As for the results of the language course I got thirty nine out of forty. (Gutted about that last one I know)
Anyway I’m back in Lerng Noktha and I thought I’d fill you in a few things. The word ‘farang’ means foreigner or, more specifically a western foreigner. So when my partner and I are cycling around town we often hear: ‘oh, farang!’ and then ‘Hello!’ the first because the people are not used to seeing white people (especially females) and the second because that’s the only English word they usually know. Other than me and Anna there are some farang in Lerng Noktha. There’s Ned the Irishman who lives next door to us and who is also our landlord. He moved here and married a Thai lady. He can often be heard shouting incoherent words down the phone to some unfortunate person. Then there’s Dave, the Englishman who came here on a golfing holiday and later moved here and married a Thai lady. There’s also John the Australian who runs a coffee shop and moved here and married a Thai lady (see where I’m going with this?) and Steve who recently opened a fish chip shop and who moved here and… well you get the picture. They’re an odd, grey haired bunch who are friendly enough. Well we think Ned’s friendly but we can’t really understand him.
Farang also means guava (it’s a fruit people!) So if you’re a westerner caught eating one, be prepared for lots of silly jokes.
Now back to teaching (that’s what I’m here for after all) we haven’t officially started yet but we get up in front of classes and take them through the occasional exercise. Like today students were learning about safety: do not play with matches or stray animals and be careful when you do the laundry as you may hurt your arm (that’s a direct extract from the textbook) etc. Then there was the issue of: do not play near the stove. Now you may recall that I am in the Northeast of Thailand which is very near Laos, the neighboring country. As a result, people in the northeast speak a mixture of Thai and Lao. In Lao there is no ‘r’ sound so it’s substituted with ‘l’ and people here often mix their l’s and r’s around. So I am Freur and I like to eat lice. (with me so far?) So when Thai children speak of the dangers of stoves they say: do not pray near the stove. And they tell you to be careful not to: Fry kites near electric cables. It can be quite amusing but also frustrating. Especially the name thing. That irritates me. A lot.
So there you have another insight into the lives of volunteer teachers living in Thailand.
Sawat Dee! And remember- DON’T PRAY NEAR THE STOVE!
