Interesting Facts

In Thailand, if you write someone’s name in red, its considered bad luck.

Also, if a giant gecko jumps on your neck, you will not be able to get it off.  The only way to remove it is to ask a divorced woman to pull it off.  

Hablo Ingles.

The other day my Thai co-teacher and I sat in the office grading dictation.  She received a phone call.  She talked in Thai for a minute and jotted down a couple words, then hung up.  

She poked me in the shoulder and asked, “how do I pronounce this?”  She held up the paper and pointed to a word that looked like gibberish.

 “I don’t think that’s a word.” 

“Yes it is, its French, I just need to know how to pronounce it!”

 “Oh, I’m sorry,” I explained, trying to be helpful, “I don’t speak French, but Simone does, you should ask her.” 

“I don’t have time to ask Simone, I’m busy, can you just tell me how to say it???”  She asked, seeming angry. 

“Um, I’m really sorry, I don’t speak French and I don’t recognize the word,” I said, getting annoyed, “Would you like me to guess?” 

To this she rolled her eyes, whirled around, and stomped out of the room. 

I sat in stunned silence for a moment, before muttering to myself, “Did she just get mad at me for not being able to speak French???” 

The student teacher sitting next to me, having witnessed the exchange, erupted into giggle.  We both had a good laugh.

Weird.

War of the Roaches

My apartment has been colonized by roaches. Every night when I come home, I spend the first ten minutes kicking all of my furniture until my cohabitants scurry back into the cracks that they came from. 

They usually occupy the surface of every piece of furniture, including my bed.  (Please refrain from making any comments about what they do while I am sleeping, I work very hard to keep that thought from entering my mind.)

Tonight I came home and went through my usual kicking routine.  One particularly stubborn roach, however, did not want to leave my bed, despite my furious shaking of sheets and thumping of wood.  Finally, in exasperation, I shouted “Get off my bed!!!”  The little bugger promptly obliged by running straight for the crack between the headboard and the mattress.  The crack right  next to where I lay my head at night. 

I mumbled a defeated, “That’s not what I meant,” and then burst out laughing.

Erin 0

Roaches 1

You say potato, I say hot dog.

Every day, we all eat breakfast in the office.  I also happen to eat my lunch in there, as the "vegetarian" option in the cafeteria usually includes some sort of meat broth.  Instead, normally I eat some soup.  

The Thai teachers are confounded by our diet.  They especially hate the smell of soup, for some reason, and when they walk into the office during lunch they make faces and open all the windows and doors.  Mind you, their lunch menu often includes fish, scales, eyeballs, and all, the aroma not exactly pleasant.

Yesterday, as I was making my breakfast of toast and coffee, I looked over at Nummon, who was unwrapping her breakfast.  It was a hot dog, slathered with mayonnaise.  I tried to hide my horror and went about getting my breakfast.  

On my way to my desk I grabbed a bag of tangerines I had bought to share.

  

When I offered one to Nummon, still munching on her breakfast hot dog, she wrinkled her nose and said, "for breakfast???"

Keep in Touch with the Dutch

Tonight, I found myself sitting on the grounds of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, listening to American Big Band music, in Bangkok, Thailand.

The band was excellent.

We were asked to move out of our front row seats to make room for the Dutch Ambassador and the Governor of Kanchanaburi.  

A little girl in her school uniform who could not have been more than 13 years old sang a couple of the King's jazz compositions, including an amusing one called "Hungryman's Waltz".  The lyrics were something like, "if you were in this band, you would be hungry too, if you eat enough, we want to eat with you..."  She had an amazing voice.

There was also a fabulous Thai high school marching band that put most college marching bands I've seen to shame.  The Dutch Ambassador presented them with gifts, hats that said, "Keep in touch with the Dutch".  I wanted one sooo badly.

The Embassy grounds were beautiful and quite extensive, with sprawling grass lawns and oodles of foliage.  Lauren pointed out how neat it was to be sitting surrounded by grass and trees and see skyscrapers all around.  I imagine its similar to being in Central Park.  

Though I felt bad for the Dutch band members who were not used to the humidity, the weather was perfect for an outdoor concert.  

Not too shabby, Bangkok.