Calling all athletes: go to China!

I have thought about it: why not boycott the 2008 summer Olympics and show China we're fed up with their government executing and torturing more people than any country in the world. Or because they're destroying the environment at an unbelievable rate, the fact that the Chinese have no free press, half the Internet is inaccessible, or beacuse of all that lead paint on toys and stuff. But the Olympics are a sports event people. So there you go. Sports. Not politics.

We have talked about it. Boycotting the Olympics. Especially here in Thailand after monks, journalists and unarmed civilians got shot, detained and disappeared in Burma. A despicable regime backed up in force by the Chinese rulers because of the oil and jade trade. But truth be told: athletes have been training to go for gold since long before they knew where the 2008 Olympics would be held. If an athlete decides not to go he or she will not only throw away years of training; someone else will go and win the gold medal that could have been theirs. What good could possibly come form that?

China & Tibet

Now everybody is again chanting: boycott the Olympics! This time it's because of Tibet. A repressed region annexed in 1959 (!) by the Peoples Republic of China that immediately began systematic eradication of every bit of its original culture. Temple by temple, door to door, song by song, word for word, hope against hope, piece by piece. Just a few days ago a hundred protesters got killed partly because the Chinese government is turning the Tibetan capital Lhasa into a Tibetan Disneyland for huge profits. Or maybe they just a little cross with the army that has occupied their country for -count them- 49 years.

Real sportsmanship

Now here's why all athletes should definitely go to Beijing: not for politics. But to champion real sportsmanship and fair play. Compete and win your medals before the eyes of the world. Go for gold. We want to see records shattered. Epic matches. Glorious winners. Gracious losers. Men and women being the best they can be. And then when it is time to get on the stage to accept the medal: refuse before the eyes of the world. Don't even show up for the ceremony. Empty platforms. Awkward deafening silences. The only appropriate way to get the Chinese government where it hurts.

Too Thai to handle

Thailand is the land of smiles. Thailand is also the land of repressed emotion, a darker side of this culture you won't see on the news a lot. A darker side that surfaces more in the south, according to Thai people. They're hotheads you see. Thought of as being the most inferior of the Thai people. My two cents: this dark side has more to do with everybody getting more and more out of touch with the old cultural values that held everybody together.

Where were we? Ah yes: repressed emotion Mr. Spock. Which brings us to our story. This scary story. And I must be becoming a bit too Thai. Because some dark part of me actually understands the reaction.

In my neighbourhood there's at least one of these extremely loud karaoke parties for the drunk and the tone deaf every week. Right under your bedroom window if you're unlucky. With John Denver. And they won't turn it down. Asking them is useless. And it will go on. And on. And on. And it will roughly sound like this: Thay-me hoooooo cuntly looooooooow to a plaaaay wheh I belooooooh!

See what I mean?

Pretzel logic

Sunday, August 26, 2007 I told you that I had started doing Yoga. Then I posted some yoga fun with a ball then: nothing. Or so it seemed. Because I've been working out regularly ever since. I been diving head first into Light on Yoga, Yoga: Moving into Stillness en other yoga classics. Great stuff, but no: I'm not able to tiptoe on my own head yet or something.

Reason being: I'm apparently very stiff and I'm taking it slow. Screw all those competitive yoga Nazis. So you might have to wait for for ever to see any pictures of me in leotards touching my nose with my right foot over my left shoulder. A good thing, trust me.

So after months of hard work: where's the progress? Well, according to Light on Yoga (aka the yoga bible) I'm still in week 0 of the beginner routine. There are many weeks and I'm still stretching my ham and other strings to do all the poses in the week one routine fully. Told you: I'm stiff.

That being said: I'm already feeling the benefits of my body becoming more symmetrical and aligned with itself. And that's what I've really set as a goal for myself. That my body is supposed be able to do the 'normal' things. Like when you sit down and you put your foot on your knee: you're supposed to be able to do that comfortably on either side.

Also you're supposed to be able to bend forward and touch the floor with your hands. Forget all that pretzel stuff. Normal things. That to me is the beauty of yoga (but maybe that's just because I'm a beginner :) One of my favs is this pose, the so called warrior pose:

It looks easy. And it should be. Nothing weird. But if you are stiff like me: watch out. You'll get a stretch you won't believe. Try it for 30 seconds. Don't do it like they do in 70 to 80 percent of all the gyms in the world; really stretch out and energize the shape. Straight angles. Breathe through it. Follow the arrows and push out. Enjoy. Detailed instructions: right here.

The new Thai teachers' license

Teaching in Thailand means paperwork. And as of januari 2008 it is not only your degree which ties in with your contract which ties in with your non immigrant B visa which ties in with your work permit in various ways depending on the province you live in, what kind of school you work in and how lucky you are in the gouvernment officials you meet.

The new part of the equasion is the teachers' license and a new set of rules surrounding that piece of paper. For horror stories, panic and angry discussions you can head for the forums here and here.

Or you can save yourself a lot of heartache and just wait. Do nothing. And especially: don't give anybody any money. This is good advice folks. You could worry about the 'cultural course' you need to take. The fact that you might not have worked in Thailand for a year yet (which you need to have done to take the course). The four exams. The masters university course that takes about a year. The exam that goes with that. And the money it will all cost you. But the fact of the matter is that at this time the whole thing is up in the air.

The Ministry of Education plus the Teachers' Council are bending over backwards trying to figure out this mess before all the teachers leave. (Or so I am told by someone Thai who knows some one who is related to someone who is someone in the MOE). Other fact is that there is a big wack of money to be made and teachers are already being pushed in taking and paying for courses sarting in the first week of April.

Yes: they are trying to up the ante as to get rid of the beer money teachers. So if you if you got your degree at the University of Ko San Road, you are probably in big trouble or you'll be teaching at home only. But if your papers are legit you have no reason to start packing yet. Also there is (in my humble opinion) no reason to start taking any of the courses and paying big money, because it is very likely that within the time you get to jump through these hoops (anywhere between one and three years), the rules will be changed to accommodate everybody again. You can get all the other paper work done with a receipt that shows you have registered as to later definitely take this course somewhere maybe never.

I have been lucky enough to have seen seen how the course is layed out and I've also seen the the curriculum. It's contents is completely pointless, the exams preceed the course and it can't hold a candle to any TEFL course. Can you spell E-X-E-M-P-T-I-O-N? Furhtermore the whole Masters degree in Education thing is going to be axed because it's too much, too expensive and nobody wants a Thai Masters degree anyway. And if you already have one you are probably in Japan making the big Yen. So everybody sit thight and don't pay. You guys who've paid already: don't pay any more. Deal?!

Let's wait for them to come up with a realistic and reasonable reform that is in touch with the problems present in Thai schools today. And if they don't we'll just leave after a year :)