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 |  This is my blog & my hope, writing daily will help me see my progress and log supporters. |
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| One of, if not the most difficult thing for me to deal with living in Thailand, is not being able to speak the local language. It's hard enough exchanging ideas when it is just Nada and I, but in situations like today, when her nephew has come to visit, makes me feel more isolated than ever. Being unable to join in the conversation, and yet not wanting to appear ignorant, is a challenge I am glad doesn't happen every day. I'm not crying in my beer, but not having people I can relate to and talk freely with, has over time, become an issue. Thankfully, I spent an hour last night speaking to my best friend, who lives in the US, on Skype. Our brief conversations help a lot to relieve these feelings that I am a long way from home. I never was much of a social butterfly, and my reclusive ways, although natural to me, are not helping with the settling-in process of living in a new country. Meeting other ex-pats isn't easy. For some reason, most people I come across are standoffish at best...and at worst, are simply ignorant. My guess is they didn't move to Thailand to hang out with other Farangs. I admit that I am just as guilty as those I point the finger at because when Nada and I go into town after dark to a restaurant, the number of foreigners I see walking along the streets makes me long for the low season to come around again. But, no matter what the situation, there will be positives and negatives, and so far in my journey, the good far outweighs the bad. In a way, I'm glad I burned my bridges back in Australia. Subconsciously, I must have known there would be days like today when I miss seeing faces that look like mine and hearing people I can understand and converse with. Fortunately, there is nothing worthwhile for me to go back to, and unless I am forced by ill health, or by the Thai authorities rejecting my stay (as unlikely as the latter is), Australia offers little incentive for me to return. It's only been ten months since I arrived in the land of smiles. I'm beginning to learn some Thai, although the fact remains that I will never be able to understand the language. Lucky for me, Nada helps me a lot, and without her support, things would be less enjoyable than what they are. She does translate when I want to speak to the locals we meet and yesterday while we were out on our walk, we came across the same lady we met two weeks ago. She's a beautiful soul who is my age and owns four cows that she tends to daily. She and her son live in a tiny shack that just a few weeks before, I remarked to Nada about how people could live in such conditions. Yet despite living in such poverty, this lady is always smiling. I asked Nada to translate for me, and I offered some money. At first, the lady looked surprised, and then her pride kicked in and she waved her hands to say no. I bowed and asked her to please accept my gift...and so, she did. It wasn't much money to me, and the truth is, it wasn't about the money at all. The amazing feeling I got as we walked away was unforgettable. Knowing that was only a small part of my mission...that my being here isn't just about what Thailand can do for me, but what I can do to help the Thai people, helped make my night. |
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