observations, humor, nonsense
I get a nûat Thai นวด ไทย at least once a week. It’s one of the perks of living in Chiang Mai even though the cost of living keeps rising here. BOOOOOO! A Thai massage around the moat or Old City costs 180 to 200 baht. While my friends have their favorites or go-to person,…
Read MoreJeez. It’s like they are letting anybody do it.
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Typo or cleverness? According to UrbanDictionary.com, SMORK has 7 (count ’em) whopping definitions: 1. An Engrish term for ‘smoke’. “No smorking on corridor or Banning happen on premises!” 2. A smork is an ork that has been ignited and burned until smoldering. In the Lord of the Rings orks that were burned after battle were…
Read MoreApparently we met before through mutual friends, at all the raging parties I go to, but it wasn’t until I was at another fare-thee-well party that I REALLY met her. She’s very smart, you see, cause she said, “Lani! I love your blog!” Well, that got my attention.
Read MoreAfter spending 2 weeks in Austria, returning to Thailand was quite the departure. It was dark and I was travel weary but I still had to explain where I lived in pasa Thai. The good thing is I live close enough to the 700 Year Stadium, and at least it puts drivers in the right…
Read MoreI have avoided combining my first 10 months here with the time since I returned, simply because I thought saying I’ve been here 2 years total sounded bad – for my Thai that is. I know, I know, I shouldn’t be so hard on myself but maybe I should? Shouldn’t I be farther along by…
Read MoreI just figured something out. Now before we hark the herald angels sing, I should say, this idea is relatively fresh and new. But I’m so excited that I have to write about it.
Read MoreIt began with nailpolish. I walked into my Saturday class and was quickly engulfed by the word, “Raang!” from my J or junior students. They were shouting, pointing and generally excited as I expect from my 13-15 year olds. But after a few seconds I understood they were talking about my fingernail color. The polish…
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Do you believe in luck? Many people do. Many Thais certainly do. After all, it is one of the ways of saying good bye (choke dee). Which I have pointed out to my English classes and during my Thai studies, Westerners would never say unless we were getting ready to take a test or something.…
Read More(or the quickening of my inability to retain and use properly the Thai language) I am reminded of my failings, my total fail as a Thai language learner. Payap Blog wanted me to write about my experiences taking Thai classes at PYU so I did, blah, blah, blah. Which got me thinking, blah, blah, blah,…
Read MoreI pride myself on being a healthy person. I mean I’m not like obsessed about it but I know what I need to do to take care of myself and I do it because it feels good. And because I want to live a long life. And life is awesome so why not extend that…
Read MoreIn my Thai 1 (or Book 1) class I was able to skate by on the Thai that I had acquired from my previous year. But when I started Thai 2 I knew on the first day I would not be able to do so. My classmates were stronger, further along and my teacher was…
Read MoreAnother crack at Spanish means a lot of things, including another crack at my self-confidence. I’ve started another Spanish class this week and so far it has been great. I’m surprised by what I do know and what I have remembered from my own studies. I also made the commitment to have fun. The stress…
Read More“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” -Ludwig Wittgenstein Upon reading this I can’t help but think about learning Español and pasa Thai and how through language acquisition I’m trying to expand my cultural boundaries. But when I continued to stare at the quote I realized that language is much more…
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The two times that I have been the most distraught since arriving here has been over the language. My inability to understand circumstances has catapulted the cliché in over my head to new heights and demoralizing lows. These situations mimic things that have also happened to me in Thailand. It is not difficult to remember…
Read More(or: speak language thai can a little) I stopped my formal learning of the Thai language when I stopped taking classes. I stopped at Thai 2 and the classes go up to Thai 7 or 8. We were getting into reading and writing so I was introduced to the basics but haven’t touched any of…
Read MoreSometimes I say as few words as possible to try to get away with being Thai, whether it is ordering food or getting into a songtaew; other times the vendor or mae ka will answer me in English just to let me know how badly my pasa Thai is. (Or how good their English is?)…
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I signed up for an Intensive Thai language class last week. Then yesterday I was told that there has been a mistake in processing my paperwork. Somewhere between the Foreign Language Center and the Office of the President someone read my application and glanced at my photo and decided I didn’t want to sign up…
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Life, the Universe, and Lani 
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