Thailand Post #9

I had a long debate over whether or not I wanted to go to the Thai lesson - I ended up deciding yes. Since apparently my new thing is just to go for it, which is working for me so far.

Apparently Aek has not known my name until just now. I was (in)appropriately offended.

Before Jody's talk, after banana tree-ing, I was walking along the Sky Walk (I don't think it's actually called that but it makes me a Skywalker so I like it) when I saw Jessica and Caitlyn feeding two elephants on the ground. I didn't want to force them into sharing their elephants, so I was going to just walk past but Jessica called out and asked if I wanted to join them - I really appreciated that she did that. I went down and fed an elephant who is blind in her right eye and her companion. Her companion was mostly independent, reaching into the basket with her trunk and grabbing the lechee, melons, bananas, and chopped banana tree trunk on her own, including a few entire bunches of bananas. The half-blind one could've done it independently, too, but an elephant's vision is already its biggest weakness so it would constitute her having to smell and feel around with her trunk. Anyway, she seemed like an old lady elephant in general.

I don't know if I already wrote about this, but there are 3 ways to determine an elephant's age: the teeth, the temples, and the poop. An elephant has 6 (or maybe 4) sets of teeth that grow in and fall out over its lifetime and the sets come in progressively farther back in the mouth. The temples are rounded when an elephant is young, but when she gets old, the skin sags where there is no bone to support it, and there are two distinctive dents just in front of the ears of an older elephant, so that the skull shape is more prominent. When looking at the poop of old elephants, there are often whole, undigested fruits and vegetation in the stool that came out almost exactly the way that they went in because older elephants don't digest food as well. The more you know!

It's a really strange sensation handing an elephant food to the end of its trunk. You can really feel how powerful the muscles are when you put the food in the curl of their trunk - it's rough and ridged, but as you pull your hand away the elephant starts curling tighter and you can feel how powerful it is. Then there's the end of the trunk and the nostrils. The end has two extended bits on the top and bottom that the elephant uses as appendages. If you're standing there holding fruit like a lechee or banana and don't notice quickly enough that the elephant's ready for more, the strong, wet chunks of muscle pluck them right out of your hand. Just those two "fingers" themselves are so precise - elephants can pick up a single lechee from the grass and then moments later hoist a 400-pound log. It's funny watching Dok Mai trying to coordinate her tiny trunk - she was having trouble with the bigger banana leaves and branches. The mama elephant was a pro - she would grab a branch, swat it around for a while, then curl it up to her mouth and bite down, ripping away the excess greens with her trunk. The power of their teeth is amazing too - you can watch one of them just crunch right down on a pumpkin and bite it right in half.

Thai Lesson

The "wai" (pronounced "why") is the traditional Thai greeting - hands together and bow at waist.

Level of hands indicates respect:
Wai at the chest: friends
Chin: elders
Mouth: teacher
Nose: parent
Brow: monk
Above head: royalty

"Sa wa dee ka" is how I would say hello to someone. The "ka" on the end of the phrase is an indication of my own gender. A man would say "sa wa dee krap," and there's no gender-neutral indicator even though the gender boundaries in Thailand are not quite as strict as those in America. The "ka" or "krap" is said at the end of a lot of common phrases and it can also be used to casually say "yes."

Ericka from Michigan State is across the aisle from me with a small Thai boy on her lap. I wonder if he's her adopted son. I like her a lot - I wish I was brave enough to talk to her. The guy who's describing monks and their shaved eyebrows to us looks like HE has shaved eyebrows. I'm having some trouble understanding his accent. Conference Room Dog is here, as usual, weaving around the benches.

In Thailand, the head is the most sacred part of the body and feet are the dirtiest. You shouldn't touch peoples' heads unless they're close friends or children, and it's rude to step on books, money, or anything else of value or to point with your feet.

Here's the most I could make of the "Elephant Song." It's like the Thai "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."
Sh-yahng, sh-yahng, sh-yahng
Nong koy hen sh-yahng roo plow
Sh-yahn mun tore toe my bow
Jamook yow yow something something something
Mee key-ow tie noo-ang
Reek wa nee-ah
Mee hoo mee ta hoo-ang yow*

Conference Room Dog is singing with us. They made us dance, I knew that would happen. At least Ruby was next to me squealing and diverting attention from me.

Numbers:
0 - soon
1 - noo-eng
2 - song
3 - sahm
4 - see
5 - ha
6 - hok
7 - jed
8 - pead
9 - gao/gow
10 - sib

I (f.) - chan
You - khun
Yes (f.) - chai ka
No (f.) - mai chai ka (literally "no yes")
How are you? (f.) - Sa buy dee mai ka?
I'm fine (f.) - Sa buy dee ka.
Thank you (f.) - kob klun ka
You're Welcome (f.) - yin dee ka
Never mind/no worries (f.) - mai pen rai ka.
What is your name? (f.) - khun cheu arai ka?
My name is... (f.) - Chan cheu Grace ka.
Goodbye - la korn
See you later - pob gun mai ka
Good night - ra tree sa wad ka
Sweet dreams - lab fun dee ka
How much? - Tao rai ka?
Can I have a discount? - Lod dai mai ka?
I'm vegetarian - Chan kin jay ka.
Where is the toilet? - Hong naam yoo tee nai ka?
I love you - chan rak khun ka


I love you:

Chan (I, f.) rak (love) khun (you) ka. (end of sentence, f.)

Pom (I, m.) rak (love) khun (you) krap. (end of sentence, m.)


*After attempting to sing this with the little hill tribe kids, it became obvious that this is entirely wrong with the exception of the first 3 words.


Ra tree sa wad ka!