Thus spake my ajaan in class on Friday. She was referring to the fact that I always use English patterns when constructing my Thai sentences. I feel compelled to have proper grammer, but it is hard to remember that what is proper in Thai is not the same. Thinking in Thai is extremely challenging, but I think it's slowly happening. Slow in one sense of the word; fast in another. Today is the two week mark. We had a midterm yesterday. And I'm enjoying myself so much I was overwhelmed by how much I don't want to leave yet. Fortunately, I still have six weeks here.
I'm amazed at how, once I got here, the summer became so relaxed. I don't have any commitments other than learning, and this is a beautiful city. There are a lot of interesting people here, also. I've enjoyed getting to know people without the stress of being their colleague or competition. Everything feels so life or death at times in grad school. Learning language is hard; I hate not being able to communicate fluently or elegantly. Baby phrases harrow my soul. But it is not the end of the world if I don't learn Thai, and there is no need for me to be perfect at it right this very moment.
The other day I tried to give the post office my phone number in Thai; I felt that this was progress towards something.
No comments:
Post a Comment