Say What?!

Arrived in Chiang Mai in the beginning of January after a three week vacation with the family in Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Koh Lanta - an island in the south of Thailand near Phuket. Had an awesome time at each place and very thankful to have the quality time with three of the most important people in my life :). Now starts another adventure! Sadly this one will most likely be void of fancy accomodation and fine dining as in the previous three weeks, but it will definitely be an adventure of an different and interesting light! Brrrring on what you got for me, life! I'm ready and waiting!

I enrolled in a Thai language course at the AUA immediately after arriving in Chiang Mai. Course comes complete with a crazy hilarious Thai teacher and 8 other farang (Thai word for foreigner - spelling is unknown to all). Class fun and intense due to the 5 tones that the Thai language incorporates, which if you hear a Thai person say one word in all 5 tones, every word sounds exactly the same, shit. The kicker to learning a tonal language is where one word has two meanings that are opposites, depending on the tone used. Now who's idea was this? My favorite has to be Suay...if said with rising tone it means beautiful, if said with falling tone it means bad luck. Note to self, dont get that one wrong when speaking about someone's child or mother. Another one is kii (pronounced kee)...if said with low tone means "to ride", and if said with high tone means "to shit". So on any given day depending on my vocal talents, I could either ride a bike or shit a bike. I dont see how Thai people could not enjoy talking to foreigners if only for the reasons mentioned above, but it has been a little difficult befriending Thai people around my age. Aside from the wonderful fellow farang friends I have here, my Thai friends include the hilarious grandfather who owns the guesthouse I stay in and my yoga teacher's wife. Both are wonderful and so much fun to interact with. They help me with my Thai and I help them with their English, fair trade favoring both sides. My new goal is to find a Thai sidekick to experience mid-twenties Thai living . Open to suggestions on methods of finding said sidekick ....(female sidekick preferable and scandalous suggestions are accepted though doubtfully put into action :)