The beginning of exchange

This whole year I've felt a little bit detached. There's been moments where I had a lot of fun, and while I don't exactly have a best friend, I have a few pretty close ones. I've been annoyed going to temples and not knowing what to do, but nothing approaching an immediate culture shock or demoralizing. I've been learning the language pretty slowly but steadily. I don't miss home. I tell people I miss snow if they press.

I do miss you, ice crystals.
Today I made some new friends. It's Indira's last day of school, so a group of boys who I've never seen before was afraid I would be leaving too. I didn't speak any English to them. Now I'm going to play takraw with them tomorrow.

Yesterday I still didn't get homesick for Minnesota, but I got a little bit homesick for my extended host family.

Two days ago I started using an online Thai course - I've been trying to do my own with pencil and paper and Nont's materials, but it's hard to find relevant vocabulary and I've never been good with study strategies. If nothing else, it's been a big help with spelling.

Four days ago, I went to my friend Mix's (Mick) birthday party and I spoke Thai to his family and some of the neighbors I play futsal with.

It was just this week that I discovered Thai music I want to listen to.

In the last month I've started to be able to understand the gist of what people are saying even if they're not talking to me or I don't know all the words (don't tell anyone though, it's fun to listen secretly).

Quantifying these changes doesn't seem like a big deal, but something about this week, and today especially feels profoundly different. In the orientations, whenever a presenter would talk about the expected emotional ups and downs, I would think "that doesn't sound like me." I planned to adjust right away. I was kind of right, since I've had no periods of depression or culture shock, and barely even a honeymoon. I thought I wasn't going through an adjustment period because it wasn't painful. In reality, it took me 6 months to get to Thailand. Now I think I'm here to stay for the next five. It's cheesy, but it popped into my head today that it really feels like the beginning of exchange.
And yet this quintessential exchange picture is already three months old.




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