What did the Siamese cat say when he didn't want to eat his food?
Mai ow!
...
Oh, Thailand...
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Jing rue?
You know you live in Thailand when you:
-Take off your shoes before entering your apartment.
-Eat with a spoon and fork even when eating in your own home.
-Start ending questions with "chai mai" or "mai".
-Start agreeing by saying "ok krap" or "chai lao".
-Answer yes or no questions with just "krap".
-Start speaking English with tones.
-Put dried chili, chili paste, or chili sauce on everything.
-Smile and bow to everyone you see.
-Get hungry at 11:40pm and eat noodles with chilis.
-Even have noodles and chilis in your fridge in the first place.
-Say "oui!" when you're surprised.
-You're idea of a taxi is the back of a pickup truck (songtaew).
-Stand up before movies to honor the King.
-Consider food the ultimate gift.
-Speak broken English even to other English speakers.
-Show up 15 minutes late and you're still considered early.
-See at least 10 men dressed as women per day in town and don't even think twice about it.
-Consider 2 dollars for a meal insanely expensive.
-Seeing a family of four and their dog all piled on a motorbike doesn’t surprise you.
-Eat rice with every meal.
-Everyone you know owns at least one yellow shirt.
-3 dollars/night is a reasonable price for a 2 bed 1 bath room.
And the list goes on...
-Take off your shoes before entering your apartment.
-Eat with a spoon and fork even when eating in your own home.
-Start ending questions with "chai mai" or "mai".
-Start agreeing by saying "ok krap" or "chai lao".
-Answer yes or no questions with just "krap".
-Start speaking English with tones.
-Put dried chili, chili paste, or chili sauce on everything.
-Smile and bow to everyone you see.
-Get hungry at 11:40pm and eat noodles with chilis.
-Even have noodles and chilis in your fridge in the first place.
-Say "oui!" when you're surprised.
-You're idea of a taxi is the back of a pickup truck (songtaew).
-Stand up before movies to honor the King.
-Consider food the ultimate gift.
-Speak broken English even to other English speakers.
-Show up 15 minutes late and you're still considered early.
-See at least 10 men dressed as women per day in town and don't even think twice about it.
-Consider 2 dollars for a meal insanely expensive.
-Seeing a family of four and their dog all piled on a motorbike doesn’t surprise you.
-Eat rice with every meal.
-Everyone you know owns at least one yellow shirt.
-3 dollars/night is a reasonable price for a 2 bed 1 bath room.
And the list goes on...
Friday, March 21, 2008
Poot dai nit noy krap!
More.
Have you ever wondered why Asians say "hello" as herro and a word like "courage" comes out as coulage? I always thought that it was because Asians didn't have an "L" or an "R" in their language, but as far as what I've learned about Khmai, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese, this is not the case.
In Thai, for example, there are tons of words with R sounds and L sounds, the problem is that they're considered interchangeable when speaking Thai. They are not interchangeable when speaking English. So if I want to say 120 in Thai I can say roy yee sip or I can say loy yee sip and the listener would understand me just the same. Conversely, in English, a Land Rover is much different than a Rand Lover. It also happens that when r's occur in the middle of the words they are often dropped. A great example is when kids call to me and I hear: khu khap! I know what they are really saying is kroo krap, which is the way you address a teacher.
So next time you hear an Asian mix up his L's and R's, don't make fun, because in their native language it's perfectly acceptable to interchange.
Have you ever wondered why Asians say "hello" as herro and a word like "courage" comes out as coulage? I always thought that it was because Asians didn't have an "L" or an "R" in their language, but as far as what I've learned about Khmai, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese, this is not the case.
In Thai, for example, there are tons of words with R sounds and L sounds, the problem is that they're considered interchangeable when speaking Thai. They are not interchangeable when speaking English. So if I want to say 120 in Thai I can say roy yee sip or I can say loy yee sip and the listener would understand me just the same. Conversely, in English, a Land Rover is much different than a Rand Lover. It also happens that when r's occur in the middle of the words they are often dropped. A great example is when kids call to me and I hear: khu khap! I know what they are really saying is kroo krap, which is the way you address a teacher.
So next time you hear an Asian mix up his L's and R's, don't make fun, because in their native language it's perfectly acceptable to interchange.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Poot pasaat Tai dai mai?
Let's talk about Thailand. The little things are the best part...
In English if we want to say something is really easy we say "that's a piece of cake!". Well here in Thailand, we don't eat cake, but there is an equivalent phrase. In Thai, you say "kruey kruey!" which is literally "banana banana", but means that something is really easy. "Kruey" is pronounced with a falling tone and it's really fun to say. Kruey kruey! I like to say it at the most random moments.
A recent English phenomenon is "lol" which obviously stands for laugh out loud. Well since Thai has a totally different alphabet there isn't a direct translation, but once again there is an equivalent term. Here in Thailand, kids write 555. In Thai, the number five is pronounced "haah" with a falling tone. So 555 is "haah haah haah", it's laughing! Took me a long time to figure that one out no doubt. I thought people were writing the area code for someone's phone.
One more.
Let me introduce you to my new favorite animal:
In English if we want to say something is really easy we say "that's a piece of cake!". Well here in Thailand, we don't eat cake, but there is an equivalent phrase. In Thai, you say "kruey kruey!" which is literally "banana banana", but means that something is really easy. "Kruey" is pronounced with a falling tone and it's really fun to say. Kruey kruey! I like to say it at the most random moments.
A recent English phenomenon is "lol" which obviously stands for laugh out loud. Well since Thai has a totally different alphabet there isn't a direct translation, but once again there is an equivalent term. Here in Thailand, kids write 555. In Thai, the number five is pronounced "haah" with a falling tone. So 555 is "haah haah haah", it's laughing! Took me a long time to figure that one out no doubt. I thought people were writing the area code for someone's phone.
One more.
Let me introduce you to my new favorite animal:
Behold, the Tokay Gecko. In Cambodia, they call them "took-ow" geckos. In Thailand it's called a "took-keh" gecko. It has this name for a very specific reason. Like all geckos, the Tokay gecko has a voice, but man what a voice he's got. I remember the first time I heard one was in Cambodia in our room early in the morning. All of a sudden I was awoken by what I thought was my dad shouting "UH-OH!". It was a pretty deep voice and it was loud, like he was using a raised voice right next to me. Turns out it was a "took-ow" gecko. Yesterday I was in my room when I heard a huge, booming "TOOK-KEH!". To me it's really funny, and I've never actually seen one in person but, man, I can hear them just fine.
Turns out Thai people are terrified of this lizard. First, they can bite, and they can bite pretty hard. They're very aggressive too and nearly a foot long. Second, there is a snake here in the jungle that can make the same noise. The snake uses the noise to attract the female Tokay's and then eat them. But there's another side to these beasts...
In America, if you want some good, sound advice you ask a daisy as you pluck it's flowers: "She loves me, she loves me not, she loves me...". In Thailand you ask the took-keh. "She loves me" "TOOK-KEH!" "She loves me not" "TOOK-KEH"... Once the took-keh stops, you're left with the last option you said, just like the daisy leaves you with its last petal. People also use took-keh's to pick lottery numbers. If the took-keh responds to your number, you choose it, if he doesn't you pick a new one.
More as it comes. Till then, follow this link to hear a took-keh in action. Dadadadada TOOK-KEH!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokay_gecko
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Top of the Pop
School is going great and I love teaching. What more could I ask for?
Praise God.
Monday morning I was approached by the basketball coach and asked if I could fill in for her for today's game since she would be out. I said ok, for really no other reason than that I have made it my job to say "yes" here. I have made it my duty to do everything I possibly can to assist staff, students, and the school in general here.
So today I showed up to the gym at 3:30. Not only do I have no experience in coaching a basketball team, I don't even know all the rules. As the game went on I learned more and more. A turning point for me was figuring out how to sub people, hehe. So the game began. Sure our team had a 100% unexperienced coach (not to mention unexperienced basketball player). Sure not all of our players had uniforms (wearing gym shorts and "I Love to Read!" shirts). Sure most of our team were playing in slip on shoes. Maybe we didn't "know the rules", maybe we didn't have a "game plan", hehe. Long story short, we all had a great time (especially me), and we won! We won 25 to 17! I think that was the first game these girls won before, and they were so happy. I shook hands with the other coach and walked back to my classroom and returned to grading. Just another instance of switching hats around here.
I can't help but think God is putting his hand on everything I've been doing here. I am finding success in places I never imagined I could before. Teaching, advising, tutoring, coaching?! What next? Every good and perfect gift comes from above. No doubt. These are all good things, and Lord knows these successes are not mine.
Praise God.
Praise God.
Monday morning I was approached by the basketball coach and asked if I could fill in for her for today's game since she would be out. I said ok, for really no other reason than that I have made it my job to say "yes" here. I have made it my duty to do everything I possibly can to assist staff, students, and the school in general here.
So today I showed up to the gym at 3:30. Not only do I have no experience in coaching a basketball team, I don't even know all the rules. As the game went on I learned more and more. A turning point for me was figuring out how to sub people, hehe. So the game began. Sure our team had a 100% unexperienced coach (not to mention unexperienced basketball player). Sure not all of our players had uniforms (wearing gym shorts and "I Love to Read!" shirts). Sure most of our team were playing in slip on shoes. Maybe we didn't "know the rules", maybe we didn't have a "game plan", hehe. Long story short, we all had a great time (especially me), and we won! We won 25 to 17! I think that was the first game these girls won before, and they were so happy. I shook hands with the other coach and walked back to my classroom and returned to grading. Just another instance of switching hats around here.
I can't help but think God is putting his hand on everything I've been doing here. I am finding success in places I never imagined I could before. Teaching, advising, tutoring, coaching?! What next? Every good and perfect gift comes from above. No doubt. These are all good things, and Lord knows these successes are not mine.
Praise God.
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