My favorite Thai words

We are now well into our third year in Thailand. I firmly believe in learning the local language when you live overseas but boy, the Thai language is hard and my progress is much slower than I want it to be. 

Amidst grappling with the unfamiliar script, the 44 consonants, 28 vowels, 5 tones and lots of alien sounds to get my mouth around. . . . . I do however find language learning fun and a fascinating window on culture and life here. Here's a few of my favorite Thai words I've learned so far.

ถุงเท้า (tung taao) means sock. Some words in Thai tickle me because of their simplicity. This word literally means "bag for your foot".

กินข้าว (gin kaao) is a phrase we use here all the time. It means to eat rice but is actually used to refer to having any kind of meal. Most Thai people do eat rice at every meal, but even if you don't, you can still use this word. The word ข้าวเช้า (kaao chaao) means breakfast or literally morning rice! 

Rice varieties, Sansai Market, Chiangmai 

If you agree with someone in Thailand, you say เห็นด้วย (hen duai) which literally means to see together. Similarly to sympathize with someone is เห็นใจ (hen jai), or to see their heart. How beautiful is that?

ไม่ใช่ (mai chai) is the word for no in Thailand - or literally "not yes"!  I might be reading too much into this but somehow this fits with a culture where people don't like to disagree with you to your face. With this phrase, even when they're saying no, they're still actually saying a modified form of yes! 

The word ใจ (jai) meaning heart, is used a lot in the Thai language to describe people and feelings. For example, being kind is ใจดี (jai dii) good-hearted and being impatient is ใจร้อน (jai roon) hot-hearted but my favorite is generous, มีนํ้าใจ (mii naam jai) literally "having a heart that flows like water". How about that for a description of what generosity really is. 

Water flowing in abundance at Mok Faa Waterfall

In the same vein เข้าใจ (kaao jai) means to understand in Thai, in other words "to enter your heart". Oh how I am hoping for more of this fascinating language to enter my heart soon and with it, a deeper appreciation of this beautiful culture and people.

Hope you enjoyed this little taste. Thanks so much for reading!
สวัสดีค่ะ Sawatdiikha

Watering can prayers

I have a confession. I am not very disciplined in my prayer life. I shoot up lots of "help me" prayers and I try to thank God often but when I sit down to pray more in depth about something, I get distracted easily and drift off. I think that's why I'm constantly looking for friends to pray with.

One thing I have noticed here in this predominantly Buddhist country, is that the temples provide many physical and symbolic ways for people to offer their prayers and invocations. We have these in the Christian tradition too but not so many.

There are the offerings of the symbolic lotus flower to represent the desire for a pure spirit.

. . . . the rubbing of a gong to aid meditation

. . . . the incense to burn, the stupas to walk around while you make your chant, the prayer wheels to spin, the candles to light and the bells to ring.

I've been quite fascinated by these physical aids to worship in my visits to Buddhist temples here in Chiangmai. You can certainly see how they increase habits of worship and aid focus by engaging all the senses. 

I have found my own physical way to pray recently too and it has surprised me how much it has enhanced my prayer life. One of my daily chores here is watering our plants at our back door. 

It didn't start as a prayer, it was just something I needed to do, but I found myself praying for God's Spirit to water my kids' hearts as I tended to my plants. Turns out "watering can prayers" have a whole load of applications. How badly I need His Spirit to water my own soul in all the dry and stubborn areas of my heart. I have prayed for His watering of our marriage, for His Spirit to pour out on the people of Thailand and for the seeds sown at Thai Village to be saturated with His Spirit and flourish.  It has been good to have a symbolic and physical accompaniment to my prayers and somehow, it has engaged me all the more in believing and persisting in prayer as a daily habit.

My plants are growing well and I enjoy them every day. Now they are a constant reminder too of the source of all our life and flourishing. My prayer life needed a boost and I found it in my own back yard! Prayer can be so much more than words sometimes.