Not in the United States...

Life here feels normal (and it is to those who live here); many days, I forget how different Thailand is from the United States. Then, all of a sudden, something or somethings will happen to remind me. Just the other day, I had three occurrences that would not have happened in the United States.

The first was on the way to visit a Thai preschool for Hollis. She has a great opportunity to attend a little school where no one speak a single word of English. Well, I think one boy actually knows how to say, "My name is..." which is the way Thai people try to ask, "What is your name?", but that's the extent of English ability. We learned of the school from Jeab (a neighbor who comes over sometimes to help us learn Thai) whose son Beum attends. When we walked over to her place to ask directions to the school, she immediately called a friend to come take us there - on a moped. While a moped is not a particularly safe mode of transportation, I did not feel that I could graciously decline without potentially damaging our friendship. In cases such as this, Philip and I have decided the right thing is to go along with whatever it is we feel is culturally appropriate and trust God to take care of us. I did, however, act as an overprotective, crazy "farang" (white person) and run home to get a helmet for Hollis.

While I was filling out paperwork for Hollis to start preschool, I was reminded of another Thai particularity. The questions on the form were fairly routine, although they asked for father's income and mother's income separately. Then it asked for number of children in the family, number of boys, number of girls, then Hollis's birth order. That would certainly never be considered on a school registration form in the States. In Thailand status is extremely important and is influenced, among other things, by education, income, age, and birth order. In an upper class family, younger children would be encouraged to call their older siblings Pi___ (like Pi Eris; pi means older sibling) as a sing of respect.

Later that same day, I learned the word for broom - maikwat. More specifically, I learned that the type of broom I was sweeping with was maikwat matphrao, or coconut broom, because parts of the coconut tree are used to make it. How many of you know what plant material went into making your broom?

Then, Philip came up to me to ask if I knew of what material certain decorative objects in our house were made. They are curved in the shape of tusks, and he was curious if they were ivory. It was the last day to register with government currently owned ivory, as after that it would be illegal to possess any ivory that wasn't registered. He felt we should notify the owners of our house so they could register them if they were ivory but did not want to say anything if they were not. After some internet research, apparently, ivory does not burn. Philip heated a small stick of metal on the stove and touched it to an inconspicuous part of the questionable item; it quickly melted a small dent before he took it away. Not ivory.

So while many at first unusual activities have become routine and other daily events are not much different from in the States, we do live in a country where some things are quite dissimilar. I sometimes wonder what will surprise us when we go back to the States....