Dinner in Thailand

Every dinner starts with each of us getting a bowl of rice (served by Sutin). I was advised to be proactive in limiting the amount of rice I got and it was good to know because I got too much the first few meals. Then, Kanya brings in about 3 dishes from her outdoor kitchen, always meat, usually 2 dishes with vegetables. The only thing I have had that is not a dish of mixed ingredients is fried chicken wings. The idea is to take a little of this and a little of that so everyone has some of everything. If you fill your plate, you will be sorry because you will get it filled again. When Kanya thinks I don’t have enough of something, she spoons more onto my rice. I have learned to eat slowly and to leave something in the bowl or it will just get added to. I have to be pretty firm, as in stopping their hand from adding more, when I know what I have is enough. It is a very sweet, considerate way to share a meal, each person eating, but with an awareness of the fact that others also have enough. Now, they both laugh when I say I'm full, try one more time to give me more and stop. When I get home from class, there is always a snack, usually fruit, and a glass of ice water waiting for me. When I am ready, one or both will join me and share some fruit. Our conversations are getting a little better as I learn more words, but I still have to use the dictionary. We pass it back and forth looking words up to convey our meaning. I think we usually do a good job with understanding each other. They will sometimes just launch into Thai and I am completely lost and I sometimes launch into English and they nod. Sutin knows quite a few English words, but like me with Thai, complete sentences are rare. I usually share our language class vocabulary with them and they help me with pronunciation. There are so many foreign letter combinations, bp, ng, that we laugh as I try to say them correctly and when I finally do, I often can’t repeat it. It is helpful to be hearing Thai everyday and we eat lunch in the market, where we practice ordering food in Thai. Today I picked up a bag of what I thought was pineapple, but it turnout to be sugar cane. The vendor let me exchange it for a whole pineapple and had her husband come and cut the peel off the pineapple and every little prickly eye. He was an expert at peeling and slicing the fruit. What an adventure in cultural education! Pictures of Kanya's outdoor kitchen. She has everything set up outside.