1. Thais love to watch Chinese Soap Operas. They are the most dramatic shows I have ever seen. People crying all the time, screaming at each other, slamming each other into things, and then pouf turning into a magic wizard. Let me tell you, if life isn't exciting, then watch a Chinese Soap Opera. No translation is needed to throw you full force into emotion and excitement. The funniest part is that it is translated into Thai and so everything is on a delay and the drama just gets better that way!
2. The feet are the lowest part of the body. This means they are the most disgusting, horrible and disgraceful part of our bodies. Okay maybe not quite that extreme, but close. All shoes are removed the minute you enter a home and you are never to point at anyone with your feet. It is great disrespect. If you sit on the floor you either tuck your feet beneath you or you put them off the the side of you like you would sit if you were wearing a skirt (guys just imagine). Thankfully Thais know that us "Farangs," foreigners, use our feet for a lot of things, so they just invented a phrase for the disgusting use of our feet. I don't know it yet, sorry! haha, but I know that it has the word farang in it. So, even though my fan turns on by pushing a switch on the floor, I am not supposed to use my feet! It is difficult to get used to.
3. Thais eat so many times a day. Like 6 or 7! It is crazy! Not all of them do this, but I swear snacking is like an art in this country. I guess that it would have to be with food vendors on every street corner. I feel like I have settled into this daily routine of constantly thinking about my next meal. They are always talking about food, making food, or eating food! It is, WOW, I dunno! They are all pretty tiny too...I guess with all those little meals you have a high metabolism or something!
Okay, enough for today!
So, this week was a crazy week of happenings and learning how to communicate better and planning things. You see, Sarah, the lady missionary from New Zealand, if you don't remember from my previous posts, set off for New Zealand on Tues. Now, We all found our she was leaving Monday night. It was a Shocker for sure! Her mom fell last Saturday and she broke her Femur. She is 80, I believe, so she needed help, and she was living alone, so that isn't good! So, Sarah decided that she needed to go home and help her and maybe move her somewhere where she could be taken care of! Since this is a task as with most older parents, she decided to go for a month. So, on Monday she officially taught me how to take all the jewelry orders and make sure that everything was in the right place, as well as how to respond to various types of emails. I have been doing some of this work, but mostly with her assistance. So, tues I was on my own! Alex, her husband stayed behind, so he is here working with me in the office, but I know that he would love to be with Sarah. He stayed because he knew that I couldn't handle it all on my own, and his assumptions were correct. I am grateful that he is helping me learn the ropes, hopefully I will be efficient within the next week!
So, I was supposed to start teaching this week, but because of the happenings, I was needed in the office, but I will get to teach. I will be holding class on Wed after lunch with a translator, which is so nice! I have 4 students, and I have been brain storming with Prai, the director/head of Rahab, and we are going to have a catwalk show the week before I leave. My job is to inspire the girls to be creative and put themselves out there. I am really excited! It should be fun to see what they come up with and how they work with what I teach them each week. I will be teaching updos/formal styles, just in case I didn't say that before. Basically, the girls are awesome at straightening hair, but that is the only style they can do! Thais love that, but I am going to challenge them to learn some other stuff!
So, besides working in the office, international school, and teaching some hair stuff, I also get to be the English Speaker at the Thai Craft Fairs where we sell jewelry two Saturdays a month. Today was my first one and it was a long day. You leave at 7:15, get to the hotel, set up, sell jewelry till 5, tear down, and head home. I got home at 6, so ,wow, long day! It was neat though, the fair is mostly for foreigners, with a huge appeal to Japanese. I guess it used to be more westerners, but now it has become primarily Japanese, which is still great, but they don't really speak thai and they don't really speak English, so that can be tough! Yukie, I could use some japanese lessons! haha Anywho, so we had a great day, sold almost a 1,000 US$ worth of jewelry, better than we have done in months. It was totally worth the long day!! Our record is $1,200, so we did pretty good! I have learned a lot about precious stones and pearls, I feel very educated in foreign jewelry right now! haha, I guess that will be a new skill I can bring home! haha
Life overall is good here, I do have to tell you all that I had my first bout of food poisoning. It wasn't fun! After 24 hours of feeling pretty miserable and puking my guts out, I was feeling back to normal! I will say that the thought of the last thing I ate before it all happened makes me nauseous, but I have a feeling that is pretty normal for food poisoning.
Oh and I went to the bars again on tues night, that was good. As good as it can be in a prostitution bar. I am learning how to relax and try and talk to the girls, even when they don't speak much english. I met a girl that had only been in there 4 months and she was the same age as me. It made me think about how different my life could be if I had grown up in Thailand. Not saying that I would end up the same way, but I am grateful for my life to say the least. I am very privileged! I am hoping that we can continue to build a relationship with her and maybe help her get out. For now, just planting a seed. The mama san was cool though, she sat with us for an hour, she speaks English pretty well, just chatting about life and her kids and working in the bars. She was a really nice lady, I am curious how she ended up a mama san. Maybe I will get to know her more too.
It has been a crazy busy week, but all is good in Thailand! Hope you all are doing well!
Laura
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