PB #16 Ex-sai-ting
This blog has been a bit dormant lately - busy with work as I once again swing on the trapeze of job change, hoping there's a net below. Here's a little bit about what I've been up to.
At the end of April, Susie and Dennis (from JVC years in Houston) visited Chiang Mai. It was great to have enthusiastic visitors soaking up life here - elephant rides, nights out for food and drinks at Sudsanan, and planning for the beach.
The tradition of late nights at Sudsanan continued.
Chiang Mai in the hot season is HOT TAMALE hot: 100 degree weather for days on end. Relief from the heat came in mid-April with Thai new year, called Songkran. Imagine Mardi Gras and Spring Break, add water (and on one occasion, liquid soap), and stir. I went out in the madness with Kristen and our new volunteer, Leah, to flirt, dance, and engage in water battles. Here we stopped by the neighborhood insect museum but chose not to enter.
The Insect Museum has one of the least appealing invitations I have ever seen.
We had a dance party under the sprinklers at our office.
Myo shows off his Songkran 'do with typical flair.
Min Min Oo gets his sprinkler groove on.
As usual, late nights out during Songkran were well-intentioned but ill-conceived. The droopy eyes are evidence.
Later in the month, Fred came back for a visit. Tom, Fred, Clyde, and I had dinner out with Margaret Cho ... who, by the way, is part of the True Colors Tour 2007, coming to your city soon -- check out http://www.truecolorstour.com/.
I turned 39 years old in May, and as usual had an extended series of celebrations - fitting that Susie starts this blog since I distinctly remember her telling me (something like), "enough, already! No more goodbye parties - I've been to at least four! You can go now!" when I left Houston. This is a low-key dinner that started the birthday weekend. And to save Susie the annoyance, I'll leave it at that.
About a week ago, I had my appendix removed and spent about four days in the hospital recovering. I added a few new words to my Thai vocabulary, including "appendix," which is "sai-ting." Intercultural communication is often a challenge for me, and I got annoyed (and not just a little concerned about competence) when at the hospital, a nurse woke me up the day after my surgery and said, "you go to toilet?" "Yes," I said. "You pee-pee?" Yes. "You poo-poo?"
Okay ... I know I should give props to the nurse for even trying to have this bodily-functions conversation in English. On the other hand, I was on the foreigner- English-speaking-floor of the very expensive hospital, so I would think the nurses training would include a basic vocabulary of bodily functions that would help them not sound like four-year-olds and say the equivalent of "bowel movement." I simply could not bring myself to say "Yes! I poo-poo!!!" So I switched to Thai, and because I haven't had bodily- function- vocabulary training either, I said what is most accurately translated as "Yes - I took a shit."
At the end of April, Susie and Dennis (from JVC years in Houston) visited Chiang Mai. It was great to have enthusiastic visitors soaking up life here - elephant rides, nights out for food and drinks at Sudsanan, and planning for the beach.
The tradition of late nights at Sudsanan continued.
Chiang Mai in the hot season is HOT TAMALE hot: 100 degree weather for days on end. Relief from the heat came in mid-April with Thai new year, called Songkran. Imagine Mardi Gras and Spring Break, add water (and on one occasion, liquid soap), and stir. I went out in the madness with Kristen and our new volunteer, Leah, to flirt, dance, and engage in water battles. Here we stopped by the neighborhood insect museum but chose not to enter.
The Insect Museum has one of the least appealing invitations I have ever seen.
We had a dance party under the sprinklers at our office.
Myo shows off his Songkran 'do with typical flair.
Min Min Oo gets his sprinkler groove on.
As usual, late nights out during Songkran were well-intentioned but ill-conceived. The droopy eyes are evidence.
Later in the month, Fred came back for a visit. Tom, Fred, Clyde, and I had dinner out with Margaret Cho ... who, by the way, is part of the True Colors Tour 2007, coming to your city soon -- check out http://www.truecolorstour.com/.
I turned 39 years old in May, and as usual had an extended series of celebrations - fitting that Susie starts this blog since I distinctly remember her telling me (something like), "enough, already! No more goodbye parties - I've been to at least four! You can go now!" when I left Houston. This is a low-key dinner that started the birthday weekend. And to save Susie the annoyance, I'll leave it at that.
About a week ago, I had my appendix removed and spent about four days in the hospital recovering. I added a few new words to my Thai vocabulary, including "appendix," which is "sai-ting." Intercultural communication is often a challenge for me, and I got annoyed (and not just a little concerned about competence) when at the hospital, a nurse woke me up the day after my surgery and said, "you go to toilet?" "Yes," I said. "You pee-pee?" Yes. "You poo-poo?"
Okay ... I know I should give props to the nurse for even trying to have this bodily-functions conversation in English. On the other hand, I was on the foreigner- English-speaking-floor of the very expensive hospital, so I would think the nurses training would include a basic vocabulary of bodily functions that would help them not sound like four-year-olds and say the equivalent of "bowel movement." I simply could not bring myself to say "Yes! I poo-poo!!!" So I switched to Thai, and because I haven't had bodily- function- vocabulary training either, I said what is most accurately translated as "Yes - I took a shit."
posted by PeaJayPee @ 8:21 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
i am very glad to hear of your bowel functions.
and my first stop on my upcoming trip to thailand will now be the insect museum. so there.
VERY clever title! hahahaha!
Laura
where is my picture? it is good to see your website. Aung Moe Zaw
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