Friday, September 08, 2006

So its been almost 2 months since I've been in Thailand and I'm still trying new things all the time. I still have those moments of fascination where I stop and go "Wow, I'm in Thailand right now. Look at me! I'm walking around Bangkok! Weee." I know; its totally nerdy but what can I say? I love having those nerdy moments. Living in a foreign country makes you feel so alive; you can never really take things for granted. For example, the other night we were walking around late at night (don't worry Grandma, I'm always careful) and all of a sudden I had to stop and think "Is it really 3 a.m. right now? Why are there so many people walking around???" So crazy to me that in Bangkok it always feels like it could be a Saturday afternoon with people walking around everywhere, people eating and shopping in the middle of the night. Who knows when these people sleep.

Another new experience for me the other night: Thai massage! It was like no other massage I've ever had. They work into every muscle on your body, pounding your muscles, pulling your body into crazy yoga poses. Very intense. Next time I think I might tell her just to skip my thighs; I mean really, who wants someone pounding on your inner thighs! I thought for sure I was going to be black and blue there. Overall though, it was a good massage. At one point, I swear to god, she was on top of me on all fours using her knees to massage my back and pulling my arms up into the air. Hardcore! And they are so cheap, not even $10 for a full one hour massage.

I still get moments of panic when I realize I still have no idea how to speak Thai. I wish I could just download it into my brain and magically speak Thai fluently. I've been studying but its so hard for me to remember the words because I have no way to reference the words in my brain. French, Spanish, German, Italian, anything would be easier. At least with the Romance and Germanic languages some things are similar and you can sometimes recognize a Latin or Greek derivation that will make it easier to remember. Not with Thai, no no. And it makes it even more complicated that Thai is a tonal language so the way you say the word can totally change the meaning. For example, the words for near and far are the same word...but spoken with a different intonation. Frankly, it all sounds the same to me. Glai will be glai to me no matter what tone you say it in. 5 tones, long vowels, short vowels, a totally different alphabet with 40 consonants, 30 some odd vowels, tone marks, numbers...yes it makes my head hurt oh so much.
maai mai mai mai mai

Yes, I just made a full sentence with one word. Oh you didn't understand? That would mean "New wood doesn't burn, does it?"

I'll leave you all to ponder that. :)

3 comments:

Dave said...

September 19, 2006 15:35 GMT -- Wire services report Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has declared a state of emergency after tanks were spotted rolling through Bangkok and coup rumors swept the city.


Are you alright?

KJ said...

I just saw news about the coup on CNN. Are you okay????

Rakesh said...

really nice and beautiful blog. Thanks for sharing.

Flights to Mumbai

Flights to Singapore

Flights to Delhi