Stuart's Life in Thailand

Hmm... three posts in three days. What's going on here?

A couple of days ago I mentioned that I have been doing a ton of paperwork to become both a teacher and a student. This work is still on-going, and today another piece of the puzzle fell into place: my graduate school diploma arrived in the mail from North Carolina.

That's right, both the school I was applying to teach and the school I was applying to study wanted a copy of my college diploma. Needless to say, I did not include my diploma in my packing list when I moved to Thailand. In fact, I am not even sure where it is. It's somewhere in my parent's basement, I am guessing. So I sent off for a new copy more than a month ago and now three weeks after it was shipped and $40 later, it has arrived.

Getting started with the two separate schools has been confusing. I get phone calls from "the university" or Dr. So-and-So asking for some kind of paperwork and I have no idea which school or which professor it is. I also now have 2 new university ID's (one faculty and one student) and 2 new passwords to access the university network and 2 new email addresses (with 2 more passwords).

As far as the emails go, normally I sign up for everything using the "sgtowns" handle. You can find "sgtowns" @gmail @yahoo @hotmail @facebook @twitter, @amazon, etc. Sometimes for work I'll be given a stuart.towns@___ or an stowns@___. But this time I was granted a new one: stuart.gt@___. And every email I get now from my new school is addressed to Mr. Stuart Grant. I keep thinking my mother is calling me...

Oh and the fact that I now have 4 new passwords, reminds me about a new software that I have been using and really love: 1Password. It keeps all of my passwords for all of my logins in one place, and with a combination of DropBox, I can access these passwords any time anywhere. So how many password-protected Internet accounts do I have at the moment? FIFTY-EIGHT. And every password is unique. How the heck was I able to remember 58 passwords before?

And in the spirit of yesterday's video posting, here's a short clip that gave me a chuckle after a long day in the office and a two hour lecture. Enjoy...

So who knows what might show on this website once I get back in the habit of writing. Some things are just too good not to share, like this funny video of a Japanese kid who lives in Northeastern Thailand and who makes a lot of promises...

Today marks the beginning of a new life for me. This change has been coming for a while and I have been spending a lot of time to get to this point. And I am not sure where to begin to describe this change, but I will give it a try.

In short, I have jumped back into the academic world with both feet -- the right foot as a teacher and the left foot as a student.

First, the teaching part. About three weeks ago I started teaching an e-Business course at Prince of Songkla in Phuket. I am teaching in the Thai program, but my course is in English. This means that the English skills of my students is not great, but they seem to be trying their best, and that's all that matters. Much of my lecture every week is spent explaining English vocabulary, but it is a fun challenge to try to figure out how to explain difficult concepts using as simple language as possible. It has also helped my Thai, as I have been trying to learn business words so that I can communicate with my students when I need to. I never had much reason to learn the Thai word for management, infrastructure, income and expenses, etc.

The second big change (and perhaps the more exciting) is that I have started a PhD program in "e-Learning Methodology" at Assumption University in Bangkok. This is an online program that is only made up of research and a dissertation. So I will be able to work on it at home over the next three years.

For the past few months, I have been drowning in paper work preparing to be a teacher and a student. It is unbelievable how much paper I had to produce: transcripts, diplomas, application forms, two new bank accounts, passport copies, photos, work permit paperwork, etc. I have signed my name hundreds of times over the last few weeks, but it all appears to be done now. Today I officially registered and paid my tuition fee to Assumption, and so now I am officially a student again.

My first task for the PhD is to do as much research on the existing literature in my field, so that I can learn the latest advancements. It has been over 10 years since I have done any academic research, so I have a feeling I have some catching up to do.

Over the next few months, I might try to use this website to talk about the research that I am doing and how it relates to my own dissertation topic. I need to get some practice writing again, especially for an academic audience. This is a big change from what I have written about before, so apologies to those readers who enjoy the travel, culture, and life stories. Then again, I haven't been adding much to this site lately so perhaps I don't have any more readers to disapoint!

People often ask me about my move from the U.S. to Thailand, and I explain that it was a gradual move. I had visited Thailand once before, and I wanted to do more traveling in the area. So in August of 2002 I finally packed my bags in San Francisco and flew to Thailand for an extended stay and some exciting adventures. My Thai friend Mag was waiting for me at the Bangkok airport and over the next few months, he was kind enough to let me use his apartment on Silom as a crash pad, for both me and for most of my stuff while I backpacked around southeast Asia.

During the times that I was actually in Bangkok, Mag was my introduction to Thailand and Thai culture, taking me to see the grand tourist sites but also showing me the simple side of life such as eating chicken and rice at a road side stand. He also taught me a lot about the Thai psyche, saying that I was always acting with too much emotion. It took me a long time to get out of my American ways -- to learn to relax and to take life as it comes instead of showing my emotions when I was upset and frustrated. (Actually, I am still not very good at this, but I always try to do better!)

That December, Mag the jewelry designer helped me a few pieces for Christmas presents for my family back in the U.S. We went through the whole process together, from drawing out the unique designs on paper, to buying the diamonds from Indian jewelers around Silom, to visiting a tiny goldsmith factory in a shophouse in Chinatown where the gold pieces were handmade and the diamonds were set. I loved the fact that I was getting a behind-the-scenes look at how different people really lived and worked in Bangkok.

When I made the huge (and stressful) decision to put down some roots by getting my own apartment and start working at Bangkok University, Mag helped me find a fabulous studio in his building overlooking the city and the Chao Phraya River. And six months later, when I decided to move to be closer to work, it was Mag again who helped me move my stuff and introduce me to his favorite restaurant in the area.

Over the seven years since then, Mag and I slowly drifted apart. We would see each other every now and then on the train or on the sidewalk and chat a bit. Even though we now ran in different circles, I was always happy to see him and his unique, infectious smile.

So it was with great sadness that I learned last Friday that Mag had passed away earlier this month from a lung infection. Only now after three days can I even picture his face in my mind without welling up with tears. All I can do is shake my head and wonder why life sometimes throws us curveballs that just don't make any sense. Mag was much too young and much too good to be taken away so soon.

Mag's death casts a bittersweet hue over my move to Bangkok. It was such a monumental, stressful, educational, exciting move for me, and he was there to help me every step of the way. I will never forget his kindness and never-ending generosity to me during that time.

Taken October 13, 2002 and posted to this website with the caption: "Mag, who is now my neighbor (just a short elevator ride away), stops by to check out my new apartment."

Dear Internet,

Believe it or not, I am still alive. Apologies for not keeping you updated lately. There isn't really much interesting news to share these days. Just a lot of long hours in the office in front of the computer and a trip to place that still rates as "just ok" (Kuala Lumpur). But I am alive and well and happy most of the time.

I did want to share one thing with you today though. As you may know, one of the best ways to get around Bangkok is by Motorcycle Taxi. It's fast and cheap, but certainly not the safest way to go. My good friend Chris made a video from the back of one of these taxis the other day, and it was just too good to not pass along.

So... please enjoy Chris' video of my favorite mode of transportation in Bangkok!

Sincerely,
Stuart

It has been exactly two months since my last post here. Unfortunately I just haven't found the time or the motivation to write, even though my life hasn't been completely boring. I actually did a lot of traveling, driving all the way from Phuket to Chiang Mai via Bangkok and a side trip to Kanchanaburi and then back to Phuket over the course of a couple of weeks. I really should post some pictures from that trip as it was a great overview of what can be found in Thailand.

In my last post two months ago, I mentioned that I started taking a daily Thai language class. I am still going every day, and it has been incredibly helpful. I feel like I have learned so much, but as with most things, the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know!

Last week my teacher suggested that I write a short story every night, and then the next day we will base the lesson on my story. We have done it twice now, and it has worked out great. Basically we spend the next class talking about all of the grammar errors that I made, or more eloquent ways to say what I am trying to say, or she will just ask me lots of questions about the story until we get to vocabulary I don't understand and then she will teach it to me.

I think that what I will do now is to write the story at night, get it corrected and improved in class the next morning, and then type it out in Thai here (with an English translation). Writing it here should help me learn to type Thai as well as keep a record of my studies.

So without further ado, here is my first story, an exciting (and true) tale of being attacked by ants last week:

สองวันที่แล้วผมอาบนำ้และเวลาเสร็จผมใช้ผ้าเช็ดตัวจนแห้งก็เลยรู้สึกคันทั่วทั้งตัวผม ผมมีตุ่มเต็มไปหมดที่แขน คอ ขา ลำตัว เพราะว่าได้มดกัด วันนี้ผมยังเจ็บทั้งตัว

And in English:

Two days ago, I took a shower and when I was finished I used the towel until I was dry. Then, I felt itchy all over my body. I looked, and there were hundreds of bumps on my arms, neck, legs, and torso because I was bit by the ants. Today, I still hurt all over.

Looking at this short story shows me how far I have come, and how far I have to go. In order to write these short little sentences, I had to do a first draft using an online dictionary to look up some spellings, get it proofread by my teacher, write it again on paper, type it (which took 15 minutes alone), and then have it checked by Piyawat for errors (which there were still a few).

But I have to be happy for small steps on a journey that doesn't have a destination...

It has always been my dream to be fluent in another language. Three years of French in High School and another two in college didn't help me in this quest at all, leaving me 20 years later with not much more than "Bonjour" and "Voulez-vous coucher..."

(Although now that I think about it, the latter phrase might be in the memory banks thanks to that song from Moulin Rouge.)

And I guess I don't have to mention that the two years of Latin in high school didn't enable me able to speak with Caesar either. Et tu, Brute?

So here I am, living in a foreign country for seven full years. What a great opportunity to learn a new language, right? The words should be rolling off my tongue by now with many late night discussions on the Buddha's teachings (tammá), democracy in Thailand (brà-chah-tí-bà-dai), what color shirt I should wear tomorrow (sêu.a sěe à-rai -- but yellow on Monday is the only one I can remember), et cetera.

That's how it should be, but au contraire, mon frère, I still can't do much more than order my dinner and tell a taxi where to go. Oh, and the obligatory First Conversation:

New Thai Friend: Where do you come from?
Me: America.
NTF: Obama! Very good! Are you married?
Me: No, I am not.
NTF: You speak Thai so well!
Me: Thank you.

So with the dream still in my mind, I enrolled for a private Thai language course yesterday and had my first lesson today. I was a bit apprehensive as most of my experiences in Thai language schools have been abysmal (caveat emptor!), but the first lesson turned out great. I had to admire my teacher's probing questions to test just how much I knew -- how complex of a sentence can I understand? And which topics do my limited working vocabulary cover? She started out asking me about the news of this week's Japanese election. But I quickly had to tell her that I can't converse about the news (kòw), I can only talk about food (ah-hǎhn) and taxis (rót táak-sêe).

So she quickly switched to a topic I could understand. And amazingly enough, for the first time ever I now have a Thai teacher who speaks English and who understands English grammar and can explain things when I get stuck (which is often).

Also, I realized that since most of the Thai I have learned has been from studying books and websites on my own, I realized today that my reading skills are much better than my listening skills, and I do a better job of listening than speaking. My teacher would say something, and I would be able to pick out 80% of the words, but often no meaning. But then she would write the same sentence on the board and I could take a minute to parse it out and understand what she was trying to say.

So here's hoping I can make progress on my Thai language skills this month. And if you will excuse me, I have some homework to do. (Carpe diem!)

For the past two years, a lot of my time has been spent on my fledgling company and our Learn Thai Language website. But there is no way I could have made it this far without the help of my lawyer to navigate the incredibly complex Thai bureaucracy, such as getting visas from Immigration, work permits from the Ministry of Labor, business certifications from the Department of Business Development under the Foreign Business Act, etc. The list goes on and on.

Accounting is another big battle where I have to fight against Thai red tape. For the past two years, I have relied on my accounting firm to make sense of all of the taxes and other obligations I have with the Revenue Department, such as the 2 annual audits (in Thai) of my company outlining all of the expenses and income (assets and liabilities) of my company.

Now, my legal team and my accounting team have joined forces in Phuket under the name The Lawyers Limited Group. For the past few weeks, I have been working with them to develop a new website for their new venture. Today, I am very happy to say that The Lawyers Limited Group's website is now open to the public. Please feel free to check it out. (I think the site turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!)

And if anyone reading this needs a lawyer or an accountant in Thailand, I highly recommend The Lawyers Limited Group. They have been nothing but helpful, knowledgeable, and extremely professional, and all with very reasonable rates. It's hard enough dealing with the Thai government (who expects me to speak Thai and fill out mountains of paperwork) without having to worry about someone taking advantage of the situation and charging outrageous rates to help me out.

So thanks guys, and best of luck to you in your new venture!

For the past 7 years of living in Thailand, this website has been a huge part of my life, as I used it to make a record of some of the places I had seen and people I had met. So much has happened to me over these 7 years, I am really glad that I wrote a lot of it down and took thousands of pictures to document my experiences.

But now, perhaps the thrill is gone and this website has sat neglected for the last four months. Most of this time has been spent trying to get acclimated to a new life and a new lifestyle in Phuket. To be honest, I was not completely excited with the idea of moving to Phuket. The Phuket I know is mostly made up of Patong, aka Tourist Central. I have never been a big fan of the tourist spots. The more foreigners that are in one place, the less Thai that place becomes. And it's the Thai aspects of Thailand that make me want to live here.

But over time, Phuket has grown on me. I live in the middle of the island away from the tourist beaches, but I really do love being only 15 minutes away from them. It is easy to jump in the car and drive to the beach for a fresh seafood dinner next to the water at sunset. And of course the fresh ocean air is a welcome change from sooty, car-infested Bangkok. The pace is much slower here than the chaos of Thailand's capital as well.

I have to admit though, although Phuket has grown on me, it has not been an easy transition to make. But I feel like I am finally getting settled here and I am able to start focusing on the things that I enjoy -- both professionally and personally.

And perhaps I will even find some time to visit my long lost blog now and then and record more bits and pieces of Stuart's Life in Thailand...

Here we are at the end of another month, and I didn't write a single thing here the last thirty days. I am definitely out of the habit of keeping up this blog now, both due to lack of time, but also to lack of inspiration. Not to say that my life has been boring, lately. April was a fairly exciting month for Thailand, actually. But for some reason I just haven't made myself sit down and write about it.

Part of the problem is that the format for this website has always been long essays. And lately I just can't seem to make the time to crank them out. So this past month, in place of long blog posts here, I have been doing some "micro-blogging" on Facebook and Twitter. So feel free to check me out there, in case you are ever worried if I am still alive.

Looking back at what I posted there gives you some idea of what was on my mind this past month:

• 5:16 PM April 5: On the train from Prachinburi after a 65 km bike ride through the countryside.
• 6:15 PM Apr 7th: What a great storm we just had in Bangkok. Lost electricity twice. And it's not even rainy season yet!
• 10:22 PM Apr 7th in reply to bradlai1982: I decided to give Twitter another try. And for some reason, I like it a lot more this time around.
• 10:25 PM Apr 7th: Had a new dish for lunch today: radish, egg, and squid stir-fry. It was MUCH tastier than it sounds!
• 8:03 AM Apr 8th: "Comfort has its place, but it seems rude to visit another country dressed as if you've come to mow its lawns." - David Sedaris (via @nickgray)

And then the Red Shirt Protests started, and pretty much took over everyone's life for a few days:

• 2:19 PM Apr 8th: Live blog of the Red Shirt protest in Bangkok today from Nirmal Ghosh of the Straits Times http://tinyurl.com/csajbp (h/t @bangkokpundit)
• 4:41 PM Apr 9th: Day 2 of the Red Shirt Protest has moved to Victory Monument, a major transportation hub in BKK. Nermal's Liveblog http://tinyurl.com/c5ldlh
• 6:13 PM Apr 9th: Hope no one is planning on driving on Thong Lo or Ekkamai tonight. Both are parking lots.

And then I thought things had settled down:

• 9:04 PM Apr 10th: Time to go out for a drink before the Songkran madness starts tomorrow.

But boy was I wrong, or at least the "madness" was not what I was expecting:

• 1:02 PM Apr 11th: Holding Prime Ministers of all the Asian countries hostage in a hotel does not bode well for the future of Thailand.
• 3:33 PM Apr 12th: Unbelievable scenes on Thai TV now. #redshirt mobs attacking government officals' cars. Why are the Thai Police so completely impotent?!
• 3:26 PM Apr 13th in reply to underexpose: I wouldn't call this #redshirt mess a Civil War, yet. More like Civil Skirmish. But I worry that a real war is looming.
• 5:14 PM Apr 13th: Just finished filing my income tax, two days before it's due. Now it's back to watching Thai events unfold on TV and Twitter.
• 12:35 PM Apr 14th: The #redshirt protest seems to be slowly breaking up, thankfully. Protests are OK. Burning busses and attacking the PM's car is not.

And then, finally, it really was over:

• 7:32 PM Apr 14th: Watching thousands of Thais celebrate Songkran on Silom. Looks like a great release after a stressful weekend!

After the Red-Shirt-tainted Songkran, my attention turned to moving to Phuket:

• 9:31 AM Apr 18th: In Phuket for the weekend. Let the apartment search begin!
• 6:48 PM Apr 18th: Enjoying the sea breeze and a beautiful sunset on Mai Kao Beach. Maybe this move won't be so bad after all.
• 11:53 PM Apr 18th in reply to nickgray I'm glad we had a chance to see you tonight. We had fun hanging out with your folks as well. Have a great flight tomorrow!
• 5:33 PM Apr 20th: Back to BKK from Phuket. The search for a place to live was successful. Now it's time to start packing up the house.
• 6:35 PM Apr 20th from Nambu in reply to robdejonge: Yes, I'm moving to Phuket and taking the official @ITS4Thai office with me. That's the beauty of working online...from anywhere!
• 8:43 AM Apr 21st in reply to augustahopkins: We have some new business opportunities down there. Plus, it's time for change! Been in BKK for over 6 years now. (Amazing)

And after that, I was definitely off-balance and leading a chaotic life:

• 5:24 PM Apr 22nd in reply to jonrandy: Around Xmas I started playing a web-based game called Travian and had to quit this week because I was too addicted! :P
• 8:48 AM Apr 28th: I have officially given up on my New Year Resolutions. Three and a half months was not too bad, right?

But then we ended the month on a high note (63 stories high, that is!)

• 11:30 PM Apr 30: Celebrated Piyawat's new unemployment with a ginger-flavored martini at Vertigo tonight.

The month of May will be mostly all about our move to Phuket. But before that starts, we will spend the long Labor Day holiday in Ko Chang with Piyawat's family. Then it's time to pack everything and move to the South. It's going to be a busy month.