I’ll start by telling you about a remark my daughter made to me in a recent message: “Dad, what was that “555” at the end of the first paragraph in your last message”?
Since living in Thailand I went from:…
- Using LOL to automatically using 555 (or 55555)
- Looking in front of me when walking down a sidewalk – to staring downward with every step I take as if I’m crossing a mine field.
- Looking angry when I was angry – to just smiling and making pretend I’m not angry.
- Listening to music when driving my car – to remaining dead-silent as I concentrate on every single
moving object.
- Avoiding food when bugs were in the area – to eating the damn things.
- Looking at the labels to make sure it wasn’t made-in-China – to knowing it was made-in-China and just hoping for the best.
- Not being able to speak one complete sentence in Thai – to not being able to speak one complete sentence in Thai.
- Liking animals – to fearing half of them and watching people butcher the other half.
- Thinking Thais avoided telling the truth when caught in a lie due to some deeply ingrained Buddhist principle – to understanding that they do this simply to avoid being caught.
- Caring about the clothes I wore every day – to tossing on a t shirt and some wrinkled shorts and calling it a day.
- Sitting in a movie theater munching on popcorn waiting for a show to start – to being forced to stand at attention in a room full of robots.
(The last time I did this - the minute I stood up I unintentionally cut a loud fart and ended up spilling my popcorn on the floor. Everyone around us laughed. Jai was embarrassed). I just lied and said it wasn't me...mai pen rai.
55555