This is fun. After a month or so of being here, I speak about as much Thai as the average Thai speaks English. Which is to say that I hardly speak it at all– enough to know my numbers, ask and give me name, and proudly announce “phom phuut paa-sah thay nit-noy”– I speak a little Thai. This language itself amazes me for its simplicity. English is a language of rules and for every rule there’s at least ten exceptions, and even for native speakers its often difficult to speak proper, iodmatic English. I can only imagine what a monumental task it is for Thais. Why? Simply because Thai, like Thailand’s roadways, has very few rules. There is no future tense or past tense. You want to say that you will do something in the future, you add the word “will” before your verb. No conjugation. No sentense structure change. Just add the word. Same thing for past tense. You just add “already” to the end of your sentense. There are no plurals. The word for a country is the same word as for its language. The comparative simplicities abound. Of course, the tonal aspect is difficult for me, as a westerner, to grasp and pick up on– most difficult, I think is to force myself to remove emotion, or inflection rather, from my voice– important when dog, horse, and the verb “to come” are all the same word, only each with a different tone.
But really, I already know everything that I need to know how to say. Sure, I’m excited to keep learning more Thai, but we all laugh in the same language when a Thai convinces his friend to try my slackline, and he takes two shaky steps, and then tumbles off in a genuinely Chaplin-esque manner, and then gets up, barely able to stand for his laughing, and runs away. More quality Thai moments with my slackline. Thanks, Sagar. =)
Slowly but surely, I’m starting to find some outlets to be a part of my school community and my community as a whole, which does wonders to help set aside my feelings of displacement and listlessness.
As much as things speed up, though, they’re slowing down as I settle into the pace of life over here. Mid-terms, it’s hard to believe, are only a month away for me. This morning I’m headed off to go see another temple, then it’s too campus for a few hours, and then I’m free for the weekend!
