@Zoe *****

well it’s not their “native” language because they are not from Thailand and ethnically, they are a bunch of other stuff. I’m barely decent in speaking Thai - sometimes people say my Thai is really great, others say it’s deplorable lol 😂 so I’m not the best teacher. I would say it got better after living there for a year. We were hoping our sitter would teach the kids Thai, it just never happened. 🥴 They are learning Spanish now at school in the Bay Area. I took Spanish in middle school and high school, Italian in college, 2 years of French at Alliance Francais in NYC as an adult and I cannot speak any of those languages 😂😅 but can read them and remember some of the verbs and such. Funny enough, growing up bilingual, I would think I’d be better at grasping languages.

This is such an interesting post! I never really thought about it! So we only did live there for a year but I am Thai-American and I speak Thai but my kids LITERALLY did not learn a single word living there (our excuse is we were there during Covid). My kids only bonded with the sitter who spoke the most English and she was always happy to practice. By the time we left she started replacing her Thai pronouns with “I” and “you.” We also lived in a fancy western condo where everyone wanted to practice English with the kids. Rest of the time, I spoke for everyone and was just too lazy to teach any of them thai though my husband is very fluent in Thai cuisine dish names 😅 I am NOT proud that the kiddos didn’t learn any Thai. I would blame it on laziness. I’m surprised some people are “proud” of that fact but Thais do love to practice their English!

@Gary ********

your finally going! 💕

Anantara Riverside - I loved the food!

@Paul ****************

was it impossible for people to leave last year when there was a full lock down? Was it because there weren’t any flights? I’m leaving soon but waiting for my movers in my home country to move my things out of storage - could be end of next month. I would love to leave now while I still can but my new lease starts and my stuff won’t arrive my new home until so I was planning on an flight but everyday I’m nervous something may happen and I’ll be stuck in Thailand!

We opened up at Krungsri at Iconsiam no problem just needed a passport and rent agreement (min 1 year). This was on our second day of trying - first day, no luck at kbank which said we needed a work permit (we are here to visit family). SBC wanted us to translate our US marriage certificate and go to the district office and get a stamp to legalize/certify the certificate. Off to get our 2 month extension next week then we’ll go back for the marriage visa. Will move 500k into the account just to be safe.

@Benjamin *****

yes I'm Thai and he's American and I have a father and aunt here.

So we are only here until mid-November (when our lease is up on a condo we are renting). My husband is currently on a 60 day extension which we'll have to renew next week - should we just keep doing it for the next 6 months assuming they will keep extending the 60 day extension because of the covid situation? Or should we do the marriage visa even if we'll only need it for the next 6 months.

@Geert *******

thank you!

@Tod ********

thanks so much for the clarification! I like the by-mail option - we are about a month out so I’ve got some time.