this with a
friend. I was the last to see the Scott that everyone knew. I fear
that you won't be the same one as time unfolds. A blood clot. Brain
surgery to remove pieces of bone in your brain. Moderate brain
swelling. Brain tissue removed in the area of communication... Dirty
ICU rooms with mosquitoes, blood stained concrete floors. Someone's
pet dog in the open room connecting to the ICU.
Four died that night during the 14 hours I was there in the ICU
(Intensive Care Unit). The first one to die was a child - perhaps 11
years old. A boy. His legs and arms were suntanned dark and didn't
even have a blemish from my view... and yet he had a neck brace on
to keep him still... I never did see him move at all. After he had
been there for a couple hours the heart rate monitor went "0"... the
nurse checked.
They started CPR in earnest - using heart compressions to keep his
heart pumping the oxygen rich blood to the brain and body. I watched
as a male nurse or doctor started the CPR and the numbers leapt up
to 120 beats per minute as he worked steadily and tirelessly. He
stopped after 5 minutes to check if the boy's heart would beat on
it's own. It didn't. Another round, this time moving himself on top
of the bed, kneeling by the boy's shoulders. 5 minutes on - 120
beats per minute. Check - 0 beats per minute. Again.
By this time the boy's mother was there and crying as she watched
them try in vain to keep her boy alive. The nurses must have tried 5
or 6 five minute sessions and still the heart rate monitor went to
"0" as soon as their efforts ceased. They then tried electro shock
with the chest zappers. Again, no pulse. And there were 4 nurses
over the boy, giving their all - and nothing. The mom, perhaps 45
years old in her high fashion short white t-shirt, tight white pants
and a lot of gold on her neck, fingers, ears. She wept hard and yet
she didn't wail.
The only wail I heard that night was from a boy of about 16 that
needed to peak under the green sheet at the person already dead.
When he did, he burst into tears and crying and an older boy, his
brother maybe, put him in a one arm headlock and they walked away
with the boy wailing out a couple times. It was an older man, the
one under the sheet - I'm guessing it was the boy's father.
So the nurses had gone through their procedure and the young boy's
heart was not responding. They injected things into him - hoping it
would start the heart - and it did not. They pumped more - and
always the same zero on the screen. There was a doctor there now and
the doctor took the pulse, listened in the stethoscope... and looked
at the monitors and pronounced the boy dead... there was one thing
though - the child was STILL BREATHING on his own!
The boy went on breathing for over a half hour WITHOUT any kind of
support system. I was really clue-less that this could happen - but
there it was... he was breathing not 4 meters from me - clearly
visible from the rhythmic rise and fall of the sheet that covered
his chest - and the monitor which read about 15 breaths per minute.
The boy's sister and farang husband came in and looked and cried and
held the boy's arm and all cried together. Very surreal considering
the boy was still breathing.
The family left and they removed the boy after an hour. They washed
up the bed, changed linens. The body guys came and took the boy onto
their cart .
The next one to fill that slot - I'll call slot number 2 - was a guy
that had either just been shot, knifed, or had an accident. But the
only thing I could see was just profuse amounts of blood coming from
his mouth, and head. He was hooked up to a bag of blood but it was a
small bag. When I went in the lunch room I was only 1.5 meters away
from him and I could see the fresh blood streaming down his neck.
There was a large spot on the sheets under his head and getting
bigger every minute. The guy made no move and when the monitor went
"0" nobody knew. The monitor either didn't give the beep - or, they
didn't have him hooked up to it. There was one there beside him, but
an older model that didn't have large enough numbers for me to read
from 4 meters away and so I never knew if it was even on. A nurse
walked by, put her hand on the guys leg for a few seconds and said,
oh - die. She made a joke to the other nurses and they laughed -
presumably because the guy was cold and he must have died a little
while ago but nobody noticed. The doctor came by and said, "die".
There was no family there or effort to give him CPR - the doctor
just came over and said - die. They wrote down the time and did some
paperwork.
And Scott you were awake in spurts all night. You never slept more
than a few seconds or minutes at a time. When you woke up you would
grab your head, open your eyes wide, look confused and twist in the
bed... twisting apart the catheter tubes, ripping out the
Intravenous lines, and pulling off the heart rate monitors.
Sometimes you were hot and sometimes cold. The nurses decided to
give you the cold air conditioner and wrap you in blankets. My
girlfriend and I asked them to lower your bed to 180 degrees so you
could sleep better - your head had raised higher than legs for 11
hours or so before that. They changed it and you slept for not
seconds but minutes.
When we asked you questions you'd respond yeah, yeah. Always yeah.
Never no. Until about 3 am on 2/5 you said - no.
You grew more frustrated at not understanding what was going on
during the night. But finally you snored a few times and I thought-
good for you.
It was 7 am before we left you. Mickey was right behind us. My
girlfriend and I went home to sleep and the night replayed in my
mind a few times before I was able to sleep.
And today. It's a new day. And new problems for you. Mickey told me
that you had to have surgery to have a shunt put in your head to
relieve some of the pressure. Apparently your brain was swelling.
Not good. I arrived this evening and found out they did actual
SURGERY on your brain - removing pieces of bone and even a part of
your brain - in the lobe dealing with communication. I'm fighting
for you Scott. For your family. Your friends. Your girlfriends. But
what am I fighting with? Just hoping really that you're on the other
side of the curve now - and it will be good progress from here. I think the risk of infection is high now. Your brain is actually
without part of the skull if I understood Mickey correctly. There
was a flap that was removed and is being kept alive somewhere frozen
in anti-biotic solution to be re-attached later. Your brain is
essentially just beneath the white gauze pad and see through tape.
Is that good practice? I wish you were back in the USA for this... at least in Bangkok.
Even my Thai teacher friend Sai decided to go to BKK for her brain
surgery to remove a large, non-cancerous tumor. Not like you had the
time to choose though.
And I'm waiting for my turn now. I think it's my turn. I've escaped
SO MUCH. I've always been the lucky one. I've had the most fun of
anyone I know. I've done some crazy things and maybe now it's my
time... that's what I mean, I am there with you Scott... I'm right
in that same spot... and it's just a matter of time. It's a matter
of things catching up... statistics... the numbers - it won't be
long now...
And yet, there was an accident inside me too and I will be more
cautious about many things. That too is what I mean, it's like it
was me that had the accident but my accident is all mental... but
traumatic too...
The feeling today is deep - there has been change in the way "I"
am... what I believe... what I do... what I see as important... what
is not...
Your parents and sister will get here tomorrow night. All of us from
school will continue to visit the hospital when not in class.
Hold on Scott, and come back stronger than before. I think you can
get through this...Just keep hanging in there brother...
**************************************************
"Scott" (not his real name), became mostly better except for a lame
foot that refused to work or get any better and also some brain
damage that made him not quite the same as we all remembered him.
He was pretty paranoid about learning to ride the motorbike in
Thailand - as most people are initially when coming to live in
Thailand. My fellow teachers and myself talked
him into it after a couple of months and he seemed to be enjoying
it, though always cautious.
Motorbikes here are more like fast mopeds. They can go much faster
than a moped in the USA where they are limited to 50cc engines. Here
they are typically 100-125cc.
Recently Thailand began selling some Yamaha motorbikes (Mio) that
are automatic. They are faster, smoother, and don't require shifting
at all. The result has been - I believe - that people go faster and
are less cautious about driving than they were when they were
shifting gears. Not sure, just a hunch. Suzuki, Honda and some
others have come out with the automatic motorbikes now so we'll see
how it goes in the future as they bikes get faster and faster.
What is it really like living in
Thailand?
Very hard to answer. My life differs from others, but here is a
typical day for me:
6:10am - wake up to alarm on cell phone. Hit snooze.
6:20 am - wake up again to cell phone. Sometimes I climb out of bed.
50% of the time I sleep another 10 minutes. When I get up I turn on
the hot water maker for instant coffee that I have daily. Nobody
really has real coffee here, I'm not sure why...
6:40 - I'm usually showered by now. Even if showering consists only
of sticking my head under the shower because the water is often cold
in the morning. I hate cold water. I don't have an electric water
heater like most of the farangs insist on having. Though I had one
in Isaan at the house I stayed in and at times I miss it.
7:00 - My girlfriend has made "Gwit Diao" - a noodle soup with pork
broth, pak boong, koon chai, garlic and pickled radish pieces. I eat
it like it is from heaven. She can cook everything perfectly. I'm so
happy to have her cook everyday now that she lives with me!
7:20 - I've finished and brushed my teeth and out the door wearing
navy blue polyester dress pants, black leather dress shoes,
long-sleeved shirt and tie. I jump on my old motorsai - 11 years
old, and with a roar I'm riding to school which is about 400 meters
away through heavy traffic. There are many schools where I teach and
so traffic is NUTS in the morning.
7:25-7:30 I'm signing the attendance sheet at school and then
sitting at my desk cruising the internet via wireless LAN router and
chatting with co-workers a little.
7:45 - All us teachers need to go outside and stand for "flag
ceremony" which happens daily. We stand for the anthem, as they sing
a prayer, and as they play another song and then sit and meditate
for a few minutes. We leave earlier than the rest of the Thai
teachers and kids because for some reason we're excused. Probably
because we don't understand any of what will be said from then on.
8:05 We're back in office getting ready for class or relaxing more
if we don't have to teach 1st period.
8:20 the kids return from flag ceremony and go to their rooms - we
can usually hear them, as they're in the same building as us.
8:25 I'm usually teaching math to 15 year olds. Fun stuff -
polynomial factoring, basic probability, area of 3 dimensional
figures. Some kids pick it up quickly, and others are failing
miserably. Nobody REALLY fails though - all kids get the minimum 50%
required grade to go on to next grade - regardless what grades they
deserve.
11:20 - Each class is an hour and I have 4 classes to teach every
day. At this time there is lunch for kids and staff alike. I usually
just eat some dragon fruit for lunch, but there are times I'll go to
a restaurant like the other guys and girls and eat some fried rice
with pork and vegetables or som tam or something else.
12:20 - Lunch over. Sometimes teaching - sometimes not. If not
teaching I am usually building web sites, writing, checking on
statistics for my sites... etc. Occasionally I plug the headphones
into my cell phone and listen to some MP3's.
16:20 (4:30) school is done. One could leave early if so inclined
and no classes to go to - but usually I stay until this time. The
Thai teachers all must stay. Farangs get a good deal at this school.
16:25 - I ride motorbike 400 meters back to my small (1-room)
apartment on the 3rd floor walkup. I enter and my girlfriend greets
me at the door with a kiss and we hug and ask how each others' day
went. Invariably she is already preparing dinner - she cleans and
cuts the vegetables with precision - like a doctor.
16:30 - Lately I've been sick - some kind of flu symptoms and so I
sleep for an hour and when I wake up we eat dinner. Dinner is ALWAYS
delicious and always VERY healthy. We eat NO fat other than a little
bit of oil she insists on using sometimes for cooking the pork or
chicken. Usually no fat at all. Every single thing she has ever made
for me - hundreds of things - have been PERFECT to eat! I have never
once not eaten something because it wasn't delicious!
18:00 - we eat and then go to exercise to a huge sports park. We
walk a bit and then I start running - she goes to do aerobic dance
with the girls there. It is hot and yet not bad because usually
there's a breeze since it's raining a lot daily. There are clouds
moving in or out almost all the time.
19:30 - we stop by the newspaper store and get a "Nation" and she
gets a Thai paper. She reads both. I read just the English Nation.
We read about the political catastrophe that the Thaksin premier has
become. We read about violence in the Muslim filled south of
Thailand where extremists are killing Thai schoolteachers, Monks,
and anyone else to gain some attention in the headlines. They hope
to turn the south into a part of Malaysia.
20:30 - I usually am back on the computer again - checking stats,
emails, updating web pages or writing something I want to get up
online.
21:30-23:00 we are in bed sleeping peacefully without a care in the
world.
That's really about it. On the weekends we usually take a motorbike
trip somewhere - sometimes up to 170 kilometers away. We've seen
many waterfalls here, hot springs, beaches, islands... The natural
beauty here rivals that of the Hawaiian Islands. Ko Samui and Krabi
are really incredibly beautiful spots that if you get a chance, you
shouldn't pass up. Phuket too - away from Patong beach, is quite a
nice destination.
Most of the co-workers at school take buses somewhere every weekend.
It seems that we're all traveling to different places on a 3-day
weekend and even during 2 day weekends we're close enough to go to
any of 6 great places.
Page 1 -
Page 2 -
Page 3 - Page 4 -
Page 5
"Living in Thailand", a free e-book by Vern
Blogs we have:
ThaiPulse Blog,
Joy's Thai Food Blog, Aim for
Awesome!, Farked Life!,
Thai Ladyboys & Katoeys!
|
