Just don’t cross that velvet rope .. especially when you’ve been drinking . You’ll wish it was just a kidney they stole 
3 Likes
Gatorade and Everclear… When you need to get hammered fast, fast, fast, and don’t care about the aftermath.
5 Likes
Yes, you need to be careful.
Aliexpress has great prices but for kits, watch the shipping as they advertise really low kit prices but then the shipping is high. I am in the USA and for the most part, the shipping takes about three weeks on average. For smaller stuff, it takes about two weeks.
1 Like
It wasn’t all fun and games. I did have a mission to do. In Kenya, I donated and distributed food, clothing, medical supplies, toys, school supplies and also taught reading and writing. About half the supplies were donated from a donation drive I held. We got a lot of school books, pens, crayons and shoes. The other half I donated myself which included the above mentioned plus food, clothing, toys, medical and dental supplies. They are not allowed to have alcohol based products in their supplies due to some of their religions so I had to purchase all the medical and dental supplies locally. A lot of the children were orphaned from wars/conflict zones in the surrounding regions. Some were rescued from Ethiopia and Somalia. I was not involved in rescue operations as I was not cleared by the State Department to enter those crisis/conflict zones or regions as we were NGO’s. I was just only organizing the logistics and helped distribute the supplies.
7 Likes
I’m envious. I always felt my time in Afghan and Iraqi schools would have been more meaningful had I not been encumbered with weapons.
My wife and I are thinking of the Peace Corps when she retires. We can afford it - just need to let my daughter care of the Chihuahua. That’s a big ask.
I did manage to go “gunless” here.
One of your posts has me wondering - English teacher in SEA? Wonder what my wife would think?
4 Likes
Your time was very meaningful, the strategy of winning the hearts and minds of the locals gains trust and friendships. With the situation in Afghanistan now, it doesn’t seem meaningful but you did leave lasting impressions on a few. Some people will keep those impressions for the rest of their lives.
I do have a TEFL license but unless you can get into a university or private school, the pay isn’t that good. Universities and private schools especially in China and South Korea are excellent paying TEFL careers. I did try to finish my studies for my degree but never completed due to many different reasons. I also studied to be an International Disaster Crisis Counselor to try to get a job with the UN at one of the IDP camps but again, never finished due to complicated and unmitigated circumstances. Even though I didn’t finish my degree, I still managed to get work as an NGO but again, not a very lucrative salary. My time as an NGO, most of the money came out of my own pocket.
If you are looking at TEFL anywhere, not just SEA, as I stated above, the pay is extremely low if not at a University or private school. Outside of a University or private school, you can expect pay to be maybe $300USD a month, some might be higher but not much higher. Universities and private schools, you can make up to $100,000 a year and more depending on your contracts including your education level, meaning the type of degree you have. A Masters or Phd gets you in the door first and the high pay. A bachelor’s is secondary and lower pay but still decent enough to survive on. You don’t necessarily need a degree in teaching, as long as English is your first language and you have any degree, the Universities and private schools are the best paying. Local schools are the low paying even with a degree.
Some TEFL teachers take the low $300 a month pay to gain the experience but you can’t live on $300 a month, even in SEA. What a lot of those TEFL teachers do is they share rooms, like up to 5-6 people per room to cut down on costs. You can find really cheap rooms to share but most of them are sleeping on the floor.
You can do your own private tutoring but most people that get the private tutoring wants to know your educational level and degree and some private tutoring jobs also pay very well. Most people that uses a private tutor come from wealthy families and think that private, one on one is better than in school. It’s the same level of teaching and learning but of course, private tutoring is more personal. I don’t know the criteria for private tutoring but I think you still need at least the TEFL license but again, having a degree is preferred.
If you and or your wife do decide to do TEFL in SEA, research, research and research before you decide anything. Also, if you haven’t traveled abroad often, culture shock is real and something to consider. I know you were in the army and went to Iraq and Afghanistan and are used to being abroad in different living conditions but what about your wife? The culture shock, as a civilian, depends on your income and cost of living for the standard of living you and she is used to.
2 Likes
And there was the problem. Kuwait University used to send my wife (Masters Degree in Speech and Language Pathoilogy) offers all the time, and the pay was so ridiculous I won’t even mention it as it would sound like BS. I told my wife she could work one year there, while I worked for Halliburton or KBR, and we’d be set for life. She didn’t want our kids going to school there, while I thought it would be the best experience for them.
I don’t care about low pay, or even no pay. At some point in life you have to give back. That’s its own reward. Unfortunately a lot of folks don’t get that.
4 Likes
One of my friends is moving to Macedonia as his wife just got a teaching job there in science. She has a Masters and the pay as you stated, sounds unreal. It was a no brainer for them. They have two daughters. One is already in college and one is still in grade school and both daughters will be going with them.
I did the low pay, local school thing and shared the room with 5-6 people. You do make great friends with the roomies even though some might be extremely annoying. Annoying roomies was the least of the problems though. Keeping the bugs/insects out was the biggest annoyance of all. Sleeping on the floor and having all sorts of insects crawling all over you is not as enjoyable as it sounds 
That is part of the culture shock I am talking about. Not just that, 5-6 people in one room with one bathroom and some bathrooms were the old medieval bathrooms with just the hole in the floor. Some had actual toilets but when you flushed the toilet, you see the waste coming out a hole in the wall and draining into the shower drain. Yes, that is real. Always wear flip flops when going to the bathroom, even in the shower. I knew beforehand as I was warned by other NGO’s before I went. Some people weren’t so lucky. When a green NGO arrived and complained of the conditions, the veteran NGO’s would say, TIA! Meaning, THIS IS AFRICA!
Not all roomies were guys, you had to share with females as well. You get what is available so they were coed rooms. Sharing a single bathroom with 5-6 other people and at least 2-3 were female roomies was also not as enjoyable as it sounds.
2 Likes
Yeah, the toilet thing. I think I can count my wife out. I kind of traumatized her on our first campout near Roswell many years ago. She had to walk 100 meters to the latrine, Although oddly, we got a cabin a few years ago near Eureka Springs, with a bucket of mulch for a toilet. Total hippie commune kind of place. We loved it.
2 Likes
Yeah, not too many westerners were very receptive of the medieval toilet thing. One of the outhouses was by a grove of Acacia trees and the roof was made of that corrugated galvanized tin and while I was in there one day, a Baboon jumped on the tin roof and literally scared the crap out of me.
Here’s one of the little bastards.
Here’s one of the shared bathrooms but was more modern than others but was still one where the toilet drained through the wall to the shower drain. Those little clumps by the drain are not made of mud if you know what I mean. Flip flops were your best friend. I had different pairs for different areas of the room. The hole in the wall is not shown as the shower curtain is blocking it.
Some of the amazing roads in Kenya.
3 Likes
I was always of the mind that everyone should give 2 years of service to the country. Peace corps, CCC, military, red cross, candy striper, Cal Fire, etc…Does not matter how you serve, you serve.
6 Likes
I suspect it would take a very careful selection process; some people would just add pain to whatever situation they were meant to alleviate…
M
2 Likes
Back to our regularly scheduled program.
I got this 1/24 Alien a few years ago, either 2019 or 2020. This is made of resin. I think it was from Yufan. It did come in several parts and had to be assembled and that is as far as I got. It is very well cast and has amazing detail.
It did come with a small base as well.
A couple pieces arrived broken and were missing from the package. I will have to attempt to scratch build the broken and missing pieces. One of the broken and missing parts is the smaller spikes on its back as you can see in the photo below. Some plastic rod sanded to shape should fix it. Note the gaps on the larger spike on its upper back. Those will need some very careful filling and sanding.
The other broken off and missing part is one of the finger tips. This one will be harder to fix but will try to scratch one up.
This last photo also shows some gaps around the neck, again, will need some very careful filling and sanding.
4 Likes
I think the back spike could be left as is - a sort of sacrificial defense (caudal autonomy) against attack from the rear - like a lizard losing his tail. Maybe tipped with green blood to show it’s intentional and not just broken.
2 Likes
I seem to recall that that was the way it went down in Germany when they had conscription; you either did military national service or worked in a hospital, conceivably on the not-so-good jobs.
Seemed fair to me.
4 Likes
The acid blood would look good oozing out of the spike. Not sure how good I would be able to represent it though but might be easier than trying to fix the spike and finger tip.
2 Likes
Flourescent green paint. Of course for fun you could bust open a green chem-light and put a dab on it at night.
2 Likes
I do have some chem lights in my emergency pack, blue, red and green ones.
3 Likes
couple of suggestions on the print lines. they look to be printed off of an older FDM printer or a newer one in draft or coarse settings.
for figures and the such it is really hard to beat a resin (SLA) printer.
a couple ways to reduce the layer lines if you are not printing them yourself.
- Krylon sandable filler and primer in the spray can works really good in light coats
- Mr Surfacer (as mentioned before) with a brush
- Thin down Bondo 651 glazing and spot putty and spray it through an airbrush.
I use all 3 of the methods depending on the model. its not an issue with the Bambu Labs or my SOVOL 8 Max FDM printers. As much of a pain SLA (Resin) is, it is really the only way to go if you want minimum post print work.
3 Likes