An Outdated Rite

At school, we're mastering the reading and writing of Thai. And what I'm finding is that as well as the 80-odd letters and confusing tone rules, it's the physical act of writing that is causing me to struggle. Having worked in the technology industry for 15 years, I've had no real use for pen and paper, and I seem to have lost the ability to write in English, let alone Thai. Makes me wonder if I should just learn to type in Thai instead; perhaps the skill of handwriting is one not worth acquiring these days.
One positive aspect of all this is that I've got to play around with the latest in pencil and eraser technology. We're required to use pencils at school, due to the inevitability of mistakes. I have to go back to Primary School (30 years, arghh) to remember the last time I used one in anger. And things have definitely moved on; these funky clicky pencils have rendered the sharpener industry redundant, whilst the cutting-edge polymer erasers are truly a joy to use; no smudging and none of that pesky eraser dust getting everywhere.
(PS in terms of eraser/rubber terminology, I find the former avoids embarrassing confusion, what with the preponderance of US-English here)

East is East

My daily battle with the Thai tongue continues at language school. Thoroughly enjoying it, though. Currently, all my fellow students are Asian, and getting to know people has provided an eye-opening insight into both the surprising differences and life-affirming similarities between East and West. Above all, humour stands out as a common bonding trait. Despite, or perhaps thanks to, our lack of a common language, I spend a lot of the lessons in tears.
Meanwhile, I was thinking that my ability to discern the country of origin of Asians must surely be improving, but in an internet test, I'm disappointed to report I'm little better than average...

An Inconvenient Time

Some of our Thai neighbours are moving to a new house round the corner. As with all major life events here, the exact timing is of utmost importance. It's not simply a case of moving in when it's convenient for you; monks and astrologers will have been consulted months before to pinpoint the most auspicious time and date. Hence the oddities such as the 5am wedding we went to a few months back. And you hear of worse; my Thai teacher had to get married at 3am. Meanwhile, access to private medicine is allowing wealthy Thais to pinpoint that most unpredictable of human events down to the precise auspicious minute; the popularity of Caesarean births is rocketing.
Luckily, the stars indicate that our neighbours should move house at the not-too inconvenient time of 10pm. At that precise hour, we are called on to wish them on their way.

The Return

Ok, Ok, I know it's been a while, but I'm back...
Spending a month in and around the UK, it didn't seem appropriate to update the 'Bangkok' Blog, and anyway, I was just too darn busy catching up with all you fantastic friends and family. Seriously, it was great to see people again; 2 years is a fair old time, but it was superb to be able to slip back into friendships so easily.
Oh, and the other excuses for my slack return to my PC include Alison's visit (great to have you over!) and Google's strange decision to force blogger.com to speak only Thai to me. OK, I know I'm meant to be able to speak the language, but reading it is another matter. Turns out Google forces language selection based on your ISP, and changing it required a lengthy translation process of their various menus. Still, at least my Thai reading has improved...