culture shock

Hello, friends!

I've been in Bangkok for three days now. My impressions of the city (or the small part of it I've seen, so far): dirty, crowded, awful traffic, full of smells (both savory and foul), loud, and polluted. I'm fully aware that the city will seem better as I get used to it, but right now I'm kind of missing clean air.

Adjusting to everything is hard. I suppose I've got culture shock. I don't know what's going on, I can't communicate or read, I don't know the cultural norms... I'm foreign. Today at the school, for example, one of the Thai teachers came up to the English office to ask us (very apologetically) if we'd come to the nurse's office to have our temperature taken. They wanted to make sure none of us was sick, because one or two of the girls had been feeling ill the day before. This teacher seemed to think we'd be offended by having such an intrusive device as a thermometer placed in our ears for 10 seconds. We told her it was fine, really. I think she believed us, but she said Thais don't like being asked to have their temperature taken. There are lots of little things, I'm sure, that we have no clue about. We've probably offended everyone many times by now.

One of my books said Thais think it's weird and gross to put your fork in your mouth. At every meal, they have a large spoon and a fork. The fork is used to push food onto the spoon, or to hold meat down while you cut it with the spoon. I learned this by watching Star, a Baylor grad who taught last year and signed up for a second term. I've adopted this method to avoid seeming uncouth.

I'll tell you all more about daily life later, but for now, I'm tired and still getting over the jet lag. I miss you all!