Where In The World Is Sum1?

Meeting Enga

Meeting Enga

         I was fortunate enough to be scheduled to come to Bangkok, Thailand for two weeks this month.  I was even more fortunate that Kåre เลียม Enga was there also, and we were able to meet.  What an interesting day it was, and for several reasons.

         Liam (as he is known here) is a charming man, one of about my age, though we won’t try to compare ages here.  We met at the Hostel he’s staying at and there was an immediate connection!  Part of it was our mutual love of all things Writing.com, part of it was the similarity in age.  I think another part of it was our inner desire to meet and interact with other people.

         I’ve never stayed at a hostel, but his hostel is about what I imagined a hostel to be.  It has a small lobby where we sat and talked.  Guests are not allowed in the rooms, which was fine by me.  He described his room though, and frankly, it sounds a little like a barracks I lived in early in my Navy career.  I think there are six beds or so to each room, and a couple of bathrooms also.  So much like a Navy Barracks from the 70’s, but newer of course.

         Enga and I sat down to talk about anything and everything.  As we started talking, a young man sitting nearby turned around at something Enga said. As it turns out, Timm (the young man) is from Switzerland.  The discussion immediately switched to discussion of the dialects the Swiss speak.  Timm was surprised that Enga knew of the languages, and could speak them to some extent.  I don’t think he’s fluent in any of them, but he knows enough to be polite to people while speaking their language.  What a skill to have!  I mean, I speak only English, I butcher that all the time, making me very reluctant to butcher another language.

         It was very interesting as Timm and Enga talked about things.  I became a listener then and learned a little about each of them.  Liam is far more traveled than I am, I travel for business, he travels for leisure.  I loved listening to them talk though.  I don’t get to meet a lot of ‘foreigners’ in my travels.  When I have traveled internationally, most of my students have been Americans because I work on a US Military base or at an Embassy.  The times I have taught a class for the citizens of a country are few and far between.  Listening to Liam and Timm talk was very interesting for me.  The places the two of them have been! 

         I did manage to have photo’s snapped of us.  In this photo you’ll see his hat is pulled down far over his head.  He doesn’t want his face to appear on social media at all, I’m honoring that request.  I do have permission to post this one.

         We went to lunch at a nearby place named Porwa Restaurant.  I loved that the name was written in English as well as a local dialect.  It wasn’t true Thai, even I could tell that.  I couldn’t read a thing of course, it was just nice to be exposed to a written language, even if I couldn’t read it.  I’ll leave it to Liam to tell you what we ate.  I was a rice dish with cucumber and fried chicken (I think).  Liam and I talked a lot during lunch also.  I have to say that it was a truly pleasurable day.  I’d love to spend more time getting to know him, but he has to return to Udon Thani Monday, while I have to start work then.  We’ll meet tomorrow and spend a bit of time talking again, then part ways for a final time.  At least for now, because you never know what tomorrow will bring.





Jim Dorrell