Where are you going?--- I'm asked this by random strangers as I bicycle home, or to eat lunch or to a friends house. Most of the time it comes in the strange thai version of english, i.e. "Where you go?"
Where are you from?---- Also comes in strange thai english " where you from?" I always answer america, because the United States is too strange.
Have you eaten yet?--- Most of the time, I have. and this question comes in thai, the other questions come in thai about half the time.
How long will you be here?-- I used to say one year, I think I should start saying ten months.
Do you have a boyfriend?-- First they ask if I have one in thailand. No, I say. Then they ask if I have one in the U.S. I also say no. Then the thai people laugh and giggle.
Emma's host father asked me this. I answered with my usual, "No, I don't have a boyfriend."
He's decided that I should marry his 25 year old son [correction: Pee-Ok, that's the son's name, is 19] . I am now referred to as "The daughter in law."
We laugh a lot about it.
I laugh a lot.
I'm happy here.
Yes, there are hard moments,
Yes, there are sad moments and angry moments,
But mostly, I realize that this is my time. This is my time to figure out who I am and to accept myself. I love having this time. I smile a lot here. I am in the land of smiles so that's not surprising. In the U.S. I wear something I call my thinking face all the time. It looks like a frown. My grandmother once said something to me about it when I was six. I remember she had just flown in and I was trying to firgure out how I could pull her giant suit case. She leaned over and looked at me, " if you keep frowning like that, you'll get wrinkles in the spot between your eyebrows. Just like me."
I'm sixteen now and I still make that face. When I was a baby, people told my parents that I never smiled and was very serious.
My dad used to make comments, "smooth your brow suzy, you look angry."
I'd have to focus on not frowning.
But I'm smiling more and more and I'm laughing a lot.
This place is beautiful and life moves more quickly than I'd like to admit.
Signing off for now,
Suzanne
P.S. Thanks Rotary for the postcards, so far I've gotten six.
Rememberance
14 years ago
6 comments:
I love that you are happy there. The coffee bubble tea sounds gross and I'm glad that you mentioned this because I bet that someday, I would have ventured there out of curiosity. Thanks to this blog - I probably won't. But anyways, I think that's quite funny how the other host father thinks you should marry his twenty five year old son. I'm sorry, but the wrinkles in your forehead that you've received while in the US have not aged you that much.
This is your time, So much of this journey will change your life in so many unimaginable ways, but hopefully not by marrying a 25 year man, that's a big change. Hope all is well.
Sawatdee Sai!
Ling ba
What's really intrigues me is the number of people who talk to you. In America--and this varies from venue to venue--lots of isolation. Americans have iPods & iPhones & all kinds of walls. It can be darn difficult to generate a conversation (seems to violate privacy laws; it's often considered weird or unusual). That so many people interact with you might be refreshing, upon reflection.
Further, it sounds like people are or attempting to address you in your native tongue--which means several things. First, they acknowledge you're not one of them, second, they're trying to bridge "the gap" and, three, they're willing to take a risk--at some level--in order to draw you out, make you feel part of something.
You are many things, Suki. A woman, Jewish, a violinist, artistic, blond, Oregonian.
How lovely for you so many Thai, apparently, see your most fundamental nature: a human bean.
I'd say you're in a great space/place to accomplish a "search for self." You can be a chameleon, adapting to your environment, being an observer, experiencing life through [your hosts'] eyes.
Absolutely fantastic!
Love, Papa Char
haha
my host brother is not 25
hes 19 :)
the questions are indeed interesting
the also infamous - what are you doing is another good one.
Correction. Pee-Ok (my "fiance") is 19. Not 25. I will have to edit my blog.
Just realized I hadn't commented on this post. Goodness, I must be slipping in my old age. :D
When Rob and I are out walking in India, we constantly get the "where are you going?" question, and it sounds more like an interrogation than an inquiry — especially when we say, "Just going for a walk." People in India — at least people our age, which is considered elderly there, don't just go for a walk. They've worked hard all their lives, and once they retire, it seems, they let the world come to them instead of going for a walk to explore the world. It took us a while to figure that out and to stop being offended.
And, yes, they also want to know where we're from, but the phrase is usually "Coming from???"
And they ask how we like India, but that is phrased, puzzlingly at first, "How do you find India?"
Our first thoughts: Well, we didn't find it, the airplane pilot did, and thank goodness he found the runway on the first try.... Or, well, you look at a map of Asia, and find the hangy-down part, and that's India.
But we soon learned the best response, is, "India is wonderful. The people are so nice and friendly!" (silently: and a bit nosy, too...)
And they always want to know if Rob and I are married. (Yes, for 36 years this December...) I guess they see a lot of unwed, cohabiting young western tourists. And too much Hollywood.
In our case, they also ask how old we are, and are amazed (or they feign amazement, at least) because we're so much older than they would have guessed.... Probably because we're out walking, exploring the world, not sitting waiting for it to come to us.
I'm glad you're out exploring Thailand, laughing a lot and being happy.
And I'm glad the boy you're going to marry is only 19 after all. :D
Sara
P.S. Sorry I keep turning everything you say into a comparison with India... I guess I'm just getting warmed up for blogging about our next trip there. We'll be leaving for India in just 11 days.
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