January 24 Through February 4—TUCSON, ARIZONA: Annual show
Welcome to the GemologyOnline.com Forum
A non-profit Forum for the exchange of gemological ideas
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 7:42 pm

All times are UTC - 4 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 39 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: keemoog99 ..... has left Bangkok
PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:22 am 
Offline
Established Member
User avatar

Joined: Fri May 18, 2007 7:40 am
Posts: 23
Location: sabah , malaysia
eventually the troubler maker has gone back ..... now everybody 's ears will have some peace ....... this 's what i thought , somehow , i still keep hearing her name again and again ..... wherever i go , her name will pop out from somebody ...... deja vu ....... in spite of this ,i have to agreed , without keemoog moaning ...... these places really seem too quiet ........ syn' & treatment class is not as fun as gem id ...... perhaps , it was our 1st class in AIGS , everybody got so excited about it and mary brown is a really cool teacher after all ....... syn' treatment ..... boring ...... due to mary brown had covered most of the bit ........ so nothing news accept some new treatment yet to be disclosed to the world ......... like the songea and lead glass ....... as far as i know , only libs / lips tool can indentify ....... hmmm .. so keemoog bangkok missing you


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: keemoog99 ..... has left Bangkok
PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:29 am 
Offline
Gemology Online Veteran
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:06 pm
Posts: 718
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
cherlec wrote:
hmmm .. so keemoog bangkok missing you


You miss someone and the world looks like a desert...

I know what it is.

All the best, and try to enjoy anyway. I remember that I had fun teaching that course in the past.

_________________
Vincent Pardieu

www.fieldgemology.org
www.conservationgemology.org

The views expressed here are V. Pardieu’s opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of GIA Laboratory Bangkok (http://www.giathai.net)where he is an employee since Dec 2008.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:26 pm 
Offline
Established Member
User avatar

Joined: Fri May 18, 2007 7:40 am
Posts: 23
Location: sabah , malaysia
I thought so vincent , this is what i heard that 's why i came to Aigs ....... also i heard you 're the best as your passion and willingness of teaching and sharing new infomation nothing from our school book , also showing your personal experience to the students ....... this is what all students wants ...... not just read through the book and figure it out themselves ...... any jo can be a teacher though , i didn't come here for this ...... i'm here to learn , to be taught and show how to identify treatment , that 's what aigs is mean for .


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:17 pm 
Offline
Active Member

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:44 pm
Posts: 94
Location: orlando florida
Who is a trouble maker? Ha...I'm back home with family and friends and happy to be here. AIGS was a great experience for the most part. The fact that Henry Ho and his entourage haven't fixed all the bugs, i.e., visa extensions, dilapidated equipment, teacher abilities and willingness to give of themselves to students and the general unstructured Thai way of doing business--that's just an interesting part of the experience.

The preponderance of cockroaches crawling up the ladies bathroom in no way diminishes all the knowledge and learning Mary and the lab staff provided us. When Henry Ho and I were talking about these issues, he told me that AIGS was his child. I said, "You need to change your child's diapers."

The structure is there but with no one to help the child develop, it will go astray. This is what I see happening with AIGS. Get someone in charge and take charge. Fix the problems and the students will come.

This is the place for colored stones. AIGS needs to incorporate field trips to Chantaburi, burners' facilities, and use the many resources available.
Henry and Kennedy and the nameless personal assistant to Henry - this is your challenge. Take the lead. And I will be back.

CherAlek: I miss you guys too. Keep in touch.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:04 pm 
Offline
Gemology Online Royal Princess

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:56 am
Posts: 6461
Location: The frozen north prairie :-/
keemoog99 wrote:
The preponderance of cockroaches crawling up the ladies bathroom in no way diminishes all the knowledge and learning Mary and the lab staff provided us. When Henry Ho and I were talking about these issues, he told me that AIGS was his child. I said, "You need to change your child's diapers."


Oh my :shock: ! I think I have just changed my mind regarding wanting to attend AIGS! Cockroaches and I do not make for a good mix :smt087 .

Good to have you back, Keemoog! :D

_________________
IIJA Registered Gemologist
GIA Graduate Gemologist


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:10 am 
Offline
Established Member
User avatar

Joined: Fri May 18, 2007 7:40 am
Posts: 23
Location: sabah , malaysia
Everybody ..... what keemoog and i have writen , hopefully will not change anybody mind of joining AIGS . It's unfair to people who haven't been there ..... school is nice , specially there so many rare and nice stones collection in the student lad where you get to test them , also there are many retail shop selling beautiful stone in the same building ( JTC) i reckon you 'll not see this anywhere else.... American thai is one of the retailshop there where you can get to see stones like maw-sit-sit , hackmanite or kui-i-lai pink spinel which 's the only mine that give these spinel a zinc-rich chemical composition. Also ,i reckon there are still good teacher in AIGS who are really professional in teaching .


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 10:03 pm 
Offline
Active Member

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:44 pm
Posts: 94
Location: orlando florida
well, let me just say the cockroaches were small....but they do need some kind of bug extermination service. as for aigs, cherlec made some good points. The school is sound - just needs tweeks. Spending 8 hours a day in the lab looking at stones is a great way to spend your day. Going to to American Thai and buying uncommon stones for reasonable prices is even better. This is the place for colored stones. The relaxed atmosphere of the classroom makes for better learning. No throwing you out to complete by distance education if you flunk the weekly tests.

The fact that the leadership of AIGS never comes around to check on things is a big factor. We saw the AIGS lab director, Larry ( Dr. Laurent) and the marketing guy Khun Tom more than Kennedy Ho (new director) or his brother Henry Ho (the big boss). People like Khun Toom, the lab assistant was way more helpful to students and needs to get a raise.

But again, duct tape keeping refractometers together and smelly equipment, lw and sw machine, do not make for a professional appearance. Get rid of the duct tape and Chlorox wipe down the equipment! Replace that Chelsea filter!

I'm putting my concerns in writing for Henry, Kennedy and the nameless personal assistance as soon as I get over this jet lag.

Gem ID was a great course and I'm glad I took it.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 10:19 am 
Offline
Established Member

Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:16 am
Posts: 14
Location: Bangkok, Thailand.
Hi Keemoog99,

Thank Heavens. You just saved AIGS by your kind words out there.

Someone at AIGS has really rubbed you on the wrong side while you were there.

From the posts of the little lamb cherlec it looks like you have created quite a reputation in Bangkok and mainly around JTC building and AIGS.

I hope your comments wake up the owner and the mangement team to change things at AIGS for the better and I certainly hope for God's sake to compensate the workers well who work so hard at AIGS.

_________________
Call me James, Jamesnobond.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 10:53 am 
Offline
Established Member
User avatar

Joined: Fri May 18, 2007 7:40 am
Posts: 23
Location: sabah , malaysia
Sad , despite of what we have said about AIGS , it 'll never a matter to either kenny or henry ho though . To them , AIGS is a passed thing , the future is all about themselves . I feel sorry for everybody who work so hard for them in AIGS ..... i reckon we aren't the 1st 2 who have been complaining about the broken gargets lying around need to be replace .......


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:46 am 
Offline
Active Member

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:44 pm
Posts: 94
Location: orlando florida
James and Cherlec:
Constructive criticism is never bad. Is it wrong to point out areas of concern which could use some fixing?
I have stressed both positives and negatives to the AIGS course.
Cost is a big positive compared to other schools. Location is the best, but why not take advantage and get students into the places where stones are cut, burned and treated? Why not trips to Mogok, Myanmar, Chantaburi sponsored by the school. We'll pay for it.

All AIGS need to make it a top notch school is some tender loving care and not the worker bees-from the top. Staff continues to work with what they've got. Get the leadership involved, put some money into the facilities and equipment and pay the teachers a decent wage.

Have some kind of scheduled maintenance program for the equipment, clean the stuff and get some kind of standard operating procedures covering visa extensions. Replace the first 20 boxes of stones with new ones and Henry Ho and Kennedy- visit your school sometime. Talk with the students and teachers and you will see what they need to make this school top notch.

AIGS lab looks pretty good. Dr. Laurent has it under control.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 12:34 pm 
Offline
Active Member

Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2006 9:32 am
Posts: 73
Location: bangkok
I must say it has been extremely frustrating to read some of your posts, but is nice to see at least some attempt at pointing out some of the positive things though. i must say most frustrating of all is the belated thanks to the staff of AIGS, in particuliar the office staff. i have heard so much aobut the problems with visa extensions, but the reality of the matter is that the office staff was extremely helpfull with everyone i know , clearly outlining what was needed for the visas. extensions in thailand are a Pain in the Butt for every kind of visa. and the currently military government has not helped the situation with several visa changes in the past year. In every experience i have had with the office staff, they, in particuliar the office manager, has gone beyond the call of duty. be it with simple mundane matters or more serious ones. but that is my personal experience and most of my classmates.

as far as the equipment in the lab, yes it is old but enough about the duct tape on the lids of the refractometers. the refractometers work fine, in fact i found that the older more run down looking refractometers worked better than the newer ones in the lab, and are certainly easier to read than the smaller one that i have here in my room. i never had any problems with any of the other equipment aside from the spectroscope, which was a little fuzzy.

It amaazes me that with all of the stone buying which began on the second day of the last gem ID class, no one who is posting seems to have taken the time to go out and buy the that chelsea filter or the spectroscope, which combined with a dichroscope, cost less than 40 $, both of which are indespensible in the field i have found. it seems that some folks are apt to coomplain when there is a solution. yes i understand that more was expected when you arrived, but work with what you got. complain to the people in charge, which you have, not plainly belittling the school on a public forum, then take the steps to change your own situation. The Ho's did not come to meet the students, ok that would be nice, do the heads of the compnaies and non profits of other schools do this? i dont know, but those who are actually in charge of the school, both thai and foreign take the school very seriously and are working every day to improve this.

trips to the burners? seriously? perhaps the posters on this topic simply dont understand the secrecy which permeates this aspect of the field. i was allowed into the burning room of a burner in mae sai, to watch them prepare my stones, and was escorted out before they were put into the furnace. it was an opportunity which i was honored to have been allowed.

Trips to chanthaburi? there is one in the colored stone class, aside from that it is a $5 bus ride from bkk. it is each students responsiblity to develop their own experiences outside of the classroom. One thing i remember from the first day of my Gem ID class was the following- these classses are a jumping off point to begin our education. as keemoog99 has repeatedly pointed out the practical is more educational at times than the book work. some people prefer to be spoonfed and have all the contacts needed made for them.

Cherlec" syn' & treatment class is not as fun...so nothing news accept some new treatment yet to be disclosed to the world" wow. good luck with that. I found that class to be the most fascinating at AIGS. i loved it. poring over mounds of synthetics of all types with the photoatlas of gem inclusions open at my side. i wouldnt have minded another 2 months of that class. though in every class some are simply satisfied with seperating synthetics from naturals, without concern for whether it is ramaura, chatham, or duros. or telling heated stones from unheated which is supremely difficult. the ability to now spot lead glass filled stones at times just with my eye and not loupe is awesome. good luck on the final. all talk aside that is what it comes down to.

cockraches in the bathroom? WELCOME TO ASIA. i discovered a long time ago that some people simply will never be happy here in asia. it can be dirty, smelly, and at times nauseating(the smell of baalaa) but that is what makes it, for me so much more enjoyable than the sterility of the states. and when i go back to visit my folks,i miss that. i suppose copious amounts of toxic chemicals might solve the insect problem, but in my case at my apartment it certainly hasnt and i have given up.

My experience at the school was fantastic. and that coupled with my own weekend trips to chanthaburi, maesot, kanchanaburi, or mai sai, has truly given me a stepping stone to the field of gemology. everytime i step into the market i learn something new about both gemstones and people and AIGS is the cornerstone for me in this respect, and that coupled with hours and hours in the lab comparing stones over and over and reading every night books on burning, mine locals,adn a myriad of ofther subjects borrowed from the library there have pushed me in the right direction.

All this said i know that many of the forum members here would give their left hand(and possibly the gems on some of the fingers) to get some time and the chance to study here, and i hope that some of the posts here have not changed this fact. life is what you make of it. no one, especially in this trade will just hand something to you. You get out what you put in. sorry for the rant, but i have just read through many of the posts for AIGS this evening and felt more than a little frustrated with some of what i read. peace-out.

_________________
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference."
Robert Frost- 1916


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:56 pm 
Offline
Gemology Online Veteran
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:06 pm
Posts: 718
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear Lenaraiwa,
Well I feel much better after reading your post. I had also the depressing feeling reading on the forum that the mood was so so at AIGS as I had the felling from my screen in remote Swiszerland that the morale of the students in Bangkok was quite low...

May be hope was again a shortcut to deception?

Thanks to your post I see that things are pretty normal and it is nice to read that students still have the fighting spirit and are still motivated to solve their problems themselves, and do not limit their world to the school... I'm very pleased to read that you took bus tickets as i did in order to explore the country gemological potential during week ends and holidays.
I was thinking many times to write something in order to give my vision of the topic after 5 years in Bangkok working close to AIGS, but I have to admit that I was waiting for some student to write first.
I was feeling quite guilty may be to have with some writting created too much hope for some people about Thailand and AIGS and I was quite sad to read that things were not going that well...

Well I think that what was written before your post was also very valid as I know that AIGS school could be improved in many ways... But I've to admit that it has a charm of its own as students have there a lot of freedom compared to other gemological schools. Nevertheless I understand the remarks from Keemoog and Cherlec which were I'm sure writting with their heart and without any bad intentions. I understand especially Cherlec facing some troubles to adapt to her new teacher after 3 great months with Mary and at the same time she is sad that some of her friends have left the school... Lonelyness is sometimes difficult to handle and you become pessimistic. Nothing really bad about it, I also experienced many frustrations working at AIGS, but well I guess that this is normal in life.
I'm sure anyway that these remarks will be taken in consideration by people at AIGS and I think that they were useful or will be.
For sure that there are there many things to improve at AIGS (or at GGA and GIA where I also studied...), and I know from experience that moving from Europe or America to study in a country like Thailand is not that easy to handle.
Administration can be a pain: I had for long time as many people to spend days in buses to go to the Cambodian border to get a stamp on my visa to be able to stay one more month in Thailand... It also took me one year to get a work permit, but TIT: "This Is Thailand"... as we said after watching "Blood Diamond" is just another kind of TIA (This Is Africa) or TIF (This Is France)...
Thailand is a wonderful country but sometimes you can feel very frustrated because there are some things that seems easy to get that are a real pain to deal with while the inverse is also true. This is traveling...
Regarding cockraches, I had a big laugh about that as during my studies in Burma there were rats coming from the sewers coming into my room as there were some holes under my front and back door and in the walls as well... I had to sleep on a table for 5 months in order to avoid these damn rodents to run over me while I was sleeping...
LOL.
Easy to laugh at it now but as I really hate rats it was not that easy all the time there... Anyway my love for gemology helped me to feel happy and lucky to study there whatever. It was a great opportunity to study among Burmese gemologists.

Regarding the instruments I would love one day AIGS to ask a little bit more money for the course and provide students with a pocket instrument set: Dark field loupe, 10x loupe, small torch for the rough, chelsea filter, dicroscope, tweesers, hand spectroscope and a gem cloth in its plastic bag...
But well, may be it is not that urgent as most students just go to the shops downstairs to choose and buy their own equipment if they want to have their own.

For the fieldtrips, as a former tour guide, when I started working as a part time teacher there from 2002 to dec 2004, I was willing for a while to organise such field trips to mines, markets and heat treatment places. But there are some complications regarding responsabilities and insurences. The American General manager was really worried about legal consequences if some US students had any problem going on such field trips. People at GIA Thailand told me that they face similar problems and nobody want to take the risk to have a US student getting shot in Pailin or in Burma because he decided to go around at night in the town and met a drunk guy there with a gun... As a result AIGS never organised any field trip ( except some regular visit in Chanthaburi market and to one or two safe factories) I was going nevertheless on personal week ends expeditions or longer expeditions and I allowed some students to come with me if they were ok with some basic rules. It was great as I was able to find some pleasant travel companion as Anera Zivkovic for a one week expedition to Mogok, and then Jean Baptiste Senoble for a 4 months expedition in 2005 and Guillaume Soubiraa for a 3 months expedition in 2006...

But I have to say that I can understand the school General Manager when he was telling me that "AIGS is not a travel agency" as people at AIGS were quite amazed sometimes about the experiences we had on such expeditions and as a result they were feeling that it was probably not a good idea to organize such fieldtrips: As an examples here are some stuff I experienced in around 40 week end expeditions in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia or Burma:
Some students just behave during field trips as if they were going on a beach holiday to Pattaya or for the "full moon party at Kho Phan ngan"... Despite all my warnings, I remember that in Laos a students asked to one of our Laosian Taxi driver to find him some herbs to smoke: The driver was a policeman doing some extra money as a taxi... We were close that day to some big headhakes but thanks to the local friend which was taking us around, there was no consequences...
During the same trip several students negociated with some Laosian villagers to buy and kill one of the black pigs which were running around in the village to have a Barbecue diner in this remote village with the local sapphire miners and dealers (without much care about the fact that 2 other students in the group were vegetarian... ) During the time I was escorting the two vegetarian back to town they accepted some drinks from a local farmer happy to have some fun with them. It was a very strong rice alcohol and they did not noticed that as they were drinking beers... After my return it was already quite out of control and after a while 2 students were dead drunk nearly unconscious while all the village was looking amazed at those foreigners getting Out of Order at 7pm in the middle of their village. With a friend I had to carry the two nearly unconscious in the sapphire dealer house.
She still remember very well the visit as I she told me when few months later I visited her with my wife while traveling around there again. The students spent all the night puking in their bedroom, the corridor and the bathroom. her house was in such a mess that she had to pay 2 people to clean the house the day after...
One other day some miners in Pailin found in front of us a rocket from the civil war while searching sapphires: They launched the rockets in the mud few meters from our feets laughing... Hopefully the rocket did not explosed...
During another week end, we lost a student in Pailin at night as he left the group to go to the toilets without telling anyone. We were 3 cars and it was not before one hour one everybody was around the table for a diner in a restaurant outside the city that we realized that we lost our younger student... Everybody was thinking that nhe was in another car as there was nobody left in the street. We went back to Pailin and could not find him. Local people told us that he left the place walking in the night... We found him one hour later safe, but Pailin is not a city to wander at night espcecially when there is a party and all the former Khmer rouge soldiers (which compose most of the population of the place) are drunk.

Another day, again in Pailin some students were able to convince one of our drivers to bring them to the local brothel... Just to see how it was like... Of course the day after the drivers told me about and I was quite mad about them.
Again in Burma, despite the fact that I was very clear about that, a student tried to bring back a girl he met in a disco in his hotel room: Of course he got into troubles and i had to take him out of the mess he was in...

These are some examples of the type of headhakes you can expect with students while allowing them to come with you on week end... Of course each time I was clear with them that there should not be any headhakes as fieldtrips were not place for that, but well then that's life...

I was quite fun after all when I think again about all this mess but sometimes it was quite a pain to handle.

The think is that many young people coming in Thailand to study want also to feel some adventure, do some experiences, live their life, etc... They can be quite difficult to control as they are adults... Few schools and few teachers are willing to get responsible for the possible consequences of these adventures...
And well problems are not only coming from young male students feeling like "Indiana Jones" even if this population is quite difficult to handle sometimes.

So most schools just let people take the bus and be adventurous on their own during their week end if they like. They dont even want to listen about what happened there... In fact at the end the students are quite happy because they feel that they had the privilege to have discover by themselves some of the "Secrets of the gem trade". The schools on the other hand dont have the head hakes to handle the problems.
I understand the schools... and the students as I was one of them:

When i was myself student in Burma or in Bangkok, I went alone or with one or two classmates to the markets and the mines. It took some time to find my way but after one or two expeditions I was able to meet people, make friends and finaly found some ways to see what I wanted to see. I have to say that I was quite proud of these small achievements...

The fact is that not all students have enough adventurous mind to "try to go to Mogok through the jungle despite the fact that the Burmese governement does not allow foreigner to visit the place..."
Some people adventurous mind stop at the first cockraches, well it is very fine and they should also be able to express themselves without being seens as complaining people...

Anyway I hope that things will continue to go on at AIGS as fine as things can be. In fact I dont worry too much about it. For sure many things could be improved but I believe that as long as Henry Ho will be around there will be in Bangkok this nice place called AIGS where people from all over the world will be able to come to study gemology and experience Asia. Sure it will never be perfect but it will stay I think one of the best place to learn about gems.
AIGS and Thailand is full of very nice people really friendly to foreigners coming to visit their country and taking critics with such a nice way that most westerners should be amazed of... Of course there are one or two rusted people, but well thanks to them we can appreciated others even more...

And well to conclude this once again very long post, in my opinion it is quite good for people in a learning process to get some challenges, headhakes and things to complain about. Critics can be very constructive for both the school and the student. It is good to find out what are the problems and think about solutions... In France we are very good about that: Complaining, going on strike, it is a national sport in French Universities and I had some great time there... But at the end despite all these complaining French people, France is a great country to live in...
And Imagine if we had nothing to complain what would be forums, coffees, bars and friends for?
As the world is not more perfect than AIGS all small headhakes might not be useless...
I feel that it is normal for students to complain. I saw that in all schools I went in France and abroad. It seems normal to me to see western students trying to do their own revolution... It is somewhere part of the normal western student life and not only in French type education: Harry Potter stuff and US student movies are all about that. For Asian students and teachers this is quite different, but well here it is not really the topic, nevertheless it is quite surprising for new Thai AIGS staff to see all these complains from western students. Usualy they do their very best to help the complaining student as they feel that these people should be in such despair to complain that much.
It is the case for the visa headhakes...
LOL
I guess that the management and the teachers will continue to live with these critics in an imperfect world just trying to focus on priorities, even if they are not understood by all students, and try their best for AIGS to be a better to study. In fact "trying to do better" is sometimes "doing good" worse ennemy as they teach in all management school...
Knowing that it will never be perfect but at least it will please a large number of students. I dont think that Henry Ho in his deep really want AIGS to be the "Best Gemological School in the world" as this dont really mean something but well I think that it is important for him that AIGS remains a very good gemological school useful to the trade and its students. A place open to all people willing to share knowledge, learn about gems and feel good learning or teaching gemology. Quite a nice concept in fact I think.

I've to say that despite many serious headhakes, my time in Bangkok was great . I had to face many problems but in fact it was may be all I was needing...
Thanks to these headhakes and to the support of some people like Henry Ho, I found in myself some motivation to fight and handle those problems by myself and in fact at the end I feel today that wihtout those headhakes I would not have been able to find the energy to achieve the best things I did.
Ironically without these "headhakes" I had to deal with around AIGS, I would probably not have been able to become a lab gemologist at Gubelin, to have visited so many mining areas, build my own website and participate in forums in order to help people find a way to realised some of their dreams as I did myself thanks to the headhakes they gave me and thanks to the help of others...
I just wish all people willing to study gemology as much headhakes as I had as it is the way to find your own way... During a learning or a creative process, adversity and ennemies are as good or important as help and good friends: What would be God without the Devil? How could men decide to do good if they had no idea about what is evil?
As one of my students at AIGS told me:
In fact the good thing studying in Bangkok is that you experience freedom: At the end you go down or you become a man... meaning that you can choose to follow the easy dark side of the force or work hard to become a kind of gemological Jedi...
LOL

At the end the balance is I feel very positive and I have the impression that the people working at AIGS before me, who also found their way in gemology, like Richard Hughes, Ken Scaratt, Gary Du Toit, Christian Dunaigre, Laurent Grenier De Cardenal and many others I dont know as well will probably agree with me. Ken and Gary are back in Thailand while others like Richard, Christian, Laurent and me are happy to return regularly in Bangkok to feel the gemmological heat again and see the coakcroaches wandering among Bangkok gems.
TIT!

At AIGS as in many places:
Help yourself and god will help you in return!

Hoping not to have bored too many people with this post...

All the best,

_________________
Vincent Pardieu

www.fieldgemology.org
www.conservationgemology.org

The views expressed here are V. Pardieu’s opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of GIA Laboratory Bangkok (http://www.giathai.net)where he is an employee since Dec 2008.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:40 am 
Offline
Active Member

Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2006 9:32 am
Posts: 73
Location: bangkok
Thanks for a good post vincent. enjoyed reading about some of your travel headaches!!

I agree with you that everyone has the right to bring their complaints out, and i did not mean to comment as if this were a wholly bad thing, i just feel that some complaints can be taken up with the appropriate people and do not need to be put on a forum for all to read. I unde3rstand that things posted are heartfelt and just figured i should bear mine a little bit. as you said, no where is perfect and it is up to the individual to take the steps to fix their situation. some choose words, and some choose actions.

I guess as AIGS is now my Alma Mater(finsihed 2 weeks ago wooo hooo!) i felt that the other side of the story needed to be shown a little bit. and i really feel as you mentioned that it is that confidence which is only gained from going to a market, be it far out or in bkk, sitting down, making choices(some right some wrong) ,contacts and gaining that "real world experience" which in the end makes the overall experience life changing or simply educational.

and per your comments on complaining, aside from all the US talk about what a pain in the butt french folks are(in fact just heard a jab about this on the FOX "news???" channel. It is we Americans who have taken complaining to a new level. i think that we will have to change the constitution soon to include -every citizen has the right to litigate. take for instance the judge who sued the drycleaner for some ridiculous amount of money after his pants were ruined, due to the fact tthat the shop had a "satisfaction guaranteed" sign in the window. i am still trying to explain that one to my thai friends! With freedom comes our greatest right, the right to complain, and also to affect change. Isnt this why America is fighting all over the world? to give everyone the opportunity to have their voice heard, be it good or bad. soory getting off topic, so..... I'm out!

_________________
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference."
Robert Frost- 1916


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 7:04 am 
Offline
Established Member
User avatar

Joined: Fri May 18, 2007 7:40 am
Posts: 23
Location: sabah , malaysia
Well i rest my case , i 've done what i have to do ...... i 've complained to the ho brothers and also to hoyu low too and it 's up to them now , hey i'm gone next week, i don't have to put up with all this problem , but it 's unfare to the next group of students..... As for the syn n treatment class .... i learn how to use a mircoscope to see inclusions , this is what they teaching in class but i didn't learn how to see inclusions with a 10xloupe ? They can't teach students how to see doubly and pleochroism with a 10x or the faster way of finding out is the stone has been irridiation ? There isn't any mircoscope in market or a lap to help buyer , unless we set up an office or mini lap there. We can't just buy stone with our ears ..... However , i learned all this from others , others who has been going to the market for more than 20years . Who told me there are treatment for spinel but the school strongly believe there are none at the moment . I'm not showing off here , i just wanted to make my point , i could have learn all this at AIGS ..... But sadly no , by the way , as for the visa thing ..... my 2classmates were given wrong infomation 3times by the staffs and 3times they had to return to the thai embassy and 3times they were shouted at by the staffs working at the embassy ..... some kind of help huh , human does make mistakes but 3times is unbearable . Aigs staffs spoke through the phone with the people at embassy yet they still gave the wrong info to my poor classmates .I know it's hard to show improvement right away , hopefully , next time i came back to visit Aigs , is a better place to learn for others students .


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:17 am 
Offline
New to the Forum or The Quiet Type

Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2007 11:51 am
Posts: 3
Location: Thailand
Cherlec,

I think what you're looking for is taught in colored stone grading and pricing. In this class you learn how to be critical about inclusions (clarity), color and cutting. During the whole month class you're allow to have only a 10x lense and the tweezer...
Why it is not tought in synthetic class? Maybe because it's already difficult to tell with a microscope when a stone is natural or synthetic. Sometimes even with microscope you can't tell. Why so many people send stones to lab? I believe because it's hard to tell without proper equipment.

"They can't teach students how to see doubly and pleochroism with a 10x or the faster way of finding out is the stone has been irridiation ?"
Well to attend synthetic class you're supposed to have passed a gem Id class... Gem Id is suppose to teach you how to use equipment.
Moreover why would it be usefull in synthetics class? Natural and synthetics have the same physical and chemical properties.
In diamond class it is taught how to see this doubling in moissonite.

About iraditation : I was taught in class that the brown color of chrysoberyl was a good sign of iradiation. For other stones, we have learnt about the fading test. What else would you like to know?

"However , i learned all this from others , others who has been going to the market for more than 20years . Who told me there are treatment for spinel but the school strongly believe there are none at the moment ."
Really?? I only heard from school that the heat treatment in spinel was not sucessfull yet.

I'm sorry for you if you had visa trouble.
For me since the 1st day, the staff had be helpfull, telling me the easiest to have was Ed visa. As soon as you're inscribed at school, you can have a letter to obtain this visa. I had a one year visa and I need to get outside Thailand once every three months.

I agree it's constructive critissism that helps improvment.
Maybe it's because I went to other gemmological school with other trouble that makes me like so much AIGS. I'm so happy to see the the amount and diversity of stones AIGS has that I don't bother much about old tool as far as it works.

I hope you had enjoyed you journey in Thailand anyway.

p.s. keemoog99 : Next month a 2 days trip is organised to Chantabury to visit mines and cutting factory.
Maybe they heard you....

_________________
Amber


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 39 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

All times are UTC - 4 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
Gemology Style ported to phpBB3 by Christian Bullock