• Welcome to episode 46
• Sorry for so much time between shows
• Holiday season arrives
• A New approach to podcasting for Tom
• Love my gentle reminders…keep em’ coming!
• How did you celebrate Halloween?
• School carnivals and the failed costume
• Nostalgic Halloween movies
• Halloween heralds the holidays
• Brits don’t quite get Halloween
• Tom enjoys lounging at home
• Loy Kratong in Thailand
• First full moon in November
• Flower and banana leaf birthday cakes
• My take on Thai costumes and traditional music
• Winter arrives in Thailand over night
• No gradual seasonal changes in Thailand
• Lots of trips to Bangkok this month
• (sorry for the background noise!!!)
• Dean and the Stickman links on teachers
• My thoughts on the article (can’t find the link L)
• Education in Thailand
• Some aspects of the culture inhibit education
• Saving face and ‘Greng Jai’
• A lovely link from Ken!!
• Tigger’s Halloween cast was fabulous
• What do you think of the new site and flag counter?
• Matthew of SBA is doing a podcast a day this month
• Random hellos and love to my listeners
• Closing remarks and rambling bye!

Email me at tominthai@gmail.com, please go Comment on my page or call my voice line at 1-206-426-2152 and leave me a voice comment for the show!

Download Tom in Thailand: Click Here | The Freak Network | The RainbowPodSquad

Subscribe to Tom in Thailand in Itunes: Click here

So was on the old “Facebooks” today and someone posted a link to this guy doing a version of “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey.  I was curious cause number 1, Tom is secretly a big fan of 80’s music and number 2 I liked/like this song in particular.  Sooooo, i clicked on over to the Youtubes to see the video and Wow! was Tom impressed!  I must admit to listening to this several times today,and i’ve clicked around on Youtube to see more of this guy named Sam Tsui do an amazing job with several different songs.  Tom is now officially a fan!  Hope everyone is having a good week, and hope you enjoy his version of this 80’s classic as much as I have.

• Welcome to episode 45
• Mid-term break
• Back to Bangkok….and 6 AM flights
• Tom in Issan
• Quite country town of Udon Thani
• More urban than Rayong
• Tom’s nagging question about Issan
• Staying with the in-laws
• Height of the Monsoon season
• Worst in 20 years
• Flooding problems in Thai cities
• Wading through water knee deep
• Tom gets skittish around storms
• Growing up in the south & tornadoes
• Tom’s scariest tornado memory
• Midnight under the pillows in the hallway
• Life in the “Chang”
• My first “Dutch” dinner
• Have you ever had fondue?
• Fondue makes me think of the movie Polyester
• John Waters and his work
• Hello to and a good question from Zachary
• Would I recommend living and teaching in Thailand?
• Do’s and Don’ts to think about…
• Voicemail from the Dean in L.A.
• Love to my listeners on the Facebooks…James, Ken, Andrea, Joe
• Closing remarks and a rambling quick goodbye

Email me at tominthai@gmail.com, please go Comment on my page or call my voice line at 1-206-426-2152 and leave me a voice comment for the show!

Download Tom in Thailand: Click Here | The Freak Network | The RainbowPodSquad

Subscribe to Tom in Thailand in Itunes: Click here

Hi ho! to you guys out there in listener/reader land.  It has been an extremely busy couple of weeks for Tom, and I’ve not had the chance to sit down and record a program since the embarrassment of my drunkcast.  I guess I should apologize to any of my listeners that might have been offended, and i debated whether or not to even post the show once it was said and done.  However, I think for the most part…if you do enjoy listening to the show, then you know i don’t rarely self edit and I thought why not just put it out there for all to see and hear…for better or worse.

I also have to say i’m sorry cause I’ve been waaaay busy with work the past 2 weeks and I’ve really not had time to put together a podcast for all my peeps out there.  So I thought the least i could do would be to sit down and write a bit for you guys to let you know what’s going on.  We’ve had torrential rains here in the Southeast of Thailand for the past few weeks, but October is meant to be the climax of the rainy season anyway.  Some parts of the country have even had problems with flash flooding, but fortunately we’ve had none of that here in Rayong.  Just lots and LOTS of rain.  The staff housing (close your eyes and think public housing, projects, council flats) have not fared so well with all the rains and the ceiling tiles on our front porches have started to bulge and collapse due to leaks and saturation.  The lovely institution i’m working for has been “repairing” the problem this week by slapping a couple of coats of paint on suspected water entry points and supposedly will be hanging new slabs of sheet rock tiles to replace the old ones.  However, it has been 4 days now and we all look like we live in derelict houses with bits of tile hanging loose and missing.  Not that i’m bitter about the housing or anything!

Also, I’ve just finished doing quite detailed reports for my students which will go out tomorrow before the break.  This is the first school I’ve ever worked at that has done mid-term progress reports but it is always good to keep the parents as updated as possible to keep the channels of communication open.  International schools, or at least the ones i’ve worked for, do very detailed reports for students.  So we have to write very detailed comments for each student, by subject instead of getting grade cards with an A, B, C, or D.  Oh!  We’ve also started planning the Christmas production for lower primary this week….yes, i know…it wasn’t my idea, trust me! On top of all that, we’ve got a big celebration at school tomorrow night called Diwali or the Indian Festival of Lights.  It is an interesting holiday celebrated in India, apparently akin to Christmas in the west as far as popularity and festiveness go.  There is a big dinner tomorrow night, which i’m really looking forward to attending, followed by a cultural show.  We see lots of the Indian students bringing in extremely yummy looking snacks and lunches, so finally a chance to sample some home cooking!  We have a large number of Indian students at the school, so the festival has been at the fore front of student activities this week.

Then, as soon as possible on Friday, Tom is off to start his mid-term break.  I will be traveling to Bangkok Friday afternoon and spending the night there before I fly up to spend a few days in Issan with the partner.  REAALLY looking foward to getting away from Thailand’s version of a one red light town and spending some much needed time with my guy.  I will be spending a few nights in the lovely Northeastern town of Udon Thani and i’m really looking forward to the time away…did i say that already?  Anyways, thanks for all the great comments, emails and stuff here and over at Facebook…you guys know i really appreciate it!  I will be podcasting from the Northeast for sure while i’m there, so stay tuned in and turned on to the T.I.T. site and podcast.  Much love to you from a rain soaked Thailand and peace, love and hair grease to all!

• Welcome to episode 44
• Country living is for the critters
• Snakes, scorpions and spiders oh my!
• Torrential rains of the Rainy season
• Being near the beach should be fun?
• Almost have a stable routine
• The commute to Bangkok on the weekends
• Things that go bump in the night
• A scary/rude awakening last night
• Tom get’s spooked easily anyway
• Spring cleaning in September
• New friends and unwanted advice
• When your abroad…everyone has a story
• Finding a little inner peace again
• Big cities can make you mean and cold
• Who I was and how I got here
• Revisiting the past
• Why I moved to Thailand
• The professor and the Thai community in Alabama
• My first visit
• Alabama or abroad?
• EXTREMELY difficult to adjust at first
• My first “home” in Thailand
• Adventure vs. anxiety
• The big split….choices to make
• Staying on in the big Mango
• Time passes so quickly
• 9 years later I’m still here
• New adventure on the horizon
• The Visa application process for my partner
• Success and planning the trip home
• Thanks for all the loving comments and emails
• Tigger and Matthew the Power Gay
• The Royal Pains
• Closing remarks and love!

Email me at tominthai@gmail.com, please go Comment on my page or call my voice line at 1-206-426-2152 and leave me a voice comment for the show!

Download Tom in Thailand: Click Here | The Freak Network | The RainbowPodSquad

Subscribe to Tom in Thailand in Itunes: Click here

Hey guys!  I received some really good news last night and I thought it only right to write a quick post to share it with you guys.  If you’ve followed the podcast & blog for a while, then you will know that Tom hasn’t been home to the U.S. for Christmas in about 9 years.  This year , thanks in no small part to my new job, I decided to make my way back home to Alabama for the holidays.  I also really wanted my partner to join me on the trip to finally visit my home, and also to take the scary step of meeting the in-laws.

Soooo, last month we started the process of trying to get him a tourist visa to visit the U.S. and it was quite an arduous task.  There was a mountain of paperwork needed for him to even apply.  Then, with the knowledge that he might not even get it, we prepared all the necessary documents from here and at home thanks to the support of my family.  He went to the U.S. embassy last week for his visa interview and fortunately for us, it went really smoothly.  It is often difficult for Thai citizens to get American visas due to a variety of reasons and we were more than a little nervous.  However, I’m proud to report that he received his passport back in the mail yesterday with a 10 year multiple entry tourist visa to the America.  I did a little happy dance when I got the news, and now i’m really excited to make the journey home with my partner at my side come December.

I’ll be having a quite weekend here in the Thai countryside, so you can definitely count on a podcast in the next couple of days.  I’m planning to revisit something I talked about in the first or second episode as they don’t seem to be available for download anymore.  A few of you have requested the background of my journey that led me to live in Thailand, so I’ll take some time in the next podcast and talk about the how and the why that brought me to live here.  Sooooo, till the weekend much luv from very wet southern coast of Thailand!

• I’m back…FINALLY an episode 43
• No longer Tom in Bangkok
• Where to start?
• Coming back from Oz…
• Babies on planes
• Passing out at the airport
• Can you hear yourself snore?
• Arriving back in Bangkok
• Tom’s life turns upside down
• How routine is your life?
• Getting the car….
• Why I decided to rent…
• Sort of got to pick my car off the lot
• Busses in Thailand
• 3 windows for the same town
• Tom’s first visit to the school & new home
• First impressions
• GET me out of here!!!
• Set out to drive back to Bangkok for 1^st time
• Wasn’t bad till I hit the city
• Bumper to bumper
• Road courtesy in Thailand=every man for himself
• Packing like I’m going away to college
• Lots of tears for Tom
• New neighbors/new friends
• Might have to make this 2 parts
• Thanks for all the loving comments and emails
• Tom podcasts because of you….
• Closing remarks and love!

Email me at tominthai@gmail.com, please go Comment on my page or call my voice line at 1-206-426-2152 and leave me a voice comment for the show!

Download Tom in Thailand: Click Here | The Freak Network | The RainbowPodSquad

Subscribe to Tom in Thailand in Itunes: Click here

Hiya folks!  Yeeessssss……Tom is alive and well living here in the countryside, and I thought it was high time for an update!  I’ve made the trek back and forth to Bangkok twice moving bits and pieces down here to my new accomodations…and i’m quite sad to report that I’m not exactly right on the beach!

The area is quite rural…with the most exciting thing to do in town is head off to the Tesco for a bit of shopping.  I think most of the foreigners that live in the area weekend elsewhere, which is fine with me as i guess I’ll be off to Bangkok every other weekend to keep my sanity with the occasional dose of civilization.  It’s quite a lonely life here i’d guess as my first impression, but i’m sure things will perk up a bit when the students come back this coming week.  That always seems to make the time pass more quickly.  So, till then my dear listeners/readers I’ll make every effort to get a podcast put together for you guys this coming week.  My internet isn’t exactly stable either, but if push comes to shove then I shall just record them and then upload them from school.  Much love to you and will be hearing from Tom in Thailand soon!

Hi guys!  I trust everyone has had a wonderful week at work, and to ring in the weekend I thought I’d add this funny little video I’ve seen on Thai TV from time to time.  It is Issan (Northeast Thailand) music commonly known here as Luk tung but with a comical twist…see if you can listen close and hear the English bits of the song.  The list of place she goes through are all tourist venues in Thailand, and also when she says “I tell you know”….she means I’m telling you this so you will know about it.  There are cute little bits of Teng-lish sprinkled through out the video, and it makes me laugh every time i see it.  Soooo….I thought i’d share it with you peeps out there!  Have a great Friday guys and hopefully will speak to you over the weekend.  I’m off to scout the SouthEast tomorrow and inspect the house where I’ll be living!  Speak to ya soon!

Sorry guys but there are just not any structured show notes for this podcast. Very, very random podcast about my current trip here in Australia where I just ramble on about my experiences here over the past week with the extremely hospitable and warm people and culture of the “Land Down Under,” and the subtle differences to life in Asia that Tom remembers now being back in a western country.  Hope you enjoy!

As always please email me at tominthai@gmail.com, or comment directly here on my page or call my voice line at 1-206-426-2152 and leave me a voice comment for the show!  Also, please go check out the new and improved Rainbow Pod Squad website and give my fellow podcasters a listen…you’ll be glad you did!

Download Tom in Thailand: Click Here | The Freak Network | The RainbowPodSquad

Subscribe to Tom in Thailand in Itunes: Click here