The enemy within
The evil side of the TEFL industry
It is a complicity of silence that sees many foreign teachers working hand-in-glove with a Thai administration that cares only about money and maintaining an educational system mired in cultural backwardness and social repression.
May I see your passport?
The joys of international travel with a Thai partner
Despite the fact my wife already has three Schengen visas and three UK visas in her passport from past visits, applying for a visa to visit a new country is always stressful.
Hitting the nail on the head
Postbox letter from Ian
Having a culture is a good thing, but to put it above everything else is short minded
It's a lawless land
Who can you complain to in Thailand when you've been truly wronged?
This is a country where I'm convinced you have to let many incidents go and chalk them up to experience. Pursuing things ‘legally' and going down what you feel are the appropriate channels will just lead to frustration and despair. This is Thailand. It's a lawless land.
Why?
Standing up for the teaching profession, and the complicity of silence.
“Someone wrote on your blog that you are 'dangerous'. I say you are a neurotic loose canon and a liability for a school, working with children”
House of horrors part three
An update on the perils of having your own house built in Thailand
After returning to Thailand, I found a contractor I thought was committed to building my house the way I wanted it. Finding someone to complete what had been started by another person, I knew would be difficult, but nevertheless I thought I had found the right man.
The courage of Arpaporn
In defense of exclusion, discrimination, and xenophobia
I would like to say that my latest writing assignment given to my grade 10 and 11 classes has given me hope; but I can’t. While some of the writing showed ‘glimmers of hope’, at least in my eyes, many of the opinions my students shared unfortunately matched the biased, ignorant, and bigoted statements made incessantly by many Thai adults.
Thai nationalism – a final rejoinder
Postbox letter from Andrew Woodward
It’s simply not the case that Thailand has never invaded its neighbors and attempted to subjugate them. If you choose to believe the Thai propaganda of the time claiming that these invasions were carried out in the name of ‘freedom’ and ‘liberation’, that’s your choice. In any case, your statement is invalid.
Where are people not nationalistic?
Postbox letter from Dave
Maybe Thais do not judge their country in the way that Westerners judge theirs. They may have different criteria and to regard their criteria as anything other than different is arrogant.
Thai nationalism
Postbox letter from Andrew Woodward
My intention here is to propose some ideas that may help to account for the feelings of peculiarity and marked shock that many farang as well as non-Thai Asians experience during prolonged stays in the Kingdom of Thailand.
