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Holiday From Hell


INTJ

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Siamiam wrote:

On a philosophical note, I constantly wonder if experiencing Thailand is a curse or blessing. Sometimes I think I would have been happier not knowing Thailand and living oblivious to that type of life? I donno...Double edged sword I guess...

 

Yes, I think you are right, but all in all, though it is not going to be easy to readjust, I am eternally grateful that I have had the opportunity to live the dream for a while. In the longer term, I may struggle to maintain that attitude!

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Lazyphil wrote:

There are things here that annoy me if i let them, the general lack of respect for each other, chav culture, excessive drinking culture that practically renders town centres no go zones after 11pm, violence in schools against teachers this is not the 1950's idyll my parents and other folk of their generation describe and it hurts me thinking about where this country is going.

 

Well, as a career teacher who is at an age where I am unlikely to be an attractive proposition to most schools with budgets to balance, I am faced with, at best, long-term supply placements - preferable, from my point of view to a day here and a day there. Unfortunately, these often seem to arise due to long-term stress-related absences, and those tend to occure more frequently in a certain type of school! After the sheer pleasure and privilege of teaching kids in international schools, the thought that I might have to do this for another ten years is absolutely terrifying. The attitudes and cultures you describe are also a great concern as a parent but I'm more optimistic that my kids will cope with a bit of support. Not sure who is going to support me though!

 

I do enjoy the seasons though and, as someone who grew up at the seaside, I do love being back near the water, not the idyllic tropical beach scenario, but the crashing waves and the cliffs and rocks that make up the coastline here, along with some pretty decent stretches of sand. It's a bugger of a job to find someone who will cook me up a few prawns or crabs down there though, let alone give me a couple of hours massage.

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Well, there must be at least 3 types

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Indeed, and we can add up, i just meant those who make a conscious choice to go back and live after discovering the place or a few trips. Professional expats(seems that could have been your case), fit an altogether different category. Chance rather than motivation.

 

 

 

In the longer term, I may struggle to maintain that attitude!

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I have said that before, but I seem to be the only one to write it here. Most guys see Thailand vs back home, or at the very least T. AND home (farangland).

 

What i got from staying in thailand is to enjoy wherever I am. i just do not see it as a place, far away from my usual reality, more like a state of mind, which can stay with me outside of the country.

 

It does not mean that i wouldn't wish to live there at some point, choices are always possible, but in the instance that i am not at this point making such move, I have acquired this natural philosophy to enjoy any moment, any place. When I don't, I consider i am failing myself.

 

 

 

 

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I've been playing the chorus of a song over and over in my head for the last few days, its become a kind of theme tune for my stay here. I've just realised what it is - Del Amitri - Nothing Ever Happens.

 

 

 

Post office clerks put up signs saying position closed

And secretaries turn off typewriters and put on their coats

Janitors padlock the gates

For security guards to patrol

And bachelors phone up their friends for a drink

While the married ones turn on a chat show

 

And they?ll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow

 

Gentlemen time please, you know we can?t serve anymore

Now the traffic lights change to stop, when there?s nothing to go

And by five o?clock everything?s dead

And every third car is a cab

And ignorant people sleep in their beds

Like the doped white mice in the college lab

 

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all

The needle returns to the start of the song

And we all sing along like before

 

And we?ll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow

 

Telephone exchanges click while there?s nobody there

The martians could land in the carpark and no one would care

Close-circuit cameras in department stores shoot the same video every day

And the stars of these films neither die nor get killed

Just survive constant action replay

 

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all

The needle returns to the start of the song

And we all sing along like before

 

And we?ll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow

 

Bill hoardings advertise products that nobody needs

While angry from manchester writes to complain about

All the repeats on t.v.

And computer terminals report some gains

On the values of copper and tin

While american businessmen snap up van goghs

For the price of a hospital wing

 

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all

The needle returns to the start of the song

And we all sing along like before

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all

They?ll burn down the synagogues at six o?clock

And we?ll all go along like before

 

And we?ll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

I wonder if the songwriter had just got back from a trip to Thailand.

 

 

 

INTJ

 

 

 

.

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Quite possibly, or perhaps he had just returned to Scotland from an action-packed weekend in the Toon!? Great song, great band.

 

I think the song I hummed most often is the chorus from 'Wonderful Life' by Black, though that was ignoring the irony in the original.

 

If there was one bit of music which captured the whole experience for me, it was probably the chorus of 'It's My Life' by Bon Jovi, though I'm not exactly a fan! Everytime I hear it I am taken back to the time when the Nanapong Dance Contests were at their peak and the whole bar, punters and staff alike would be roaring along together, but really, it's just the same attitude that Pattaya127 just described.

 

It's my life

And it's now or never

I ain't gonna live forever

I just want to live while I'm alive

(It's my life)

My heart is like an open highway

Like Frankie said

I did it my way

I just want to live while I'm alive

'Cause it's my life

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Only one thing keeps me in England:

GIRLS ALOUD! :o

nnnngghggggh nurse

 

Sorry, I tell a lie.

HOLLY WILLOUGHBY on a Saturday morning dressed as a French Maid and shouting "Ram it!"

:: 'scuse me while I change my pants.

 

 

Actually, since the July bombings have had to go to London twice. Both times I'm amazed at the amount of gorgeous women around. Lots of them Asian. So, there are fit burds here. (Course, had to travel 200 miles to find 'em).

 

The UK's a great place to live. Tons to do here. I'm in a position now where I could finally flog my gaffe and piss off to Thailand to blow my inheritance. (On off girlfriend finally moved out and definitely off. Just had an email from a little cutie I met in the Philippines last year telling me that she's had a baby. Born 9 months after our liason. Waiting now for her to tell me I'm the daddy. Which would be nothing short of a miracle since she was a cherry when I met her and a cherry after our night of lust.) However what would I do? (The thought of building up a window cleaning round again fills me with horror. Have to buy new ladders for a start!) TEFL? Maybe. I think it would be enjoyable but how sustainable is it in the long term? A guy can't get by on 30k for ever. Having a PGCE and teaching in an international school is one option but ain't got the quali and the thought of spending more time in college obtaining more post grad certs ain't that appealing at the moment. So without a cross transferrable profession/skill other than TEFL I'd be whistling dixie with a tin cup on an overpass in Bangers in no time.

 

No, you've got to look past the road ragers, the litter, the chavs, the bureaucracy, the high taxes, the rules & regs, the lardy ladies, the stockbroker/golf club tosser belt, the piss awful reality tv shows, the food, the rain in August, the price of petrol etc (Jeez I'm depressing myself :()

 

Think about the quaint English pub with real "real ale" brewed on the premises in Shropshire. The majestic vista from Scafell Pike, the Western Isles of Scotland, the green valleys of Snowdonia, . The culture. Theatre. Music. Chasing large cheeses down hills in Gloucestershire. Morris Dancing in Kent. Dogging on Studland Beach in Dorset...

 

A place can be heaven. A place can be hell.

It's all about attitude and what you make of it.

(now where's my passport? ::)

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