Hello, สวัสดี (Sa wa dii), Hola

Since orientation is soon ending (my practicum starts on Wednesday) I decided to reflect on all of the things I have learned or noticed since being in Thailand … here are the 10 that stick out in my mind the most!

1. all bathrooms are wet … everywhere … hence the literal translation of “haawng naam” meaning “room wet”
2. bugs are your friends … there are daddy long leg spiders, mosquitoes, flies, fruit flies and things I don’t know what they are EVERYWHERE; geckos are clear and crawl on the walls
3. Colors have corresponding days of the week and people wear that color on that day …
4. you eat rice as a side dish for every meal … unless of course you’re eating noodles
5. Thais do not walk anywhere … so we get even more looks as if we weren’t getting enough for being “fa-rangs” (white foreigners)
6. Powder is the bee’s knees … baby powder, “sweetie pink” (for an oily/sweaty face), and most of all cooling powder (moistures activates it to tingle … for when you’re sweaty, which is all the time unless you’re in the cool season which we are entering now … THANK GOD)
7. Diet coke is nowhere to be found … Coke light can be purchased at Tesco Lotus and Coke Zero is a close second but is also quite difficult to find.
8. The internet has a mind of its own … sometimes it even chooses which computers it wants to work for
9. Although I am in a low income area everyone still looks “riproy” meaning neat, tidy, polite. All Thai people take appearances very seriously, this means you’re hair needs to be tidy and combed (difficult for me! LOL), you’re clothes must be pressed and stainless, and your shoes neat. You also take your shoes off to enter every room because you’re feet are considered dirty … and here they really are!
10. Lastly, nicknames are the way to go! EVERYONE goes by a nickname. I do not have one yet, but hopefully when I move into my house and start teaching I will get one! … my favorite so far is Rambo (the police man whose sole job is to protect us … even though we don’t really need it … bless his heart!)