This is another post that could be filed under ‘angry foreign rants’. So if you don’t want to read this, I warned you!
If you read some of my former “F-Word” posts you know that I usually state that I still appreciate everything here and even though I’m complaining that does not mean I hate it here but more that I try to point out things that aren’t working in hopes for finding a better understanding or a better way of dealing with it. So now that this disclaimer is out in the open, let’s start with the rant.
The other I went out to have lunch with one of my senior colleagues at university. Since it was quite hot I rolled up the sleaves of my shirt and my colleague saw the very end of the tattoo that I have on my left arm. She asked me what it means and I explained it to her. Parts of it states the word ‘honesty’ in different languages (the languages of my students) and the colleague asked me why I chose this word (among 2 others) to be displayed permanently on my arm. I explained that honesty is something that highly value and consider one of the most important things in life. She looked at my in disbelief and I added that I understand that Thai people don’t value honesty that much and that is, after all this time here, still one of my biggest issues with the ‘culture’.
What followed then was a 10 minute explanation of why lies aren’t lies in Thailand. Well not necessarily. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t and basically they never are lies if the intention can be explained as “he or she had something good in mind” which, with enough fantasy, can be applied to almost every lie. I try to sum the explanation up though: