I very nearly paid dearly for being unable to speak Thai today.
On campus there’s a restaurant (quite nice) and a string of about 8 food stalls (OK, just). This evening (Sunday) when I went to order there were only a few of the food stalls open, none of which spoke English, and none of which had a menu, pictures or food that I could just point at like a dumb ape to order. Isolated, stuck, I prevaricated between embarrassingly attempting to order food, not eating or eating a pile of junk from 7-11. Others had told me that you could get by without speaking Thai by pointing, but they’d just been proven wrong. I was an outsider and it was my own fault, and it looked like no dinner would be my punishment for being ignorant of the country I was in.
I approached the stalls three times before my stomach got the better of my embarrassment. Fortunately the first stall managed to produce a menu when I approached, but that isn’t the point. I need to do more to learn Thai, to fit in, and not be a stupid Farang. I guess I’ll be going for the $65 Thai classes.
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