Simple Joys

         It's only appropriate that I find myself smiling so much in The Land of Smiles. So much about my life here leaves me with a grin plastered on my face. Some of the smiles are due to pure joy, and some are a result of laughing off the absurd. It is the small details of living in Thailand that really bring about this happiness. Of course the weekend excursions and the beach vacations make me smile...a lot...but, it's more the little things in life where I find myself a victim of this smiling epidemic. From the moment I walk to school in the morning, with dozens of unknown children enthusiastically waving at me or some of the more over-zealous ones shouting "I love you!" and forming a heart with their hands, I can't help but be completely exuberant. As I walk down the hallway towards the office, my students come running towards me yelling "Kruuu Neeelllll!!!!" in their adorable Thai accents. Others simply flash a smile and say "Shake hand" and lend out their arm. I find myself laughing out loud so often during class. Things as little as a mispronunciation to them pressing me for my opinions on Gun-The Star 6 send me over the edge. Other smiles come from a sense of achievement. When I hear the "ohhhhhh" coming from my students, I know I got across to them. I swear I must be beaming when they let out a long cheer of excitement after I announce the oncoming activity. Every Friday I have the children fill in missing words from a song as it plays overhead, and I can't help but giggle when I see them attempting to quietly sing along. My heart melts when I read the emails they send to their American pen-pals in Hull. How could I not smile when I read about how excited they are to have a friend in a different country? These students sure know how to brighten my day.


        The smiling extends beyond the school and the everyday encounters in The Soup still bring about delight. Sarah and I have made a habit of going to get a Thai Iced Coffee from a small little stand across the street from school. The woman speaks no English and we are most likely her only customers of the day, but every time we walk over to 'Navy Coffee', Pon excitedly greets us with a 'Sawatdee, ka' and all is good. Every night, as we go to and from dinner, we still get treated like celebrities. Hearing mopeds whiz by with people yelling "Hellllooooo," "Yooooo," or "Beaaauuuutiful" never gets old. Watching as people stop in their tracks, stare and talk about the "farang" gets me every time. The sheer generosity of Thai people is unreal and I can't help but smile in awe as every person we pass asks "Bai nai?" (where are you going?) because they literally just want to help out the foreigners. Tuk-tuks make me giddy. I'm overflowing with happiness as I climb aboard tuk-tuks of all shapes and sizes. After our big Tesco (Target-esque) trips, I am beyond impressed with our ability to fit Sarah and I plus about 10 bags into the limited space. I'm sure I have a grin from ear to ear as I cling on to my bags for dear life, hoping that neither myself or my goods will fall out along the way. 


     Even the things that once caused stress, or disgust, have now become humorous. My epic battles with the bugs in my room grossed me out to no end, but now I cackle in delight as I draw a barricade with special bug-repellant chalk around the ants, stopping them from getting into my food, my toothbrush, my bed, etc. The standoff in the hallway with the cockroach the size of my face is 1. terrifying 2. laughable when strategizing ways to avoid upsetting it. After a long day of sweating, I finally nestle into my rock solid bed, only to be awakened by the all-too-familiar squeak of the gecko lurking on my wall somewhere. It's one of those things I have to laugh off and hope I don't wake up spooning a lizard.  The whole language barrier thing has started to stir up laughter. What was once a source of major stress and anxiety has become a source of entertainment. As I butcher their language with my Thai-glish, Thais just respond with pure amusement and talk back in Thai, which then leads to a game of charades. Being presented with all sorts of mysterious foods used to be a little freaky, but now, all I can do is say 'Mai Pen Rai' and just go for it. Sometimes, Sarah and I will just look at each other and laugh when told what we are about to eat.  My dependency on 7-11 seems pitiful, but, despite its lack of Slurpees, it's a necessity. As I pop yet another Cookies N' Cream nugget into my mouth, I just thank heavens for its existence. 


Life in Thailand is just a series of smiles. Be it excitement, pride, silliness, confusion or even disbelief, I am always flashing a smile. I'm going to go ahead and whip out the corniest line ever and say that by the end of the year my cheeks are going to hurt so much from smiling! Yup, I did it...just embrace it. 


And just because I don't want to leave you with an image of my smiling face, I'll leave you with the sweetest of them all...