Sawatdee Ka

Sa by dee my?

Kow jai mai?

I guess not. I just asked how you are doing, then I asked if you understood what I said, except I uber Anglosized the spelling for you. Our vocabularies are growing by the day. More and more we can communicate basic information, and be understood by others. Yesterday I explained to the cab driver where to go (Macro Bang Bong...it sounds unintelligable in English, but those were the directions). And not only is our vocabulary increasing, but so is our ability to understand basic social cues.

Thailand is very sanook (this means fun). Everything is so logical, which is to say, I am in heaven. So much is based around respect and caring for one another. Everyone smiles. Everyone helps. The one thing I find extremely difficult is social order. Because we are pharangs (foreigners) our misinterpreted and incomprehensible words and actions are sometimes ignored, and we are given grace - so our place in the social order is sometimes negligable. On the whole, however, teachers are very highly respected. Because of this, people who know that we are teachers are always helping us. When Loren and I arrived at our second apartment someone carried our two heaviest bags up 8 flights of stairs. I knew it was heavy, but it would have been rude for me to try to take the bag because in doing so I would have communicated to him that he was not doing a good enough job. I think that humility will be one thing I will learn this year.

What else? Another heavenly feature in our neighbourhood is the smoothly lady across the street from school. I get pinapple banana shakes, with fresh fruit for 15 baht (50 cents) at lunch. Our neighbourhood is great. We live almost kitty corner to the school, so the longest part of the walk is getting down the stairs from the 4th to 1st floor of the apartment. Across the street from the apartment one way is some sort of restaurant, which I haven't visited. Next door to her is the smoothy lady, and next to her is B's - the restaurant we have almost always gone to for lunch (so far). Across the street the other way is a bog. Then just down the street is a 7-11, the pad thai lady and the noodle man. About a 5-10 minute walk toward the busier streets is a great evening market, filled with clothes and food. Actually a lot of delicious, interesting food. Loren and I have been doing our job as Mennonites and shopping around to find the best deals. This means that we are trying to figure out about what everything is worth - even though we never really buy anything but food. I'd say a reasonable amount to spend on a nice shirt is 200 baht (just over 6 dollars), and a dress maybe up to 350 baht (around 11 dollars). The other day when we went to a night market in Hua Hin I asked a lady how much she wanted for a dress and she said 500 baht and I got really offended and just walked away - already pretentious about it even though I've only been here a few days, am pasty white and don't speak the language at all. Oh well, I just had to laugh at myself about it a little.

Otherwise, normal life is just beginning. We started University class yesterday, and we are slowly being immersed into school life as well. Yesterday someone described life here in an articulate way. She said it feels like you are a guest in someone else's home. You feel somewhat uncomfortable and unsure where the bathroom is. But we are learning these things quickly.