Filipino Expats Blog in Thailand

16 April 2010 – The first week of overseas absentee voting had a good turnout of voters, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said today.

Overseas absentee voting started last April 10 in electoral precincts located in 93 Philippine Embassies and Consulates General around the world.

As of noon today, 29,383 registered voters have cast their ballots during the first week of voting, according to the DFA Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat (DFA-OAVS).

The Embassies and Consulates General with the highest number of voters are the following: the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong (5,389), the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh (2,639), the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah (1,464), the Philippine Embassy in Singapore (1,256), the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles (1,288), the Philippine Consulate General in New York (1,085), Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco (1,074), the Philippine Embassy in London (965), the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. (723), and the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait (694).

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Today I received this teaching job opening and I would like to share it with fellow Filipinos who are qualified for the job. Or if you already have one, please kindly pass this information to friends, family, colleagues who might be interested in this post.

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Filipino Teacher Assistant at Singapore International School Srinakarin in Samut Prakan

At least 15,000 Baht/month

Dynamic, responsible, diligent Filipino teacher assistant required to assist Kindergarten Level at an International School on Srinakarin Rd.
Term Starts in April 2010

Potential Candidates must possess teaching qualifications and experience.

Please contact: Ms. Beth Sae-Ngow
Tel: 02-710-5900 or 089-4444-260
Fax : 02-710-5700
Email : bsae_ngow@hotmail.com

Written By: Hedda (http://www.heddatan.com)

Visiting Thailand would require one to have good knowledge of Thai culture, for apart from the similarities in our appearances and geography, the culture of the Thais and the Filipinos are as different as night and day.

The following bits of information are a combination of years of experiences living in Thailand of Siam Pinoy administrators, contributions in the forum discussions by Siam Pinoy members, and brochures from numerous sites visited by Siam Pinoy admins over the years of enjoying Thai hospitality.

Ours is an attempt to simply make any visitor to Thailand, Filipino or otherwise, be aware of certain important aspects of Thai culture so he/she may fully enjoy his/her stay in the Kingdom of Smiles. The Thais are a very hospitable people, ready to befriend a foreigner, but could also be offended if we don’t follow certain ways of conduct while we are enjoying such hospitality and friendliness.

Enjoy your stay in the Kingdom of Thailand! And to the Filipino visitor or expat, learn as much as you can from this article, and hopefully, as you discover more about this amazing country, you will also be generous towards others and contribute your knowledge in our forum. Please find the link to our forum threads here.

Apart from knowing how and when to do the “wai” (the standard Thai greeting) the next 2 most important cultural tidbit anyone wishing to visit and/or live in Thailand ought to know of are “chai yen yen” and “mai pen rai”.

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In the current situation, many Filipinos back home are heading out of the country in thousands to work abroad. Well, who can blame my fellow Filipinos if all of them desires to better their economic state? Nobody indeed.

As for us here Filipinos in Thailand, though life here is not always a bed of roses, most of the people that I talk to feels fortunate to be living here.

Just to give you more ideas about working in Thailand, here is an article of GLAIZA ANNE S. WOOD of OFW Guide that I would like to share with you.

Today it seems that the cost of living has risen to nearly insurmountable heights. A lot of families have to get by on salaries that are way beyond their means. In cases like these, the Filipino worker is forced to look for other options. As always, the most popular option is to work abroad.

Filipino Teachers Abroad

Teachers are one of the many Filipino professionals that have no trouble finding work outside the country. Some teachers have even gone to teach elementary and high school students in the US. In Asia, the demand for Filipino teachers is growing. The main reason is that Filipino teachers are highly proficient in English.

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This article which I read from The Nation, one of the English newspapers in Thailand, is a clear hint of what is to come from this 4 year old technology. I remember about a couple years back when I first tried to use Twitter, I honestly never thought that such a light program could grow this popular and useful where others almost couldn’t spend a day without a tweet.

Infact, when things had started to pick up and I tried to re-register, I was surprise that my email add was already in their database. The downside is, I can’t seem to remember my personal Twitter account ;) (But for FilipinosInThailand.com here it is http://www.twitter.com/filinthai. Go ahead, click the link and follow our Tweets.)

Anyway, here is the Twitter article that I was talking about.

Twitter unveils advertising plan

Twitter unveiled a plan Tuesday to use advertising to turn its massive popularity into cash.

Biz Stone, one of the three co-founders of the micro-blogging service, provided details of the long-awaited revenue-generating plan for the San Francisco-based startup in a post on the Twitter blog.

Stone said the advertising service, called “Promoted Tweets,” will allow businesses and organizations to highlight their 140-character-or-less messages known as “tweets” to a wider group of users.

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Songkran is one of the most fun and exciting festival in Thailand. It always never fails to attract thousands of foreigners and locals to join in and splash water among each festival goers.

But the big question for some is, Can Filipinos Travel to Bangkok now? I guess it’s safe to say that it is. Just make sure that you stay away from places where there are some demonstrations going on like the Phan Fa Bridge going to Democracy Monument and Rajaprasong Intersection where the main rally stage are located.

Of course, once you are with friends enjoying the festival, just always make sure to keep safe while having a great Songkran fun.

The Embassy would like to provide the following updates on the 10 May 2010 National Elections:

•    For registered overseas absentee voters who have received their electoral mails, you may send your officials ballots back to the Embassy ahead of the voting period which is from 10 April 2010 to 10 May 2010. Once received by the Embassy, your ballots will not be opened but kept in a ballot receptacle for counting on 10 May 2010, 6 pm, Philippine time.

•    Please disregard the statement in the Instructions to Voters for Postal voting which states that “Failure to affix your thumbmark in the ballot coupon” would be a ground for invalidating the ballot. What will invalidate the ballot is the absence of the voter’s signature in the “Official Ballot Envelope.”

•    The following registered voters may pick-up their official ballots from the Embassy, anytime from Monday to Friday, between 9 am and 12 noon and from 1 to 5 pm:
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‘When a banana has sprouted and bore fruits, it’s time to cut it down’, this, was one of FVR’s (former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos) messages to the Pinoys working and living abroad, expressed at the dialogue with the Filipino community at the Philippine Embassy on August 18, 2009.

FVR KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT AIT’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Like most Filipinos who have been living and working abroad for a good number of years now, I too, am disillusioned with the current political situation in our country. And so with heavy shoulders, I went to the Philippine Embassy last August 19, 2009, expecting more of the same scene when politicians come to visit: a lot of BS, nothing substantial.

Surprisingly however, FVR (Fidel V. Ramos), our former Philippine President, turned out to be a breath of fresh air. I’ve witnessed his quick and ready humor on television for several occasions in the past. And who could ever forget the image of him making a jump with arms raised in triumph at EDSA during the 1986 People Power Revolution?

FVR started his dialogue with leaders of the Pinoy community in Thailand by going back memory lane, wisely reminding everyone in the room of the fact that the Philippines became the first ever democracy in Asia in 1898.

With that, he went on to allay fears that he was here in Thailand to start his political campaign or to endorse somebody in the upcoming elections. He was invited by the Asian Institute of Technology to come to Thailand and be AIT’s keynote speaker at its 50th Anniversary. Along with that, FVR is also to receive an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Technology.

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If your idea of a party includes a walk on a red carpet and being photographed like a Hollywood celebrity, then you would have enjoyed the grand launching of Hotel Vista last August 28, 2009, in Soi 4, Pattaya. Hotel Vista’s owners, the Vannaying family, sure know how to give a blast of a party!

There was an endless flow of wine and cocktail drinks and the food would have passed a guest’s discriminating taste. Guests were entertained from early evening till the wee hours of the morning with a variety of activities. Highlights of the night included song performances from jazz, to pop, to ballads, and to disco, which led on to lively dancing from mostly the lovely ladies of the Filipino community.

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In compliance with the Teachers Council of Thailand Rules and Regulations for Testing and Evaluation of Knowledge of Foreigners in Applying for License to Practice the Teaching Profession B.E. 2549 (2006) Clause 2 (1) (2) and (3) [page 2], the English Program Coordinating Center – Northern Region has tasked Anubaan Chiang Mai School to host a Thai Language, Thai Culture and Professional Ethics Course on August 14-16 at Chiang Mai Phucome Hotel.

The course will cover the 20 hours required by the Teachers Council of Thailand (Evaluation of Knowledge for Practicing the Teaching Profession: Thai Language, Thai Culture and Professional Ethics Training Course [page 6-7]) to qualify a foreign teacher who has successfully completed the course to receive a certificate to be used in the application for the Teaching License, given that he/she has complied with all the requirements (Rules and Regulations for Testing and Evaluation of Knowledge of Foreigners in Applying for License to Practice the Teaching Profession B.E. 2549 (2006) Clause 1-6 [page 1-2]).

More details here