Thai+Spanish=Lost in Translation

Valentines Day was this week, and yes, Thais celebrate it. I received 3 fake roses from my host family and bought them cake in return.
As I walked into the classroom my students surrounded me and put stickers all over my shirt. Several of them touched my boobs but I don’t think it’s such a big deal here. So the best part about the stickers was that they were written in Spanish. Huh? Qué? How did that happen? No sé.
Upon closer inspection I discovered that the words were written backwards and horribly misspelled. Eres mi Amor became Ered mi Amor. Well, I guess d and s are right next to each other on the keyboard. Sigh. You gotta love it. I also received a handmade card with a heart and Christmas trees. Ummmm… I guess the lesson next week on American holidays will be helpful. Maybe. Hopefully.

I’m feeling good about language classes. I can now say what I want to eat, when I’m doing things, where I’m going, who I’m going with, and that David Beckham is married to Posh Spice. The classes are small – only 4 of us.

My Thai mom is hilarious. Our personalities match up perfectly: a lot of laughter with a bit of smart-ass. She likes to do things like put the cat in the tree, wear my bicycle helmet, and tell me I’m in the first grade because I’m practicing my Thai letters. I love her.

So all week we’ve been hearing about something going on in our tambpon (little section of town). No one could really tell us what is was, but when I asked they would just smile. When I asked if it was going to be a party they would give me a funny look. When I tried acting it out with dancing and singing, they laughed and nodded. OK, so maybe it’s a party… I couldn’t figure it out. I asked my little sister if she was going and she said no. I thought maybe she was just shy so I eventually persuaded her to come along. “Sanuk, sanuk (Fun, fun)”.
When we got there it end up being a 2 hour live infomercial about some new rice product. Still not really sure about the whole thing but they gave away a lot of laundry baskets and buckets. They even had me handing out prizes. “Yay the American is here. Let’s put her to work!” This was after they sat around and watched me eat. I ended up apologizing to my sister over and over again.

Random things:
-I had to remove all of my upper earrings (NOT appropriate for a teacher).
-Thai people hate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. My Thai mom says, “Eeewww”.
-I cannot find a place to send an international fax.
-I’ve received 4 letters from the U.S. Yay for Tiffany Crum, Andrew Wang, Juan Medizibal, and my mom.
-I fell off my bike today in front of everyone at the live infomercial.
-I can only drink beer once a week when I have the afternoon off. Never with family.
-I met a monk. Sooooooo cool. We learned about Buddhism. Really inspiring.
-Never look a wild dog in the eye. They chase you down here. And they’re EVERYWHERE.