This is the other half of my random notes from each week in Thailand.
Week 23 I really hate the 20’s. Whether weeks or days of the month they always seem to just draaaaagggggg by!
Week 24 I’m going to have to make this: cashews, small squares of raw ginger, red onion, green onion and chili peppers mixed together. But all raw. Not cooked at all.
Week 25 The signs in the hospital are written in Thai, English, Lao and Khmer. It’s a very surprising hospital. It looks extremely third-world and yet there are parts of it that look really modern. This is probably the most interesting job a host parent has had.
Week 26 The dogs speak Thai! Namchaa did Chaya’s little yawn squeak and said “มาแล้ว maa leeo” (you’re home!) it sounded EXACTLY like that!
Week 27 If you eat all your rice, you’ll get a good wife. If you eat the last piece of something, you’ll get a handsome boyfriend.
Week 28 “I think that in university they put you in bumper cars and make you drive around to learn how to drive. I don’t want took to university because i’m scared to park a car.” Megan (my seven-year-old “little sister” at my school from Australia)
“Do you want to get married some day? Who do you want to marry? I don’t know ANYONE!” Melissa (Megan’s nine-year-old sister and my second “little sister”)
Week 29 I just found a way to spy on the teacher in my classroom. I can lay with my head on my arms and look into my watch and it’s a perfect reflection!
Week 30 I have hair like a little kid, Fon said. It’s so soft.
Week 31 The Muslim girls have longer navy skirts and a white headscarf for their school uniform.
Week 32
•I love snorkeling.
•I love speedboats.
•I don’t really get seasick.
•Foreigners annoy me.
•I love Thai people.
•I miss speaking Thai so much.
•I talk to myself in Thai like I used to talk to myself in Spanish.
•I don’t like sandy feet.
Week 33 My host mom has asked three times if the salmon is out at this food shop. “Is it out? Is it really out? Are you sure you’re out?”
Week 34 With foreign languages you have to adjust your ear to each person’s voice and accent. I know i can understand my host mom the best because I talk with her the most.
Week 35 Yes, I am wearing Thai clothes. Yes, I can speak Thai. When will everyone stop commenting on it?
Week 36 I just sat down on a chair in the library and it collapsed right under me in full view of three Thai people. It was kind of funny though!
Week 37 What does it tell you about the weather in Thailand when i’m writing a story about the bitter, bitter cold somewhere in Northern Ireland in the middle of winter wth a wind chill of around -30?
Week 38 I like life.
Week 39 Poom just bought a slice of Piim’s bread from his breakfast for 20 baht. It made me laugh.
Week 40 I’m really impressed with this train. We even got a meal at 5:00! This is luxury compared to anything in America.
We just got a blanket too. And of course we have to throw in the very Thai element of mopping the aisle in the middle of the ride.
Week 41 It’s the weirdest thing to hear Christian music playing in anyone’s car in Thailand.
Week 42 I was watching a guy at a street food stand make sticky rice and I just started laughing when I remembered wearing the sticky rice steamer as a hat to play dress up. How ridiculous I would look to Thai people.