Week 4 - September 12-16

This week has again, be pretty much the same as the past weeks. Not too much crazy things have happened! Everything is finally starting to become pretty normal just in time to move out of the host families house and into the apartments! I only have one more week with my family!

I guess the reason the week has been so tame is because we watched a bunch of really, really depressing movies about Cambodia (The Killing Fields) and Burma and talked about development in this region of the world. The movies really put me off and threw my mood off completely, both days.  So, I mostly just went to Meh’s, ate dinner, did some homework and slept.

Thai class is always entertaining! Ajan Sithorn is hilarious and taught us some really great Thai songs. My Thai is really improving I think! The one song is about a beautiful girl who walks into the lobby of a hotel and catches a boy’s eye. She then walks up to the boy and the whole song is about the boy’s thoughts and how he’s wondering what she is going to say to him. When she reaches him, she smiles and asks where the toilet is. Pretty ridiculous song but fun to sing and we can actually understand most of it! Also, everyday Ajan gives us Thai proverbs, which usually align with some English proverb. They are pretty much consistently about love and almost always depressing hah. We always ask for more uplifting ones but haven’t really gotten any. Here are some examples…

“soi the rub, jub maii hom” – your appearance is beautiful, when you kiss it smells bad (meaning: you are beautiful on the outside but not the inside?)

“tii dai mii rrak, tii non mii tuk” – where there is/was love, there is suffering

“rrak pehh glaii cheet” - closeness conquers true love (this one took a while to unfold and she had to use examples so that was entertaining...)

“glaii ta glaii jai” – out of sight out of mind

Now the less depressing…

“ow jai caow, mah saii jaii raow” – take his heart to put in your own (meaning: put yourself in his shoes)

“puuan kgeen ha gnai, puuan die ha ya” – a friend to eat with is easy to find, a friend to die with is hard to find

“nam neeng laii luuk” – still water runs deep

We also just found out she isn’t married…maybe that explains the quotes? Anyways, she also teaches us really funny things. When a girl has to pee she says “baii dek dok maii” (to pick flowers). When a guy has to pee, he says “baii ying grad tai” (to shoot the rapid). Hmmmm…

I absolutely love Ajan Sithorn despite her very blunt and maybe pessimistic proverbs! She is 77 years old and FULL of energy and although it may not seem it from the proverbs, she is really upbeat and ALWAYS smiling. She really thrives off of teaching, which is why she hasn't stopped. Also...none of those pictures were posed. 

Also, we had full fried fish one night for dinner. They were mini so you are meant to eat the entire fish. I couldn’t handle it. I felt like it was looking at me!