Yes, I speak Thai

So the other day, a woman thought that I spoke Thai. We went out for supper, and my friend was trying to order, but the woman working there had no idea what he was saying. The items all had numbers beside them so, since I know my numbers, I said the number of what he wanted in Thai. Then I ordered everyone else's because they don't know their numbers yet. Then she read the orders back to me, and I had no idea what she was saying, but she was also pointing to the bill at the same time, which just had the numbers written down, so I just said "chai", which means yes. We went to sit down, and she came over with a question about the bill and started talking to me in Thai, and I just sat with a blank look on my face. Then she started laughing and said "you no speak Thai?" And I said no.
It was pretty funny, and I have now been designated as the translator and the one who has to talk to cab drivers, which is ridiculous because I really don't know any Thai, I just know my numbers and I'm willing to stand there and keep trying to communicate until they understand.

The language in this country is completely crazy. We live on Kanchanapisek Road. Many times, we have gotten into cabs and said the name of where we live, and they stare at us blankly. You basically just have to say it over and over putting the emphasis on different syllables, or switching your pronounciation slightly until they understand. It is so weird how in this language, something can sounds almost identical to us, but mean two completely different things. The worst one that I have heard is with the word for beautiful. The word is soie. If you mean to say beautiful, you have to make your voice go up at the end of the word. If you don't go up at the end, and just keep your voice flat, it means that you are putting a curse on that person's family. And they take that kind of stuff really seriously, so you have to be very careful. The words for near and far are also the same, they are just pronounced differently, or said with two different tones or something like that. Very confusing.

This past weekend we decided to just stay in Bangkok and explore the city a bit. On Friday night we went to a restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms. It was absolutely beautiful, and I don't know what the cabbages part was about, but there were condoms everywhere! I have pictures of me standing by a man entirely covered in condoms. It sounds kind of perverted, but it was actually in support of awareness for AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases for lower income people in Thailand, and a lot of their profits went towards these programs, so it was all for a good cause...but it was still pretty funny.

On Saturday we walked around Bangkok, saw some temples, saw some monks, then went out with a bunch of people from school. I have pictures, but they're not up yet, I'll put them up later in the week.

I am moving into my new apartment tonight/tomorrow, so I am really excited about that! I am kind of sad, because I have become friends with the people living in my old apartment, but we all work together, and we promised that we will still hang out lots after school, so that makes me feel better about it. I will take pictures of the view from my new place, it's on the 20th floor, and it's such a great view, I can't wait for that every morning!

Time for me to go do some work. My classes are watching Madagascar today with the rest of the kindergarten kids, because we just finished a month studying animals, so this is our wrap-up, so I don't even really have to teach at all, which is pretty sweet!

Hope you're donig well, I look forward to hearing from you all soon!