migrant wrote:I hear so much negative experiences when dealing with Thais so thought I would post a good one........
It helps to understand some reasons for that in an attempt to stay sane:
1) Most of us don't understand Thai well enough to be able to absorb conversations going on around us like we can do in places speaking our native language. This in itself cuts us off from a wealth of knowledge, or at least input that our minds can process and use in any way we choose.
2) Depending upon location the quantity of people who do speak our language is limited and as we've all seen, the majority seem to like to complain and walk around with a cloud over their heads all the time. Look at other English speaking forums and look at all the negative comments vs positive. I don't really blame them as they're victims of the points I'm making here as well.
3) Regardless if English or Thai news, they are really not in the business of printing good news. We all get the full dose of Thailand's problems, the world's problems etc., on a daily basis.
4) We don't feel or have any sense that we're in control of anything as compared to where we came from. This is a very big deal for many/most, at least for males. If most of your adult life has been spent managing people and processes, life here won't be very fulfilling unless you can adjust that part of your personality.
5) Our hosts don't make it easy for us to feel welcome or part of society in general. Most are looked upon and treated as tourists even if living here for decades. Even if one becomes fluent in Thai there won't be full acceptance in Thai groups, and most will be viewed as an oddity and a source of amusement.
6) Unless a person has a large group of foreign friends with whom to socialize regularly, expats tend to become reclusive, and this naturally becomes worse as we age.
I don't have any solutions to the above except to try to understand them and deal with them the best one can. As always, all of this is......IMO.
Pete
