Yesterday [Sunday, June 12] was the start of week 3 for us here in Thailand. It's starting to feel normalish. As normal as a completely new culture can feel, I mean, I've had about 22 years of practice at being an American so it's kind of hard to break that habit, but hey, things are coming easier here! A few facts that have finally hit home are: Rice will be eaten with most every meal. Sweat will come when you step outside. Laughter will erupt when we try to pronounce ngoh.
 |
| I just like the picture to be honest... could go along with the whole "sweating" idea though... |
Cookie:
[Disclaimer: this story has nothing to do with me; however, it is hilarious and I hope I can do it justice by retelling it]
It was 5 am in the morning, and Abby and Kathryn [the girls in the room next to mine] were awoken by someone flushing their toilet. Confused they stared at each other and at the bathroom door trying to figure out who could be in their room since both of them were still in bed. At that moment, a Thai girl steps out of the bathroom and walks towards Kathryn's bed in which she proceeds to get in, yes, Kathryn was in the bed as well. Kathryn decides that she is going to yell "Sawadeecah" [hello!] at the girl until she wakes up. Well, it worked.
The girl wakes up, but bad news, she doesn't speak a lick of English. Abby and Kathryn then try to describe that she is in the wrong room, all the while their new Thai friend (who introduced herself as Cookie) is walking around looking in all of Abby and Kathryn's belongings in amazement. The bulb finally clicked when Kathryn pointed to the numbers outside the room.... Turns out their friend lived in 501, not 301. Lessons of the story: make doubly sure your door is locked before going to bed and learn how to say "wrong room" in Thai.
We are still crackin' up from that one... I only wish we got it on video...
Sports, sports, and hey, let's play some more sports:
So, Thai people love, love, love sports. However, these sports are a little different. I play badminton here like it is my job... I'm improving but hey, some doors definitely open for conversation when I whiff for the hundredth time and the Thais take pity on me. Let's just say susu [keep fighting] is said a lot on the court...
Another sport they play is called Takraw. It is a mixture between volleyball and soccer... I unfortunately do not have the video of me attempting this, but I will try and get one by the end of the summer. I would like to thank the 10 years of trying, and trying to juggle to the soccer ball in the front yard for my VERY tiny ability to juggle a takraw ball (a small wooden ball that was woven like a basket).
So, I decided one night at the U-center that is was my goal to learn how to pronounce the word ngoh. [Say song to yourself, and then try to start a word with the last ng sound from song... Yeah, HARD. I end up making a honking noise like geese make. Ha, that's when they say I get the closest...] So, I was sitting in the U-center honking like a goose over, and over, and over, until finally a girl from the table behind us tapped me on the shoulder and in broken English said "he want to give you this" pointing to a Thai boy... the "this" was a ngoh... Whether a sign of pity or a way to say, "congrats, you mastered the word, pretty girl," I am not sure, but it sure gave P'Fone and Kathryn a good laugh when I blushed and said cah - pun - cah [thank you].
 |
| Just a reminder what ngoh is.. the spiky one. The other one, well, that's just a banana. |
Those are just a few of many, many stories... but, the Cookie one still takes the cake, I think.
Thank you for the prayers, keep them up! These may be just stories, but with each of these stories, a relationship is formed or strengthened, and that's what we are all about here!
Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment