Wild Weather

I’m not sure how much Thai news makes the pages of the Farang papers but I’ll give you a quick little update. The most recent headline is that the UDD (Red Shirts) is up to their old tricks again, but I’ll get to that later. What was strange and totally unexpected was the weather in Thailand this past month. Around the same time as the earthquake in Japan and the ‘supermoon’, the temperature here plummeted and it started to rain regularly. Just to be clear, Thailand has three seasons: Hot, Cold, and Rainy. We were right in the middle of hot season and it was anything but. I know lows of 15c are far from bone-chilling and I’m not asking for your pity (in fact I loved it) I’m just saying it was bizarre. It would be like having the coldest day of the year in late June. The weird weather struck the whole country too. Heavy rains led to devastating flooding in the south that they’re still recovering from. Andrew had a friend from there visiting when it all went down and she’s still here ‘cause her home is drying out. And while the south had too much water, there was also terrible drought up north. Weird times. The Bangkok weather has since returned to normal and the past couple days have been full of the oppressive heat and humidity that I associate with mid-April. That’s great news because we’re rapidly coming up on Songkran!! The greatest holiday on the planet!! Songkran is the celebration of the Thai New Year and consists of a three-day nation wide water fight. I’m heading up to Chiang Mai tonight to spend the holiday there and come home next week. I’ll give you all the details of my adventure then. The Red Shirts are once again holding giant rallies in the city. As far as I can tell they’re just holding them to commemorate those killed last time they had a giant rally in Bangkok. No one knows whether they’ll be in-and-out or if it’ll drag on as long as it did last time. I don’t think we’ll see anything close to as bad as the violence from last May but you never know. For now, just know that I’m safe and having fun in Chiang Mai for the next several days.

Happy New Year!

much love,
j

Alumni Affairs

Clark University, my alma mater, has appointed a new president. Part of the first-year president’s job must be to travel the world and meet the alumni scattered across the globe because he’s coming here tonight. There’s gonna be a banquet and some mingling which should be nice. Actually Clark has held functions here before. About a year and a half ago one of my old professors came to give a lecture on the future of China and I got a chance to meet the Clark alums in the BKK area. I was excited to go then thinking I might meet someone I recognized from my time in Worcester but I was mistaken. I must’ve been the only one who graduated after 2000 and was for sure the only farang. This time, knowing what I know now, I’m gonna see if I can rub shoulders with some of my fellow alums and see if there's any job opportunities cooking. Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching. It’s fun and rewarding it’s just not something I want to do forever. So we’ll see what’s what tonight and if there’re any opportunities out there for me. I’m going straight there from work so I’m gonna have to wear my nice pants all day. No problem. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Much love
J

ps Clark University was able to reach me through the mail which means that there’s no conspiracy to withhold my mail as I previously assumed. If anyone out there sent anything my way earlier, I’m very sorry but it didn’t make it. Thanks so much for the consideration! xoxo

Koh Larn

The trip to Koh Larn was great. I had been there once before but forgot just how little of the island I saw. The first time (back while still at Languagecorps) my group went over on the morning ferry, hung out and swam for a few, then left in the afternoon. That's pretty much the M.O. for everyone who goes to Koh Larn which is why it was so neat to spend the night there. Despite being right across from Pattaya harbor(mega-farang destination) there were no overnight tourists. I don't think I saw another non-thai person on the island after the last ferry left. Dinner that night was at the hotel restaurant on the beach with a nice sea breeze blowing in. We were digging the fresh seafood. Day two was a lot like day one: motorbiking around the island, swimming around in some crystal blue water and some lazy lazy relaxing. We caught the last ferry off the island and were back in the city by dinner time. Not a bad place to get away to. At all. Koh Larn has definitely jumped Koh Samet as my weekend get-away spot and I look forward to going back soon.

That's about all for now. My Dad flies in tonight from India. He's out exploring the world again and his trip leads him back to my neck of the woods. Not too much planned for his visit but it'll be really good to see him.

much love
j

Chinese New Year

Well it's Chinese New Year again. Technically today is the day it switches over (to rabbit, I believe) but the Thai people got things going early with some nice firework displays last night. I really want to get down to Chinatown tonight to see the festivities but I have to work till late. Traffic is always terrible no matter what, so I can only imagine what it'll be like. A lot of my students (and a majority of the upper-class Thai) are Chinese-Thai so it'll be interesting to see who shows up and who doesn't. That's really all the news from here. I'm sorry I haven't been writing more. Ryan's here for a few more days before he goes on his trip up into Isan province and eventually over to Northern Vietnam. I think there will be a temporary-farewell dinner for him this Sunday which should be fun. Then on Monday I'm heading to Koh Larn with Songtai for a quick vacation out of the city. There's even a chance I could watch some of the Superbowl like I did a couple years ago, but I think we're leaving pretty early Monday morning. This trip will be great because I'm dying to swim in some salt water and see some stars at night. I'll let you know how it goes!

Much Love
J

Recent Days

The wireless internet at work died early last week. I haven't been very connected but that hasn't stopped me from doing stuff around the city. My buddy and former roommate Ryan arrived in Bangkok last Tuesday which is great. He's gonna be here for a few months traveling around but has set up base camp at the Villa Suanphlu. He started taking private Thai lessons which has really reenergized me into learning more. My girlfriend speaks better English than I do so when we speak Thai it's more of a novelty and I haven't made much progress recently. Now I'm slowly learning more and more vocab. My favorite new word is mang moom. It means spider and literally translates as "corner bug". Ryan's school where he learns is a pretty groovy bunch and last night they organized a bowling night for everyone. My bowling experience in America is pretty much limited to dilapidated candlepin lanes so it's always strange when the place is part bowling alley and part wild rave club. When I think of a night of bowling, black lights and booming bass are not what immediately jumps to mind. That said, it was very fun and I look forward to hanging out with that group again some day. Maybe even lessons of my own..? We'll see. For now I can get better acquainted with my Thai for Intermediate Readers book. I sure have enough down time at work with that wireless router still out.

Much love,
J

Happy New Year!

Well I'm back after a nice nine-day break. I decided to stay in the city for the holidays rather than leave for a beach or jungle but it turns out it was the city that left around me. New Year's (and really most holidays) are a big time to be together with family so a lot of Bangkok's citizens return home. This meant that all of my favorite food vendors were closed at one time or another leaving me to survive on large chain restaurants instead (pizza company). This also meant that my go-to internet cafe was closed which is why i've been incommunicado for the past week. I didn't do a whole lot with my days off. Spent most of them catching up on my reading and lounging by the pool. New Year's Eve was fun though. Andrew, Vanessa, Songtai, and myself were debating about whether to go to Siam Square countdown (the Times Square equivalent) or to the Suanlum Night Bazaar where I had gone a couple years before. Well the Siam idea was quashed as being way too crowded and the Bazaar was being bulldozed to make way for a new mall (bummer) so we decided to go to the little blues bar we love so much. It was really jumping. We could just barely fit in the door. We stayed there and did our own mini-countdown and then made our way to Khao San road where we played some pool and danced a bit. Songtai had to work the next day (1pm) so we didn't stay out too too late. The rest of my time was pretty low-key. My New Year's Res is pretty much just to take better care of myself so I've been going to the gym and I even bought another basketball. I went down to the courts last Tuesday to play in the weekly pick-up games. It's a lot of fun, but running around in the Bangkok air tires you out very quickly. Hope everyone had an awesome new year! Let's make it a good one!!

much love
J

ps. Happy 100th post! Here's to 100 more!

Subtitles

I've been watching a lot of movies. Movies from every genre, some English, some Thai. I recently watched a Thai horror movie called "Shutter" which I enjoyed and found genuinely scary. I guess they've since remade it in Hollywood to poor reviews, but while usually citing the original as superior. Anyway. I've been thinking a lot about the Thai language and it's seeming lack of depth in communication. I suppose I'm spoiled by the English language which offers dozens of synonyms for every word, each with their own nuances and connotative differences. There is a seemingly endless array of words with which to construct exactly what you mean to say. Not the case in Thailand. Instead of saying things like: annoyed, angry, and irate, you say: a little angry, angry, and very angry. You can create the differences yourself, but it feels like the desired effect is lost. Not that you're misunderstood in any way, but that you aren't able to express your feelings as you truely want. Having grown up with a different language it's hard to settle on saying "very happy" when I know there's words out there that can convey "euphoric", "elated", or "ecstatic". The same way I imagine the Inuit must feel in that cliched fact about their 8 words for snow. Sure we get the job done by saying "wet, heavy snow" but why can't English have an exact word for that? I know I don't speak Thai anywhere close to fluently yet, but I was starting to see a disappointing lack of superfluous vocabulary. Surely there's a difference between a rat and a mouse, right?

I have a point. I'm getting to it. When I recently watched "Shutter", I had the subtitles on but was able to pick up phrases and certain parts of the Thai conversations (It really helps to hear it when you know what they're about to say!). Then I started to notice some simple phrases were translated differently depending on who was speaking to whom or what emotions were being expressed. It got me thinking back to a conversation I had a while ago about the difference between a speaker-oriented language (ex. English) and a listener-oriented language (ex: Thai). In Thai and many other Asian languages, the listener is responsible for comprehending what the speaker has to say. Taking it in for themselves and understanding contextually the nuances of what was said. Maybe that's what I'm missing. There are all these feelings and emotions out there to assign to words; it's just my resposiblilty to do so when someone says them to me. And likewise, for me to trust that what I say will be properly understood. So much so that if, in a movie, I heatedly ask "Understand?" the one listening should interpret that as "You just don't get it, do you?!" Wild stuff.

Much Love,
J

ps I hear there's some serious snow up there. Any pics? and how would you best describe the snow?

EDIT:
Irate = โกรธแค้น
Annoyed = รำคาญ / หงุดหงิด
Angry= โมโห
ecstatic = ปิติ/ ยินดี
euphoric = สบายใจ
elated = รื่นเริง
I have a lot to learn...