![\"Max's](\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/files\/2013\/07\/IMG_1145.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI’m getting really good at taking selfies. \u00a0And it makes sense, because a\u00a0day doesn’t pass without my students showing me how its done.<\/p>\n
So anyhow, as I stared at these two girls holding up a whole line of people so they could get a new Facebook profile picture ASAP (I mean, its only been two hours since they last updated their prof-pics!), my heart dropped into my stomach.\u00a0 I’ve made a horrible mistake.\u00a0 I can’t believe I signed up to live here for another twelve months\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n Don’t get me wrong, Thai people are amazing.\u00a0 On a daily basis, I see simple acts of kindness and general enthusiasm for life that I just don’t see back in the States (Not to mention the cooking\u2026mmmmmm).\u00a0 But after the last year, I’ve realized there are some aspects of Thai culture I just don’t jive with.<\/p>\n I know Thai people are creative!\u00a0 They make amazing art, build amazing temples, and have tons of cool, new, kitschy coffee shops.\u00a0 So why is a majority of popular music easy-listening covers? My friend aptly described it as “Adult ‘Kids Bop.'”<\/p>\n Now a samba-style-cover of “Norwegian Wood” is playing.\u00a0 I have to leave.<\/p>\n I arrive at the Three Kings Monument, where I had arranged to meet a friend, exactly on time.\u00a0 5:59 PM.\u00a0 I take a seat on the edge of the sidewalk and watch as several Thai men are playing giant, twenty-foot long drums while groups of monks are cheering for their favorite drums (I will never know what was going on).\u00a0 Twenty-five minutes later, I’m laying down on the sidewalk, sighing heavily.\u00a0 “Thai time.”\u00a0 None of my students come to class on time.\u00a0 Meetings never start on time.\u00a0 The listed “Store Hours” of any shop are very loose.\u00a0 The “Thai time” phenomenon also rubs off on anyone who lives here, myself included. If someone tells you they’ll meet you at 6:00 PM, it means they’ll start to leave their house at 6:00 PM.\u00a0 Ok, so someone might be very relaxed and are just moseying about their day, but I just lost twenty-five minutes of my life on this sidewalk.\u00a0 Twenty-five precious minutes.\u00a0 When my friends arrived, I acted as passive-aggressive as humanly possibly.<\/p>\n So here I am, after an afternoon of activities, walking with a friend to get food, and I’m grumpy and frustrated.<\/p>\n Wait, wait, wait. \u00a0This isn’t me.\u00a0 I’m a relaxed person.\u00a0 I’m the kind of relaxed that causes past girlfriends to become frustrated that I’m not more concerned with\u2026what we’ll have for lunch, for example.<\/p>\n Let me think for a moment.\u00a0 Why am I angry?\u00a0 Well first of all, there was really cheery music playing in a cafe.\u00a0 They even had a Beatles song thrown in there.\u00a0 Next, I was stalled for a brief moment by three drivers who were all so nice that they let me cross the intersection first.\u00a0 Then, I had to sit in a peaceful monument area, watch an odd cultural event, and relax for twenty-five minutes (something I rarely fit into my days).<\/p>\n Whats wrong with me?\u00a0 These aspects of Thai culture that “I just don’t jive with,” are such small, simple parts of my days.\u00a0 Are these really the reasons why I’m nervous about living here for another year?\u00a0 Because of a cheery, kind, and relaxed country of people?\u00a0 I came here to learn about a new culture.\u00a0 Instead I’m letting small differences stress me out, and make me into the “Overly-forward American” that I had wanted to briefly escape from by moving here. \u00a0Thai culture is so rich, and in one year, I’ve barely scratched the surface.<\/p>\n Oh, and also, my students are way too awesome for me to leave them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Twenty three days on the road, traveling through Nepal and Myanmar, had worn me out.\u00a0 I walked off the plane in Chiang Mai, ready to go back to my apartment, collapse, and put off unpacking for several days.\u00a0 Suddenly, I … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>For example, I’m sitting in a cafe right now, which has music playing that is typical of most Thai bars and cafes: lounge covers.\u00a0 Brittany Spears’ “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet A Woman” samba-style cover by a female Thai singer is playing as I type this.\u00a0 There is no reason for this rendition to exist.\u00a0 If I hear one more samba-style cover of anything, I’m going to have to track down the record label that keeps producing them and sabotage all of their recording equipment.<\/p>\n<\/a>I jump on my motorbike to meet a friend for some street food.\u00a0 I reach a four-way intersection, where a vehicle coming from each direction has arrived.\u00a0 We’re all stopped.\u00a0 We’re all waiting for someone to make a move.\u00a0 After several big smiles, head nods, and inch-forward battles, I want to reach towards the heavens and scream, “SOMEONE MAKE A DECISION!!”\u00a0 Today, as with most of the “kindness duels” I encounter in Chiang Mai, the person to make the decision is me: the overly-forward American.\u00a0 But I’m only considered forward because everyone else is too nice to make the first move.\u00a0 The politeness of Thai people has turned my once laid back, non-confrontational self into a mover and shaker, and its stressing me out.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n