Food Network competition in Hawaii (2006).
What are the biggest differences between every day life in Thailand and America?
I have to say individualism and single-family are the most different perspective compared to a Thai family structure. In Thailand at least my family anyway, we know almost everything from everyone including extended family like cousins and second cousins and sometimes more about what’s going on in their lives. It’s a big family I guess; I used to live in a house that had 14 people (3 generations, grandparents, moms-dads and their children) in it. I had to live with my cousin’s wife and her family during my college years, because their house was very close to the university and it saved me from spending money for a dorm room. They also had to keep an eye on me for my parents. It was a win-win for my parents and my cousin’s family because I actually had to help out with cooking, cleaning or babysitting the children in the house. I loved the extended family that I had.
We don’t need to make an appointment way ahead of time like in the US. If I want to see family or friends, one phone call and a few minutes or hour from the call then I see them soon after. My aunt often came to see my mom without notice and mom’s happy to see her every time. There’s always short notice and there’s always welcome kind of thing. We had a “we” more, in my opinion, though I realized not all families are the same. If you ask other Thais, maybe it would be different. Here in the US I feel a sense of “mine and yours” is more. People think more of what privacy means, when it’s good or not a good time to call. Appointments had to be made way ahead of time before seeing each other, even if we live next-door to each other.