No Weekend, Teacher's Seminar in Isaan Thailand.

At school the other week I noticed this can on a teacher’s desk. It is good old porridge or oats. I was a huge fan of this for breakfast back home but I didn’t think it was stocked here in Isaan. Back in Australia it came in boxes not in cans so I never really took any notice of them.













So after buying a can the other day, this morning I whipped up a batch or porridge, it was delicious and a great way to start the day as I was going to need it.













This weekend, I haven’t got one. We are having a Teacher’s Seminar at school today being Saturday and tomorrow being Sunday. I cannot complain too much as we do get a lot of paid time off. We get 11 weeks of paid holidays plus all the public holidays and anything that else pops up. I would say it would work out to be at over 3 months of the year that I am paid for but don’t have to work, so not too bad.













The foreign English teachers and also Thai and Filipino teachers were expected to come, most attended but some had other engagements. If I had know that others weren’t attending I probably would have taken a pass as well. On Saturdays I earn 2,500 Baht from private tuition from 5 hours of tuition, so this is a big supplement to my low wage from the school. That is just over 30,000 Baht not including extra classes which can bump it up an extra 7,000 Baht per month. On a Sunday I only teach 3 hours and this is 1,600 Baht. So all up I can earn just over 50,000 Baht, this isn’t a lot when compared to a wage back home in Australia, actually in my old job I would earn close to that in a week.

Teaching isn’t going to make you rich in Thailand; it isn’t an easy job either. Too many people think that teaching will be a breeze but sadly it isn’t. It’s a lot of work, mentally draining at times. If you are looking for a good lifestyle and cheap living then teaching in Thailand could be for you.

















This is Miss Gik, she is Thai but has been school in Hawaii and speaks excellent English, she acted as the host and introduced the Head of the English Bilingual Programme.
This is our boss, Miss B. She welcomed everyone and then introduced the guest speaker from one of our sister schools in Bangkok.


















This is Mr. Raymond Klassen. He is a Canadian and has a very impressive CV. He has been a lecturer in a university in Canada and worked throughout South Korea. He has a business in South Korea, an English extra curriculum school. He can speak Korean fluently and get by in Thai. He has certification in translation of German and French into English and like wise. He has an MA and two BA’s and the list goes on. He is very experienced.

The day consisted of many different activities, to try and help us with new ideas in how to teach or approach lessons. It is always great to get any information and sometimes group brainstorming and seminars can deliver such things.

Sometimes the discussions got high jacked well off the topic at hand and were talked about for too long which became very boring for Thai teachers who didn’t really understand the context of what was being discussed. I did get a few good ideas from the seminar, so I will give it a one thumbs up. Previous seminars have been much better but these were delivered by a husband and wife team who specialized in such seminars and teacher training.

A new teacher Mr. Paul to our school was unanimously voted to thank Ray for giving up his time and travelling all the way to Isaan to offer his ideas to us.

















The really bad thing about the seminar was it interrupted my Saturday football. Today the mighty Collingwood Football Club or Magpies took on the West Coast Eagles. I was a little depressed when my friend told me they had thrashed West Coast by 100 points. That is what we call a flogging. I have read the match reports and the mighty Pies dominated all but a ten minute period of the game. It is still a long way to the finals and I am not counting my chickens yet but if we can keep this sort of form we should be a force to consider come September when the finals are played.

So that is the most exciting stuff happening here in Isaan Thailand. I have to go back to the seminar again tomorrow being Sunday but will leave early to teach in the afternoon. Life really can be tuff at times in Isaan.

Brunty

A Snake, A tourist and a Penis. Leads to Hospital.

This is a funny news story I had to post from back in Australia. It involves a eastern brown snake, a tourist and a penis. It happened near a place where I lived for around 10 years, in Cairns in Far North Queensland.

The tourist stopped for a roadside toilet stop that ended in pain, embarrassment and almost death for a tourist when the highly venomous snake bit the end of his penis.

The deadly brown snake slithered between his legs and lunged at his manhood as he crouched on a roadside near Laura, 300km northwest of Cairns, about a month ago.

"It certainly had a swipe at him," an ambulance spokesman said yesterday.

"But it didn’t envenomate him.

The snake beat a hasty retreat, leaving its victim with a scratch, vomiting and abdomen pain.

Emergency workers raced to the scene to treat the man.

The wound was wrapped in plastic in case poison had penetrated the skin but medical staff gave the man the all-clear after conducting tests.

The tourist was taken to Cooktown Hospital where he spent a night recovering.

The ambulance spokesman described him as "lucky", given his near encounter with one of Australia’s most poisonous snakes.

"I think he was a bit shocked and embarrassed," he said.

A funny story I had to share. What a lucky guy. If the snakes don't get you the spiders, crocodiles, sharks, jellyfish and the list goes on and on will. You have got to love Australia.

Brunty

Kids in Shopping Centres and Bad Parenting, Thailand.

Tonight Noot and I ventured over to our local supermarket just 2 minutes away. We needed a few things for dinner and also a few bits and pieces.

I have posted about this before, that being the lack of parenting shown by most Thais when they are at the supermarket with their kids. I have not seen anything like it anywhere else in the world. In Big C kids run free, all over the place. They get to ride brand new bicycles around the store. The bike section is at the back of the store but you find kids riding bikes a good 250 metres away in the grocery section.

They run into things, and each other like they are playing smash up derbies and what is mum, dad, nan and pop doing? Usually they are laughing at them. For some reason management don’t seem to care about a duty of care to other shoppers.

You see little terrors pulling stock off of shelves and staff are left to replace it, and does mum or dad give little Johnny a severe stare, talking to or even a threat of a smack. No! Again it is usually met with laughter and smiles.

Tonight was a classic example. We were in the aisle for shampoos and make-up and stuff. It isn’t far away from the checkouts. We were nearly ready to leave when we heard a scream from a lady and then there was a huge bang! The scream didn’t scare me but the huge bang did, I shit myself.

We walked about ten metres to the end of the aisle and we were met by a scattering of small torches across the floor. Near the batteries there is a display that is about 4 ft high and looks like a battery. The bottom of it lights up and the top holds the torches. What happened was this little boy had tried to climb up the display to get a torch tipping the thing over.

Mum looked extremely embarrassed and her little man was just standing there without a care in the world. Mum was picking up torches until staff told her not to worry. She quickly disappeared from the scene as people had popped out of everywhere to see what had made the big bang.

The mum didn’t once scold her son; she didn’t say a word to him. What he had done was silly and dangerous. I would have given him a good old wallop across his backside to remind him not to do it again. I think mum was more worried about the silly and ridiculous Thai “face” thing. Losing a little bit of face in Thailand can mean so much, toot your horn at a guy and he thinks he has lost face and he wants to kill you. It’s really foolish and stupid.

Now, I know for all the good doers out there and this “do not spank your children shit”. I mean back in Australia now if you are seen giving your own child, your flesh and blood a good smack across the bum for doing something wrong, some two bit tosser rings the police and they turn up and threaten you with assault and having your kid taken away from you.

The laws are out of control back in Australia. There is a big difference between discipline and abuse. I do not condone abuse and no real parent would ever abuse their child. Children know back in Australia what parents can and cannot do; Kids are now divorcing their parents, taking lawsuits out against them. They even tease mum and dad with “you can’t do that, I will call the police”. Maybe this is why many teenagers of today are like they are; they have no respect for anybody, themselves included.

I was brought up in a great environment, but if I stepped out of line and did something that was really stupid I would be punished and deservedly so. That meant a good slap on the butt, a belt across the bum or so forth. I learnt pretty fast what I could do and get away with and what was not acceptable and what would end in punishment.

Kids don’t have this now, so many are out to all hours in the night, their parents don’t know where they are and don’t care. Now you read about “gangs”, we never had gangs when we were kids, we had groups of mates that hanged out together but we weren’t gangs. Gangs are made up of pathetic weak people who don’t have the balls to do things on their own. They need the back-up of twenty other people to give them enough brass to say and do half the shit they carry on with. It’s like motorbike gangs, they are the same, in numbers they are fearless and really dangerous but in one on one situation they run like hell for the hills.

Parenting of today is sitting kids in front of the TV or computer. There isn’t any how your day was at school, do you have any homework or even dinner at the family table. These have become a thing of the past.

Teenagers here in Thailand are heading towards the problems that our western society is experiencing. It isn’t as bad yet, but will be in the future if parents don’t take control of their kids.

A sibling is yours to see fit how you punish them, within reason. I mean a 4 or 5 year old gets a little whack but an early teenager gets a huge whack or kick in the butt. Even if I had a son who was 18 or 25 and stepped out of line he would know about it very quickly. Your kids are never too old to be told what’s right and wrong, they are your kids after all.

This is my view but I am sure other readers have their own and I would be grateful to hear them.

Brunty.

My Stalker, Funny as Ever. Thailand.

If you are a new reader then I am sorry as you don’t know who “Star” is. I used to have running verbal battles with him but now just ignore his comments.

He is a sad lonely tosser from the UK, or is just living in the UK. He likes to leave comments on posts were there are pictures of young school kids in their uniforms and they usually refer to doing something sexual to them.

Yes, he is a real weasel. He is the scum in the bottom of a dirty cooking pot. He is the sort of guy, that if he was on fire, you wouldn’t even piss on him. You would pile some dry leaves and timber on him.

The funny thing is that I had saved all his comments and then I spoke with some of my police friends and told them that he apparently comes to Thailand for holidays from time to time. They were interested in one set of comments that he left regarding some very young girls.

He said “Yes i like some of the girls in your pictures
what red blooded male wouldn’t they are of breeding age. When I come to teach English next year, I will enjoy the extra curricular activities.”
(The girls were 11 to 13 years old)

So I passed on every comment and also the IP address of his back in the UK. All I do now is if he sends me something that is threatening to young kids, I email to my friends, I just hope that they can do something useful with the information.

Legally I don’t know if they could do anything to stop him entering the country, as they are just written threats but you should take them seriously. I would love to hear or know that “Star” came to Thailand and was turned around at the customs desk, that would be priceless.

He comments on blogs about the place, some times the comments seem normal and not from some backwater retard, maybe the days he doesn’t take his medication are when he makes the silly comments.

Anyway, I was feeling a little bored and he had left a comment that went like this.

star has left a new comment on your post "Pregnancy Superstitions in Thailand.":

brunts own business lol

setting up a pedo ring, gang bangs for little kids

good money though - you will be able to move out of your 4000 baht a month hovel

dont bother posting this brunt. lets keep your sordid activites to ourselves

So, there you have it, Star’s wisdom. It’s always something from left field and has something to do with underage sexual activities. I really wish I could meet the coward if he comes to Thailand and is allowed in. It would be a real laugh to have a chat over a few beers with him and a round or two of ammunition.

Brunty

Pregnancy Superstitions in Thailand.

This is funny, not the picture of Joom and her belly but the superstition of Thais. Maybe it is the same for other countries but I haven’t personally heard of anything like this.

We have just been on holiday to Bangkok and Pattaya, we went shopping at some large markets where clothes can be bought really cheaply, especially if you buy 3 or more items. I mentioned to Noot that we could buy some baby clothes for Joom and Jack. They know the sex, it’s a girl. Girls seem to dominate her family and they will have another addition soon.

Anyway, Noot said “No, we cannot buy any clothes.” When I enquired why I found out it was bad luck and we needed to wait until Joom was at 8 months, this could be an Isaan village superstition and not all of Thailand. So, after I had asked Noot 20 questions she started to get a little agitated so I stopped.

Then today, Joom came over with a heap of baby clothes she had just bought. She was told by the doctor that she was due on the 5th of July but apparently this could have been wrong and it will be a bit earlier.

So Joom is apparently at 8 month of her pregnancy. Now Noot and I can go and look around for some presents for the new addition that will be here soon. I enquired awhile ago about if Joom and Jack were still looking for a bigger place. Where they are now is only a really large room that is a bedroom and lounge room in one.

We drove around Ubon about 8 weeks ago looking at places, there were some very nice 3 bedroom houses that were air-conditioned and fairly new. They were only 4,000 Baht per month and just 5 minutes from our house. Somehow things went by the wayside and Joom and Jack never followed through.

When I asked a few days ago about getting a really nice cot for jack and Joom, Noot looked a little miffed and said the baby would sleep with them. I asked if she was joking but she wasn’t. I tried to explain all the problems this can bring at a later date but she said this is what a lot of parents do in Thailand.

I happily explained that if and when the day comes that we have a baby, this will not be happening. The baby will be in another room in a cot. We would not be running to pick the baby up every time it cried. Noot said that this is Thailand and Noot Australia; I agreed and said that she would be more than welcome to stay with the baby in its room when this day comes.

Noot and I have mentioned children, we have talked about it and she knows that I want her to finish her university studies first and work out what she wants to do career wise. I am actually hoping to have our business up and running by the middle of next year. If everything goes well she would be able to work fulltime at this and run it herself.

That’s in the future and we will see what the cards hold for us, until then it will be enjoying the great Isaan style life.

Brunty.

Collingwood Looking Great in 2008.

On Friday night just gone, my Australian Rules Football Team, the Collingwood Football Club took on the defending premiers Geelong or the Cats. Geelong are the Manchester United in AFL.
















Not many people had given the Magpies, that’s our team’s mascot and our nickname a chance of beating Geelong. Last year Geelong broke our hearts in a clash to get into the grand final, beating us by 5 points or less than one straight kick.












A real Australian magpie is a very protective bird of its nest. Magpies swoop unsuspecting people who stray a little too close to their area and will even rip the hair out of your head and peck or claw it. The Mighty Magpies are much the same; they look at the football as their nest and go after it like they are possessed.

So there was a lot of feeling going into the game by the team, they wanted revenge, they wanted it badly. From the opening the Magpies hammered the Cats from the bounce of the ball. Every time a Cats player had the football they had a Pies player all over them and many times found themselves in bone crunching tackles.







This is an exciting young player called Dale Thomas; he is only 20 and will be a very good footballer in the future. Here he had just kicked a brilliant goal and was enjoying the crowds reaction. There were just under 70,000 people there to cheer on both teams.

The Cats were beaten in all parts of the game, they didn’t have a winner on the ground, and the Pies were relentless and handed out a huge demoralizing flogging to the Cats. In the end the Pies ran out 86 point winners.

I was so happy to sing the Collingwood theme song with the boys; I have barracked for them since I can remember. I hate people who jump teams when their club is going badly. Since I was born my beloved Magpies have only delivered one premiership in 1990. They have one 14 premierships since 1892 when the club was founded. We have also sadly been runners up or another words lost 11 times in a grand final and this gave us the term “the collywobbles.” I sadly got to watch the Magpies beaten in 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 2002, and 2003.

So I am really happy that the Pies showed some form and I hope they can carry it into the next few weeks after a slow start to the year. If they can play half as good as they did on Friday night then there will be plenty more wins before the season is out.

I will keep you all posted.

Brunty

A Home Cooked Meal in Isaan, Thailand.

Tonight we had Noot’s sister Joom and her husband Jack over for dinner. They actual bought all the food as at their room they don’t have cooking facilities. Noot was in the kitchen getting dishes ready.

Here the chef is giving the peace sign.

There were plenty of vegetables for the dishes, fresh basil, bamboo, cabbage, celery, mushrooms and more.




I had to go outside to light the coal in our small clay burner. We don’t have gas but we use coal to cook a lot. It is very cheap and easy to cook with.

I quicken the process up with a fan.

Within a minute the coal is well alight.

We were deep frying fish cakes tonight. This tray was just under 13 Baht or about 0.40 cents Australian.



Chef Ben was getting ready to deep fry. The oil was starting to spit and swirl.

The fish cakes were cooking away.

Back inside the soup was ready and on the table.

Noot was getting an omelet ready.

The omelet is cooking.

The omelet was nearly ready.

The fish cakes were cooked and a lovely golden brown.

Then everything was being served, I had to go as I was hungry and the food smelt good.

Oh and for dessert, sticky rice and fresh ripe mango. It is served with a coconut milk and all I can say is that it is so delicious. A kilo of mangoes here are 30 Baht or $1.00 Australian dollar. Back in Australia that would but you a third of one mango. Henry and dad really got hooked on sticky rice and mango and ate it almost every day.

Life is hard in Isaan Thailand.

Brunty

Is Thailand Safe? Ranked 118 on the Global Peace Index.

I seen this published the other day and read the article about Thailand’s rating falling from 105 to 118 with strong possibilities of violence. The survey is now out of 140 countries.

The Thai government has dismissed the Global Peace Index (GPI) report downgrading the country's peace and happiness ranking, saying the survey was not based on proper information.

Thailand I think are a little peeved that neighbours, such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have higher rankings of 37, 51 and 91 respectively. This could be a little jealousy.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the survey was unfair as the survey judged the
situation in Thailand only on violence in the South, which only makes up a minor
part of the country.

This could be true to a degree, the problems in the south that have been dragging on so long and killed too many innocent people is a thorn in the Thai government’s side. There have been many attempts to bring peace to the region in different ways but so far none have worked. I wouldn’t travel to the far south of Thailand.

The Ministry's spokesman said violence in the three southernmost provinces could not be used as weight indicators since people in 73 other provinces lived their lives normally and peacefully.

I agree with this statement 100%. I live in lovely Isaan and I do not feel threatened in anyway. The people here are amazing and this is where the real Land of Smiles is.

The artice stated Thailand's political instability was ranked at 3.6, almost the same level as last year. The highest point of instability is ranked 5. The likelihood of violent demonstrations and the potential for terrorist acts in the country are both ranked as high as 4.

I agree with the political instability. Other countries must look and laugh at what is going on here in Thailand. A coup, a military Junta and now a people elected government all within the last two years. The accusations of vote buying, and suspensions of politicians. (Well, the accusations is a little soft as it is true, people simply walk up to the door of your house, ask who you are voting for and then after a small chat anywhere from 100-300 baht is given to the voter).

The GPI survey was contrary to other previous surveys by other independent agencies, such as the Swiss-based Institute of Management Development, which upgraded Thailand in the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2008 from a ranking of 33 last year to 27 this year.

The last quote from the Minister was good "Even people from countries that are ranked high in terms of peace come to visit Thailand. That means we are peaceful as they are at home,"

So there you have it. Thailand is very safe. I don’t see it as a terrorist target but again any country anywhere could be. Also like the minister stated apart from the deep south of Thailand, it is fairly safe. In places like Pattaya and Bangkok if you use common sense you shouldn’t get into any trouble.

Brunty

Which Notebook to Buy, Thailand.

I am looking at buying a laptop computer and I am not all the tech savvy, so I asked a friend for advice who is for some advice and help. He wrote a really good blog buying a notebook in Thailand. It was full of advice for me which helped a lot.

Here in Thailand Acer computers are pretty big. I know a lot of people who have one; I have read many reviews on Acer notebooks at a great website called notebookreview.com. They go over everything about notebooks you could need to know. A lot of it I don’t understand.

So after reading my mates advice and doing some internet surfing I have narrowed it down to two computers. I went to 4 computer shops here in Ubon Ratchathani for prices. They were all pretty close price wise only 1,500 Baht difference between the cheapest and most expensive shop.

The two computers are the Compaq Presario V3836TU or the Asus A8E-4P095.

These are the specs for the Compaq Presario V3836TU.

Intel® Pentium® dual-core processor T2390 (1.86 GHz, w/ 1MB, 533FSB)

Intel ® GM965 (Crestline GM)

Memory: 1024MB DDR2 667 (1024MBx1DIMM), 160GB Hard Drive 5400rpm (Serial ATA)

DVD+/-RW Drive (Super Multi DVD Writer Dual format, Double Layer)

5-in-1 Media Reader, SD, MMC, SDIO, MS, MsPro, xD (includes SD, Mini, RS, MMC, MS Duo plus adapters)

Display: 14.1" WXGA (1280 x 768) High-definition BrightView LCD panel,
Intel Extreme Graphics - Intel GMA X3100 up to 128MB for > 512MB system RAM

Audio: Altec Lansing branded speaker with built in dual microphone

Connection: 10/100 LAN Ethernet, high speed 56K modem, 802.11b/g Wireless LAN, Bluetooth

Ports: (3) USB 2.0, 1394- 4 pins, VGA, TV-out (S-Video), Headphone Jack, Mic In, AC adapter 65 watt, Kensington Lock, Expansion Port, Express Card Slot, Webcam Built-in

New moulding HP Imprint technique ("Trace" Pattern on notebook glossy cover and palm rest)

Warranty: Limited warranty 1 year, Weight 2.44 kg., 6-Cell LilON Battery

OS: DOS

The Asus A8E-4P095 specs:
Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T5450, 1.66 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache

DOS

Mobile Intel® PM965 Express Chipset + ICH8M

1024 MB 667 MHz SDRAM, expansion up to 4GB SDRAM

14" WXGA(1280x800) LCD Color Shine(glare-type)

Intel® GMA X3100

SATA 120GB (5400rpm)

DVD Super Multi

Reader: SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO

0.3 Mega-Pixel web-cam

Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection or Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN(optional)
Intel® High Definition Audio MDC Fax/Modem
10/100 Base T
Pass and support worldwide regulation
Built-in Bluetooth™V2.0+EDR (optional feature)

1 x VGA port/Mini D-sub 15-pin for external monitor
1 x Headphone-out jack (SPDIF)
1 x Microphone-in jack
1 x RJ11 Modem jack for phone line
1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert
5 x USB 2.0 ports, 1x IEEE 1394 port
1 x TV Out (S-Video composite)
1 x Express Card

Built-in Intel® High Definition Audio compliant audio chip,
Built-in speaker and microphone

6 cell, 4800mAh, 53Whrs

335 x 245 x 34.8~37.3 mm, 2.39kg

ASUS WinFlash
Instant Fun
ASUS Live Update
ASUS Power4 Great eXtreme
ASUS NB Probe
ASUS Net4 Switch
ASUS Wireless Console
ASUS LifeFrame2
Virtual Camera
ASUS MultiFrame
ASUS Power for Phone

1 year warranty.

So that’s two notebooks. The Compaq Presario V3836TU is 26,000 Thai Baht. The The Asus A8E-4P095 is 27,000 Thai Baht.

What do any of you readers recommend and why? Any advice would be welcome.

Brunty.

Blogger or Computer Problems.

I don’t know what is going on with blogger. I post a blog and when I go to view it on the site, it isn’t there. In the posts list it’s there but it doesn’t show on the website.

I posted the small one complaining about blogger last night, it was the same. I couldn’t see the post on the website but it was in the post list. This morning when I woke up and logged on it was on the website.

I have no idea what is going on. I have searched for blogger problems but nothing is showing. Does anyone have any idea what’s going on?

I think I will go and check the computer out at school and see if this is the same, then I know it could be something to do with my computer, I have no idea what but it would mean a trip into the service department I say.

It’s frustrating to say the least.

Brunty.

Back to Work. Teaching English in Isaan Thailand.

I have been back at work now for two weeks and that has been keeping me pretty busy. I am back teaching year 1 students so 5 and 6 year olds. This requires a lot of preparation, as young kids need to have their minds continually stimulated or they get bored and lose attention.

Children this young have a short attention span, classes require imagination as you need to make them exciting enough to keep the kids focused. This means that I have to do lots of singing and dancing, also there are fun games to keep the students attentive.

I taught the year 1 students 2 years ago, but the last few years it was older kids, from years 6 to 12. These kids too need to have lesson that are interesting, nothing is worse than a teacher standing in front of a class for 50 minutes just speaking and writing on the board. You will lose the kids if you do this.

I always try and elicit from the students as much information as I can about what we are going to learn before I start writing anything on the whiteboard. Too many teachers just write on the board, have the students copy. The teacher then goes over what the lesson target is and that is about it.

I always try and target the lesson so the kids can relate to it themselves. If they can personalize to it, then they are more likely to participate in the class and offer input in the class. If a student can put themselves in the situation that is being presented and can draw on memories or knowledge that they have actually experienced then the feedback will be a lot better, otherwise you could be standing at the whiteboard looking at blank faces just staring at you.

An example is the first chapter of the year 6 book. It relates to the going on holiday, perfect as we have just started school after a long 9 week break. The lesson target is reviewing ‘past tense’ now Thai students have so much trouble with tenses as they don’t exist in the Thai language. If you are doing something yesterday or tomorrow the verb doesn’t change.

For example: simple present or base form (V1)
simple past (V2)
present perfect (V3)

I have the students write the chart into their notebooks with the correct title but I refer to the different tense by saying verb 1 for simple present, verb 2 for simple past and verb 3 for present perfect.

I do this as they can relate to the correct form of the verb quickly if I say we use ‘verb 1’ instead of saying we need to use ‘simple present’ or the ‘base form’.

It isn’t the correct way to be teaching them but the students trying to get their heads around all the tenses that we have can be such a headache for them. So using the correct verb can be so confusing to them.

I am always trying to think about how to present the topic to the class as if I was a student. I think back to when I was in school and what classes I liked and didn’t like, it usually comes down to the teaching technique. At the time I didn’t realise this but I remember my math teacher would just write a heap of text or another words formulas on the blackboard, we would copy into our notebooks and then he would do examples of some sums or problems. Then a worksheet would be on the desk and we would be off to work. It wasn’t exciting or fun at all and many dreaded maths.

I know not every lesson can be fun and full of games. That isn’t possible. I try to play a short game, sing a song or even do a silly dance with the year 1 kids, everyday at the end of the lesson, the last 3 or so minutes of the class. The biggest part of teaching is thinking on your feet. If your lesson isn’t working or going well the you need to change something very quickly or you will lose the students and this is when problems start.

Well, I could go on and on but I have football to watch. My beloved Collingwood Football Club is playing the defending and unbeaten premiers Geelong tonight in Melbourne. So I have to go and support my team.

Brunty

Goodbye Blogger and Hello Wordpress.

Man. I don’t know what the fuk#ing hell is going on with blogger. I have been trying to post for ages and what is showing isn’t what I wrote or edited. It really is pissing me off.

I have decided I am going to move to wordpress. It will be some research and then do the move in the next few weeks. I know wordpress is a better system, people keep telling me this.

I hope that I don’t run into too many problems doing this. If anyone has advice I would appreciate it a lot.

Brunty

Rainy Season Starts, and Learning Badminton, Thailand.

It is virtually the start of the wet season here in Isaan. It has started a little early with rain falling every night this past 5 days. It isn’t the heavy rain we get but it has been good soaking rain for the farmers to start planting their rice crops.

















I had a running battle with the rain as I got up early on Monday to wash and polish the car. It is funny how many Thais cannot really believe a farang would wash, vacuum and polish, his own car. Most Thais take their car to a service station to be washed, I enjoy doing this task, it doesn’t take too long and isn’t hard work. Three times I had to put the car back under cover when rain started to fall.













The new couch in the lounge room has been a welcome addition; it has been getting plenty of use. Yesterday at one stage Noot, Ben and Joom were all asleep on it while the TV was going of course.













Now, I am back at school doing the hard yards. Today there was a bunch of kids being coached in how to play badminton. Many were old students of mine who are now in year 8.













It was funny watching them try and sidestep or crab across. Some of the girls were bouncing like little fairies with arms raised, they looked more like they were doing dance steps. I was laughing and also the Thai sports teacher.













Some of the girls who hadn’t bought racquets had to sit out but they didn’t seem too upset. Maybe they should have been doing shuttle runs or laps of the oval as a punishment and a reminder to have their racquet next time.

My classes are looking really good. I have two year 1 classes, a year 5 and year 6 class. I have been very strict with the older two classes, you have to not give an inch in the first month, praise the good kids and ones who are trying and the lazy or bad behaved kids get all over there backs and make them understand that being like this is only going to make their year long and drawn out with lots of extra work.

My year 1 classes have settled in well. It is a bit of cotton wool the first two or three days and then rules must be followed, even by kids so young. You have to be a lot more lenient of course, but basic rules are followed, even year 1 kids need to know that if the do the wrong thing there will be a consequence.

The first week went well and the second week has also shaped up good, so far. I am happy now I am back to only 20 contact teaching periods a week this year, down from 23 periods last year. It doesn’t sound like a lot of difference but it is. Three hours less in a week to do lesson plans, corrections, make tests and do the dreaded paperwork needed by the Thai hierarchy works out to be a lot.

So things are looking good here in Isaan country, Thailand. Where living is great.

Brunty.

Brunty's Advice on Bar Girls and Relationships, Thailand.

Earlier today I spent some time surfing forums that are running here in Thailand. I hardly ever go to them and read the threads as there are so many tools making idiotic comments.

There are threads that are a wealth of information, but sadly you get some dickhead who makes some off the cuff comment and then the subject at hand is lost and the fools and what they think to be funny comments, take over. These people comment in the forums all over the place on all different subjects. They cannot be ‘experts’ in all that they comment on but they put their 2 cents into the topic and it is usually worthless shite dribbling out of their mouth.

Today I read plenty of different stories of guys saying how they were ripped off, fooled, and taken for a ride by a Thai girl. Each story is virtually the same.

Meet the girl, things were great, went to the village and meet the parents, gave some money to the parents, more money needed by GF and parents, build a house, bought a car and then thing went sour, didn’t have the house or car in their name so they have been told to leave, and on and on the stories go.

What I don’t really understand is how these guys get into these situations, I mean there are warnings all over the world wide web, how not to become a statistic. Why do so many guys leave their common sense and their intelligence at the airport when they arrive in Thailand?

I hate to mention this but I will. Bar girls, those beautiful petite girls that so many foreigners come to Thailand for. Come on, let’s be serious. A big percentage of people who come to Thailand are here for sex tourism. They come to Bangkok or Pattaya and end up at Patpong, Soi Cowboy, Nana Plaza or Walking Street. They go between the bars and back to their hotel for the 7 or so days they are here on holiday. They don’t see anything else of Bangkok or Thailand. This is a typical sex tourist, and good luck to them, it is their choice.

The thing I cannot understand is how these guys fall in (supposed) love with them. These girls are offering a service, they are offering sex for money; they are prostitutes. Do guys back in their home country fall in love with prostitutes? I don’t think many do.

These girls are in the job for money, they aren’t in it for the sex. Do you think a 40kg petite Thai girl really wants to have sex with a 120kg plus guy that is drunk and stinks of smoke?

They are in the business to support mum and dad who might be poor farmers and have huge debts they cannot repay, they could have dropped out of school, had a baby/babies and cannot find a job that pays more than 4,000 Baht per month, their Thai boyfriend makes them work in the sex trade, they need to support their drug habit and the list goes on and on.

Guys! Don’t be fooled by their persona, by their charm, their sweet mouths. Of course they know what to say, they practice and practice, they can buy books that tell them things to say and ways to act around foreigners.

Here is a very good example for you. I just holidayed in Pattaya. Pattaya wouldn’t exist as it does today if the sex trade wasn’t there. There would be a few tourists there, but not on the magnitude as you see today. There are Beer Bars in virtually any little street you walk down.

I stayed in Soi 2 off Beach Road. I stayed at the Sabai Lodge. In Soi 3 up the top near Second Road, there is an internet café that I went to check emails and post a blog. Each time I visited the place it had Thai bar girls in there talking to the two young owners. These guys are smart, they were translating emails from foreigners to the girls and then composing emails for them into Thai. The girl dictates and one of the guy’s types. The guy charged the girl 80 Baht to translate the email she received from her foreign friend and 100 Baht to another girl for one they composed into English for her.

The girl who had the letter composed, she had said to them that she had been to the doctor for all the tests and is waiting for the test results; I heard the word “blood” in Thai, so some sort of blood tests. She went on about how much she missed him and also that she wasn’t working in the bar and so forth.

Another girl on the second day I went to the internet shop was a classic; she was cute and young, maybe 18 or 19. I was on computer number 3 in the corner and she came in and sat at computer 2. She had a nose piercing and also one through the lip. She was wearing a short denim shirt and a cut off top revealing her midsection, or tummy.

Yes, I looked. I am human and male. She logged on and was talking on the phone to her foreign friend in Denmark I think I heard her say to the owner later on. She booted the webcam into action and put on her headphones and starting talking bad broken English to him, she was cheeky, in a fun way. She teased the poor guy a bit by logging the camera off at times, one time she put the owners dog onto the desk in front of the webcam and when she turned the camera on again this is what her man seen.

She danced for him. Yes, danced in the internet shop. Wiggling and shaking and lifting her top right up, all the time laughing a lot. Two guys come in to make an international call, she turned the camera off again and had one of the guys sit in the seat, when the camera came on there is this guy sitting there. She was pissing herself laughing.

She turned the camera on me and asked me to speak to him; I politely declined and gave the poor guy a wave. I left and she was still mucking about, later that night I seen the girl standing on the edge of Second Road in front of a Beer Bar. She was touting for customers, she gave me a “hello” and come in for a drink, again I politely declined.

Internet shops are doing this everywhere guys! They help the girls translate emails and compose them. Good luck to them too. They are providing a service just like the girls do. If there are guys out there silly enough to fall for the stories and send money via Western Union, there is one every few metres in Pattaya, then good luck to them.

All I can say to anyone traveling to Thailand as a sex tourist, don’t be ashamed if you are, there are so many that do. Come to Thailand and do just that, think of the bar girls as prostitutes and treat them as prostitutes. This doesn’t mean mistreating them. Treat them as you would treat any lady you might meet but remember you are paying her for the service she is providing to you.

To the guys who get ripped off, the ones who have a girl for a few weeks or months, she sees all the cash and valuables in the safe in the room where he is staying, then when they are out having a fun one night the room is broken into and the safe is emptied or is stolen, 99% of the time this isn’t a coincidence that you were out, you need to put 2 and 2 together.

The other guys who buy a house and car and don’t put them into their own names, if you have the correct visa it isn’t too hard to do this. You cannot own the land, that will be in your Thai girls/wife’s name, but the house and car you can have in your name. You need to do this no matter how much you are in love or think that nothing will go wrong. If you aren’t worried about losing everything, then don’t bother.

Get a 30 year lease on the land with a 30 year option and don’t build in the village of your girl, if things sour you are not going to want to live there, build in a place you want to live. So the land will never be yours but in 30 or 60 years who really cares as you will either be dead or well on the way to pushing daisies.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not pigeon holing bar girls; this also is good advice for the services that are offered on the internet. There are many websites that set people up together. Lonely guys searching for love and they believe they find it.

I know 2 guys personally that meet their now Thai wife on the internet. One guy has ups and downs, but this happens in any country with normal relationships. The problem is that his wife keeps asking him for 6 million Baht and a new car. This is for security; the only security I can think of is if he dies. The advice I gave him was very straight forward and probably not what he wanted to hear.

Not all the bar girls or girls crawling the internet are like this, there are of course girls who just need a break and a foreigner can offer this. They want security, a better life without worrying about where the money for next week’s bill will come from. They find a man and will be out of the game forever but it is a small percentage, I believe.

Money is the greed of all evil and for some reason, people want more and more even if they have more than enough for a comfortable life. Also a lot of girls leave the game of prostitution to find their new life, no bars, drinking and hanging out with friends to be boring, they move back to the village but this life is nothing of the lights, endless parties and open all night eating places to go with friends. The language and communication barrier kicks in, life isn’t all rosy.

The only advice I can offer to any guy looking for love is;

Don’t fall in love with a bar girl, you might get lucky and get a good girl that wants out but most of the time you will be one of the guys writing on the many forums or websites, the same story but different girls name.

You can meet girls outside of bars, they do exist. Finding one in certain areas such as Pattaya and Patpong could be hard. You could always travel to different parts of Thailand and see sites on offer. Here you can meet girls in all kinds of places from shopping centres, markets, coffee shops and just walking around places. You always get people, especially girls saying hello and asking you questions about where you come from and so forth. This could lead to who knows where.

So come to the land of LOS and enjoy, keep your wits about you and use your common sense, leave your heart at the airport and have fun. Thailand is a beautiful place, there are so many things to see and do, if looking for love, be careful and choose wisely, take your time and don’t jump into anything head first.

Brunty.

A New Couch and Room for Cola.

We have bought a second hand couch of my English mate John. He has just moved into his new house that is 99% finished and bought all new furniture for it. So the old couch he had in the unit he was renting he wanted to get rid of.













He bought it from Index just over 5 months ago for just under 11,000 Baht and I bought it for 5,000 Baht so just over 50% off the retail price, a bargain. Getting the new couch brought a little dilemma though as well, for Noot not me as she was thinking of changing the entire living room around. The new couch has been put into place and within an hour of being in the house it was being used as a bed.

I said that we didn’t need to change anything around, and if we moved the TV to where she wanted it would mean having the cable extended for the cable TV by about 15 metres, so that idea went out the window. Noot’s sister said that the rabbit (Cola) needed to go, or die, that was also quickly hit on the head.













Cola had the run of the living room, a large area in the corner where he could jump around, Noot wanted some extra room so we needed to move him somewhere. This is where he used to live.













Now it looks like this, a lot more room for us and also my private students who study with me here at home.













We have three bedrooms, two are used and the other stores all our clothes in cabinets. There was a bed in there but it never got used, well when guests came by, but even then most of the time because they are from Isaan and the village they slept in the lounge room on the floor on a thin roll out mattress. So I removed the mattress and cola now has his own bedroom.













He has been a little wary for the first day but is now adjusting to his new home, it’s a little smaller but he still has plenty of room and he is let out every day for an hour or so to bounce around the house.

So that is what has been happening here in Isaan country, there was also a trip to the temple but that story is for another day.

Brunty.

Golf, a BBQ, Lunch on a River in Isaan.

After arriving back in Ubon Ratchathani here in Isaan, we went to play a game of golf at our local course. We went on a Friday as weekends are just so busy and really slow play.

We arrived at 8am and I was surprised to find a lot of people about, I was then told that it was a public holiday. The first nine holes were quick just over 2 hours.













Henry was in the shade waiting for our second nine to start. We waited about 30-40 minutes to tee off.













Looking down the first hole, a par 4 with a big dog leg left, it’s a 7 iron to the corner and a 9 iron or wedge into the green.













After golf, in the evening we had a BBQ at my place as it was Henry’s birthday, earlier in the month it was my friend Keith and his daughter Chelsea’s birthdays, so we celebrated them as well.













Henry was rapt to find someone as big as him here in Thailand, made him feel normal again and not a giant.













Here we boys are together, we had a heap of food, Noot and I over catered but that was better than being short of food.
The girls were inside the house in front of the TV.

Here we were sitting back chatting and relaxing.


Henry couldn’t resist himself.

Here we were at the temple in the village.

We went to the river for lunch in a floating hut.

Some grass or weeds floating down the river, there’s a person under it.

Dad having a swim, the current was strong from the rain we have had.


Henry and I taking a dip.

Out for dinner again.

Here Sue and a friend pose for a picture.

Mum had a picture taken as well.














And then sadly it was time for me to go back to work after nearly 10 weeks of holidays.

Life is hard here in Isaan.

Brunty